After running half of the intro class for algebra on day one of the spring semester, Kayden hurried back to the office to grab her duffel and backpack, lugging basically her whole life with her downstairs to the room she would spend the next four hours in. At least calculus had an e-book.

By the end of her second class, she was getting antsy. With ten minutes in between, she got up and climbed the risers in the middle, skipping steps to lunge. Up and down she went a few times before stretching and munching on a snack. Ten minutes sure seemed like a long time all of a sudden. Especially when the passing students gave her funny looks for her exercises.

The third class was more her style: drafting for residential designs. Even so, she watched the clock tick slowly toward noon.

11:35

11:40

Had she stopped paying attention? Oh well, couldn’t be anything too important on the first day.

11:50

The other students began filing out, and her heel started bobbing nervously under the desk. She spun back and forth in the table-bolted chair, glancing at the propped-open door every time someone came through.

11:55

A familiar tall and lanky figure with an afro sauntered through the door with one hand holding his backpack strap over a shoulder. His hazel eyes briefly browsed the room before settling on Kayden.

She shot her hand up immediately with a relieved smile. “Hey Vince! Come sit next to me!”

His broad grin displayed the entire top row of pearly straight teeth as he hurried up one step to the second row. The bag clacked onto the desk as he took the aisle seat next to her. “Hey, what are the odds?”

“I guess high enough.”

He accidentally kicked her duffel bag as he settled into his seat and glanced down at it with surprised eyebrows. “Oh, sorry.”

“That’s okay.” She reached a foot over the bag and scooted it more directly under her seat, bunching it against her backpack.

Grinning, his eyebrows pressed together in confusion. “Did you move in here or something? You look cozy.”

She chuckled. “Basically. I’ve been in here since nine. Looking back, maybe picking all my classes in the same room wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. I even had to get up and stretch a bit. My butt hurts.”

He reciprocated her laughter. “Yeah, I bet. Damn. You might have to get one of those butt cushions.”

The fidget of her foot had ceased already, and she felt more at ease next to her friend.

With the classroom nearly full, Damien and Kaiser walked through the door together.

Her heart picked up speed again as she watched Kaiser. Damn. Turns out her little soiree with Tito over winter break didn’t satisfy her cravings for her professor one bit.

Damien passed in between and caught her gaze, acknowledging her with a smile and a nod.

She lifted her hand just barely off the table to wave at him before leaning over and explaining to Vince that she and Damien shared their office. She left out the part about having become friendlier with their professor.

Kaiser set down his zipper binder beside the computer up front as usual and scanned the room. His eyes briefly settled on Kayden’s and he gave her the smallest hint of an asymmetrical smile as a greeting. Heat flared up her neck.

“Good afternoon, everyone.” After introducing himself and his TA—and taking roll without forcing students to share something about themselves—they jumped right into a trigonometry refresher.

A few students huffed and some laughed about not remembering much of anything. The only reason Kayden remembered so much was because she’d spent her free time over break doing trig worksheets (yes, that was how dire her social life had become).

They immediately moved on to lesson number one. Kayden was surprised to find herself a little confused. She’d heard calculus was no walk in the park, but she didn’t expect it to challenge her so soon.

The class ended with a worksheet and study guide, and Kayden immediately invited Vince to work on it with her.

Damien gathered his things and headed for the exit first, bumping his fist against Kaiser’s as he passed him. Kaiser’s hands went back into his pockets as he lingered up front, awaiting any student’s questions or concerns.

Kayden gathered her bags: backpack cinched over both shoulders and the duffel hanging loosely off of one.

Vince eyeballed her warily. “Tell me you’re done for the day.”

She laughed. “I am. I have my bike so I don’t have to walk a mile home with these on my back.”

He visibly relaxed. “Okay, good. I know you’re strong, but still. It looks uncomfortable.”

The pair meandered to the front, where Kaiser was finishing up a conversation with a freshman. He smiled as he turned his eyes on Kayden. “Hey, you.” He nodded to Vince. “It’s Vince, right?”

He smiled. “Yes, sir.”

Kaiser winced. “Please don’t call me sir.”

Vince’s smile remained but he seemed confused. “Okay…”

Kayden chuckled, reminding Kaiser, “Hey, you’re the one who grows that beard out to look older and more authoritative.”

He sighed, defeated. “Point taken.”

She gestured to her friend. “Vince lived in the dorm next to me freshman year.”

“Oh, good, you have a friend to study with.” He removed a hand from his pocket and pointed it at her in a narrowed-eye warning. “But you better not start hosting tutoring groups.”

Vince’s eyes darted between the two as Kayden laughed.

Hands up in defense, she glanced to the desk. “Okay, I won’t, I won’t.”

Vince placed a palm on her shoulder. “I got one more class today, so I’m gonna head out.”

All the other students had already cleared out of the room.

Kayden looked to him sheepishly. She was doing it again…being too friendly with Kaiser in front of other people. What was he going to say to her about it? “Oh, yeah, okay. Let’s go.” She looked back to the professor who had already gathered his stuff and rounded the desk to leave.

He smiled at her. “Have a good lunch.”

“Yeah, you too. See you tomorrow at the office.” She walked with Vince ahead of their instructor to the doorway.

“For future reference, you’re more than welcome to use your office as you would a locker. You don’t have to lug that bag around all day.” Kaiser smiled at her when she glanced over her shoulder at him.

Great idea, actually. Then she’d have an excuse to walk back to the office after class, at the same time as Kaiser.

As they parted in the hallway, Vince fell in step beside her. “So…looks like you and Kaiser get along.”

Her cheeks flushed. There it was. “Uh…yeah, I guess. We chat sometimes when I’m at work. I took his trig class over the summer with Aisha.”

With a simple nod and hmph, he hooked one thumb into his dark grey jeans pocket and the other under his backpack strap. “How old is he?”

“Uh…why?”

“Just curious. You said something about his beard making him look older.”

“Oh. Thirty-three.”

He nodded, maintaining a neutral facial expression. “Gotcha. So, you’re like…on the level with the professors now?”

“Hah…kinda, I guess. I definitely don’t feel weird working there anymore.”

Finally he smiled. “That’s good news. You were so busy last semester that we never really got to talk about the job. I’m glad you seem to like it.”

Did she really like it? Honestly, she hadn’t given it much thought. She mostly just wanted to stay busy. Justina didn’t demand too much teaching from her, so it wasn’t too bad. She definitely liked study groups best. No more than eight students at a time, ideally. Basically, she missed volunteering in the tutoring center.

But she had to admit to herself that seeing Kaiser daily was a great mood booster, and she wouldn’t trade that to go back to volunteer work.

***

As Misha passed the receptionist desk, weeks into the semester, he spotted through their office window both teaching assistants hunched over a textbook intensely, Kayden with her computer chair rolled up to the end of Damien’s desk. Before passing their open door, he heard a revelatory “Oooh.”

“Ah, yea, Misha always explains that one super weird.”

His brows scrunched as he paused in the doorway. “What did I do?”

Kayden’s head whipped his direction, eyes wide and cheeks slightly more red than usual. Was she embarrassed?

Damien continued. “Chapter five, my man.” He planted his index finger on the open page, demanding Misha join them at the desk to see the section. “Even math whiz Kayden, here, got confused.”

She brought her elbow to the desk and plopped her temple on the heel of her palm, grumbling. “Don’t call me that.”

“I mean it’s true, though.”

Misha peeked down at the page, hovering over Kayden’s shoulder. “What do you mean I always explain it weirdly?”

“Every semester, I swear, more students come to me for help here than the average.”

He crossed his arms and glared down at his TA. “Well, why wouldn’t you tell me that sooner?”

“I dunno. You seem like the kind of guy who understands something a certain way, like a routine.”

“In other words, I’m a rigid old fart.”

Damien barked out a laugh before denying the claim and explaining exactly how Misha’s lessons could be confusing.

Standing between the pair, he examined the section, running through different ways he could’ve taught it. His eyes peeked at Kayden, who was silently staring at the page, tapping her pen on her knee. “Okay, show me how you fix it, then.”

Damien scooted closer to Kayden and began going over the problem in a way that made total sense, and that Misha even used himself privately in his head. He hadn’t considered saying it out loud before. A pang of guilt hit him as he saw the relief and comprehension relax Kayden’s tense face and muscles. How many other students lost confidence over this one simple thing? How many had dropped his class at this point—a month into it—in previous semesters?

And why hadn’t she come to him instead?

Struck by an epiphany, she quietly solved a worksheet problem before glaring jokingly up at Misha under her long lashes. “Good thing Damien’s here for that fresh perspective.”

Damien chuckled. “Yeah, dude, what’re you gonna do when I graduate this year?”

Her wide eyes went to her officemate. “Wait, you’re graduating this year?”

As the pair chatted, Misha’s eyes darted from his assistant’s to Kayden’s face and lingered probably too long. An idea crept into his mind: if she ended up mastering calculus as well, maybe he would steal her from Justina.

No. Bad idea. You better stop ogling her, first.

Another part of his brain protested that he never actually ogled her, but the sentiment remained the same: he liked her too much.

He unlatched his folded arms and began to step away, addressing Damien once again. “If you keep teaching me your secret methods to be a better educator, then I think I’ll be fine.”

The graduate’s hand went over his chest dramatically as if to still a fluttering heart. “Are you saying that I’m a better teacher than you are?”

He smiled. “I’m saying you’re good enough to teach me a thing or two. And I’m not too old to learn new tricks.” His eyes drifted to meet Kayden’s and an involuntary wink greeted her. He really had to stop doing that. It was like a reflex.

They were barely a quarter through the semester and yet he was already considering having her at his side as his TA. The idea made him feel something he couldn’t label. Anticipation, but also shame. It’s possible he may have been fantasizing about a sneaky relationship…which was absurd, anyway. There was no reason to think she would ever be okay with that. He wasn't even truly okay with that. It was disreputable.

Plus, he actually liked her. As a person. A friend. Regardless of whether or not they ever became romantically involved, he cared about her well-being. So, an affair was out of the question.

At any rate, the goal he should’ve been focusing on was getting out of that town and getting his career in order.

Besides, if she was anything at all like her peers, she would want kids one day. So there was really no point in hoping for anything other than a really smart friend who might one day become his assistant.