Young Writers Society

All Evaline had to do to check the time was leave the software, but when she was focused like this, she could drown out everything around her. Her thoughts, the noise, the space around her, the people around her... All she could focus on was tuning into the song so she could bring the image in her mind into reality. Digital reality. Not paper.

But her focus and concentration was lost when she realized her stylus died, and she knew she didn't bring the charging pod in her bag. For a moment, she stayed still, staring at the half-complete frame, disappointed that she didn't get finish, and also disappointed that now she had to find another distraction.

She stopped the song and put away the tablet, pen, and earbuds. Feeling the embarrassment and anxiety from today's events echo in her head, she deeply sighed and leaned forward to set her elbows on her knees and bury her face in her hands.



Mel was glad she came to this party. She had no idea where Evaline or Elias was, but it didn't matter, because like most parties, there were new friends. She just met Stephanie and Brittany today, and it seemed that they were already friends through the power of boys. Football boys and how all of them were dickheads, anyways.

She did worry about Evaline since she didn't want to come to this party in the first place, but with her drunk mind, she couldn't put her worry into action. There were some texts sent earlier in the day, and she said she was okay, so that was good enough for her.

Her new girl friends suddenly went off to talk to some of the other million new people in the party, and although Mel was welcomed to intermingle with them, she wanted to talk to one person in particular.

"You guys go ahead, I'll meet you later!" she said as she wandered back over to the couch, sitting next to a girl -- Jerica, she overhead -- who seemed to have one too many beers.

"Heeey, girlie!" she said as she sat next to her. "I just wanna -- check in! Are you okay? From earlier? God, J.R. is such a dick. He's got such small dick energy though, 'cause me and the girls scared him off. He got real scared when we threatened to cancel his ass on social media."

The evening was going splendidly. They'd gotten Rek calmed down and boozed up, and now he was over in the corner with Chad and Thad telling stories. She wasn't sure what they were saying, but from their tones she knew every last one of them was lying. Or, at least, exaggerating. But, she'd take it. Rek was smiling and that's all that mattered.

Jerica looked up as a girl flopped down on the couch next to her. Jerica squinted at her for a long moment. She'd been around for hours, and Jerica was sure that she'd heard her name but... no matter how long she stared, Jerica couldn't quite seem to be able to remember it. But thinking about asking the girl's name was drowned out when she suddenly brought up J.R. again.

"Oh my gods!" Jerica shouted, whirling around so that her torso was facing New Girl. She twisted so that she was sitting criss-cross on the couch, staring directly at her. "That little bitch -- he thinks he's such hot shit. But he's nooooot. That whole team can go and kiss my ass..." she hesitated, glancing over at where Rek was bonding with Thad and Chad. "I mean, I guess the -addeaus-es are okay, but holy hell, J.R. got another thing coming if he thinks this is gonna fly."



"Yes, oh my god!" Mel said in agreement with a laugh, finding herself putting a hand on her knee. Something something about how her drunk self sometimes accidentally flirts with everyone. "He's such a little bitch thinking he's everything. He's just salty that a girl made the team and that you're so much better than him."

She folded her leg on the couch so she could face towards her seriously -- as serious as she could get when intoxicated, anyways.

"Girl, you're a queen. You have to stay on the team to beat those boys' asses. Show them who the real bad bitch is."



"THANK YOU!" Jerica threw her arms in the air in a dramatic gesture. "Finally, someone who recognizes talent. You know what?"

Jerica leaned forward, pushing herself up to her knees so that she could lean close to Mel, making sure she understood the severity of the situation.

"I could kick any of their asses, anytime, anywhere, any way." She put her hand on Mel's shoulder, looking at her intently. "And what do they do? Thank me for joining the team? Try to make friends? Nooooooo, 'cause they're all frickin' dumb."



"They didn't even--" Mel began, her expression twisted up like she was trying to understand. She looked back at her, eyes serious but she was grinning.

"Let's graffiti those motherf*ckers' cars."



"F*ck yes! You know what? I can do one better. I know where those little bitches live. We can go--" Jerica tried to stand up, but her feet somehow got wrapped up in each other. She staggered to the side, then over-corrected and stumbled back towards Mel.

"Go..." She swayed. This seemed like a vaguely bad idea. "That sounds like a lotta work. But tomorrow? You better BELIEVE..." Jerica nodded earnestly, deciding that was a good place to end the sentence.



"I gotchu!" Mel said as she got up at the same time and wrapped her arm around her shoulders to keep her in place. It was a tad difficult since she was a bit taller than her and she wasn't completely sober herself, but it seemed to help.

"Here, put your number in my phone," she said as she took it out of her pocket and opened up a new contact to hand to her. "I'll text you tomorrow. You best believe these bitches are getting revenge."



"F*ck yes!" Jerica took the phone, then stared at it for a long moment. Her brain felt like it was hitting a wall. Like she kind of knew what it was that she was trying to remember, but also didn't have any idea how to retrieve it. She looked back at Mel, surprisingly okay with this arrangement of them standing with their arms wrapped around each other. "Bro, I straight up don't remember."



Mel laughed then took the phone back to put in her pocket. "That's totally okay, b. Give me your phone instead, drunkie."



"No you," Jerica answered playfully. She patted her jeans, then realized she didn't have the foggiest idea where her own phone was. Prolly should find that. She pulled away from Mel's arms and turned back towards the couch.

Still didn't know where it was.

She bent down to feel between the cushions, then sank down to her knees since that seemed easier just then. She put her left hand down on the ground to stabilize herself and felt... something. It was worth a shot.

She fumbled under the couch for a moment and then pulled her phone out. She wiped the dust off it and stared at it for it to unlock, then pitched it at Mel. "Here!"



Jerica had given Mel an unlocked phone, but Mel couldn't find the contacts app, and her brain froze, not remembering how else to bring it up.

"I'm just going to text myself and we'll figure this out later," she said as she pulled up the messaging up and then sent herself the following texts from Jerica's phone:



"Here ya go," she said when finished, handing it back to her. "Plenty of reminders, I think. We'll for sure remember."



"For sure, for sure," Jerica repeated. She glanced around and realized there were still cups set up for beer pong. She smirked and turned back to Mel. "Wanna kick Rek's ass in some pong?"



"Hell yeah!" Mel said, although she had no idea who Rek was. "Same team?"



"Obvs!" She turned towards Rek and shouted maybe-a-bit-too-aggressively (since he was just a few feet away on one of the other couches) "REK! REEEEEEEK! Come get wrek'd"

He sighed so loudly they could hear him over the music. "It's getting old, Jer."

"I know you are, but what am I?" She taunted as he groaned and turned towards her.

"What do you want?"

"To kick your ass, duh." She gestured at the table, then back at his group. "Come on. Let's gooooo."



"Heeey Rek," Mel said, giving him a playful poke and a smile. "Any friend of Jer's is a friend of mine. Let's go play pong!"

The three of them went over to the table and reset the cups so that they formed a pyramid formation on both sides. There was already water in the cup (because who the hell drinks the nasty ass beer with nasty ass ping pong ball germs?), but the three of them were stocked with a fresh beer. There was a thought in the back of Mel's mind that maybe Jerica shouldn't be drinking some more, but it was a night of fun, and a new friend. Who was she to judge?

"Rek, why don't you go first? That way we don't feel as bad when we take you down next."



"Dear gods, there's two of you now," Rek muttered, cracking open a fresh beer. He rolled his eyes but was smiling as he turned back towards the couch. "THADDEUS! Come help me beat up some girls!"

He turned back towards the table, then hesitated. "Wait, who even are you?"



"Some girls," Mel sarcastically mumbled and rolled her eyes at Rek. The smile didn't leave her lips, though. "Name's Mel. Elias's girl, who's actually friends with Carter. Who do you know here?"

Mel had gone to too many frat parties, and the question of 'who do you know here?' seemed to resonate in her head, even if that wasn't what Rek was asking.



"Oh, we don't have to know anyone for Jer to invite herself to parties." Rek hooked his arm around Jerica's shoulders. "I'm just glad this one ended with drinking instead of fighting."

"Still time for that," Jerica muttered, shrugging his arm off. She turned towards Mel and went "And I know.... people. Obviously."



"I mean, you're in the football team," Mel said with a laugh. "I'd be surprised if you didn't invite yourself."

She could see Thad walking over to join them, and she gave him a little wave. He seemed to grimace and recoil when he saw her. Ah, the joys of only being friends with people because Elias was friends with them. If only Elias knew how much she disliked some of these people.

"How do you two know each other anyways?" she asked absently to Jerica and Rek.



"Rek had the delightful misfortune--" Jerica wrapped both of her arms around him, setting her chin on his shoulder.

"Stop it," he grumbled, trying to pull away.

"Of being born to my father's brother."

"And been regretting it ever since," he muttered, elbowing her to get away and take another drink of his beer. He looked at Mel flatly. "'Til death do us part."



Born to her father's brother...



It took way too long for Mel to realize what this meant. "Ohhhhhhh," she finally said when it hit her. "You both are cousins."



"Good work, detective." Jer pattted Mel's back. "Nothing gets past you, huh?"

She laughed and picked up the pingpong balls and threw them at Thad as he approached. "You're up, boo."

Thad, of course, effortlessly caught the balls. He handed one to Rek. "Well, we have no choice but to win, so don't make me look bad," he said, and then threw the first shot. It landed right in the middle.

Rek dramatically pushed up the long sleeve of Bo's hoodie and threw his ball. It didn't even come close. He snorted and muttered to his beer. "I'd have made it without this weighing me down."



Mel took the liberty to get the ball Thad threw into the cup and then moved it to the side. She closed one eye and then tossed the ball, watching as it lined the rim of a back cup and then went in.

"I can't believe we're only talking now," she said to Jerica as she got ready to shoot her shot. "I mean, we've been here for hours, I think, right?"



"I mean, I am rather popular." Jerica dramatically puffed up her chest and winked at Mel, then deflated as she started laughing. "Jk, I been balancing not-getting-my-ass-kicked with figuring-out-whose-ass-I-need-to-beat, but he won't tell me who the bitch was."



This shouldn't have been as difficult as the whole roundabout way of saying cousin, but Mel felt like she was missing something here.

"Whose ass now? Beating who?" she asked cluelessly. "J.R.? 'Cause we're doing that tomorrow."



"No, no, J.R.'s--" She waved her hand, and then hesitated as she glanced at Thad. She made eye contact for a moment. "... he is a little bitch."

He only laughed.

Jerica flashed a grin at him, then turned back towards Mel. "But the real problem here is that ho that attacked Rek. He offered her a piano lesson and the bitch started ripping his shirt off, all outta nowhere. He's too nice to punch a bitch in the face but I'm not. Allllll I need is a name and she dead bitch-meat."



The rhythm of throwing the ping pong balls and moving the cups continued as they were just about tied still.

"Oh my god, what the hell?" Mel said with disgust to Jerica. "Like, she takes his shirt off in the middle of the lesson? That's straight up sexual harassment? Like? Aw. Poor guy..." Her face then scrunched up. "Yeah, what a bitch. Let me know if you ever find out who it is. You know I gotchu."



"That's what I'm saying!" Jerica agreed enthusiastically. "It's not okay. You know what's up."

"Jer..." Rek sighed.

"It is not okay." She looked back at Mel. "Bitch didn't even want a lesson. She straight up went into his apartment just to attack him."

She lazily tossed a ball into the cup at the point.

"But yeah, it's a date, girlfrann." Jerica took a drink of her beer and turned back towards Mel. "1) Haze the hazers, 2) Beat the bitch."



"Man, this bitch thirsty as hell," Mel said with a roll of her eyes, then clinked her beer with Jerica's even though no balls landed in their cups at the moment.

"Let's do it. I got your backs, and Rek's."

She took a swig of the beer, and for the rest of the party, Mel found Jerica to be her new BFF.

The party was still going strong after they returned with the chicken nuggets and actual pet chicken, but Daniel was starting to get a little restless. There wasn't nearly as much Mario Kart playing as he had assumed there would be. And while parties weren't exactly bad, Daniel always felt weirdly out-of-place in them. He hadn't ever been able to figure out why.

"I'm going to head back to my room now," he said to Elias, giving him and nugget a wave. "See you around campus!"

Then he was gone, heading out of the room and back towards his own. When he got back to the suite, he was surprised to find Benji sitting in the little living room of their suite. He had his backpack on the ground next to him; he must have only just gotten back from wherever he had been going earlier. He even had his headphones on again.

Daniel plopped himself down on the other end of the couch.

Benji suddenly spun around to face him, eyes wide. He pushed his headphones back and stared at Daniel like he had just seen a ghost.

"I-I didn't hear you come in," Benji said, sounding more than a little flustered.

Daniel leaned back against the couch's arm. "You had your headphones on."

"I should have heard you," Benji insisted. "You were right there."

Daniel didn't exactly see why Benji was so concerned, but he also wasn't going to dismiss it. He shrugged and looked Benji over again, trying to figure out why this was bothering him so much. "I've always been good at sneaking around - I never wanted to wake my family up growing up, and my siblings are light sleepers."

Benji's shoulders relaxed a little. "You have siblings?"

Daniel nodded. "Twelve of them."

"You're kidding."

Daniel shook his head. "I'm telling the truth. There's the twins, the triplets, the adopted trio, everyone else, and then me. I'm the youngest - and the one named after one of our parents."

Benji scanned his face; Daniel was sure he was trying to tell if he really was telling the truth. He knew Benji didn't like him that much, but he wasn't lying. He really did have twelve siblings. Everyone was just spaced out.

"...I'm an only child," Benji finally said.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Sounds lonely."

Benji gave a tiny smile. "Twelve siblings sounds overwhelming."

"You're not wrong about that," Daniel agreed. Grinning, he turned his attention to the TV. The party was still raging on elsewhere in the dorm. If Benji had been sensitive enough to normally pick up on footsteps on carpet when wearing what had to be noise-cancelling headphones, then the party's noise must have been bothering him.

He grabbed the remote and turned on Netflix. Thankfully, he already set it up yesterday.

"Want to watch some TV?" he asked. "I was thinking of watching Supernatural."

There was a long, drawn out moment of silence. Maybe whatever Daniel thought they were starting to have wasn't really there - maybe Benji was going to get up and head back to his room, after all.

"...Sure," Benji finally said.

Daniel couldn't hide his smile as he started the first episode. It wasn't long before the the party was forgotten - and before the two of them were both comfortably laying on the couch.

James had been reading for a while. Maybe 45 minutes passed, which was more than enough time to read everything twice-over to make sure he actually remembered it. He was lingering on the last page, skimming over the next sections he knew he'd probably have to read in the future when he saw the woman on the other end of the bench pack up and then bury her face in her hands. He sat for a moment, lowering his book into his lap and glancing at her, and at people passing by.

"Everything alright?" he asked.



At first, Evaline didn't move or say anything, assuming that the question came from a person passing by to get to the apartment. But she didn't hear anyone respond, and it sounded like it came directly from her left.

Hesitantly, she dropped her hands and looked over, noticing a sharply-dressed man her age sitting on the other side of the bench looking right at her with concern. She had no idea how long he may have been sitting there, but he had a book on his lap. She'd like to think it wasn't long, but she wasn't going to test that theory.

"Yeah," she said airily, staring back ahead and slumping back. "Just been a weird day."



James nodded slowly in understanding, raising his eyebrows a little.

"I feel you there," he said wearily. "I don't suppose you've ever had a professor offer you a tub of lukewarm spaghetti, have you?"



Evaline couldn't help but give him a strange look. "Is that supposed to be the beginning of a joke?" she asked.



"Trust me. I wish it was," he said with a tired sort of laugh. He shook his head and closed the book in his lap. "Hopefully your day has been less weird than mine."



Evaline thought about commenting that their days were two different kinds of weirds, but she didn't really want to get into that, especially with a stranger. She had enough judgement for one day.

"I don't think there's anything I can say that can top that," she said with a wry laugh. "It doesn't even sound believable."



"I think the weirdest part of it all was how casual he was about it. Like, that was normal for him," James said. "And I've only had one class with him so far. I'm not sure what to expect for the rest of the semester."



Evaline pursed her lips and hummed this thought over, then looked back at him with a raised brow. "Did you eat it?" she asked.



"Oh, god, no," James scoffed. "Especially not after he --" James sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't even know what was going through his head. Probably nothing. I guess that's what I should expect from a philosophy teacher. Oh well. Anyways."

He let out another sigh and looked at Evaline. "Sorry. I never asked your name. I'm James."



There was something strangely comforting about talking about something so random and trivial to a stranger. It was even more amusing to consider that this random conversation was about a philosophy professor offering suspcious spaghetti.

"I'm Evaline," she said after a hesitation. "Also, there's something suspicious about offering spaghetti in an undisclosed tub to a new student. It's a good thing you didn't eat it."

It seemed like it'd be poisonous, honestly.



"Especially after he put a bottle of scotch on the table," James said. "Honestly, I thought the spaghetti might be spiked, but my more immediate concerns were: how, where, and when did he get it? Because he left his office for, I don't know, only fifteen minutes?"



"This might sound weird," she said slowly, "but I think your professor prepared for this moment before you even arrived at his office."



"I wouldn't be surprised," James said. "But I think I'm still justifiably weirded out."



"Rightly so," Evaline said with an amused smile. "Are all the professors here like this?"



James laughed and shook his head, leaning forward to open his backpack and slip his book back in.

"I'm glad they're not, it's just this one," he said, but hesitated. "And... maybe my english professor. They were both there. He seemed more like a netural observer. I don't think he really cared about what Lordshire was doing. He said a few things at first but Lordshire didn't really listen. But it looks like they're friends, so, I'll probably be seeing both of them around."



"It sounds like you'll have an interesting year," Evaline said, noting that he put his book away. "Speaking of which, didn't school start today? Do you already have homework?"

If his professors were strange in person, she couldn't imagine what kind of future assignments they'd give him... especially on the first day of school.



James zipped up his backpack and sat back up, resting his elbow on the armrest of the bench.

"I did get one assignment from one of my history classes, but I also like to get ahead. I also work part-time so I prefer to get things out of the way as soon as possible. Especially when it's just things like reading or discussion questions."



"I can understand that," she said with a small nod. "Were you reading a history book?"



"Yeah," he said. "It's about Soviet Russia and the Russian Revolution." He glanced at her bag. "What were you working on?"



Evaline glossed over his question and thought back to her time in undergrad.

"Soviet Russia," she repeated. "That was the era of Socialist Realism and Nonconformist Art. Not much was known about it at the time since exhibitions were private and many art works were destroyed, but it was interesting to learn about it once the Soviet Union fell."

She paused, realizing she just said some random facts out loud that he probably didn't care about.

"Sorry," she said softly. "I've taken some art history classes. Just some random stuff I remember."



James was actually interested in what she was saying, and he was nodding as she spoke.

"I've read a little bit on art history myself in some of my classes. I find it interesting how we've pieced things together after so much was lost. I assume you learned about how many art pieces were stolen in World War II... have you seen the movie about the Klimt piece? Woman in Gold. It was about Maria Altmann taking on the Austrian government to get back the artwork that belonged to her family..."

The conversation evolved over the next ten minutes. They talked about Woman in Gold and other art pieces that were stolen and recovered from the second world war. Evaline asked him about his favorite time in history to study, and he started rambling about world politics and eventually landed on the Roman Empire, and Evaline began to interject with facts about art from that period.

He ended up asking her what periods of art history interested her the most, and she went into detail about the Impressionist period. She had great respect for Monet and his use of color, but also loved how artists were able to depict people in the Renaissance painting period with so little resources. He found it fascinating, and listened intently. Eventually she started talking about the modern age of art and how it'd evolved into the digital age. At that point, he'd already deduced she was some sort of art major, as he'd seen her drawing on her tablet earlier.



By the time she landed on the conversation of modern and digital art, Evaline found herself inspired to change things up and offer him a digital drawing. She hadn't ever offered it to anyone before for various reasons -- namely, it was hard to distribute, and she wasn't as great with it as the others in her university. But her pen was dead, so there was no reason to even offer.

And then she thought about taking out her sketchbook instead, but she knew how well that went last time. She sighed, but still smiled, knowing that James probably appreciated this conversation as much as she did.

"Speaking of which, I am an art major," she said, deciding it wouldn't hurt to turn the topic back to themselves.



"I had suspected that," James said with a small grin and a shrug. "Art history. Art major."



She shook her head, finding the beginnings of a smirk tug her lips. "Not art history. I just took some classes." She paused, wondering if she should admit it or let him deduce these things himself. "You seem pretty good at hypothesizing these things. Any guesses on my major and year?"



James hummed in thought, leaning back into the bench and putting his arm over the back of it. "Fine arts major. Senior year?"



Evaline nodded in amusement, leaning back against the chair and crossing her arms in thought. "Almost. Fine arts, yes, but I finished undergrad last spring. I start my Master's in a few weeks."

If he hadn't by now, he probably figured that she wasn't a student at HPU.

"What about you?" she asked.



"I'm double majoring in History and English," he said. "And I'm a Senior. But I'm a little confused. It doesn't sound like you go here. What school do you go to?"



"You'd be right. I go to Prestige University," she answered.



Prestige was in the city, and it wasn't too close.

"That's like, what, four hours away?" James asked. "What are you visiting HPU for?"



"Five if you're stuck in traffic," she said wearily, remembering her commute today. "The university is in the quarter system, so I have a few more weeks until school starts. I'm here visiting a few friends."

Well, one, really. Still, neither of them were here with her, so that was ironic.



James glanced up at the building, noting that the party in his apartment was still going. He could see Carter and one of the girls out on the porch as distant silhouetted. James decided not to let his gaze linger. The last thing he wanted was Carter shouting him down from three stories up.

He pointed at the building with his thumb.

"Do they live in the plaza?"



Evaline nodded, her gaze going back to the building as she realized for the first time that the apartment complex was called High Point Plaza.

"One of them does, yes," she said, sighing. She figured James was smart enough to figure out her situation when she said she was here to visit a friend but that friend wasn't here with her.



"Do you need to get in the building to meet up with them?" he asked. "I live here, so I can let you in if you need."



"I appreciate it," Evaline said, shooting him a forced appreciative smile. "But I'm okay for now." She looked up as her eyes drifted to the apartment she was just at.

"They're having a party, and I wanted to get away from the noise for a bit. Turns out, it doesn't go away, even when you're outside."



James stared at Evaline for a moment, blinking slowly.

Please. For the love of all things sane, let her not be friends with Carter. I will literally lose it.

"Small world," James said with a small sigh. "That's the same reason I haven't gone inside yet either. Unfortunately, I live in that apartment. I left hours ago, and, well..."

He glanced back at the porch. He thought he saw Carter wave. He looked away quickly, ignoring him.

"I'm not looking forward to going back in anytime soon."



It took a moment for James's words to sink in. So, he lived there. Evaline actually had no clue who did, but she figured they were a bunch of rowdy party people, not someone like James. He didn't seem to enjoy living there, though. But it wasn't really in her place to pry.

"Seems that we have mutual friends," she mused out loud, but she couldn't imagine who it could be, nor did she want to guess. She only knew Mel, Elias, and Rek, and she hoped to god it wasn't Rek.

"I'm sorry you have to live in a loud place. That can't be easy, especially if this happens often."



James shrugged. "It's not always this bad," he said. "I'm not home often, anyways. I've kind of just gotten used to doing homework in the library, or coffeeshops, or anywhere else, basically."



"I'm the same way," she said. "I think it's easier to focus on work when you're in a distraction-free environment. Although, I'm usually in the art studio instead." She tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. "Sometimes too long. There have been many nights where I found myself waking up in time for the 8AM class to walk in."



"Oh, wow," James said with a look of concern. "Are your classes always that demanding?"



"It depends on how you define demanding. It's more time-consuming than anything. Professors expect us to complete a detailed painting in less than a week, and that's only one class out of several. As if it didn't take months and even years for great artists in the past to finish a painting..." She sighed.

"I do admit I'm a little nervous for the upcoming school year. And right now I might have also taken a page out of your book, trying to work ahead so that it wouldn't be as stressful."



James nodded slowly. "That's the only way I'm surviving a double-major, really. I try to get ahead whenever I can so last-minute assignments and projects don't do me in. I even listen to audio books for my classes when I work, sometimes. On really busy days."

He paused, and offered Evaline a look of sympathy.

"I hope your next year isn't too draining. School can be great because you get to learn about what you love, but I know it can also be a recipe for burnout. I've found it hard to balance things sometimes."



Evaline found herself watching James as he talked, and she didn't have to look up at the sky line to notice that golden hour was approaching. The setting sun seemed to make his hair a little more red than brown.

She did appreciate his words. It was just kind of ironic that she was hearing this now rather than a year or even months beforehand so she didn't have to figure this out herself.

"Thanks," she said, tearing her gaze away. "I appreciate that. I hope that you'll be able to balance your final year too. I know the last year is always the hardest."



"So I hear," James said with a nod.

He paused, glancing down at his watch to check the time. It was 6:15pm. And the party was still going strong. Though he defintely didn't regret not eating Lordshire's spaghetti offering, he was starting to get hungry. He hadn't eaten since... noon? Chick-fil-a with Jerica. The single sandwich wasn't exactly holding up after six hours.

"Have you eaten?" he asked.



Evaline glanced back at him.

"I haven't," she simply said, but that was an understatement. She was actually really hungry. She hadn't eaten anything since morning.



"Neither have I," he said. "Normally, I might try to sneak back into my apartment and weave through whatever the hell is going on in there to the fridge, but I honestly don't feel like dealing with that right now. I'm probably going to get something to eat. If you're not waiting on your friend do you want to come?"



This time, Evaline wasn't going to assume that there were more implications to his words than she thought. This sounded like a thinly-disguised way of asking her on a dinner date, but she didn't want to assume that. Really, she'd rather not assume that at all and would rather believe that they had mutual interest in getting food.

Although, there was a reason she didn't frequently go to restaurants with other people, and it wasn't because she didn't want to go on dates.

"It's probably best if I don't," she said slowly, wondering how to say the next part without sounding brash, but there was really no way to dance around it. "I'm vegan, and I know it can be difficult to plan around that."



"Oh," James said, pulling out his phone. "That's fine. I'm not picky. I don't eat out much, but I think there's a local soup and salad place not too far from here. That should be vegan friendly."

He started searching it up on his maps app, and from the website he found, it looked like it took reservations. It was a small shop, but he'd heard good things about it in passing.

"Let me call them real quick," he said, pressing the number on the site. He waited for them to pick up and asked if they had any tables available. They did, but the wait time was 30 minutes. He double-checked if they had vegan friendly meals, and they said yes to that too.

"Cool, thanks," was the last thing he said as he hung up after making the reservation.

"Looks like they're a little busy but they said they'll have a table open in 30 minutes. You think you can wait that long?"



"That's no problem," Evaline said, admiring just how well he was handling this. She wondered if this was something he did often. It sure seemed like it.

"Thanks for, um... setting that up," she said with a nervous laugh. It couldn't be her. She honestly disliked talking to anyone on the phone.

She unfolded her arms and her hand naturally landed on the bag next to her, and suddenly she had an idea. It wasn't much, and she wasn't going to make anything out of it, but she figured he would appreciate it.

"Since we have thirty minutes, I want to give you a gift," she said as she pulled out her sketch pad and favorite pencil. "Just a little something for making my day a little less weird."

She turned to a new page and then looked over at James. Normally she'd offer to draw him, but after the events of the party, she was hesitant to offer. She wasn't even sure she wanted to draw him anyways.

"I, um, can sketch any person you want," she said instead. "I'll just need a reference picture. And it's also really not a bother to me. I think it's good practice to draw people I don't know, anyways."



James hummed in thought. "Anyone, huh," he said, looking up for a moment as he mulled it over. Then he looked at his phone again and quickly flipped open his photos app. He had family photos in a folder, so it was easy to find. He picked a photo of his sister. It was a the most recent one he had from when he'd last gone home to visit her. She was sitting on a wooden fence and laughing.

"Here," he said, handing her the phone. "It's my little sister."



Evaline took the phone and held it in front of her to observe for a moment. James didn't have to mention that the girl in the picture was his sister; they looked similar enough that it was an easy guess. Her long auburn hair cascaded past her shoulders towards her hips, and she was laughing. She had sharp features just like James, but she could still tell she was a few years younger. Maybe starting college, or just ending high school.

"Alright," she said as she set the phone beside her. "I won't rush this since we have some time."

It wasn't like they had a table, so she criss-crossed her legs on the bench, setting the phone down on one knee and the sketchpad on the other.

As soon as she started to draw the first light lines of her face, his phone started to buzz like crazy. Evaline didn't mean to, but it was a habit to see what notification she had when she felt a vibration. She looked down and saw the header of the text.

Elias

(picture)

(picture)

(picture)

ur not answering so does this mean ur on the library toilet

i need picture proof that it's made out of books

pics or it didn't happen

Evaline knew that Elias was a speed texter, so they came one after another rapid-fire without pause. For a second, her mind was frazzled and she thought this was her phone with Elias sending her random nonsense, but then the notification banner popped up with a name she didn't recognize.

Carter

👀

👁👄👁

👁👁

you're really missing out

someone went in your room

im not stopping them

also someone threw up in the toilet

its ok tho we have air freshener

also i heard about the chickfila

i see you good samaritan-ing in your dumpy car

Evaline didn't mean to violate James's privacy, but in the moment of confusion, her eyes read faster than her brain could process. Thank goodness she didn't accidentally read something private, although some of these messages seemed concerning.

"Um," she began, picking up his buzzing phone. "Do you mind if I just... text myself the picture? Seems you're really popular."

She nervously smiled at him, but she was still trying to process the fact that... James? And Elias? Knew each other? How? Maybe it was a different Elias?



"Oh? I'm sorry," James said, leaning forward to get a look at his phone. "That's - you can just ignore them. Sure. You can text it to yourself."



Wordlessly, she touched the share button and then typed in her number to send as a text.

"Here," she said handing the phone back as she felt her phone vibrate in her bag. "Sorry for... accidentally reading some of that. It came up as a notification banner."



James took his phone and looked down at the messages popping up from Elias and Carter. He opened the ones from Elias, skimming over the memes and bathroom humor.

"Don't worry about it," he told Evaline. "It's nothing serious..."

Elias, the day I send you a picture of my refuse I will personally cease to exist

And send.

He opened up Carter's string of messages, and his brows furrowed together.

Tell whoever's in my room to get out and stop spamming me.

"Just Elias," he muttered. "And my roommate."

He turned on "do not disturb" and pocketed his phone away.

Evaline unlocked her phone, grimacing at the slew of messages she had ignored from Mel and Elias. The 'do not disturb' setting was a gift and a curse sometimes since she could ignore the stress of people but also accidentally miss out on important notifications.

She quickly sent Mel a message, figuring that if she responded to Elias, he wouldn't stop texting her.

Hey. Just letting you know that I'm okay. Hope you're okay, though. Just let me know when you're leaving.

Evaline then opened up the message from the unknown number -- James -- and brought the picture to full screen. She glanced back and forth between the picture and the sketchpad, continuing on with the outline.

"It's funny, because I know an Elias who would text like that." She paused, looking at James at the corner of her eyes. "...The Elias you know wouldn't also be at your apartment, would he?"



"He is," James said. "He's friends with my roommate Carter, and I know him by association. I tutored him last year for a psychology class."



Evaline stopped for a moment and turned her head to give James a long look.

"That's funny, because I tutored him too," she said, giving him a forced, strained smile. "In high school." She sighed. "It really is a small world."



James blinked slowly.

"Huh... yeah," he hummed. He paused for a moment, glancing down at her sketchbook and her progress.

"Sorry if you met Carter," he said. "He's..."

He squinted and pursed his lips, deciding not to finish that sentence.

"Is Elias the one you're here to see?"



"I haven't met Carter," Evaline said as she shifted her focus back to drawing. "But it sounds like I shouldn't, so I'll keep it at that."

She noted that James switched the topic, so she left it at that.

"And no, I'm here to visit his girlfriend, actually. Mel. Not sure if you met her either. But I guess seeing Elias is a plus. Unavoidable, really."



"I've seen her in passing, I think. And he's mentioned her a few times. But nothing substantial," he answered.



"That sounds about right," she said, only letting the conversation be a gentle distraction. "They've been dating a long time, but on and off. I don't think they're really serious, or ever will be."

She paused, realizing she was gossiping about her two friends.

"Sorry," she quickly added. "That's just the cynic in me. Obviously I wish them the best."



James shrugged. "They seem happy when they're together," he said casually, deciding to leave it at that. He didn't have anything to contribute, really.

"How long are you in town, then?"



"A week," Evaline said, glad he switched the subject. "Maybe two. I don't know. I've already moved into my studio earlier this summer. It just depends on when I need time alone so I can get some things done. And when my friends get sick of me, I guess."

That was supposed to be a joke, but when focusing, she could hardly expend the extra energy to be expressive.



James wanted to say that it seemed more likely for it to be the opposite, but he held his tongue. He didn't know her that well, and his opinions of Elias might not have been the same as hers.

"Well, I hope the rest of your time isn't as weird as today," he said. "Though I can't promise Carter won't throw more parties, I can't imagine Elias and Mel will want to go to all of them. Hopefully you'll just get to relax before you go home."



"Hopefully," she echoed softly. It was a nice thought. And she knew that Mel and Elias would spend quality time with her. She wouldn't be surprised if they surprised her with something tomorrow because they probably felt bad for dragging her into this and noticing she disappeared. But she didn't really want to get into the long history of the strange friendship dynamic they all shared.

"It definitely has been a weird day," she said slowly. "But like I said, thanks for making it slightly less weird. I hope no more professors offer you spaghetti."



James chuckled. "Me too."



A small bout of silence passed, and James seemed to let the conversation naturally die out, while not moving to a different topic.

"What's your sister's name?" Evaline asked, because she knew that people always assumed that she needed silence to work. Not true. She quite enjoyed having conversations when working, especially when she was drawing a memory.



"Larrel," James answered. "I'll probably take a picture of your drawing and text it to her when you're done."



"That's sweet," she said as she finished up a loose outline. Now to sketch it in a little darker and then work on her face. "I'll do my best to make it look good."

She paused, finally realizing the implication of his statement.

"I assume you both are close?"



"Yeah," he said with a small smile. "We're very close."



"I can tell." She paused to admire the picture again. "Well, when you do text this to her, tell her I think she's very pretty."



James laughed lightly. "I'll tell her," he said. "I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

He paused, then asked: "Do you have any siblings?"



"No siblings," Evaline answered. "Unless you count Elias as the annoying brother who won't leave you alone."



"He does fill that role quite well," James mused. "Like he was born for it. Endearing, and buzzing with energy."



The next twenty minutes seemed to fly by as Evaline continued to draw and chat with James. The topic naturally landed on Elias, and Evaline, of course, shared some dumb funny moments from their childhood. She was pleasantly surprised to hear from James that Elias had some of the same dumb moments even as an adult in college. He even showed her some of their texts to prove that he brought a chicken to class. The conversation then evolved into the classes they were taking this semester, and James continued to express his concerns with his professors Lordshire and Morrigan. Apparently, he was doing TA work and had committed to doing it.

"That seems really concerning," Evaline said as she was drawing the finishing touches on Larrel's sketch. Mostly shading, trying to bring her sketch to life. "It's basically blackmail."

"...You have a point," James said stiffly.

"You know you can report him, right? Every university should have a dean for academic affairs."

"Lordshire is a dean," James said. As he spoke he glanced down at his wrist, looking at his watch.

"Oh..." Evaline said, furrowing her brows. "Maybe the president, then? No professor or dean has that much power."

"I'll look into it," James said, looking up at her. "Also, we should probably get going. We've got about ten minutes, and unless I drive it'll take us about that much time to walk there."

She put her pencil down and looked up at the sky. It was golden hour now, and the day was perfect. Not too hot, but not too cold either.

"Let's walk," she said, shooting him a smile. "It's a beautiful day. But also..."

She spent a couple seconds to fill in Larrel's eyes just right and then quickly penciled in her signature cursive "eve" in a corner.

"I'm done. And you can look at it while we walk." She flashed him another small smile as he took the sketchpad and then got up on her feet, slinging her bag across her shoulder. He did the same, adjusting his backpack on his back before turning down the sidewalk with the drawing in his hands.

"This is really good," he said as he looked it over. "Are people what you draw most often?"

"Almost always, yes," Evaline said as she walked by his side. "For fun, anyways. I usually have to draw other stills for classes, but I've always found people to be the most enamoring subjects. Each person has a unique face, but they also have a unique personality and story, so each drawing is different."

James nodded, still looking at the drawing for a moment before he turned his gaze ahead of them to look where he was going.

Eventually, the conversation landed back to school. Namely, what they did outside of classes. James admitted he was too busy, and Evaline did too. She barely had time to sleep, nevertheless participate in anything recreationally. Although, she did miss cross country and would sometimes run a 5K if there was one available. On the other hand, she learned that James spent a lot of time in his part-time job that was a bit of a drive away. He worked with horses and farm animals, which Evaline knew nothing about, so she found his stories interesting. She commented that she was more of a city girl and had never stepped foot on a farm, and so the conversation then turned to the cities they lived in. Evaline was glad to talk about her time living in LA as an an undergraduate, and how she was looking forward to living in Springfield City while attending Prestige. On the other hand, James seemed to enjoy the quiet life of where he was at now. He also didn't seem to mind HPU despite its quirks.

They were rounding the corner to the restaurant now, passing by other local restaurants on the way.

"You know, HPU isn't all bad," James said. "I'm just the one lucky outlier with a fratboy roommate and a weird professor."

"I'll keep that in mind," Evaline said with a small laugh. "Also, I think I mentioned this to you already, but I'll be taking a traveling studio class. Basically means other universities and cities outsource aspiring artists to do free art for them. That's another reason why I came here, actually. Surprise, surprise - HPU is my sponsor. I hope that I don't have to cross paths with your professors, though."

James looked over to her with his eyebrows raised and nodded slowly.

"I see, I see," he hummed. "So you'll be here and back again."

"That's right," she said back, but didn't have time to elaborate.

A waiter had approached them as she stopped in front of the restaurant, and they verified their reservation.

"Inside or outside?" the waiter asked as he got two menus out.

Evaline looked over at James. "Outside okay?"

"Sure," James said.

"Outside it is," the waiter said with a smile. "Follow me to your table."



They followed the waiter and sat down close to a tree with hanging lights. It wasn't quite dark yet, but dusk was creeping on them, so it would be soon. The waiter placed a menu in front of them and before leaving to come back later.

"This is a pretty nice place," Evaline commented, opening the menu but being distracted by the decor of the restaurant. "Have you been here before?"

James took the menu in his hands but looked up, scanning the trees and lights around them.

"I haven't," he said. "I've only heard about it. And walked by it several times. It was just the first vegan friendly place that came to mind."

Evaline noticed that he seemed to overly-justify why he picked this place, but she didn't think anything of it.

"I can see why they take reservations," she thought out loud, then started to read the menu. There was a vegan portion, which she appreciated. James seemed to do the same, and for at least a minute they were silent as they seemed to mull over their options.

"See anything you want?" James asked after their bout of silence.

Evaline pursed her lips in thought, deciding between two order. "I'm thinking of ordering a pasta, but it's usually hit or miss sometimes, so I'm still deciding. What about you?"

"The lasagna," he said with a small nod.

She closed the menu. "I think I'll play it safe and get the pesto cavatappi."

James nodded and scanned the tables around them again. It looked like he made eye contact with their waiter, and they came over. They quickly told the server their orders, and then they were left alone. Drinks (they'd both only ordered water) were on the way.

"So..." Evaline began, trying way too hard to not make this awkward. It was hard not to, even when she tried to repress the thought that James happened to pick an oddly intimate restaurant. "How late do you think your roommate is going to hold the party?"

James sighed and leaned forward on the table. "Considering I thought he would be done already, well..." he looked down at the candle and the other various table centerpieces. "I don't know. Maybe another hour or so. People hit a ceiling eventually with how much alcohol they can take, and it should die down eventually. I just don't know if I'll come home to a bunch of people passed out across the apartment or an empty apartment that's a mess."

"That sounds awful," she said with a grimace. "And it sounds like this isn't the first time. Does this happen often?"

James took a straw off the table and started playing with it, spinning it around his fingers. "Pretty regularly, yeah," he said. "Do you have roommates? Back at Prestige?"

Evaline noticed that he seemed eager to change the topic. Plus, she thought it was fairly obvious what the answer was since she mentioned living in a studio. She decided to not dwell on it though.

"I don't," she said. "I live in a studio by myself for now."

There were some implications to that sentence, but she didn't really want to get into it.

"Have you ever thought about getting your own place?" she asked instead. "Living by yourself would be worth it if it means you don't have to deal with the stress of your roommate."

James kept his eyes on the straw dancing between his fingers. "I've thought about it," he said slowly. "I just don't know that I could make it work financially."

Evaline looked down and nodded slowly. "I get that. Sorry you have to go through that. Seems tough."

"It works out well enough," James said with a little shrug. He looked like he was going to say something, but the server came by with two glasses of water, setting them down on the table. They also put a little bread basket in the center. Apparently, it was complimentary. The server gave them both two little plates and then departed.

"So what's your favorite thing to eat, then?" James asked, changing the subject again as he grabbed a small roll of bread. "As a vegan."

"Vegetables," she said with a repressed smirk as she reached in to grab a roll after James grabbed one. "But I guess, if I had to pick a less general answer, it'd be anything with garlic and basil." She tore off a piece to eat. "Like pesto."

He hummed, tearing off a piece of bread himself. "So, what you ordered, then," he said, plopping the bread in his mouth.

"Sometimes I like to play it safe with what I order," she said after swallowing. "What about you? I promise I won't judge if your favorite meal is steak."

James held back a laugh as he was still chewing, but he smiled after he swallowed. "Not steak," he said. "Lasagna. I also like to play it safe. Sometimes."

Evaline hummed this thought over while eating another bite. It was an amusing coincidence.

"Have you ever traveled anywhere?" she asked. "Outside the country? Tried new foods, went to new places?"

"Oh, of course. I'll try anything," James said, pointing at her with his bread. "I've actually studied German and Italian, and I got to go to both Germany and Italy two years back as part of a study abroad program. Very beautiful place, and I loved getting to actually speak the language. Forced me to grow, and stretched me. But in a good way."

Evaline nodded, a creeping smile tugging at her lips. She waited until he was done speaking before asking her next question.

"Sei stato a Firenze?" she asked.

James's eyebrows raised, and he tilted his head to the side with a slight smile.

"Sì. Sei stato lì?" he asked.

Evaline couldn't help but grin, even though she shook her head. "No," she said, falling back to English since she had a feeling James was more fluent than she was. "But I'd like to... Hopefully soon."

James nodded. "I'm sure you'd love it. Especially as a fine arts major and all. I can see it being inspiring."

"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "That's why I'd want to go. But to be honest, I'd rather visit London first." She shrugged, looking down. "Not to say I don't enjoy the fine arts. But I think I'd rather admire the future of art, rather than the past. If that makes sense."

"I can understand that," James said. "I've never been to London, but maybe someday." He looked down at his bread and took another bite.

Evaline paused, then sighed, letting out a wistful smile. "I'm hoping to live there someday. I mean, at least as a student, for now. I know I haven't even started at Prestige, but I'd like to transfer to the London School of Arts. If all goes well, it should work out."

"That sounds like it'd be a really cool opportunity," James said with a small smile. "I hope it works out."

At that moment, they saw the server walking up again with a tray carrying two plates. They brought over their food and set it down in front of them. Lasagna for James, and pesto cavatappi for Evaline. They thanked them and then were left alone again.

James let out a sigh of relief and looked down at the lasagna with happy but hungry eyes. "Finally," he said. "Food."

He didn't waste time picking up his fork and knife and digging in.

Evaline suppressed an amused smile, and she began eating too, but not quite with the same vigorous pace as James. For the remainder of the meal, they continued to chat about the places they wanted to go to, internationally and domestically. They seemed to share a lot of traveling interests, namely wanting to experience culture and seeing certain scenic landmarks. They also talked foods they'd want to try when traveling, of course, and that the meals they ordered was very good. When they were finishing eating (which was mostly Evaline at this point since James ate very quickly), she asked him for things to do around HPU and the city. James was happy to share many recommendations, including parks, other restaurants, an art gallery in the university, an interactive science museum, and a lake near where he worked. Before she could ask too many questions, the waiter came by to take their plates.

"Together or separate?" the waiter asked, stacking the plates.

"Separate," Evaline answered, but she looked up and noticed that James had said the same thing at the same time.

"Alright, I'll be back with the checks in a moment," the waiter said, drifting off with the plates.

Well, at least they were on the same page.

The chatter continued on for a little longer, and the two of them paid and then left the restaurant. Since they had to go in the same direction anyways, the two of them walked back where they came from, back to High Point Plaza, and James let her into the building.

"Do you know where to go?" he asked as they were nearing the three flights of stairs.

"Yeah," she said, remembering the placement of Elias's apartment. "I'm sure Elias is in his apartment right now, so I'll check there first."

They stopped in front of James's place, and the party was indeed over. At least, it seemed that way since music wasn't blasting through the door.

"Okay," James said, fishing out his keys. "It was nice hanging out with you. If you're ever around again and wanna stop by, let me know."

Evaline nodded, starting down the hallway. "Yeah. It was nice to meet you. Have a good night."

"You too."

And with that, they separated ways. She knocked on Elias's door on the other side of the hall, and she felt dread come up when no one answered. Finally, though, a tall man she vaguely recognized from the party answered. She thought he was his roommate at the party, but seeing him in the apartment only confirmed it.

"Oh! Evaline, right? You lookin' for Elias? I'm Bo, the roomie."

"Oh. Yeah, that's right." She peered past Bo. "Is Elias here? And Mel?"

Bo squinted his eyes and glanced behind him. "Well, yes. They're uh, both in his room. If you catch my drift."

Evaline let out the longest sigh. "Well. It'd be kind of weird to Uber back to Mel's place, with her keys, and without really knowing any of her roommates..." she thought out loud.

"If you want, the couch is up for grabs?" Bo said, opening the door a little more to show the couch behind him in the living room. "I can get you a blanket if you want."

Evaline shot him a weary smile. "That... if that's okay, that would be great. Thanks."

He showed her inside and got everything ready so she would be comfortable for the night. He seemed chipper and eager to talk to her even though she was tired and barely responding, but she appreciated his efforts anyways.

When she was left alone, she heard some random fluttering in a corner, and lo and behold, was the pet chicken Elias claimed he had, sitting in a pen.

It was a strange way to end a day that was uncomfortably weird at the beginning, okay in the middle, and frustratingly weird at the end.

James watched for a moment as Evaline walked down the hall, and then opened the door to his apartment, bracing himself for the worst. Immediately he was hit by the smell. The uncomfortably familiar after-party smell that reeked of booze and various foods. Pizza, breakfast, and something else that he could never pinpoint but he decided to label vomit, because that's how it made him feel.

He saw all of the empty cans and bottles littered across the floor. Paper plates, half-eaten muffins, pizza crusts, and everything else he didn't bother to identify in the shadows of the now dark apartment.



He walked in quietly, scanning the room not for trash, but for people. It looked like it was empty until he passed the large couch, where he saw Jerica passed out on her side, fast asleep.

Aside from Jerica, though, no other signs of life. Yet.

He poked his head in the kitchen. Messy, but empty. He started down the hall, looking into Carter's "game room." No one there, either. He pushed open the door to the bathroom. Pushed back the shower curtain. Checked the counter under the sink. Empty. He wasn't going to check Carter's room, and he didn't want to talk to Carter anyway. All that was left was his room, and the door was currently closed.

He took in a deep breath as Carter's text ran through his head. He was pretty positive Carter was just baiting him, but there was always a chance he was actually telling the truth. He opened his door and stepped in.

Carter was in his bed.

"Carter, what the hell?" He didn't bother being quiet.

He saw Carter roll over, but whatever he mumbled was unintelligible. James marched into his room, tossed his backpack into his desk chair, and came right up to the bed and ripped off the covers.

"Get out of my bed," James said loudly and cooly.

Carter rolled onto his back and looked up at James blearily.

"OOoooOoh, so you're finally mad," Carter drawled.

"Don't make me drag you out of here," James said, glaring at him.

"That shounds fun," Carter mumbled.

"Get out of my room," James said again. "Now."

Carter groaned as he rolled back over, ignoring him. That was it.

James grabbed Carter's shoulders and quickly pulled him onto the floor, not bothering to be gentle. That seemed to wake him up to a degree, because once he hit the floor he grabbed for James's legs seemingly on instinct. James saw it coming though and backed away before Carter could try to wrestle him to the ground.

Carter groaned and finally started to sit up, grabbing his head like he had a headache.

"You couldnjusht let me nap," Carter said, all his words slurred.

"In your own. Damn. Bed."

Carter looked up at James, like he was confused. Then he looked over to James's bed, and up at James again. He did it a few times, actually.

"...Oh."

"What do you mean oh?" James said, still glaring down at him.

"Wrong bed."

James clenched his fists at his sides, taking in a long, deep breath. Holding the tension and then releasing it. Then, he extended a hand to Carter to help him up.

Carter took it, but then tried to pull James to the ground. James had expected this as well, because it wasn't the first time. He'd already leaned back to leverage his weight against Carter and yanked harder, pulling Carter forward. Carter was persistent, though, and James was tired of it.

"I swear, you're like a child," James told him bitterly. Then he proceeded to literally drag Carter out of his room. Carter was still holding on with a stubborn grip until James stopped in the living room and Carter's head hit the foot of the couch.

"Ow," Carter muttered, finally letting go to rub his head.

"Yeah," James said. "Don't go in my room again. Not that you'll remember."

He then looked back over to the couch, at Jerica.



Jerica gasped, panic stabbing through her. She spluttered for a second, not quite sure what it was that woke her up. Or where she was. Or why she was here.

She pushed herself up on her hands, but her arms shook. She looked around with wide eyes and saw James... dragging...? Carter?

She looked at James guilty, getting a distinct feeling that he was probably still sober. Unlike her and Carter. She looked around, realizing that she was very late to the party. Then she looked down and realized there was a trash can knocked over by the couch, and suddenly remembered what she'd been doing. She looked back at James. "I was cleaning."



James let go of Carter's arm, watching it flop to the ground. He looked back up at Jerica with a weary expression.

"Don't worry about it," he said, sounding tired. "Just get home. You should go to bed."



"Oh, uh, yeah... yeah..." Jerica cleared her throat, sitting the rest of the way up. She blinked stupidly, wanting nothing more than to never move again in her entire life. She was too drunk to be woken up. Her gaze flicked down towards Carter, brain slowly registering what it was that was happening.

The dragging. The yelling.

Poor James was being left to babysit. He didn't deserve that. She couldn't quite remember how she knew who he was, but she had the distinct feeling of 'Nice' overwhelming her when she looked at him.

She pushed herself to her feet and started towards them, more-or-less stable. "I got this."



James watched Jerica stumble to her feet with his eyebrows pinched upwards.

"Jerica. Really. It's fine. You should go home. Do you need me to help you, or can you get there on your own?"



"I'm Gucci," she responded, stopping just in front of him. "And I don't mind. I'm usually the... drunk-person-mover." She puffed up a bit, dramatically flexing her arm. "Football player." She turned towards him with a grin. "But, like, really. I'm a... a self-sufficient drunk. I can deal with his drunk ass. Just go to bed. It's okay."



James appreciated the offer. He really did. But he just wanted the apartment empty. He wanted to be as alone as he could be, for a little while. He'd mentally prepared himself for this, and he wasn't ready to hand it over to someone else.

That, and he saw how Jerica wavered on her feet. She'd been through a lot in one day. She needed to just go home and get some sleep.

He sighed and reached out, patting Jerica's shoulder.

"Please, just go home," he said, meeting her eyes. "Thank you, but I can handle it."



Jerica nodded. She could understand that much.

"Alright." She leaned into James, not really sure if he was going for a hug or just patting her shoulder, but deciding she was gonna wrap her left arm around his back in a half-hug-compromise. She patted his chest with her right hand and looked up at him earnestly. "I'm sorry you're sober... this part of the party sucks sober. I think there's still some beers... somewhere... if you... want them?"



"I'll pass," James said, awkwardly patting Jerica on the back and hoping she would pull away soon. He didn't really... enjoy hugs much.

"Get some rest. It's been a long day."



Jerica wasn't so great at reading people when she was this drunk, but she could tell he was tense, and decided to pull away from him in case that's what was making him so tense. Some people didn't make new friends as easily as she did. And unlike that bitch, she didn't like making boys feel uncomfortable.

She took a step forward, but tripped. She wasn't actually quite sure what happened. But before she knew it she was sprawled across Carter. She rolled off him, onto her back on the floor. Getting up seemed like so much work.



James was fed up.

"Carter," he chided, annoyed. But he grabbed Carter anyway, wrapping his arms under Carter's arms and lifting him up off his feet, away from Jerica. He didn't feel like dealing with Carter wrestling anything within grasp, so he quickly heaved Carter over to the furthest end of the couch, threw him on it, and walked back over to Jerica. He offered Jerica a hand, hoping she wasn't like Carter.

"Sorry about him," he said, tired.

"I almosht had'em," Carter said from the couch.

James rolled his eyes.



Jerica put her hand on the edge of the couch, but couldn't actually find the energy to pull herself up. She looked up as J-- She blinked at him. Ja--ck? No. Joe? John? None of the names seemed to fit him right. Jim? It was definitely Jim.

Jim offered her a hand up. She groaned and reached for his hand, staggering to the side as she finally got up to her feet. Her mind belatedly processed what Carter said. And then even-more-belatedly realized that he'd meant to trip her.

"You ain't got shit." She stumbled towards him.



"Jerica -- don't," James said, grabbing her shoulder. "Go home."



She looked over her shoulder at J... she forgot again. Jared. At Jared.

"You hear this guy?" She asked, voice slurred. She turned back towards Carter. "I can take you, anytime. Anywhere. Name the place, pretty boy."



"OooOoh YeAh?" Carter started to sit up, but James grabbed Jerica by the hand and started to pull her towards the door.

"Nope. Not today," he said, walking hastily but steadily. "Come on, Jerica. You're going home. Your... cousin. Is waiting for you."

It was an uncertain lie. He didn't know. He just hoped it motivated her to leave.



"Rek's bitch ass prolly passed out two hours ago," Jerica muttered, waving her hand vaguely. She'd made sure he made it into the apartment. He was on his own after that. She glared at Carter, then looked back towards the boy dragging her, stumbling after him. "Wait! Waitwaitwait." She pulled on her arm, coming to a stop as she looked at him earnestly. "You can't just walk away from a challenge, J...ason."



James did not feel like having this conversation. His patience was wearing thin.

"Jerica. Please, just go. Home."



Jerica hesitated, looking at him. He seemed sad... or, at least, upset. She wanted to hug him for comfort, but had a vague feeling that she'd already tried that and it hadn't gone well. She took a deep breath then sighed, nodding.

"Alright, Jeremy. Just for you." She gave him a little smile, then sobered and looked at him seriously, vaguely gesturing behind her. "But I am gonna beat his lil bitch ass eventually."



James was standing by the door, and he opened it for her, grateful she'd agreed to go home, even if she couldn't remember his name.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Now go get some sleep."



"Okay." She patted his shoulder, looking up at him for a moment. She nodded once, certain. "You're good."



James looked back at her with a blank expression, blinking slowly.

"Thanks," he said in a neutral tone. He glanced out the door. She'd never really answered his earlier question. "Are you good to walk one door over?"



"You know it, boo," she answered, flashing another grin as she backed into the hall. She stumbled towards the right, looking around confused as things didn't look right. She'd never come from this room. But she saw the main door further down, which meant...

She slowly spun around, nodding with a stupid smile as she spotted Rek's door just ahead. She snapped with both hands and half-danced half-shuffled down the hall towards Rek's apartment. "Night-night, Jimmy!"



James waited until he saw Jerica enter her apartment before he turned back into his own. When he closed his door behind him, he let out a long, long sigh and leaned back on the front door, sliding down to the floor.

He looked across the room at Carter, who was fast asleep again on the couch.

He didn't feel like cleaning everything up, but it was better to do it now when Carter was asleep. With one last sigh he pushed himself up to his feet and worked quickly.

The next morning sucked.

Elias sighed as he checked the clock along the wall. 8:30AM. He had retired early from the party last night because the first week of school meant a screwy work schedule at Brewed Awakening, and unfortunately, he had to take the first shift because he had to train the freshman noobs. It was a bit annoying that he had to get to the godawful 5AM work shift when his first class was at 9AM, but Mel had to get up for work anyways, so that worked out. Evaline, on the other hand, didn't really have anywhere to go...

Elias looked up and saw her still working away on her tablet, not having moved in the last hour. She drank two coffees that he sneaked to her, so maybe she was in hyperfocus mode. He didn't blame her. He felt a little bad that she was broody from not enjoying yesterday, but hey, it was nothing that friendship, a few cup of joes, and a vegan croissant (at least, he thought it was vegan and that was what he told her) couldn't solve.

He yawned as the cafe seemed to lull with customers, instead showing the nooblets for the hundredth time how to roast some beans.



Morri held the door to the cafe open for Lordy, "After you good sir."

"Oh shut up," Lordy said walking ahead of Morri, "What are we getting here?"

"Maybe something to help with this headache of mine." Morri rubbed his temple.

"Hm. Maybe I can get a-" Lordy spotted a familiar face behind the counter. It was another one of his students. He turned to Morri with a stupid grin on his face and raised his eyebrows up and down over and over.

"Please don't."

But he did. Lordy went up to the counter and pretended to read the menu, "So, do you all have any chicken in stock?"



Elias perked up when he heard the bell ring and then walked back to the counter. He grinned as soon as he realized that, of all people, it was Professor Lordy!

"Heeeey, Prof Lordy," he said with a finger gun. "Ya lookin' for chicken stock or a fresh chicken in a stock?"



"Oh just another distraction is all." Lordy looked down at Elias, "But if you happen to have any chicken lying around I wouldn't be against borrowing one."

"Lordy please, the boy is trying to work," Morri snuck himself next to Lordy at the counter, "Sorry about him... uh-"

"Chicken boy." Lordy said.

Morri blinked at Elias, "That's not really your name is it?"



Elias snickered. He had no clue who the dreadlocks dude was, but he seemed like another professor. What a time. He had to make the best impression.

"Nah," he said. "It's Chicken Man. But I also accept Nugget Man."



"I-" Morri thought about pressing the matter but decided against it, "Okay. Can I have one double shot expresso please, Mr. Man?"

"Make that two," Lordy added.



"You got it, Mr. Lordy and Mr. Lordy's Friend," he said with a grin and a salute. He then turned behind him. "Hey! [random name here]! Two espressos!"

He watched the freshman look at him with a deer-in-the-headlights look, and Elias sighed. "Freshmen, am I right?" he grumbled at them, then went over to the machines to do the actual work himself. Imagine that. Elias, working. Wild.

He took a few moments to make the espresso using the machine, teaching this kid for the bajillinth time how to do it. He made two, but then told the kid: "Okay, now make another one. For practice."

The freshman nodded and thankfully did it without problems, and then Elias brought all three cups to the front where the professors were waiting.

"Here ya go," he said, setting it down in front of them. "Cheers?" He lifted his cup up to toast them. "Eh, the manager isn't looking, so I can drink to the job. Also, I have to stay awake for this 9AM class somehow, ya feel?"



"Oh I'll drink to that," Lordy pulled a flask of out the inside of his jacket pocket and poured some of it's contents into his cup before lifting it to cheers with the others.

"Yeah, 9AM classes are the worst," Morri said sipping from him cup, "Who's it with, if I may ask?"

Lordy looked at Elias and pointed with his eyes to the flask in his hand, hoping he got the message.



Elias totally caught Lordy's drift, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ohohoho.

He set his cup down and slowly slid it towards Lordy, keeping his attention to dreadlocks man with a smile.

"English class, I think with, uh... Professor Morgan? Been a while since I looked at my schedule, honestly. I'll probably check a few minutes before class starts."



Lordy quickly poured a hefty shot into Elias' cup before sliding it back to him, all while he answered Morri's question. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't pass on this opportunity.

"Professor Morrigan you mean?" Lordy scoffed, "Man I hate that guy. Even his name is horrible."



Elias didn't catch exactly how much Lordy poured in his cup, or really know what he poured in there, but now was not the time to ask questions. He gave him a quick "thanks bro" nod and then downed the cup in one big swig.

... Some pretty heavy scotch? Hey, pretty damn good with espresso. How did he not think of this?

Elias let out a satisfied sigh and then set the cups aside.

"Yeah, Professor Morrigan. Sounds right. I think they're actually a she, though? Just saying, don't wanna get your pronouns wrong."



"Oh of course, my apologies. She sounds horrid. Probably has smelly hair and ugly teeth. Wouldn't that be horrible?" Lordy asked Elias.



Elias stared up at him for a second. "Hey, you alright, man? Sounds like she really did a number on you."



"Oh you have no idea. I've never met her but trust me if I ever did, I'd tell her a sack of potatoes have more personality than she does." Lordy looked up at Elias, "As a matter of fact, I'll give you an A this semester if you tell her that."



Elias laughed the rang up the register. He didn't say anything to them, but the cash register rung up as "NULL" and it appeared that nothing was charged.

"Pfft, seriously? I can say that right now to my friend over there," he said, nodding over to Evaline who was still focused on drawing. "So I can def say that to a prof who was mean to you. Easiest A ever."



Lordy watched as Elias schemed his way into giving them their drinks for free, "Excellent! After all, my A should make up for the F that she's going to give you for saying that anyway."

He turned to see Elias' friend, not paying attention to them.

"She an artist?" Morri asked.



"Sweet," Elias said, noticing that the bell rang and another customer walked in. Students, most likely. "I'll record it and everything, 'cause I'm getting an A. GPA boost means I don't have to try as hard for my other classes. You right."

He then glanced over at Evaline.

"And yeah, she is. Not a student here, though. She's going to attend that uppity university. Prestige University? So uppity, they couldn't even think of an original name," he said, finding himself rambling as the scotch started to kick in. "But yeah, she said something about doing art work for HPU. Something about her classes and stuff. Hah, maybe she'll paint you, Lordy. That'd be so funny."



"Oh?" Lordy looked between Elias and the girl, "If she's your friend and you have class soon, is she expected to stay here while you're gone?"

"Oh dear don't do that," Morri chimed in, "Bring her to class with you. We'll make sure she can sit in with Professor Morrigan. That way you can keep an eye on her."

"Mhm," Lordy nodded, "And make sure you tell her I'm going to be asking for a commission later. I'll get her the tools and everything, all she needs to bring is her talent."

"... right." Morri sighed at Lordy and then turned to Elias, "It's almost time for class. Would you two like a ride to campus?"



Elias was slowly catching up, but he looked at the clock and realized his shift was almost up, and he began to untie the apron. "Wait," he said slowly, squinting at dreads man. "So, you think Morrigan will be cool that I bring along a non-student? 'Cause if so, I'm down. For that and the car ride."

Stranger danger? Nah. He was practically his friend at this point. What a nice man.



"Well," Lordy waved his hand in front of him dramatically, "I am a dean. So yes, I'll make sure they're okay with it. Grab your stuff and let's go! Can't be late to to the first class can we?"

Morri looked at Elias, "I never did get your name."



A dean, he said? He was drinking with a dean?



He could get away with a lotttt of things, huh.... Cool cool cool.

"Elias," he said with a grin, then lifted his chin over to Evaline. "And that's my friend Evaline. I'll b-r-b. Gotta turn the shift over right quick. Feel free to let her know the plan, though. I'm sure she'll be cool with it."

Yeah, she won't, but imagining her being so confused was so funny in his mind right now.

Elias then turned to put all his items away, yelling at the freshman to take the new customer's order.



As Elias turned away and Lordy had already left to start the car, Morri decided to walk up to Evaline and let her in on the plan.

"Miss Evaline?" He said as he approached her, "Elias said to let you know that we'll be outside waiting when you guys are ready? The school is only a few minutes from here but we better hurry."

He waved before he left and made his way out of the cafe. Oh what a start to the day.



Evaline barely had time to react as a random man seemed to come up to her, almost causing her to jump out of her seat from the sudden interaction and broken focus. His next words seemed to slowly seep in, and she only began to panic after he had walked away.

Wait... what? Who were they? And Elias did what now? This seemed awfully suspicious and raised a million red flags.

She thought about ignoring it, but after a minute, Elias walked over in his normal frat boy clothes and with his backpack slung across his shoulders.

"Hey, ready to go?" he asked casually.

"To... where?" she asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Oh, didn't dreads dude tell you the plan? We're ridin' to campus in styyyyyle."

Evaline sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What are you talking about?" she asked flatly. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing," he said defensively, hands up in the air. "Just a nice man. Also, one of them is the dean, and I might have told him you're an artist with HPU being your sponsor and all, and, uh, I might have accidentally suggested that you paint him."

Evaline only stared blankly at him, but with her RBF, it definitely came out as a glare.

"So, don't wanna disappoint the dean now, right? Ha ha. Anyways, let's go," Elias said, already heading towards the door.

Evaline wanted to protest, but she was at wit's end of what to do. On one hand, she wanted to save Elias from whatever obvious danger awaited in a stranger's car, but on the other, she had a sinking feeling that if she tried to help him, she'd accidentally get involved in whatever weird plan he got involved in. She wasn't even sure if what he said was right; no dean would be this stupid and odd.

She groaned, quickly putting away her tablet and then getting up to follow him out the door.

"Elias, wait--" she began, but she already saw him outside talking to the same dreads guy and another man.





"Well boys, hop in." Lordy looked towards the entrance of the cafe, "Is your friend coming or what? Morri did you tell her the plan?"

"Of course I told her the plan." Morri said.

"Well she looks confused are you sure she knows what the plan is?"

"How would she not know what the plan is I made sure she knew the plan."

"I don't know man, she seems like she hasn't heard the plan."

"Elias can you tell him I told her the plan?" Morri asked.

"He totally told her the plan," Elias said even though Morri knew that he didn't see him talk to her.

"See? I TOLD her the plan." Morri protested.

"Alright well someone better make sure she knows the plan."

"We made sure she knows don't worry it's part of the plan."

Elias laughed. "Yeah, for sure. Also, what's the plan, again?"

"The plan," Lordy said, pointing with both hands in the air, "Is to not plan."


"Cool," Elias said, then cupped his hands around his mouth. "EVALINE!" he yelled, causing a few heads to turn his way. "COME HERE! WE HAVE A PLAN!"

Evaline still didn't look convinced. She honestly looked like she wanted to run away, or pretend she didn't know him at all. So rude.

"Yeah, looks like our plan of not having a plan didn't work," Elias said, leaning in and poking his head at the middle aisle to dart his eyes between the two at the passenger and drivers seat. "Try, uh... honking a bunch. Or play some loud music. She can't ignore us then."

Lordy would start honking but he worried it would give Morri flashbacks of earlier that morning when he woke him up. Instead, he settled for driving up to the entrance where Evaline stood so that she could no longer ignore them.

"Hey!" Lordy shouted over to her, "If I have to tell you one more time that we have a class to get to, I'm going to fail your little friend over here."



At first, all of this was just embarrassing Evaline. Embarrassing, and also worrying, because Elias was in that car, and she didn't know what to do.

But now? Now she couldn't ignore this. As much as Elias teased her, she still cared about his well-being and grades. Honestly, she had always been concerned about his grades. She wasn't sure if he could afford to fail a class this close to graduation, although Elias seemed to be staring through the window with a grin, not at all worried about his future. Typical.

Suddenly it hit all at once. James, warning her that a professor had offered him a tub of lukewarm spaghetti. A Professor Lordshire. Asking him to be his TA. Essentially blackmailing him. And worst of all? He was also a dean.

"Are you..." she began, suddenly nervous. As much leverage as he had over Elias, she knew that he potentially had leverage over her if he could control her sponsorship's assignments. "Are you, um... Professor Lordshire? By chance?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.



"That's Dean Lordshire to you, child. But you won't have to worry about that, because neither you or your friend will be allowed to set foot on this campus ever again if you don't hurry the fu-"

"He means to say we're in quite a rush, if we could possibly discuss the circumstances on the way to class that would be lovely." Morri cut Lordy off.



Evaline hated that she felt manipulated and blackmailed herself, but she didn't know what else to do. Elias seemed okay with it... so maybe it was... fine...? She hoped to god she was fine and wasn't going to end up kidnapped and dead in a ditch.

She wordlessly opened the door, suddenly feeling awkward because it was a two-door car and she had to wait for the main to pull up his seat.



Morri made space for Evaline to get to the back seat, "You know, Lordy, you could easily have bought something much more spacious for the amount of money you spent on this thing."

"Oh right, my bad." Lordy looked over to Morri, "I'll be sure to trade it for a horse and a wagon next time, cus that's right up your alley isn't it."

"You'd definitely save a lot on gas." Morri smiled.

Lordy looked into the rear-view mirror at the two students, "Buckle up kids! It's show time!"

Before he gave them a chance to react, Lordy yanked the car handle into sport mode and began flying down the road to turn their two-minute drive into a thirty-second one.





Evaline was sure this was it. This was her end. This was how she was going to go out: death by two crazy professors who somehow didn't kill anyone on the road when they accelerated into ungodly speeds. She found herself leaning up against the seat, unable to move or put her seatbelt on because of the acceleration. Elias, meanwhile, seemed to act like this was a roller coaster, although she could detect a slip of anxiety in his voice. Maybe he rememebred that his stomach couldn't handle roller coaster speeds.

Finally, they came to a stop, but not before Evaline crashed against the seat in front of her and crumpled to the floor, hitting her head against Elias's knee. She let out a long, pained groan. Elias was still sitting on the seat, unaffected because he had plenty of time to already put his seatbelt on.

"Whoa, you okay?" Elias asked, but then turned his attention to Lordy, who was looking back, but not with concern. "Yo, that was sick! Let's do that again!"



"Careful!" He rubbed the back of the car seat, "This leather is expensive!"

"Lordy! Make sure the girl is alright will you!" Morri got out of the passenger seat.

"She can walk it off." Lordy said, still fixated on examining his car seat.

Morri shook his head and moved the passenger seat forward, reaching his hand out toward the students, "Here Evaline, let's make sure you're not hurt."



Evaline groaned and slowly sat up, feeling a splitting headache from her head first crashing against the ceiling, and then to the seat in front of her, and then landing square on Elias's knee.

"I'm... ugh," was all she managed to get out as she pitifully sat on the tiny floor of the backseat of the car, her hands instictively on her head.

"Hey, are you bleeding?" Elias asked, undoing his seatbelt. Now he felt concern. Great.

Lordy's head shot back, "Blood? On my seat?!"

"...No," Evaline said sharply turning her head to squint at Lordy, but it strained her head too much, because right now, she just needed a moment to lie down and collect herself.

"Oh," Elias said. He almost sounded... disappointed? "Uh, you okay then?"

"Just... give me a minute," she mumbled as she fished for her phone that flew under the car seat, and then grabbed her messenger bag that landed on the floor. Thankfully, nothing seemed broken or cracked.

"Need help getting up?" Elias asked as they all started to get out of the car, and his legs dangled out as he looked back at her.

"No. I can walk just fine," she snapped, and she hoped it was true. With all her stuff in tow, she ignored Morrigan's hand and crawled to the door to wobble out, feeling like she had truly just walked out of some kind of insane amusement park ride.



"Oh you poor dear!" Morri went to Evaline's side and tried to guide her into the building, "You're sitting right in the front row where I can make sure you're okay, got it?"

"Um..." Evaline said, looking like she was really focused on trying to figure out what to say. "Okay then. Sure."

"Do whatever makes you feel most comfortable, you understand me?"

They continued into the building as Morri held the door open for them.



Elias was wordlessly following them along as he looked at his phone and noted the room number for the class. Lordy seemed to mysteriously disappear somewhere, but weirdly, dreads man was babying Evaline. It kind of actually creeped him out. He was all for Evaline finding ways to move on and getting into a new (healthy) relationship or whatever, but this felt weird because this man was, like, way older.

"Hey man," Elias said, narrowing his eyes at him. "I can take it from here. Do you have a class to go to or something?"



They got to the room just as Elias finished asking him in the least subtle way possible to get lost.

"Oh don't worry, I have a feeling we're heading the same direction anyway." Morri told him, unlocking the door.



Elias stared at him unlocking the lecture hall's door. It was like his mind was slowing playing catch-up.

"Waaaait," he said slowly, drawing out the word as his mind raced to the finish line. "Why do you have the keys to the room...?"

Was he a janitor?



Morri opened the door and guided Evaline down to the first row and let her pick a seat before he made his way to the front of the class, "Well I guess you can make one of two assumptions based on me being able to unlock that door. Either one, I'm the world's greatest lockpicker, or two," He stared directly at Elias, "This is my classroom."

He turned around and walked up to the whiteboard and began writing his name, Professor Morrigan, on it.



So maybe the scotch wasn't a great idea. Man, how much did Lordy put in this? Was it even scotch? Was it Everclear that tasted like scotch?????

Elias's eyes lazily flicked over to Evaline who seemed to have found her way at the very end of the first row on the left-handed seat, but she wasn't paying attention. She seemed to have her hands buried around her face, lost in her own world.

Oh, how Elias wished that were him right now. He was beginning to feel like he was bamboozled.

He gawked at the whiteboard and then slowly, so slowly, took out his phone.

"Uh, Professor Morrigan?" he called innocently with a strained smile. "Would it be okay if I called you a sack of potatoes and recorded it? I won't post it in the internet, I promise."



"Of course," Morri smiled back at him, "It would be cruel of me to not help you get a better grade in someone else's class if I had the chance."



If Elias didn't have a good buzz going, he might have actually felt anxious even though Morrigan seemed cool with it. This suddenly seemed bizarre, even by Elias's standards.

"Oh, sweet. You're really nice," he said, unlocking his phone and pulling up the recording app. "You can get a free drink any day at the cafe, by the way. But only when I'm working there, if you catch my drift."

He then pressed record. "Okay, state your name right quick."



"My name," Morri waved his hand in the air and gave a dramatic bow, "Is professor Morrigan."



"Aight, Professor Dean Lordy, this one is for you," Elias said to his phone. "A sack of potatoes has more personality than you."

He then pressed stop, not realizing that the ambiguous 'you' could either land on Lordy or Morrigan. To him, this was perfect.

"Okay done," he said, putting his phone away and shifting his attention back to Morrigan. "And, uh... sorry about... You know... Yeah, that's my bad."



A few people started to stream in from the door.

"Not to worry at all dear boy," Morri smiled at Elias, "I know better than to argue with stupid. Now get settled in, the rest of the class should be coming in soon!"



Elias nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks man, you're a real bro."

Would he usually talk like this to a professor he had just met and insulted? Nah. But that mysterious alcohol was making him more confident than normal.

He then began to walk towards Evaline, poking her awake.

"What is it, Elias?" she asked without moving. Her elbows were propped on the desk while her face was perced on her hands, compeltely covering her face.

"Do you need an ibuprofen? Aspirin? Something?" he asked, already unzipping his bag.

"Actually..." she began, unfolding her arms. "If you have one, that would help. I just have the biggest headache."

"I gotchu," he said, then handed her a small orange prescription bottle. Evaline stared at it for a second, squinting and looking suspicious. He then realized he accidentally gave her the wrong drug. "Oh my b, wrong one. Here it is instead," he said, handing her a small bottle of ibuprofen.

She graciously took it and swallowed a pill down with water.

"Also, there's no way I'm sitting in the front. Hah. Sorry. I'm going to --"

"Please just sit away from me," she interrupted.

"Message received. Text me if you need anything. I'll help walk you out after class if you need it. Or something. Yeah."

He then started up the flight of stairs to head to the back of the lecture hall, only giving her one more worried glance. So maybe he did feel bad. Okay, a lot bad. But he'll make it up to her later.

After dropping Morri and the kids off at class, Lordy figured he might as well waste time in his office since there was nothing else to do. He drove over to the building next door and parked as close as he could to the entrance. Within a few minutes, he was up in his room, comfortably seated, hoping he could relax for a bit after this morning's antics.



He'd woken up with a headache, but Carter had grown accustomed to hangovers and he had a routine. Cold shower, light breakfast, chug water, and wake the hell up. He tied his bun neatly atop his head and adjusted the collar of his shirt, looking in the bathroom mirror for a second and then nodding at himself before he headed out.

Carter found Lordy’s office pretty easily. It was close to the library - which he didn’t often visit by himself, but he’d found James there many times. When he walked up to the door and tested the knob, he found that it was open. So, after a short knock, he pushed open the door.

He scanned the room, finding Lordshire at his desk.

“Professor Lordshire,” he said, walking up to the desk. “I have a proposition for you. It involves the students Jerica Ainsley and John Rodolphson Benson, also known as J.R. I have eyewitnesses that can attest to Benson harassing Miss Ainsley and have reasonable cause to believe that his advances on her have and will escalate the longer they’re on the same football team. As a Dean in this school and someone who doesn’t have a bias towards the football team’s lineup, I was thinking…”

At that point, Carter was standing in front of Lordshire’s desk and pulled up a chair. He sat down in it, throwing one of his legs up over the arm of the chair and leaning back onto the other arm, resting his chin on the back of his hand. He met Lordshire’s eyes with some intensity.

“Let’s fuck his shit up. I want him off the team.”



It was about thirty seconds of silence that Lordy got to enjoy before a student, Carter, barged into his office. Maybe I should start locking that door.

"Help me understand this," Lordy leaned forward in his desk, "You want me to have a student removed from a team I have no association with because of an event I have no proof of because you have an issue with the way someone was being treated?"



"Actually, I do have proof," Carter countered. "Video proof as well. I would just have to pull it from the hidden security cameras in my apartment. Considering it only happened last night, I haven't exactly had time to do so, but I could get it to you later today if you have doubts about my accusations."

He paused, considering Lordshire's other concerns.

"And I could have gone to someone else other than you with this information," he said. "But like I said. I think you'd be more unbiased in this situation than the coach."



Lordy raised his eyebrows at the thought of Carter having evidence, and also the thought of him having hidden cameras, but that was an issue for the RA. "Well in that case, I think I might be able to help you out. I never took you for the type to care about someone else to this extent, honestly."

Lordy reached under his desk where he had stashed what was left of his whiskey from the night before, "Drink?"



Carter blinking, looking at the whiskey, then at Lordy.

"In all fairness, Dean, you haven't known me very long," he said, eyes landing on the whiskey again.

"And sure."



"I like to think I'm good at reading people. Of course, I'm not always correct," Lordy slid the bottle across the table to Carter, "I have no glasses so you're gonna have to take that to the dome."



Carter nodded and took a drink straight from the bottle, then put it back on the table.

"Thanks," he said. "If you're interested in helping me I can be back in the evening with the evidence. Unless you have any other questions for me, I should get headed to one of my classes pretty soon."



"Oh no that would be perfect," Lordy finished the last of the whiskey and left the bottle on the table, "Bring any of these witnesses of yours that you can gather up too. I'm going to snoop around the sports teams and see what I can find out there. John Rudolph, you said, right?"



"John Rodolphson Benson," Carter corrected, getting to his feet. "Thank you, sir, for your time."



"Thank me when we make progress. I'll see you this evening," Lordy thought for a second. It would be rude to end things here, "You want some spaghetti?"



Carter had already started towards the door, but he paused, looking back at Lordshire with a raised brow.

"At this hour, I'm likely to throw it up," he said. "So I think I'll pass."



Lordy shook his head, "Disappointing. Get to class safe, my boy. Don't want to be late do we?"



"Certainly not, sir," Carter said with a little smirk.

And with that, he was gone, closing the door behind him.

James woke up early like he always did and walked to class. He saw no signs of life from Carter (who was in his own room now), but he never made it his responsibility to make sure he got up.

He let the morning sun wake him as he made his way to class. This was his English class with Professor Morrigan, and though Morrigan wasn't Lordshire, James did find himself a little nervous. He didn't plan on doing anything differently, though. He would treat this class just like every other. He was going to do his best, pay attention, and sit in the front like always.

James got there a few minutes early as other students started filing into the class. The classroom wasn't very full yet, and he saw that the front row was entirely empty, apart from one chair at the very end.

It was Evaline.

A look of confusion crossed his face as he started down the aisle, and he noticed Evaline had her head propped up by one hand, and judging from her expression, she wasn't happy to be there.

Slowly, he walked up beside her, glancing at his usual spot. Which, ironically, was right next to her.

"Hey, Evaline," he said softly. "Are you alright?"



Evaline was really beginning to question why she had agreed to follow Elias to the cafe he worked at. Maybe it was because Mel had to work at the salon, and she figured dropping her off there would give her something to do, and he would give her free coffees while she finished her project in a cozy environment. Or maybe it was because she just felt weird being in his or her apartment with people she didn't know well. Either way, she was wondering if she should have indeed stayed at the apartment, because she had no idea why she was attending this random class when she wasn't even a student here.

Those thoughts seemed to melt away when a familiar voice called her name and she looked over and saw James.

Suddenly it dawned on her that he had told her about another professor besides Lordshire. A friend of Lordshire's. Professor Morrigan? Was this was James's class too?

"Oh... hey," she said, dropping her hand to her desk as she watched him sit next to her. She laughed through her nose because this day was getting more and more bizarre.

"I'm okay. I think I'm having an even weirder day." She paused. "Even weirder than yours, yesterday."



James set his backpack beside his desk at his feet and looked over to Evaline in concern. She said she was okay, but it didn't quite seem like it. Her answer was... nuanced.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked quietly. He didn't feel the need to point out the obvious: she didn't go here. She had no reason to be sitting in this class, nevermind right in the very front.



Evaline leaned back and gave James a long look, then glanced at Morrigan who was shuffling papers at the front. She tried to think of something to say that would explain everything, but frankly, she didn't really have the energy to say it with without being brash.

"Yes, if you count getting blackmailed by a dean to enter a stranger's car only to get a near-concussion from his insane driving, and then be babied to come into a class probably to avoid a lawsuit. Because if you say this is all completely normal for this insane university, then yes, I'd say I'm okay."



James's eyebrows drew together with increasing concern as she described what had happened to her that morning. It didn't take him more than a few seconds to do the math and conclude that the dean with the insane driving was, in fact, Lordshire, and the teacher who babied her into coming into the class was Morrigan.

"Good grief," he said with a sigh. "That sounds both terrifying and bizarre. I'm sorry."

He scanned the room subtly for a moment, noting that Morrigan was at least out of earshot if they spoke softly.

"I'm sure you can leave if you really want to. No one can force you to stay here."



Evaline kept her eyes on Morrigan even though he was busy prepping for class. She had no reason to direct her anger at Morrigan or James, really. They were both just trying to help... Well, Morrigan's blame was a bit debatable considering he could have stopped Lordshire's insanity, but at least he seemed more professional.

"Yeah... I'm sorry," she said in defeat glossing over his suggestion. "I think I'm just frustrated with everything that happened."

She paused, looking back over at him now with curiosity. "What class is this, anyways?"



James looked at Evaline for a few more seconds, with his eyebrows still pinched together, and then he sighed and reached down into his backpack, pulling out his laptop.

"English 250," he said. "The class is called Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition. One of my english credits didn't transfer over when I came to HPU, so I have to retake it."

He was still bitter about that, but he wasn't going to get into it. He set his laptop on his desk and looked back over at her.

"It's the first class of the semester."



Evaline pursed her lips in thought. It felt like it had been ages since she took an English class; the last and only one was probably her freshmen year. There was also something amusing with sitting next to someone who was double majoring and studying English, and here she was, sitting in a sophomore-level class with him.

"That doesn't seem too bad," she mused out loud, then sighed. "To be honest, I'm a little concerned what would happen if I left without being somewhere Morrigan could see me. I feel like Lordshire has something weirdly sinister planned about my sponsorship here. I just hope I don't meet him again."



James glanced at Morrigan, then looked at Evaline.

"For your sake, I hope so too," he said quietly.

But he wouldn't bet on it.

When Benji woke up that morning, he realized two things:

1) He wasn't in his bed.

2) He was laying up against his roommate.

Benji sat up with a start. Daniel - apparently a heavy sleeper when he wanted to be one - was still fast asleep and oblivious. Benji frantically looked around as the memories of the night before tricked back to him. They were in their suite's main room. He had been watching TV with Daniel last night after coming home from...whatever had happened with Dr. Lordshire and James last night. There had been a party going on elsewhere in the dorms, but he had been able to block it out by distracting himself with Supernatural.

Daniel groggily opened his eyes. Benji froze a few feet away.

"I must have slept weirdly last night," Daniel said. "I feel like I was leaning up against the back of my bed all nigh-"

He blinked and looked at Benji.

"Oh," he said, seeming to remember where he was and what had happened. He glanced back at the hard armrest behind him.

"I'm going to get breakfast," Benji quickly said. His face was growing red, but he couldn't tell why it was growing red. He headed to their little kitchen area. It wasn't like they had done anything more than accidentally cuddle watching TV. It wasn't like he wanted to do more than whatever they had just done. Daniel was his roommate. He barely knew him. Why was he getting so flustered?

"I call one of the showers," Daniel said, getting to his feet. He ran his fingers through his hair. His ponytail had fallen out sometime when they were watching TV last night, but he didn't seem to notice. "I have to go for one of my classes soon."

"Me too," Benji said, grabbing a bagel from the bag of them on the counter. He popped them into the toaster.

The door to Daniel's room creaked open. "What class?"

"English 250," Benji replied.

"Huh."

Benji paused and glanced back towards the hallway. He was starting to get the feeling that he knew what Daniel was about to follow up. Either he was going to comment on the class itself, or he was going to mention that...

"I have that class too," Daniel commented. "With Morrigan, right?"

Benji looked back at the toaster. He didn't know if he was worried or happy about them having the same class again. "Yeah."

"Weird," Daniel said. "What are the chances of us both taking the same philosophy and English classes? It's not even like we have the same major."

Benji didn't give an answer. He wasn't sure he could even come up with one. He just grabbed the bagel as it popped out of the toaster a minute later, slathering it with a little bit of cream cheese. He leaned against the counter and took a silent bite out of it, listening to the sound of the shower running down the hallway.


"Okay, this is getting weird," Daniel said.

Benji glanced over at him. After both had taken quick showers and eaten even quicker breakfasts, they had made their way over to the very first class of the day. Benji could have tried to take a different path across campus to the class, but walking with someone else had felt kind of...nice. Daniel seemed to get that he didn't feel like talking; he hadn't said a word before they stepped into the classroom.

"What do you mean?"

"Look," Daniel said. He pointed to the very end of the first row. "There's James right there, right? And then there's Elias farther back. Both of them were in philosophy yesterday, and I ran into Elias at a party last night."

Benji started walking in front of the first row of seats. "So?"

"What are the chances of us all having the same two classes?"

"They're basic classes," Benji pointed out. "Each one is in a large lecture hall. It's not that weird."

"Still," Daniel argued. He followed Benji over to where James was sitting with another student that Benji didn't recognize. Before Daniel could say anything else, Benji sat down besides James and gave him a little wave. "When was the last time you had the same section of a class like this with someone you were friends with? It's hard matching schedules - it's even harder matching them by accident. And we didn't just have one class together. We have two."

Benji looked back at him. "What are you getting at?"

"I don't know," Daniel said, shrugging. He sat down next to Benji. "Maybe it's a sign we're all supposed to be friends."

Benji stared down at his desk. "I don't believe in fate."

"I don't know if I do, either," Daniel admitted. "But I do think we're lucky to have two classes together on top of being roommates."

Benji blinked and looked over at him. Was that supposed to be some kind of pickup line? It didn't seem like Daniel thought it was - he had pulled out his phone right after he finished speaking. He had his phone tilted at angle that he couldn't easily read the screen; all he could see was a strangely familiar site layout.

Benji put his hand to his cheek.

It felt warm.

Jerica was late. She'd meant to be -- it meant fewer people in the halls and less chance of running into someone she didn't want to run into -- but she still hated it. She liked to be wherever she needed to be with plenty of time to spare, in case she ran into a friend and wanted to talk, or saw someone who needed help, or last minute decided to run to get a snack. Worst case scenario, she'd still be on time. Best case, she had a few guilt-free minutes to play on her phone before class.

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as she neared the door, wondering what sort of prof Morrigan would be. If he was normal, he'd just ignore her when she walked in. But she knew some profs got off on humiliating late-comers, and she had to brace herself for whatever sort of teasing might be coming.

"Freshie!"

She never thought she'd grow to hate a single word that much.

"What?" She didn't even try to hide the impatient sigh as she turned towards J.R.

"You and I need to have a little chat." He was in her space again.

"I've got class." She turned away from him and tried to walk towards the door.

He stepped in front of her, cutting her off. "Don't care. Your meathead ain't here to protect you, so we're on my terms now."

Rage flooded through her. How dare he insult someone as kind and thoughtful as Bo. She was ready to fight now. "His name is Bo, and I can call him to come join us, if you'd like."

"Oh, no, this is gonna be a one-on-one, Freshie!" He grabbed her arm.

She twisted her arm away and glared up at him, pointing a finger in his face. "I swear to god, J.R.--"

"What?" He thrust his palms against her shoulders, driving her into the wall behind her. "You'll what?"

She lunged forward and slammed her palms into his shoulders just like he'd done, but even harder, making him stumble backward several steps.

"Ohhhhh, you're dead!" He started towards her with his right fist drawn back.

She stepped forward swiftly, cutting off his momentum. There was no room for Jesus barely an inch between their chests. He glowered down at her with his fist still drawn threateningly. She returned the glare with equal ferocity.

"Go ahead. I fucking dare you," she spat, gaze flicking from his fist to his eyes. "We'll see if Coach notices the new bruises."

He faltered. She'd only been on the team two days, and it was already clear to her that there were consequences for teammates getting into fights with each other. And she'd absolutely throw J.R. under the bus if Coach asked.

J.R. slammed his forearm into her chest, shoving her backward a step, then stormed off. She watched him go for a few steps. Her jaw and fists were clenched, trying to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She needed to not be flustered when she went into class.

She took a deep breath and turned around, back towards the classroom, then froze when she saw Professor Lordshire standing there. Shit. Her eyes went wide. How much of that had he seen? Heard? Probably more than she'd have liked. Keep digging this hole deeper with him, don't ya? There was no chance she was going to redeem this semester. This was the third time in as many days that she'd made herself look bad in front of him.

"Professor!" She wet her lips, refusing to glance over her shoulder at J.R. -- it wasn't like she had an explanation anyway. So, an attempt at humor it was. She cracked a nervous grin. "Guess I'm 'bout to see the end of war, huh? Heh...Heh."



Lordy could feel his upper lip beginning to twitch. Jerica's witty comment aside, he felt it nearly impossible to be his normal smiling self.

"Do you have class right now?"



Jerica hesitated. He didn't seem to appreciate the joke. And then, her worst fear came true -- the question. "I, uh... yes?"



"Show me the class."



"Show you..." This isn't good. It seemed fair for him to disrupt her class, after the spectacle she'd made of his, but it wasn't good. She pulled out her phone, knowing fully well what he wanted, but hoping she could distract him. "Like, my schedule?"



Lordy sighed, "No. I mean take me to the classroom."



Jerica hesitated, blinking at him. It was progressively starting to feel less and less fair. "It's, uh..."

How did this seem scarier than the hazing?

She gestured vaguely at the door a few feet from them. "Professor Morrigan's English class."



Lordy felt a bit of tension ease off of his shoulders, "Come with me."

He walked over to the door and pushed it open slightly, revealing himself. He guided Jerica over with his hands before he began to shout, "Morri! I'm going to be borrowing one of your students for a bit! Her name is Jerica so don't mark her as absent!"

Morri looked up, unphased by anything coming out of Lordy's mouth, "Alright fine. Just don't make a habit of it!"

"Of course! Just this once, pinky promise." Lordy turned to Jerica, "Alright, let's go."

Before waiting for her response, he began walking to his office building.



And she'd thought yesterday morning had been bad.

She tensely let Lordy lead her to the doorway, cringing as he shouted at Professor Morrigan. She cringed harder when he called her by name. Definitely wasn't going to be the anonymous snark from the back of the room.



She stared after him hopelessly. Half of her considered just walking inside, locking the door and hoping Professor Morrigan wouldn't let him in. Lordy didn't seem like the type to keep his keys on him. But, he did seem like the type who would keep trying until he got what he wanted, and she didn't want any more public humiliation in front of her new friends. She could already imagine the fun Rek was going to have with this later.

Jerica sighed deeply but hurried after him, quickly catching up and falling in step with him. It very much felt like she was being sent to the principal's office. And it was only the second day of school. "I can explain."

She couldn't explain anything. But it was worth a try.



"Relax," Lordy didn't stop, "You can explain everything once we get to my office."

He pushed open the door to his building once they got there and waited for her to go in first.



She closed her eyes briefly, mentally cursing herself with every word she knew to express how abysmally stupid she was for letting herself get into this situation in the first place. It was absurd.

What's even happening right now? She stepped past him as he opened the door for her, hesitating as she realized she didn't have the first idea where they were going. Was he going to demand an explanation about J.R.? Yell at her for being a butt in his class yesterday? Why did he have to be right there right then? She was late on purpose!

She bit back a sigh and looked at him to see where they were going.

Lordy climbed up the stairs and walked into his office, leaving it open for Jerica to come inside. The room still reeked of whiskey and sphaghetti. He made his way to the back of his desk and took a seat. The bottle of whiskey from last night still sat on his desk, but empty, so no rats could tattle on him.

"Have a seat."



She hadn't thought the interaction could get even weirder than it already had, and yet, here they were. In his office. That smelled like booze and... pasta? She followed him in, noticing with regret that his whiskey bottle was empty. A drink seemed like a good idea just then. Anything to numb this hell.

She froze as her gaze drifted towards the plaque on his desk.


Dean. Dean?!?! Like -- she was about-to-get-kicked-out-of-HPU, Dean? She swallowed hard, looking up guilty as he ordered her to sit down. She tried to think up an excuse, but she hadn't bothered coming up with new alibis since high school. She hadn't thought she'd end up in the Principal's office in university.

She sucked in a deep breath to say god-knows-what, but nothing came out.

She sat.



Lordy could tell how tense she was, and rightfully so. He rubbed his temple as she sat down and tried to think of how to approach this.

"Jerica," He folded his hands on the table and looked at her, "Are you okay?"



She swallowed hard as he said her name. So many things could follow that.

- This behavior is unacceptable.
- You're far too old to be acting like this.
- Don't make me call your uncle.

Were the favorites of her old principal. But Lordy didn't have Derik's number... did he?

She blinked at him when he finished his question. Apparently, he didn't know how this usually went for her. Concern was much easier to get out of than anger.

"What? Oh, yeah!" She nodded, maybe a bit too quick. "I'm fine! A-Okay! Nothing wrong."

She cracked a nervous grin, trying to think of how to sell it.

Her best hope was to distract him. "How are you today?"



Lordy ignored her question.

"How did you get those?" He pointed to the fading bruises on her.



Okay, maybe it wasn't easier to get out of.

She'd tried to cover them with makeup, but she was just so utterly terrible at makeup. She wasn't surprised it didn't work.

"I wasn't fighting," she said defensively. It was hard to say if she was telling the truth or not. For all she knew, maybe she'd started a brawl in the mudpit. She was still sore enough that that could have been true. She hesitated, not sure what the right answer was. "... and I won't do it again?"



"That boy," Lordy thought back to what he saw in the hallway, "How do you know him? And what's his name?"



She stared at him with wide eyes, chest getting tight. He was going to tell Coach, and then they'd both be dead. And then she really would be in the shit with J.R., if they were getting punished for him beating her up anyway. "The... boy? Oh, I don't know him."



Lordy narrowed his eyes and leaned forward to make sure Jerica wouldn't break eye contact with him, "Jerica. I'm going to ask you this one more time. What is his name, and how do you know him?"



Jerica couldn't look away -- mesmerized by terror. This must be how deer felt right before they got crushed by semis on the road. Deer in the headlights. She tried to swallow hard again but suddenly her mouth felt so dry.

"J.R.," she squeaked. 'And I'd very much like to not tell you how' -- she wasn't going to push her luck. There'd be no discipline to worry about from Coach if she was expelled. "We're teammates."

She hoped that the gods would have mercy and let Lordy leave it at that.



"And what," Lordy gritted his teeth, "Pray tell, what team is that?"



She was pissing him off. And couldn't figure out how to make this better. Clearly, not talking wasn't working so well. So she decided to switch strategies.

"Football," she said quickly. "I'm new on the team and haven't even got to play a game yet but I really, really, really want to stay on it so pleeeeeeeease don't tell Coach! We weren't fighting! We were... just discussing. I know we're not allowed to fight. So, if that's what it looked like, that's not what it was. It was just... a discussion. That's all. And I'm really, really sorry if it looked like anything else and I can ask J.R. for us to keep our discussions to not-inside if that's what the problem is, I'm sorry."



Lordy continued to stare at her for a moment after she finished talking. Hm.

"You can go now Jerica," He got up and brushed his suit off, "Professor Morrigan is probably waiting for you."

He grabbed his cane tapped it on the floor, waiting for her to leave.



Oh shiii--

This was going so badly.

"Yes, sir."

She stood up and rushed out of the office, shooed away by his cane. But something stopped her. Sheer desperation. She whirled around and went back to his door.

"I'm really sorry, sir. Is there..." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Any way at all that this -- can go away? He can't know. I can..." Her eyes landed on the empty liquor bottle, and she pointed at it. "I know someone who works at a brewery. Free drinks? All year? Just don't tell Coach." She looked at him pleadingly. "Please."



Lordy softened his gaze and looked at Jerica, she was becoming increasingly desparate.

He gave her a small smile, "Jerica. Everything will be okay, I promise."



"Okay," she answered softly, feeling very small. Somehow his kindness was even harder to tolerate. It felt out of place to argue with him when he was reassuring her, even though she knew he was about to ruin her entire life.



He clearly didn't understand just how hard it had been to manage a spot on the football team. She'd already been through so much, and now it was all being yanked away from her. She was going to kill J.R. if he didn't murder her first.

She felt tears spring to her eyes, and whirled around, too embarrassed to stick around. She'd never cried in front of a professor before. And she wasn't about to start now. "Thank you."



Lordy knew how she felt, but he couldn't give her any idea of what he was going to do. As a matter of fact, it was probably best that she didn't. While he wished he could console her, he knew that whatever she felt right now would be gone soon enough, and that was all he needed to do what he had to.

He watched her leave his office and stayed back for a moment to think.

Maybe there's a more civil way to deal with these things? He scratched his head and contemplated the thought. Or maybe, there's no real reason to be civil.

Jerica felt like she'd been punched in the gut -- and at this point, she wished that were actually true. She'd still be on the team even if J.R. beat her up because he was mad about the party. As it was, bye-bye full ride. Maybe she'd even get kicked out. Who knew?

Lordshire promised everything would be okay, but what did that mean to him? She doubted he even remembered what college was like. And she was fairly certain he could afford more than crashing on his cousin's couch. She needed to be on the team just as much as she wanted to be on it. Could you even get loans after the term started?

She rubbed her face, trying to calm down.

Everything would be alright.

Maybe some of the other teams hadn't had tryouts yet. She was good at other sports, too. Maybe she could snag a spot on... really, any of the teams. It didn't really matter at this point. If she couldn't be on the team that she wanted to be on...

She sighed and straightened her shoulders as she approached the door, thinking about her strategy. There were so many more variables now. Before, she'd just been late. Now, she was late and embarrassed.

The way she saw it she had two options.

She could put her head down and try to schlepp into class and hope that Professor Morrigan let her get away with it. Or, she could go in bold and loud and play it off like she wasn't mortified. The louder you were, the less that people tended to pay attention to how you actually felt.

Jerica took a deep breath and puffed herself up, ready for whatever performance crossed her mind in the moment -- and pulled the door open. Luckily, the professor-mediated-hell didn't continue, and she didn't have to fend off any snark. She started towards the back of the classroom, eyes scanning for an empty seat, but actively refusing to meet anyone else's gaze. She didn't even want to know what they thought of her at that point.

And then her eyes landed on an empty seat at the very back of the room, right next to... Bo. She hadn't expected to see him here -- apparently, her threat to J.R. had been closer to the truth than she'd thought. She didn't have his number or any idea where Bo had been when she threatened J.R. with him, but he'd been nearby the whole time.

Jerica hesitated, mind quickly flicking through what options she had. She didn't particularly want to interact with anyone she knew, not after that spectacle with Lordy, but she didn't see any other seats readily accessible. And, Bo was nice. Surely he wouldn't mock her for something that wasn't her fault. Surely.

She shrugged her backpack off and took the seat beside him, tucking her bag between her legs. She bent down to retrieve a notebook and pencil, then sat back in her seat, never bothering to look up at Bo. But she did lean a bit closer -- as if that mattered, with the height difference, even seated -- and muttered, "Don't think we have to worry about J.R. anymore. Pretty sure I just got kicked off the team."

Lordy's next-to-expected theatrics aside, there was nothing unusual about the rest of the class flocking in. Morri saw a few familiar faces, which was always welcome to him. It made easing himself into the semester less stressful. Once it was a couple of minutes after class was meant to start, he began his usual introduction spiel.

"Good morning class! Welcome to English 250. I'm going to be you're professor for the semester, but I want you to think of me more as a mentor than a teacher. I'm here to guide you through the class, much like the sun guides the sunflower on which direction to face." Morri sat on the edge of his desk, "You can call me Professor Morrigan if you'd like, but it's also fine if you call me Morri. I see no need to flaunt my position to you all as we are all on this journey of education together."

It was at this point Jerica had finally come back to the classroom, but he didn't want to bring any more attention to her than was necessary, "Now, I don't want you all to get too comfy where you are, because we're going to be doing a little exercise for introductions today!"

Morri smirked as he looked around the class and picked up the attendance sheet, "Alright. I'm going to pair you all up and give you a prompt for you to write a poem with your partner. There is no length requirement but I do ask one small favor; that it must rhyme. I'll give you about ten minutes each and we can share them after. Don't forget to introduce yourselves properly to one another before you start!"

Morri began to list names off, "Bo! You're going to be paired up with Ned! Your topic is flowers."

He ran through a few more names, "Elias!" he smirked at him, "You will be with Daniel. Write about... farms for me."

"..."

"Benji! Find Jerica and write about the sky, will you?"

"..."

"Rek and Carter! Pair up and tell me about love!"

"..."

"Hm, James." He looked at James and Evaline who was next to him. She wasn't in this class and he definitely wasn't going to be forcing her to do any classwork. Yet he didn't want James to be all alone, that would be very sad, wouldn't it?

"Professor, I didn't get a partner!" A girl called out.

"Oh! I'm so sorry my dear, and what's your name?" Morri asked, skimming through the attendance sheet.

"Clandestine!" She smiled.

"Got it! Sorry again, you and James can pair up and write about..." Morri stroked his chin, "Dragons. Ah! Lost dragons, even better! Well class, get to it! Ten minutes!"

He smiled at them and looked at Evaline, giving her an are you okay? thumbs up.