With Or Without You

 

<u>Chapter One: Running to Stand Still</u>

 

“This is the biggest college campus I have ever seen,” Ali said.  Her best friend nodded mutely.  “Clare?”

 

Clare grunted in response, staring at the expansive university in front of her.

 

“Clare!”

 

“What?” she replied snappishly.

 

“Do you think he’s here yet?”

 

“Oh God, I don’t know.  You can’t be stalking Michael all day.  Plus who even knows if we’ll see him.  This place is huge.”

 

“We can do it.  We have sort of the same schedule, so I think eventually we’re bound to find time to find his.”

 

“We have two classes together, Ali.  I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

 

“Hey, it’s not my fault they have a fantastic sport management facility here.  Michael’s just a....bonus.”

 

Clare rolled her eyes.  “You’re insane.  I can’t be distracted or I will never graduate.  I have enough trouble with homework as it is.”

 

“You don’t do homework, dear, need I remind you.”

 

“Right.  But who cares?  I bet I’ll bloody have to here,” Clare grumbled.

 

Ali laughed.  “Come on, pokey, let’s move in.”

 

The girls, with the help of their parents, hauled all their things into the dorm room they were sharing.

 

“I bet you’ll run into him.”

 

“Ali?”

“Yes?”

 

“Do me a favor, will you?”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

“Shut up about Michael Phelps.  I know you’re in love with him, but frankly I could care less.  I just want to have a good year and enjoy myself.”

 

“I would enjoy myself if you could hook me up with Michael Phelps.”

 

“ALI!”  This shout was accompanied by a pillow to Ali’s head.  Ali merely laughed it off and continued unpacking her things.

 

*

 

“Oh God, I’m so nervous,” Ali said the next day as she and Clare headed to their first class.

 

“Ali, the likelihood that he will be in our class is about twenty thousand to one.”

 

“I know, but a girl can dream, can’t she?  You always burst my bubble, Clare.  Shut up and let me live in my fantasy.  I quite like it here.”

 

Clare rolled her eyes and chuckled.  “Fine, have it your way.”

 

They were quiet as they made their way across campus to the building in which their class was held.  “I would laugh so hard if he was there,” Ali said.  “Mostly at you.”

 

“Ali, you wouldn’t even be able to form a word, let alone laugh at me.”

 

“Quiet you.”

 

Clare laughed and held the door to the building open for Ali to go through.  Another three or four people came out the other way before Clare was able to go in.  “Sure, I’m just your door man,” she said bitterly, finally squeezing her way in, glaring at anyone who got in her way.  Ali was standing on the other side of the door, a grin on her face.

 

“Jeez, what took you so long?” she asked.

 

Clare just grumbled and followed Ali to the lecture hall.  They took seats toward the back, near the door, so Ali could keep an eye out for...people she knew.  Clare laughed as she watched Ali scrutinize every tall, broad shouldered guy that came in.  Although Clare was not obsessed like her best friend, she was a very low key Phelps fan.  She knew what he looked like and cheered him on TV during the Olympics, but she wasn’t obsessed by any means.  Really she just thought he was a good swimmer, and frankly a little too gawky and geeky for her tastes.

 

Smiling kindly at a slightly familiar-looking guy who was trying to get by her, she pulled in her feet and sat forward in her chair.  “Bloody uncomfortable,” she said.

 

“I agree,” said a male voice from next to her.  She jumped and turned to look at the voice’s owner.  The guy she’d let by her had taken the seat next to her.  “Aaron,” he said, holding out his hand.

 

She shook it.  “Clare.  My friend Ali’s on the other side of me.”  Aaron looked around Clare to where Ali was still watching every male that came in the room very closely.  “Sometimes she’s not good to talk to,” Clare said, rolling her eyes.

 

Aaron chuckled and nodded.  “I’ll keep that in mind.  You new here?”

 

“Yeah.  Freshman,” she said.  “I came here for the sports management program.  And because Ali was coming here.”

 

“Best friends?”

 

“Since I moved to the US from Australia,” she said.  “I’ve kind of lost my accent since I was about five when I moved, but oh well.”

 

“I was going to ask you why you sounded so American.”

 

“Yup.  You a freshman?” she asked.

 

“No.  I’m actually a junior, but I just transferred here from Texas.”  Clare nodded and glanced toward the front of the classroom.  The professor had just arrived and they all stopped talking.

 

Clare felt a poke in her side and glanced at Aaron, who’d written something small in the corner of his notebook.  “Where do you live?”

 

“South Quadrangle,” she wrote back.  “With Ali.”

 

“Hey, me too,” he wrote.  “We should hang out sometime.”

 

“Yeah, that might be fun,” Clare put, adding a small smiley face.  Aaron let out a soft chuckle and wrote down his dorm number on a piece of paper before tearing it off and handing it to her.  She grinned and tucked it in her pocket before turning to pay attention to the class.