The Variations by Jones M (iphone ebook reader TXT) 📕

****************** *********************************** ***************** ***********

"Kate!" Gwen called out as she rushed around the dormitory. The sound of thudding footsteps echoed in the dorm room.

Marie groaned as she rose to sit on her bed. Her head was aching like crazy, and she was feeling a bit nauseous.

"Kate!" Gwen yelled again.

"What?" Marie yelled back, and she winced at the volume of her voice. It seemed to intensify her headache.

"We're going to be late!"

Marie groaned before asking: "Isn't it a Saturday?"

A pillow smacked her face, and the force of it was close enough to throw her back onto the bed.

Kate started grumbling, thinking about the ways she could use the pillow to silence her friend for waking her up so early in the morning.

"It's a Wednesday!" her roommate yelled.

'WHAT?' thought Marie. She slowly searched for her phone in her comforters. Once she located it, she unlocked it to read the time.

08:20

She had about forty minutes to get ready before her class would start.

Without a minute to waste, she scrambled towards the bathroom. She tried her best to ignore the pain in her head.

It was a good thing she had not drowned herself in an alcoholic stupor on the previous night or else she would have wasted the minutes left puking her guts out.

It had taken a great effort, but after eighteen minutes had passed, Marie had finished preparing for the day. Her head was still aching, so she went and swallowed a couple of ibuprofen pills.

'I am never drinking again on a weekday,' she vowed, knowing that she might not keep her word.

"Gwen?" she called out, but when she heard no reply, she realized her roommate had already left without telling her.

Kate considered having a quick breakfast outside. She believed that to be wise, and so she quickly locked and left her dorm.

*************** ************************** **************************** ************

A couple of minutes were remaining before Kate's class would start. Marie threw her empty cup of coffee into the hallway trash bin as she made her way through the packed hallway. There were many students who were rushing to head toward their classes. They were late, no doubt from having spent the night at the frat party.

Kate thrust herself into her class. Fortunately for her, the lecturer hadn't arrived yet. She moved towards her new spot in the class, and she almost tripped on her feet when she saw who had arrived.

Chris was present, and he was busy working on the computer designated for his seat. He looked well-dressed with his black cotton shirt like he hadn't been at a party hours ago.

Marie was, yet again, unsure of what to do. Sure, they had talked on the previous night, and Chris had even walked her back to her dorm. Did that mean they could talk normally to each other? And if it did, what would she even say to him?

Kate approached her seat. As she was moving toward it, Chris turned to face her.

"Good morning to you too," he said with a smile. "How did you wake up?"

Kate was surprised by the calmness radiating off of Chris. Usually, they would barely say anything to each other unless they had to. Chris was acting differently toward her...

Kate knew that Chris recalled the conversation they had on the previous night. She also knew that he had to ponder over what she had told him. But then, why was he talking to her as if they hadn't avoided each other for two years?

"Not so well," she decided to reply. She settled herself in her seat, but then she turned to face Chris in befuddlement.

"How are you even awake right now? Don't you have a headache?" 

"Please," Chris said, bragging. "I'm used to it."

"Good morning, cla--" Mr. Bernard was in the process of introducing himself, but he stopped himself short once he saw the state of the room. Only six students were present, and that included Chris and Kate.

"Does anyone know what happened to the rest?" the professor asked. Everyone who was in the room remained silent.

"Fine. I had an important item to discuss with all of you today, but since most of you are absent, I'd rather we talk about it at a later time. Class dismissed."

A moment of silence passed in the room as the people wondered if they had heard their lecturer right.

"Is he serious?" someone asked in a whisper, but it echoed in the room.

"Yes, I'm serious," Mr. Bernard replied. "You are all dismissed. Might as well take this time to focus on something productive."

Everyone stood up with their stationery, ready to leave the class.

"Hey, Marie," Chris called out. "Can we go to the library? We could discuss our project there."

Kate was thinking about lying to him. But then, she knew it wouldn't be nice to push him away. She had to be fond of him for the sake of their assignment.

"Okay," she replied.

Chris switched off his PC before turning to the exit. Marie followed suit, and she found herself following him to the library.

The library was another building by itself. It was a short walk from Kate's IT building. It was large, and it housed all the books and sources that students needed for their courses. It even had a cyber section for all things related to the Internet.

Chris and Kate found themselves walking into the gray-painted structure. Once they had checked in, they headed towards a secluded area at the back.

"Did you bring your laptop today?" Chris questioned.

"No," Marie replied. "I didn't have enough time to pack it."

They both made their way towards a mahogany table that was hidden behind a large shelf filled with books. Leather seats were arranged on each side of it.

Once Chris and Kate had made themselves comfortable, they both settled into work.

"So, I have been thinking about the story we could use," Chris started. "What if we make it into one of the medieval time books?"

Marie blinked at Chris before saying: "What?"

Chris looked cautious as he continued: "Well, what about a kingdom of kingdoms?"

"An empire?"

"... Yes. But for the story, I was thinking of having a main king who rules over the others, and the others get greedy for his spot. So--"

"So the kings try to take over as the main ruler, right?" Kate cut Chris off.

"... Yes. How did you know?" Chris looked surprised.

"You are basically quoting Game of Thrones."

He blinked at Kate before asking: "What?"

It was Marie's turn to look astonished.

"Wait. You don't know Game of Thrones?"

"No, I don't," Chris replied.

"How? Dude, everyone knows Game of Thrones!"

"Oh! Now I remember what it is about. I just don't watch it."

Marie frowned at the reply she received.

"You do not know what you are missing."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Chris said, motioning for a change of subject. Kate wasn't having it.

"It has everything a guy likes! Magic, fights, boobs, war, blood... Boobs."

"So you think that guys watch TV shows which fully expose a girl's breasts?" Chris said with a smile, arching an eyebrow.

"You don't?"

"Oh, I do," he replied. "I'm a guy, aren't I?"

Kate found herself rolling her eyes at him.

"So, what about you? What story ideas have you come up with?"

Marie was nervous about her reply.

"Well, I was thinking about making the theme African."

Chris did not reply, and so she continued: "Like, we can base a story from an African tribe."

"What?"

"We can agree it is something that has rarely been done. Think about it!"

"What about The Lion King?"

"That involves animals. My story would involve human characters, and trust me when I say that it is hard to get the materials for such a story. Question is: what will be the elements for this?"

Chris looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I think we can work with that. Do you have anything for it?"

Marie sighed before saying: "I'm still working on it. It is a bit hard. I don't have a lot of sources I can use."

"Hmm. We can discuss the story later. For now, let's focus on the animation type."

That was something that was on Marie's mind. She knew how to draw people and everyday items, and so she had no problem about doing them in the regular 2D animation. However, a year before she had even joined college, she had discovered 3D art.

It had always amazed her, especially with the details in all the 3D models she found posted online. That had urged her to start learning how to turn drawings into their third-dimensional formats.

The activity had turned into a private hobby.

At times, the results were not that excellent. But with a lot of effort and practice, they turned out well. She had even learned to manipulate the positions and shapes of 3D objects, and it helped her know how to animate them in 3D.

"Because I was thinking 3D," Chris said when Marie did not reply. At his voice, she turned to face him.

"What did you say?" said Kate.

"Um, 3D? Look, it's okay if you aren't--"

Chris cut himself off when he saw the smile on Kate's face.

"Yes, Chris. We'll do it in 3D."

Chris furrowed his eyebrows at her before asking, "What? Really?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

He remained silent, eyeing Marie in disbelief.

"You do know that I'm having a hard time believing what you are saying, right?" he confessed, earning a bored look from Kate. "Which programs are you familiar with?"

"Blender and Z-Brush."

"Really?" said an amazed Chris. "You know about Z-Brush?"

"Of course, I do! It's my favorite modeling software, even if it can mess me up at times, especially with the zspheres." Marie grumbled.

Chris grinned in excitement.

"Well, that settles it. We'll do it in 3D."

"You can go now," Mr. Bernard said. The students in the room swiftly rose up as they took their books with them. 

It was the end of another class. Marie was unsure about what she would do afterward. She had barely begun on her project, and she didn't know if Chris was free to discuss it with her.

She turned to face him, only to realize he had already left his seat. She looked up, but she didn't see him among any of the leaving students.

'Huh,' she thought, rising to leave the class. He must have left before she could talk to him.

Seconds later, Kate found herself walking along the hallway. She was browsing her phone for messages while she looked around for Chris. She didn't spot him, and her multitasking had her bump into someone. 

"Alex?" she called out in surprise once she noticed who it was. 

"Hey, Kate," he replied, slightly disturbing his crew cut with his fingers. His body language showed he was nervous.

Alex was Chris' friend. They both shared the same height that ranged around six feet. His features consisted of black hair, entrancing blue eyes and a defined jaw on his square face. He was also muscular in form, and all that accounted as to why he was considered attractive by most of the female population in the university. Unlike Kate, Alex was a senior pursuing a Business degree in the university.

"Can we talk?" he asked with a serious expression.

"Sure," she replied. He turned, and she followed him. The two passed a couple of classes until they reached one that was unoccupied. Once Marie had entered the room, Alex turned to close