Chapter 38

At Bramble College, Xander's sister Sandra is feeling something similar about her boyfriend, Andy. He is of course very handsome and nice enough, not at all stupid and very determined to become a sports journalist. But they really don’t have anything in common. Andy’s main interest is sports, and that is all he talks about all the time. But he doesn’t seem very interested in talking overly much to Sandra anyway. He is quite the opposite of Keith. No digging in her soul on his part.



The physical side of their relationship is more important to him. Much more so than to Sandra. To be honest she is “doing it” mostly because he wants to, even if she can’t complain about him being selfish or not accomplished. No, the physical side of a relationship is very important to Andy, and he is very attentive of her wishes and needs. Already with Jacob it was more about feeling admired and coveted than really caring very deeply about him. With Colin it was all about the thrill. Sandra starts to realize that she has never really been in love and that she is in fact afraid of being alone. She also starts to realize that alone-time probably is was she needs the most now.



So she breaks up with Andy, who can’t understand why she doesn’t want him anymore and gets very upset and offended.



The atmosphere between them is very awkward for a while, with Andy acting out his wounded pride by being quite rude to Sandra, which of course becomes uncomfortable for everyone else in the dorm. It ends when Ralph has a word with Andy, giving him some “manly” advice. “Let it go. When it is over, it is over. There are other girls.” Ralph seems to have told it in exactly the right way, because Andy stops behaving the way he has towards Sandra.



In fact he stops taking notice of her at all. He only talks to her if he has to.



It is a very stressful situation. Even more so as Sandra finds it very scary to be on her own for the first time in a couple of years. No boyfriend. No friends either ... She fills her days with studies and hard training.



But also starts to realize that she is surrounded by people that perhaps could be worth a closer acquaintance. The mysterious Diana is someone that Sandra secretly admires. She seems so self sufficient and calm. Sandra would very much like to be that way. Perhaps she could learn something from Diana.



And very soon Sandra realizes that she must not at all be alone. Diana seems to sense that Sandra wants to get to know her and to Sandra’s big surprise she seeks her company. Sandra’s relation to other girls has always been about competition. This is a new experience.



But a very nice one. Being friends with Diana brings forward sides of Sandra that she herself has been unaware of. Girl talk is much more fun than she has imagined.



She even gets a better relation to Jules.



But it is still a great relief that is winter now and close to Christmas. It will soon be time for holidays. She needs to go home for a while. Her father and his new wife will be going to Twikki Island over Christmas, so Xander and Sandra will be celebrating with Stella and Ingmar and Sandra realizes that really is for the best. She has never been longing for her mother this way before, but now she feels that she really needs to see her.