章 2: Love at first sight?

" Wow, I am really at this stage of my life. It came by so quickly. One moment I'm 16 and the next I'm 18 and fending for myself..." Lucas thought.

Lucas was still a bit emotional about leaving the only place he had known as home for as long as he could remember.

Even though he was excited to leave and finally start his life as an adult. He was sad that he had to leave his "brothers". The people that always had his back. The people he went through many trials and tribulations with. The people he did life with and grew up with. Lucas sighed heavily and said under his breath " Well I guess that is life..."

Lucas continued to walk on the long sand road. It seemed to have no end. His goal was to reach the bus stop at the end of the road. The bus would then take him to the University of Cape Town. For it is there where his new life would begin as well as there where his new home would be.

The bursary also included accommodation at the UCT (1) student residence. While Lucas was walking he began thinking about what the place would look like? What his room would look like. Lucas envisioned his room to be about 10 square meters with a single bed, a chair, an inbuilt desk, maybe a tv and a fridge.

The possibility of owning a mini-fridge excited Lucas the most. For if true, this meant he didn't have to share one with others. In the Children's home, the food he refrigerated would be eaten by someone else. This annoyed him a lot because if he asked who ate his food. No one would answer. There were 13 boys in one house so how could he guess who ate his food? When nobody owned up to eating it. But, if he had his own mini-fridge he could store his food in a safe place. He could even eat it at his own leisure.

There were often times when Lucas was full but he forced himself to eat. If he didn't it would most likely disappear. Once it entered the fridge. One could say the fridge was a black hole. Whatever you put in disappeared. Of course, the real black hole was the stomachs of the children in Lucas's house.

There was another reason the prospect of owning his own fridge made Lucas excited. This was related to the reason he wanted to study meteorology. Lucas had always been fascinated by the sciences that occur when the weather changes. When he was younger he used to sit and ponder. Why do the clouds move? Why do some clouds look fluffy and others thin? Why does the sky appear blue? These questions where all brought about when Lucas first watched the movie:< The X-Men > and he saw the character Storm. He was mesmerized by how pretty she was and fascinated by how she could control the weather.

Lucas always wished he could do something similar. But being human comes with limitations. As on Earth, it is impossible to have superpowers ( unless you live in Area 51). So the closest thing he could do was study the weather. Heck, maybe if his understanding of the weather was greater than anyone before him. He could create equipment that could influence the weather! Well of course, not to the standard that Storm could. But at least a fraction of it.

Currently, humans couldn't control the weather. Nonetheless, they were making breakthroughs in manipulating certain phenomena. Yes, that is where the fridge comes in. Although it is a small step to weather manipulation. The fridge is able to cool air. As such, it is able to make what originally wasn't, cool now. Isn't this the human equivalent to superpowers!? And Lucas had the opportunity to own one of these.

It was as Lucas was so excited about the prospect of owning his own fridge that he reached the end of the road. He was standing at a T-junction where the sand road meets the tar road. To the left side of the T-junction is the way to the city. You could see the cities buildings in the distance. To the right is the way out of town. The bus stop is on Lucas's right as the bus comes out of town and into it again. There is a terminal in and out of town.

Lucas was in deep thought and did not notice that at the bus stop meters away. There was a girl who was intently looking at him. She sat on the waiting bench. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked at Lucas. She wanted to know what is it that had him in such deep thought. She made list in her mind of the possible things that could keep a boy's mind so preoccupied.

"Maybe he is thinking of some complex math equation," but she scrubbed this idea out because math is not that mesmerizing, at least not at this level. She then thought, "maybe he forgot his mother/girlfriends birthday and is thinking of a way to make it up to them," she scrubbed this idea out too. However, not completely. She then thought, " Maybe he got kicked out of his house and is on his way to a friend or relative." This idea seemed to stick with her. For she based this on the fact that he had two black bags on him.

Of course, if she knew that fridges are what really had his attention. She would be angry that she even gave him the time of day.

At this time Lucas came out of his train of thought. He realized that he had reached the end of the road. He looked to the right to see the bus stop as this was his first destination. But as soon as he did he and the other girl looked deeply into each other's eyes. Lucas looked away immediately. If Lucas could turn any other colour his face would be blood red. He only caught a glimpse of her before looking away though.

Lucas wondered why she was looking his way but more importantly, he wanted to know what she looked like. He told himself that if she was pretty he would talk to her. Deep down, he knew that whatever the outcome was he wouldn't say a word. He was shy when it came to girls. Lucas turned his head rightwards preparing to have another look at her. However, this time she wasn't looking at him and was on her phone. This made him feel a bit dejected.

However, there was a reason she was on her phone when Lucas looked at her. The meeting of their eyes startled her too. She didn't expect Lucas to exit his thoughts so soon. He looked so into it. As such she was embarrassed. But to gain her "power" back. She had to look nonchalant about it. She chose to look at her phone as the best means to accomplish it. Which worked though.

1- University of Cape Town