"Okay great. We have four major subjects this semester. Textiles, the fashion business, retailing, apparel quality analysis and my, merchandise mathematics!! Wow Nat. We're really fully loaded, four major subjects and three minors?! What are we superheroes?! I can't study all of these. My brain will explode!" Camille said as she tried to breathe deeply. Natalie looked at her childhood best friend. She knew how she was with studying. She was more of an artist rather than an analyst. Natalie laughed at her outraged best friend.

"What are you laughing at? This isn't funny! I can sue them if I end up with a concussion."

"Camille. This is life. This is business. If we want to succeed, we'll have to persevere. Ask all those doctors and lawyers if they're tired. We don't even get half of what they receive. We must be thankful at least."

"My! I can't believe I took my mother with me to school." Camille laughed as she imitates Natalie's speech.

"What? It wasn't so bad. It was well said."

Both laughed as they headed to their classrooms.

The day was full of work. People from every year level went in and out of the different colleges and classrooms. Their day was hectic and time flew so fast. Natalie and Camille's class ended by 4 pm. Camille quickly asked her friend if she could take a quick nap since she wasn't really keeping up with their schedule. Natalie decided to go to the pool to check out on her friends. She clearly said to herself that she wasn't going there to check on someone named Jake. She knew she wanted to see him so bad; she was just in denial to actually admit it to herself.

She arrived at the building but hesitated to go inside. Her heart was beating too fast and she wasn't sure how he would react. Her palms were sweating, her face was turning red and she couldn't think properly. Her hands reached for the door knob and she inhaled deeply. When she was inside, Chris, Eric and the others were cheering for the four men racing towards the end. Two men were leading the race while the other two tried to catch up. It seemed that they were having a tie, but the other one went first and won. They all got up from the water and Natalie thought Jake won again, but this time it wasn't him, it was Nate Walters. They shook each other's hands and everyone started talking and laughing about how it ended. Other people were teasing Jake while the others talked about the proper that could help a swimmer win. While they were busy fooling around, Natalie decided to walk away. When she was about to do so, Jake saw her.

"NAT! HEY!"

He ran towards the door even if the floor was wet. At first, Natalie couldn't hear a thing. She was determined to go out of that place. Jake called again and this time Natalie heard it. When she turned to face the person who called her, Jake directly hugged her as if he was dry. His hard body was all around her and she was in shock. This time her heart pounded loud enough that she was afraid Jake would be able to hear it. She blushed when the other guys teased them. She tried to move but her body was too numb. She just stood there while Jake kept smiling. It was a very long hug; at least that's what she thought. Jake set her aside to look at her. She tried to stare as if she wasn't affected at all but she was too conscious to do so.

"I missed you Nat. You never called back." Jake smiled. "Uh. Oh. Uhhh, yeah. Sorry. I was…um busy." She breathed deeply and added, "and yeeeaah, I miss you too." She quickly looked for a diversion. She needed to stop. Good thing she realized that she smelled like chlorine.

"Jake! You turned me into a towel. Hahaha. Look at me."

"Yeah. I did that on purpose. You never called back. I wanted to show you a lesson." He was still smiling and she couldn't help but stare. 

Chris and the others arrived just in time to welcome her back. They were all so excited that they shoved  Jake to the back. As if to tease Natalie, the others also hugged her. She was so wet and all she could say was, "Yeah. Thanks for the very welcoming hug guys. I missed ya'all." Everyone laughed. They were all having a great time but Natalie was the happiest among them all. She didn't expect what just happened between Jake and her, but she was really happy… so happy that nothing and no one could frustrate her.