Chapter 1

“Fuck, has it been an hour already?”

My phone blared the familiar “nuclear meltdown” sound from my desk. I had only set alarms in case I fell asleep, but I wasn’t planning on napping (which is what I always told myself). I hadn’t even bothered unlacing my Converse before collapsing onto a bed so messy my mother would have fainted had she seen it. I grabbed my backpack, threw on a jacket, and patted down my pockets.

“Alright, phone, wallet, keys, charger, cool,” I mumbled before locking my door and jogging down the stairs and into the cool, fall air. My phone said it was almost seven, but no one ever shows up to my help sessions anyway, so it would probably be alright if I showed up a bit late. Honestly, I’d rather stay overtime and actually answer questions than sit around for an hour reading webcomics if I’m getting paid to do this.

In the science center, there were a few groups of people huddled around tables with textbooks strewn about. It’s probably that astro project my friends had all complained about at dinner for the past week.

Just outside the door to the lab stood Ben, the only person who seemed to actually ask for help in this class, and one other person I had never seen before.

“Hey Ben, what’s the homework on? I honestly didn’t look at the solutions Carter sent me yet, so what are we working on today?”

“It’s Gauss’ Law,” he replied.

“Isn’t that fairly easy?”

“Well he worked through the easy problems on the board and gave us all the three star problems in the book. There’s this one-”

“Is it the cube problem where there’s the weird charge in the corner and shit? Yeah he gave us that one last year. It’s actually not as much physics and more a thinking trick.”

I dropped my bag and jacket on the chair and rolled up my sleeves as I walked to the chalkboard.

“I just realized, I don’t think we’ve met. I guess you know who I am cause Professor Carter probably mentioned my office hours, but I’m James, in case you didn’t know.”

“Oh yeah, I’m Ari,” she said, barely glancing up from her laptop screen.

“You’re not physics or astro are you?”

“No, I’m a first year in CS, but I kinda wanted to take a physics class for fun.”

“I wouldn’t exactly describe a class with Carter as fun,” I chuckled. She cracked a bit of a smile.

“Maybe not, but we’re only a few weeks in, so I’ll tell you how it goes later.”

I sort of zoned out for an hour and went on autopilot through the solutions, prompting the two first years whenever they got stuck.

“Hey guys, I’m really tired tonight so in about 20 minutes I’m gonna head back to my room. Do you have any really pressing questions?”

They both shook their heads.

“Alright, you know maybe I’ll just go back now. I think I’m gonna pass out on my feet if I have to talk about symmetry again tonight.”

I grabbed my bag and called out over my shoulder as I left, “Hey Ben, don’t forget. Lock the door and turn out the lights when you leave, ok?”

“Yeah of course.”

I made it all the way to the exit before my body tensed up in the cold night air.

“Oh fuck, I forgot my jacket”

I shuffled back towards the lab room. I could see the lights were off, which was good. I guess Ben and Ari had left right after me. When I peeked through the window, I didn’t see my jacket on the chair where I left it. I opened the door and saw the little flash of purple on the seat by where Ari and Ben had been sitting. I picked up my jacket and threw it on before flipping the lights back off and letting the door click behind me.

I got back to my room, threw my bag down, tossed my jacket in the corner, and changed into sweatpants. As is always fated to happen, I tried to fall asleep, but suddenly my body, which had barely made it into bed to begin with, felt like staying awake.