Abe woke up the next morning feeling a little weird. He had a passing thought it might be the start of a cold, so he made sure to grab one of his mother's special tea bags as he packed his bag. He'd noticed the dining hall and a few other locations offered hot water, for which he was glad of. A nice hot cup of tea during his first class sounded divine. If only he had a few individual servings of honey so he could add some to the drink. Well, he would have to settle for what he could.

That is how he ended up in the front row of his English class with a steaming cardboard cup, complete with plastic lid. What he hadn't forseen was Artemis deciding to sit up front with him instead of her usual group of friends. He wasn't awake enough for that nonsense yet. Maybe by the time he finished his tea.

“Good morning, Abe.” He believed he muttered a reply but who really knew.

Class soon started and he could focus on that instead. At least until the professor told the class to discuss the reading from over the weekend with their neighbor. Artemis was Abe’s only neighbor considering he had chosen to sit on the end of the row.

“So, what did you think of the reading?” She was already scooting closer to him as she spoke. “I liked how the author seemed torn between two perspectives on the topic. It really made it feel like they were having an actual conversation with the reader.” Abe had noticed that too… It was subtle, so he was actually surprised she noticed it as well.

“It was… a little basic in my opinion. The author's later works tended to convey more with less. I read a few of their other papers and quite enjoyed the sense of growth in their writing style.”

“You read their later works too? I was worried I'd get them all mixed up when discussing so I reread the assigned one right before class, but I definitely found the more recent ones better. Did you happen to read their series of papers on the possibility of other dimensions overlapping our own?” If he didn't know better, Abe would have thought she was excited to talk to him about the readings 

“I had come across a few… Their evidence was still thin in the ones I read.” Their discussion continued and Abe actually found many of the things Artemis said to be insightful and interesting. Maybe he hadn't given her enough credit before. Honestly, the time before the professor called the class back to attention felt shorter than he'd expected.

Abe allowed himself a quick wave goodbye to Artemis as he headed off to his next class. It was just a touch of courtesy after their engaging conversation earlier. It didn't mean anything more…

He added more hot water to his cup on his way to his Botany class, putting the speciality tea bag he'd saved from the earlier cup in the new water. Yep, nothing unique or special about waving goodbye. That's why he was definitely not having slight trouble paying attention to the lesson as he felt even more guilty thinking about the assumptions he'd made about Artemis. She seemed like such a sweet and intelligent woman once one got to know her.

It was probably just the oncoming cold making it hard for him to focus. The tea seemed to help. Everytime he lost focus or started to feel off, he would take a sip and be able to concentrate again. It was a good thing his mother insisted on sending him with a decent amount of her teas. She must have realized he was bound to become unwell at least once during the semester. And she was always the sort that would rather be over prepared than realize too late that one had come up short in their needs. Especially when it came to her own children.

***

Heart pumping. Artemis did her best to breathe deep enough to get oxygen to her muscles that were screaming at her. She just needed to focus on the wooded path before her as she ran as fast as she could. She had a passing thought that the area really was quite nice before her body reminded her that it was getting a touch tired. She picked up the pace. Finally, she saw her goal and hopefully the promise of rest. One last push of speed.

“Fifteen minutes, forty seconds… not bad at all.” Arty gradually slowed to a stop before all but collapsed on the grass by her bag. She pulled out her water bottle.

“Thanks. Is it low enough to qualify?” Her breathing had started to stabilize enough to be considered normal after a moment of sitting. She took a deep sip of her drink.

“Definitely. Welcome to the team…” The upper classmate seemed a bit hesitant but continued after a moment of internal debate. “Are you sure you want to participate? I heard you're already part of the woodsmen team and there's also classes. You're only a freshman so maybe you should take this year easy before filling your schedule with so many commitments. You know, get a feel for things and how much you can handle so you don't get overwhelmed?”

“No need to worry about me. I already decided to limit myself to two sports per a season. Figured cross-country would have little to no conflictions with the woodsmen team. And since it's not a team sport, if I miss a practice or two, I can supplement with a slightly longer morning jog.”

“I suppose, if you're sure…” Artemis was quite sure. It felt weird not having multiple sports to do. She was used to juggling at least three or four extracurricular activities during highschool.

“Thank you for looking out for me, though.” She flashed a friendly smile before getting up. Taking out a loose piece of paper, she wrote on it and handed it to who she assumed was the team captain. “I hate to just rush off right after trying out, but I need to get some lunch before my next class. If you could just email me the practice schedule and possibly when meets are so I can put them in my calendar, that would be great…” And with that, she headed towards the main buildings.

One socially noisy lunch later, and Artemis was hurrying to Italian class. She couldn't believe she almost lost track of time. It would have been humiliating if she was late to class in only the second week. Especially since she didn't really have a good reason. It was just a case of enjoying the company of people that joined her for lunch and forgetting to pay attention to the time.

She took a turn, admittedly faster than she probably should, and leaped up some steps three at a time. Then she opened the building door just to have two practical clone of each other girls suddenly and rudely strut past her, elbowing her in the process.

“Watch where you're going, Blondie.” Artemis felt a shiver going down her back when the first spoke, though she couldn't figure out why. Neither were particularly odd or out of the usual from what she could tell. In fact, they were the sort that most attracted to females would fawn over. Skinny with fashionable, form hugging clothes and long, dark hair with colored highlights. Everything about their appearance practically screamed popular and attractive. And they looked like almost mirrored versions of each other, even moving identical. The biggest difference between the two girls was one’s highlights were shades of blue while the other girl’s were purples. They really pulled it off so well in a seductive and knowing what they had sort of way.

“Oh, um… Sorry.” Arty hurried in, not sure why she felt so uncomfortable suddenly. Where did they get those adorable tops? She wondered if she would look as nice in one just like it… 

She still needed to get to class. Didn't have time to be distracted right now. But all she could think of was those two girls now, even as she all but ran to the classroom. Thankfully, she arrived at the room and took a seat right before the professor officially started class.

“Cutting it close already, Arty?” The student beside her whispered.

“Lost track of time while eating.” She muttered back. “Now, shush before you get us both in trouble…” She got a teasing smirk in response so she just turned her attention back to the front. She really needed to focus if she had any hope of passing this class. Why did she pick Italian for her secondary language credit, again? Oh, right… She thought the language sounded romantic whenever she heard someone speaking it and wanted to be able to do the same. Maybe she should stop making educational decisions based on what she thought was hot at three in the morning…