Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have her as a partner . . .
“Olivia!” the girl across from me excitedly shouts, nearly giving me, and almost everyone else in the class, a heart attack.
I turn back to look at the girl sitting across from me, and she’s looking at the door, smiling widely. Rodent Boy looks up from his phone, surprise written all over his face as he sits up straighter.
I look at the doorway and spot a tall, slender brunet standing there, a deep blush spreading across her cheeks. She gives a quick sheepish smile to the class while stepping over the threshold, keeping her head down as she briskly strides to our table, her long caramel-colored hair flowing behind her.
My breath hitches in my throat. She’s beautiful.
She’s not the conventional type—not drop dead gorgeous, sexy as sin, or hot as hell. No. She’s the subtle kind of beauty; the kind that can easily be overlooked if you’re not careful enough. She’s not the kind to turn heads on the street—she seems far too shy and reserved to purposefully attract attention—but nonetheless, she takes my breath away.
Our eyes meet briefly as she gets closer, and she gives me a small, kind smile. It’s like a breath of fresh air. I’m used to girls smiling at me, but they usually have some sort of motive behind it. Her smile isn’t suggestive or seductive, and there’s no hunger in her eyes or awe signaling that she knows who I am. Her smile is genuine and friendly, and damn does it make me feel good.
She’s dressed simply in a white T-shirt and jeans, not a usual first-week outfit. Most girls go out of their way to dress up the first week of classes, wanting to impress everyone. Not this girl. Even in this simple outfit she manages to capture my attention, whether she intended to or not.
She stands next to our table and her warm honey–colored eyes meet mine once again. “Hi, is this seat taken?” her soft, melodic voice asks politely, gesturing to the empty chair next to me.
Caught off guard, I shake my head, my lips parted like a damn idiot as no words come out.
She gives me that smile again before shrugging off her powder-blue backpack, setting it on the floor, and taking a seat next to me. The faint smell of vanilla wafts over, giving me some much needed relief from the formaldehyde.
“Hey, Liv!” the girl across from us greets her.
Olivia.
“Hey, guys,” she greets the two across from us.
“What are you doing in this lab?” Pale Rat Boy asks abruptly, some accusation in his tone.
“Oh.” She startles, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, I had to rearrange my schedule a bit at the last minute. Professor Cooper’s other lab TA had a scheduling conflict. She asked if we could switch times, and I didn’t have to move my schedule around much to accommodate the change, so I agreed to help her out and run the morning lab instead,” she says quickly, seemingly trying to brush off the subject.
“I swear, that woman’s in love with you. Ever since freshman year she’s found a way to keep you around somehow because you’re her favorite. TA, grading assistant, tutor for her class . . . I swear Professor Cooper would let you move in with her if you asked. Yet she acts like she hates everyone else and barely let me pass her class with an A,” the girl across from me scoffs bitterly.
Olivia rolls her eyes. “She’s not in love with me, Dee. She’s actually really nice. A tough professor at times, yes, but nice. And, hey, at least you got an A.”
“Says the girl who passed the hardest freshman class with a ninety-seven percent,” Dee grumbles.
Pale Boy sits forward in his seat. “You should have told me you were switching to this lab section. I would have saved you a seat so we could be partners.”
“Gee, thanks. What am I, chopped liver?” Dee asks, offended. “Too bad you already promised to be my partner once you knew Liv wasn’t going to be in this lab.”
“Sorry,” Olivia offers up. “So, did you guys do anything fun this summer?” she asks, quickly trying to skirt around the topic again, leaning over in her chair to pull a binder from her backpack.
Dee launches into her summer adventures, talking about all the trips she took and the fun things she did. I don’t pay attention. My eyes are focused on Olivia’s profile as she listens to her friend, amusement written on her face as the other girl goes on and on enthusiastically.
Dee’s story gets cut short when the teaching assistant walks in, juggling stacks of papers in her arms as she shuts the door behind her. She drops the pages on the front table with athudand walks over to the desk to wake up the computer and turn on the projector.
“Hello, everyone!” Her greeting silences the low murmur of the classroom. “My name is Tracy, and I’m going to be your TA for the semester.”
She pulls up a PowerPoint that outlines the syllabus and passes out copies to all of us. When everyone receives a copy, she goes over it in great detail, explaining the class policies and procedures for nearly twenty minutes. Usually I’d just get up and leave, but I stare at Olivia as she reads over the packet intently, highlighting and circling.
Next, Tracy passes out a tentative class schedule that goes over weekly topics, including page numbers to study from our lab manual. She lets us know there will be a quiz covering the previous week’s material every week and tests will be every four weeks, along with a final exam. Since we’re not going over any material this week, there will be no quiz next week.
After wasting nearly thirty minutes of my life, Tracy takes it further, pulling up another PowerPoint presentation about herself, declaring we need to get to know each other since we’ll be spending the semester together. I mentally groan as she goes on and on about herself.
“All right, everyone, that’s me. Now let’s hear about you!” She prances over to the whiteboard and picks up a dry-erase marker, scribbling a prompt for us to follow. “Whoever you are sitting next to will be your partner for the semester, someone you’re going to have to spend time with, so I want you to get to know each other, as well as the whole class.”
She continues writing on the board, making a list of questions. “I want you first to get to know your partner, find out their name, where they’re from, their major, and what they want to do in the future. When you’re all finished, I’ll have you stand up and introduce your partner to the class.”
