“Ugh! You help a kid once with a sociology paper, and then you’re forced to sign his god damn petitions for the rest of your college career?” I ranted, throwing my hands in the air in annoyance before settling them back down on the table sitting between my friend and I in the college cafeteria. God bless college. People come here to express themselves, learn who they really are, grow into their skin, and all that other bullshit. Finding yourself and blah blah blah, big fish in a small pond, whoop de do. Everyone feels a little too comfortable being on a college campus and driving other people insane with their activism and passion for saving the world and whatever else they do. If you ask me, they need to learn how to channel their energy into something more productive like actually going to their classes or fulfilling their requirements so they can graduate on time.
Rolling my eyes, I reminded myself to stop talking to myself so much and to start focusing on the actual world in front of me. Allison, whom I was having lunch with before our two o’clock classes, just snickered in amusement at the apparent one-sided conversation I was having with myself. “Lydia, relax. He’s just passionate about something, which is a trait I thought you out of anyone would admire more than you would berate it.” The brunette pointed out with an arched eyebrow before popping a grape into her mouth. If anyone was going to admire someone for sticking to their passions, it would be me, unfortunately. I’m the only female in pretty much all of my college courses and I’m usually asked if I’m in the right class about thrice a week. If anyone would feel out of place, it would be me, but I push on with my studies because I have a love for them… which is why Stiles is so frustrating to me. “Yes, I do admire that, but I don’t admire that he tries to bother everyone else about it. Why can’t he just keep it to himself?” I challenged my friend as I stirred my silver spoon in my vanilla greek yogurt. Turns out, I spent majority of our lunch break ranting about Stiles rather than eating because by three o’clock, my stomach was growling for the food I had to leave on my plate so I could get to my class on time.
Securing my favorite spot in the library after my class, I was intending to get some more work done so I would be ahead of schedule for my classes. I had a few papers coming up due within this month, and I wanted to get them done earlier rather than later. Settling down my purse and laptop, I made myself comfortable in the cozy chairs we have that I’m so grateful for (having fell asleep studying a few too many times here). I set up camp with my water bottle, a kind bar, my notebooks, and a few highlighters and pens in different colors alongside my textbook I’d be citing for the paper I was going to start working on. Taking out my planner, I wrote down all the tasks I had completed for the day so far and sighed with relief. It felt so nice being able to cross things off my list, it was like a weight was coming off my shoulders. Basking in the glow of feeling accomplished at life for once, I was interrupted by a clipboard being dropped down on the table across from me along with a tattered spiral notebook and a boy sounding quite defeated by his huffing. Swallowing hard, I slowly raised my gaze and was met by none other than Stiles Stilinski. To be fair, there was a few other chairs sitting at my table, so I shouldn’t of been that shocked someone else would dare sit with me. But him, of all people on this campus? God surely had to be kidding. Something was out of place, and scanning up and down his face, I realized. I’ve never seen the boy look so…distressed.
“Are you okay?” Probably wasn’t the best way to start a conversation, I’ll admit, but I didn’t know what else to say. I let a few seconds pass by and glanced back up at the boy, who was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. “Do you ever feel like people don’t have the same concerns as you? Like because something isn’t happening in front of their faces, they don’t care?” The brunette asked me, which took me a little off guard considering I thought he’d just answer with a firm nod and I’d be able to get back to my work. Realizing he was actually looking for an answer from me, I licked my lower lip before beginning to speak. “Not everyone has the same heart as you, Stiles. Some people just don’t understand how something could possibly effect them if it’s not currently happening to them, you know?” I stated slowly, keeping my eyes on his face to see what his reaction was going to be. He’d probably huff and roll his eyes because let’s be real, that was the most cringe-worthy thing I could’ve said. Instead, he nodded his head eagerly and gave me this look like he was asking me to continue. “I mean… you have to keep in mind, people here are just trying to get by with their own work. They have their own course load to worry about, part time jobs that they need to get to, and extracurriculars. Not everyone has time to sit and worry about what could possibly go wrong with the world in the next twenty four hours…” As I continued, I became fully aware of how hypocritical I sounded. Here’s me, the prissy strawberry blonde who was ranting four hours ago about how damn tiresome his petitions and constant begging of signatures was. Seeing him like this, though, so defeated and almost heartbroken - I realized that maybe I should be a little more sensitive to him and his annoying activist causes.
Usually, there’s a group of us that goes to dinner. There’s Allison and Scott, Malia and Danny, and sometimes Aiden and Ethan come too. Scott is on the same club baseball team as Stiles, which is how I first met him. They’re friendly, but not friends that would spend time with each other outside of class or athletics. I came to conclusion that the reason why Stiles was always petitioning was because he was trying to get someone to care - whether about the cause or about him. Stiles Stilinski doesn’t have many friends here - his roommate who Allison had a thing with earlier this semester said they don’t even talk half the time, just cohabitate. That night, we had an extra guest at dinner. He wasn’t that bad when you got to know him, but I had only had brief conversations with him as we were in the same sociology class and he asked me to help him with a few papers throughout last semester. Seeing the way this boy’s eyes lit up when he spoke about environmental conservation and wildlife preservation and how our natural resources will continue to deplete unless we find an alternative made something feel like it was igniting inside of me.
Maybe in time, I’ll help Stiles get some more signatures on his petitions.
