Hello, everyone! Last week marked the first anniversary of Paper Jam. I can’t believe that it’s already been a year since I’ve started this little webnovel, I’ve learned so much while writing and I hope to continue learning :') Thank you so much for continuing to read!

To celebrate one year, here is a lil bonus chapter of when Kyra met Chandra in the library while they were students, beginning their proper friendship in their last year of university. (Mirroring Chapter 4.3 that was in Chandra’s POV.)

Hope you all are doing well and thank you for reading!

Paper Jam’s First Anniversary Chapter:

Your Name and Mine.

***

Kyra looked up at the outer walls of the library and let out a long, long sigh. She had gone out of her way to take the long route through campus but still arrived at the library faster than she had intended to. What she would give to spend the rest of the day in the dance studio instead. But she needed to put together a concept for her thesis, there was no avoiding it anymore.

Kyra let out another sigh. The chat that she had with her thesis advisor was helpful, but now she felt lost again as she looked up at the library walls. Nevertheless, she must go on. She eventually gathered her shoulders and straightened her spine, walking through the doors of the university library. 

She had forgotten how quiet it was inside and how much the library appeared to her like a maze. Students, librarians, and the occasional lecturer criss-crossed their paths in a rhythm she was unfamiliar with. Despite straightening her posture, she stood blankly for a moment in the lobby, feeling like a first-year student again.

She shook herself back to focus before going to check in her things, showing her student ID in her hand. Not knowing exactly where to begin, she found herself wandering to one of the librarians’ info desks. 

“Excuse me.” Kyra dipped her head in greeting. “Are there any books on dance in the Anthropology section?” If she has to write an entire thesis with multiple chapters, she’s at least going to do it on something that’s worth her while. 

One of the librarians looked up from their phone. “In English or Indonesian?” 

“Oh, um. Indonesian please? Translations of English books are also fine.”

The librarian thought for a moment before pulling up a database on their computer, listing off book titles while Kyra whipped out a sheet of paper to write them down. There were several in the Anthropology section, but others she’d have to look for in the Arts and Culture section. She thanked the librarian for their time and made sure to mark her paper with 林, Liem, the way she labeled all of her notes.

Kyra rolled up her sleeves. There’d be no warm up for this endeavor, she’ll have to jump into it cold. She walked through the Arts and Culture section of the library, peering at the book titles on the shelves. Traditional Dance in the Archipelago, Dance Education, Dance Knowledge… What is it that she wanted to focus on?

Kyra hung her head on her shoulders for a moment, leaning her weight on the arm that was resting on the bookshelf. She would really rather be in the dance studio right now. All this thinking was turning her brain into mush.

Unless… that’s what she should write about? The dance studio? It was already something she was familiar with and her thesis advisor had reminded her that anthropology was the study of what makes us human. And dancing definitely made her human.

She raised her eyebrows at this revelation and hummed in thought, pulling some books off of the shelf on dance education and contemporary dance. The librarian also said there would be some books on dance in the Anthropology section, and one in particular that would be the exact intersection of these topics. She adjusted the books she had placed on her hip and headed there.

With one hand holding her books and the other holding her sheet of book titles, she peered at the book spines across the anthropology shelves. Things had finally become interesting, and perhaps writing this thesis could be something fruitful afterall. Her newly-found zeal was only broken by her shoulder abruptly bumping into the shoulder of another.

“Oh!” Kyra dipped her head in an apology. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” 

“No, no worries. It was my bad.”

Oh, that was a familiar voice. Kyra pushed her hair out of her face and looked up at the person she had just bumped into. It turned out to be Chandra. The cute anthropology student that Kyra always wondered which way she swung ever since first-year orientation. 

Chandra had a pencil tucked behind an ear where her hair, falling in slight waves, was gathered into a ponytail. She still had a lingering sense of concentration in her eyes, as if she had been intently looking through the bookshelf with her thoughts before they had bumped into each other. It made her look adorable. Like an intelligent cutie, if you will. 

Kyra would often see her walking around campus or during anthropology meet-ups wearing a button-up, jeans, and basketball shoes. Today was no exception, except for a white t-shirt underneath Chandra’s checkered blue button-up. 

Kyra’s mood lifted and she smiled, adjusting her posture. Going to the library had been a good idea afterall. She noticed Chandra’s fingers resting on the spine of a book, Anthropology and Dance, the very book Kyra was searching for.

“Oh, hey! Were you looking for this book too?” Kyra turned her slip of paper around so that Chandra could see the title written there.

Chandra’s eyes widened slightly before she nodded, turning her own piece of paper around to show Kyra that it had the same title. Gosh, she’s cute.

“You’re also in your seventh semester right?” Kyra placed the slip of paper in her jeans pocket. Might as well make some small talk to get to know Chandra while she can. “Are you gonna use this book for your thesis?”

“I am, yeah.” Chandra had an unreadable expression on her face but she seemed intrigued. “Are you?”

“I think so.” Kyra slowly nodded. “But I’m more interested in the dance bit than the anthropology bit, if I’m being honest.”

“Oh? Are you a dancer, then?” Chandra tilted her head. 

“Yeah.” Kyra laughed, tucking the rest of her hair out of her face. Chandra's sudden interest made her a bit self-conscious. “I’m thinking of just writing my thesis on being in the dance studio, since I take a lot of classes. As an anthropological experience, of course.”

Chandra raised her eyebrows as if to say Oh? again. Kyra hoped it boded well for how Chandra thought of her.

Chandra glanced at the book on the shelf before taking her fingers off of its spine and nodding towards it. “You go ahead, you can take the book first.

“Oh—really?” Kyra blinked. She wasn’t expecting that.

“Yeah.” Chandra smiled, tucking her planner under her arm. “Your idea sounds like it would make for a pretty cool thesis. This book can’t be checked out though, so if you don’t mind, I’ll just wait at one of the tables ’till you’re done.”

Wait! Kyra screamed internally. Chandra can’t just smile like that and drop a compliment before leaving! Kyra's heart was doing summersaults in her chest.

She tried to keep her cool as she reached out to take the book off of the shelf. “Oh, well… Do you wanna sit together, then? I can pass it to you when I’m done since I was just gonna skim through it for a bit.”

“Oh.” Chandra blinked. “Is that alright?”

Kyra laughed, happy that Chandra hadn't left right away. “Of course it’s alright!” She smiled at Chandra for a moment before holding out her hand. “Chandra, right?”

“Yeah.” Chandra seemed lost in reciprocating the self-introduction. Perhaps that's why she had looked so perplexed earlier. Kyra resisted the urge to press her lips together in a smile at seeing how hard Chandra was struggling to remember her name. “Kaira, right?”

Oh, dear. It’s a good thing Chandra’s cute.

“Close.” Kyra grinned as they shook hands. “It’s pronounced Kee-ra, actually. But yup, that’s me!”