Chapter Text
I made my way into class and stood at the doorway for a bit, debating which row I wanted to sit in. The first row was too eager, like you were trying too hard. The last row made it seem as though you didn’t care, like you would rather be taking a nap. I was just about to make my way over to a row three rows from the front – a neutral area – when a girl with long blonde hair and her bag hiked up her shoulder pushed past me, muttering something under her breath about “annoying freshmen.”
I made my way over to my seat, pulling out my notebook and laptop, just as the professor walked in.
“Good morning everyone, my name is Dr. Hawkins, but please feel free to call me Lauren. Welcome to English 103, or Controversies in Contemporary Media.” Dr. Hawkins – or Lauren – continued to speak, going over the syllabus and how we’re going to be graded. She paced back and forth in front of the lecture hall as she spoke, her wavy brown hair bouncing with every step that she took.
I was absentmindedly doodling on my page when my ears caught on to the mention of a group project.
“So as I mentioned, this project will be worth 40% of your grade and will take place instead of a final. Although the project is due at the end of the term, I expect that you will work on it as the semester progresses, leaving it until the last minute will only have you hating your past self.” She says, giggling a bit.
“Now I have already put you in pairs so please raise your hand when your name is called, and in the last five minutes of class you can exchange contact information and any ideas you may have.”
She began listing off names. “Michael and Katherine.” “Stefan and Cole.” “Isabel and Jeremiah.” I looked up, raising my hand once I heard my name called, and quickly began scanning the room for my partner. Eventually my eyes landed on him in the last row and wow. He had tanned, golden skin that popped against the white t-shirt he was wearing. His blond curls fell in waves across his forehead. And I think there might be a light splattering of freckles across his face, despite the fact that he was sitting in the back row. He honestly looked like a Greek god.
He quickly gave me a nod of acknowledgement – you know the one guys do – and dropped his head back down to his lap, in which he was trying to – terribly – hide his phone.
Soon enough it was reaching the end of class, and Lauren told us to go find our partners. I strolled up the few steps making my way to the back row and taking the seat beside Jeremiah that his friend had just abandoned.
“Hi, I’m Isabel.” I said, my hand making an awkward sort of wave. He looked me up and down for a second, almost as if he was taking me all in.
“Yeah, I figured.”
I could feel heat spreading across my cheeks, and I started to fidget with my bracelets.
“Okay. So do you have any ideas for the project? I was thinking maybe we could do something with the horror genre and how they depict –”
“Look, I’m gonna be honest with you. I don’t really care about this class, I’m just here because people said it was an easy GPA booster. So why don’t you put your number in my phone and we can talk about this later, I’ve got somewhere I got to be now.” He said, quickly cutting off what I was saying. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and after a few taps hands it over to me. I put my number in, slightly at a loss for words. Once I’m done I hand it back to him and am about to ask for his so I can put my number in when he quickly stands up, his chair almost falling behind him, and starts walking away.
“See ya later, Isabella.” I don’t even have a chance to correct him before he’s out the door.
—-
“And then he called me Isabella!” I exclaim to Taylor, staring down at my iced coffee and stirring it aggressively.
“What an asshole, also Isabella has more syllables than your actual name so like he’s also an idiot.”
“Taylor, I don’t know how I’m supposed to do a project with him for the entire semester! Also, it’s not like we can even start planning because I have no way to contact him!” A lady across the cafe sends me a dirty look, and I realize I may have been yelling.
“Look, there’s a party happening at one of the frats tonight so just come with me and blow off some steam. I promise it’ll be fun.” Taylor says, attempting to give me a puppy dog look.
“Fine.”
____
After all these years of knowing Taylor, I don’t know how she still manages to trick me into these situations. The “fun” party that she dragged me to was an ABC party aka Anything But Clothes, which is how I ended up in a corner of a dirty frat house wrapped in caution tape. I ended up in this corner after about two minutes of being here considering the fact that everytime I took a step, the dress would slide further up my ass. Now I’m trapped here since Taylor left me complaining about how “the whole point of an ABC party is to show off your ass!”
I start scanning the room, trying to see if there’s anyone I know who may be able to get me out of here without having me flash the entire party, when I hear an “Isabella!” over the music. I turn to see Jeremiah saunterning towards me and I have to hold back my eye roll. He has a sparkly pink gift bag on, almost as a skirt, with long pink ribbons tied around his arms to hold it up. He also has a red bow placed exactly where you’d expect it to be.
“Hello, Jeremy.”
“It’s Jeremiah.” He says, his brows drawing together in slight confusion.
“Yeah, and last I checked my name is Isabel.” I grunt as I cross my arms over my chest. I immediately regret my decision when I see a light pink start to colour his cheeks and look down to realize that I have almost completely escaped my caution tape.
“I wanted to apologize for rushing out on you like that after class, I had a meeting with my coach that I couldn’t miss.”
“Whatever, it’s fine.” I say, brushing him off.
“Do you want me to get you a drink?.” He asks, looking down at my empty hands.
“Actually, I was just about to leave. I’m just trying to figure out a way of getting out of here and not flash everyone in the process.”
“Wait here, I’ll be right back.” He runs off, quickly disappears into the flood of bodies. He returns a couple of minutes later with a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, that I assume must be his by the fact that they’ll definitely be too big for me.
“Here, I grabbed these from my room.” He says as he hands them to me.
“You’re in a frat? Honestly I don’t know why I’m surprised considering how you look.” I mumble under my breath as I shimmy on the sweatpants. I roll the waistband over a couple of times and make quick work of throwing the hoodie on. I’m pulling out my hair when he says,
“What does that mean? How do I look?”
“Oh, um, I just mean you have that frat boy look to you.” Like Harry Styles circa 2013 I think to myself. I didn’t know people actually looked that good in real life.
“Okay …” He says as he lets out a light laugh.
“Anyways, thanks for the clothes. I’m getting out of here so I can rewatch Gilmore Girls in bed.” I quickly turn around and make my way out of the party. I’m back in my dorm when I realize that I completely forgot to ask for his number.