Abe got his dinner and found himself a seat in an out of the way corner. Today had really been a decently productive day in his mind. He could have picked a less busy time to grab dinner but he had no way of knowing and it wasn't too bad, so he could settle for just dealing with it…

And then the tray of food was heavily placed across from him.

He looked up from his own plate to see that muscular girl from yesterday. Oh, great. What did he do this time? Had she staked some sort of claim on this table he wasn't aware of? Was she going to chew him out for doing something offensive in her eyes? Shit, was this about him running away yesterday?

“Is this seat taken?” The blonde, he remembered her introducing herself as Artemis, asked with a tiny smile. He couldn't very well deny her without reason so he just shook his head and she sat down. “We have early morning English class together, right? I've noticed you in the front of the room but don't think I ever caught your name…”

“Oh… um… Abe.” She gave him a wide smile that showed off her teeth. Such behavior would have been a sign of dominance in most animal species and he certainly felt like some sort of prey creature in the moment.

“It's really nice to properly meet you, Abe. Hey, Abe and Arty… both our names start with ‘A’. Maybe it's a sign.”

“Plenty of people have names starting with the same letter. It's a fourteen out of a hundred chance of two people having the same letter…. closer to twenty one when factoring out the four least popular letters of the alphabet. That's oddly close to a one in four chance. And ‘A’ is one of the more popular ones in general.” The very notion that having a single letter of one's name in common being a point of connection was so odd. Why did it even matter?

“Wow, you just knew that off the top of your head? That's pretty smart.”

Abe got a little defensive. “It was just an estimation. I'd need to do proper calculations to figure out the exact numbers… But the point is it doesn't matter either way. Did you want something from me? Maybe you're hoping to get close so I'll do your homework for you later down the line. I'm letting you know now, it's not gonna happen so no need to waste either of our time.”

Arty almost looked upset at his words. “I'm going to have a tutor if I need it. I'm perfectly capable of doing my own work, thank you very much… It wouldn't do me any good to have someone else do my work for me.”

“Oh…” Abe didn't know what to say. No one ever seemed to voluntarily want to talk to him. At least not anyone like her without wanting something from him. Why would she want to interact with him, then?

“Did you really think I'm so lacking I would start up a conversation just to cheat myself out of an education like that?” 

Abe could only nervously gesture between them. “I mean… People like you don't talk to people like me unless they want stuff like that…”

“People like me?” That was definitely an offended tone, Abe recognized it well.

“Popular…”

“Well, for your information, I did want something… I've been wanting to apologize for my teammate almost knocking you over on that first day of school. I thought you were really cool how you managed to dodge them when they weren't paying any attention. I didn't know if he got a chance to apologize to you about it, but I figured I should make sure you knew he was sorry since I had the higher chance of running into you since we're in some of the same classes.”

Well, Abe was stumped on how to react to that. She was really just trying to be nice? To him of all people? …Why? It felt like a trick.

Popular kids weren't nice to him, especially not the athletes. They tended to just see him as an easy target if they even paid him attention at all. He'd managed at his high school to at least convince others he wasn't worth the effort to directly bully. Nicky's popularity probably also played a role in that and for that Abe was glad. But here at college was a whole other ballgame. He was hoping to not have to make the effort all over again…

“Oh, well, thank you then, I guess… It was really nice of you.” What does one say to an Amazonian warrior that claims to be apologizing? She wasn't even the one who almost knocked him over, and she had been trying to get a chance to apologize for almost a week? He kinda felt a touch guilty now. It wasn't on purpose, at least it wasn't most of the time, but he'd been avoiding her and making it harder for her to do that one simple thing.

***

Artemis got her food and looked around for that guys she'd been wanting to talk to. She quickly found him and went to set her stuff down at his table.“Is this seat taken?” She'd noticed they shared a few classes including English, so maybe it would help break the ice if she brought that up. “I've noticed you in the front of the room but don't think I ever caught your name…”

“Oh… um… Abe.” Arty didn't know what she had expected, but that name really seemed to suit him. She smiled at the thought.

“It's really nice to properly meet you, Abe.” Okay, she'd found out his name, but what should she say now? She felt like there would be an awkward silence if she didn't say more to continue the conversation. “Hey, Abe and Arty… both our names start with ‘A’. Maybe it's a sign.” And of course she had to let her mouth continue speaking without consulting her brain. Oh, and now the intelligent Abe was stating statistics about the chances of two people having a name with the same first letter… That was actually kinda cool, even if he was saying how stupid it was to think it was cause for a connection. “Wow, you just knew that off the top of your head? That's pretty smart.” Abe frowns slightly. Why would he do that? She'd complicated him. At least, she thought it was a compliment…

“It was just an estimation. I'd need to do proper calculations to figure out the exact numbers.” Oh, maybe he was embarrassed that he showed her how smart he was? “Did you want something from me? Maybe you're hoping to get close so I'll do your homework for you later down the line. I'm letting you know now, it's not gonna happen so no need to waste either of our time.” Well, that wasn't what she expected at all. She needed to be very clear that she would never even consider doing something like that. She was going to get a proper degree and she would learn anything from her classes if someone else did the work for her. Obviously, homework and assignments served a purpose in the learning process or the professors wouldn't be assigning them. 

 “It wouldn't do me any good to have someone else do my work for me.” She fully believed that.

“Oh…” Oh? That's all he had to say? He probably didn't believe her or something. Well, she was a woman of integrity and there was just something that made her desperately want him to understand that. It was like his (perceived) questioning of her motivation and ethics made his opinion the most important at the moment. She needed to convince him.

“Did you really think I'm so lacking I would start up a conversation just to cheat myself out of an education like that?” 

“I mean… People like you don't talk to people like me unless they want stuff like that…”

“People like me?” What in the world did he mean by that?

“Popular…”

“Well, for your information, I did want something….” She'd show him. She wasn't going to deny that she was popular. That was just a fact. But he seemed to have such a twisted view of supposedly popular people. She wasn't trying to take advantage of him or anything. Arty initially just wanted to make sure he got a proper apology since she wasn't positive he had gotten one yet. Now, though, she had a second goal. She was going to befriend this interesting and intelligent young man and prove to him that he's wrong about her at least. 

“Oh, well, thank you then, I guess… It was really nice of you.” Arty smiled. He was kinda shy, it seemed but that was fine. It just meant she'd probably have to be the one instigating the conversations most of the time while they were first starting out as friends. This was the start of something great, she could feel it.