Chapter Two
Ava
I loved the little booths in the library with the barriers on each end, because I could dig my nose into a book and pretend that there was nothing around me. The wall-length window to my right didn’t exist. I couldn’t see out into the courtyard where the students were running around below me. All that existed was my textbook and the diagram detailing the makeup of a boron atom.
“Hey, Jack, look at this shit.” Something fell off the shelf behind me.
“Dude, you’re gonna get us kicked out of here.” I heard feet scraping against the carpet.
“Nah, you gotta see this.”
“Aw, that’s disgusting. Put that away.”
“Look,” I heard pages ruffling and looked back. An overgrown thug with his black hat swept to the side was holding a human anatomy book open for his friend to see.
“It’s tiny.”
I cleared my throat, and the one holding the book turned around. “You got a problem?”
I could’ve gotten them kicked out, but that would’ve just gotten me into trouble, so I turned back to my book.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” The thug put the book back and passed by a little too close.
I took down the boron diagram and moved on to carbon. Then somebody knocked on the barrier, and I jumped. “Jesus, Nicole, you scared me. “
She leaned over, pressing her long black hair against the top of the barrier. “What are you reading?”
“I’m trying to study for my physics test.” I closed the book.
“You’re going to rot your brain that way. You need sunlight. Let’s go to the lounge.” She reached around and handed me a cup of coffee.
I snatched it up and took a gulp. “Thank you so much.”
“It’s no problem.” I got up to follow Nicole into the elevator. “What have you been up to?” I asked when we got inside.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “I have been so tired all day. I got back after curfew last night, and they almost didn’t let me in the dorm.”
“What happened?”
“I met Tom at Crystal’s party, and we stayed up late talking, you know.”
“Uh-huh.” The double doors opened up to the basement, a massive complex filled with computers. At the end of the row of desks were a set of double doors that opened up into a seating area with vending machines and a TV hanging up on the wall, perpetually playing the news on mute.
We took a seat on a ringed sectional in the back corner. Nicole sat across from me and set her coffee down on the table between us. “You know you don’t have to study this much, right?”
“It’s just a quick refresher. I go over the questions every night. Grades are important, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“You graduated high school with a 4.2 average. Remember? You were begging the teachers for extra credit, and even then you weren’t satisfied. You’re literally more than perfect.”
“I like reading. It’s enriching.” I took a sip of coffee.
“You look like you were up later than I was last night,” Nicole said.
“So what if I was? At least I wasn’t getting drunk and screwing around.”
“You need a little bit of that in your life, Ava. I know it sounds dumb to you, but you can’t stay in the library every waking moment. You’ve got to have fun.”
“I don’t have time for fun. I barely have time to leave my booth. Maintaining my GPA isn’t easy, and I’m not about to let my grades slip.”
“Really? What is this? You’re going to get your degree no matter what. We both know it. It’s not like the company you work for is going to be looking at your GPA. They might not even care if you graduate.”
“There’s more to it than that.” I drank the last sip of my coffee and set it down on the table. “Is it so hard for you to believe that I actually like studying? I want to do this. Besides, I can’t tutor anyone if I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“Oh, right. The football team.”
“I’m just surprised they haven’t tried to expose themselves to me yet.”
“They’re not that bad, are they?”
“They’re primates. If I wanted to go see a bunch of monkeys throw a ball around, I’d go to the zoo.”
Nicole scoffed and took a drink of her coffee. “Come on.”
“No, I mean it. Half these guys can barely write. I swear to you they’re doing their assignments drunk.”
Nicole shook her head. “You’re probably right. Tell me you’re making headway at least.”
“I am, but not the kind I’d like. They just don’t care. Most of them aren’t going to pass, not from studying.”
“Well, I think you should go with me tonight. Jeff is having a kegger, and all the other girls are coming.”
“I can’t.”
“You just don’t want to.”
“Not particularly, no. I’ve gotta get going. I need to go over my calculus homework.”
“Alright, give me a call.”
“I will.” I left Nicole at the elevator.