“But finals are coming up; you need to pass them if you are to graduate.”
“I know and hopefully I can carry on studying, but I need away from here.”
“Alanna what’s going on?”
“Nothing, I just feel stressed with all the pressure, I need time away.”
“In other words, what you really need is time away in London.” I do not really like Sophie’s tone. She is being a little over the top about all this and I knew that she was going to bring up Adrian.
“Sophie, don’t start.”
“It’s true, I knew you were stupid in love with him, but come on I never thought you were stupid enough to throw your life away for him.”
“Sophie, are you listening to yourself? I am doing this for me. I need to get away; I can’t deal with all the petty dramas.”
“No Alanna that’s not the reason.”
“Then what is it, Sophie?”
“That guy is controlling you and you can’t even see it.”
“No he’s not this has nothing to do with Adrian.” Even though I am telling Sophie lies, I cannot help but feel very annoyed with her. Why does she hate Adrian so much? She does not even know him.
“Alanna don’t give me that, I saw you with him the other night. It is as if you are scared of him or something, if he moves you move. I tried I really did I even told you that I was wrong about him, but I wasn’t I don’t like him Alanna.”
“I know you don’t and Sophie I think that you are just jealous, I don’t want to talk to you any more about this, okay?”
“Jealous, you really think that low of me?”
“Yes Sophie I do, you would not be acting this way if weren’t jealous.”
“Alanna I don’t know who you are anymore, it’s like he has you under a spell. I really think that you should wake up and see that he is not what he seems, and break free while you still can.”
Hearing Sophie’s words, they are playing hard on my mind, this is my best friend and I am arguing with her, something that I never used to do. I cannot be in this room right now. I have a funny feeling that Sophie and I will never be friends as long as I am with Adrian. However, I cannot see myself without him; I really do not want to think about choosing between them. Because I know, that if I have to then my friendship would be over, because I would choose Adrian every time. There is no way I could live without him. He completes me and I cannot see the bad in him. I know that everyday my life is in danger; I know that would not be the situation if I were not with him. Nevertheless, it is as if I do not care, I get a buzz from knowing that he would do anything to protect me. It is as if I am the trees and he is the wind that blows through them.
I pack a suitcase consisting of mainly jeans and t-shirts. I guess I will be just hanging around some house all day, so there is no need for anything fancy. When Michael comes to the door to look for me, I can see Sophie out the corner of my eye. She is rolling her judgmental eyes at me and shaking her head. Normally I would just ask her what her problem is, but I do not want to get started with her again. I do not even look at her when I walk out. I just close the door behind me and do not look back. Michael and I walk down the hallway and into the office. I go in to talk to the Dean before I leave.
“Miss Hart, please do come in. I have been waiting for you,” I walk over and take a seat at the front of Mrs Henderson’s desk. She is a woman in her early 50’s with light auburn hair. She is also the kind of woman that you could tell, was pretty in her day. The Dean and I did not really get off to the best starts here at Columbia, but now it looks like things have changed.
“I understand that you want to take some time out,”
“Yes I feel that college is a little too much for me right now. However, I do still want to graduate on time.”
“Yes finals are coming up and I feel that if you want to graduate, then you will have to sit them. However, giving how you feel and I know you had a little scare health-wise the other day. I have no choice but to let you have a break from college life. However you must keep on studying.”
“Yes absolutely, it’s not the work that’s getting on top of me. It’s the college life that I need a break from.”
“Tell me about, it I feel like I need a vacation every time I go home.”
“Thanks Mrs. Henderson, you don’t know how much I appreciate you understanding.”
“You make sure and thank that boyfriend of yours for the donation he gave us.” “Boyfriend,”
“Mr Black, he gave us a large donation. In return, he wanted your break from college to be forgotten when it is time for graduation. You have a good one there, don’t let him go.” I smile and get up to leave the office, I turn back around to the Dean and say,