Undercurrent

Chapter 9

"Hey Stranger!" Ro climbed down from the wall outside the main entrance as I crossed the road. "Thought I'd beat you to it today."

"Didn't realise we were meeting before class or I'd have got the earlier bus," I said.

She rolled her eyes. "You're already 40 minutes early, Nina. The earlier bus would have been ridiculous."

I shrugged. She was right, it would have been. Still, the idea of being late if we'd arranged to meet was unthinkable to me.

"Anyway," she said. "Now you've finally turned up, want to grab a drink from the café before class?"

"Sure."

We walked through the main entrance and joined the queue of caffeine-deprived teenagers, ready for their Wednesday morning pick-me-up. Ro looked through the counter and turned her nose up at the lacklustre options for breakfast and the dried-out cake offerings.

"You'd think they could put a bit more effort in, wouldn't you?" she said. "Considering they want our brains in top condition and all. Maybe that's something to bring up with Jen."

I laughed. "I'm not sure there's a strong enough connection between crappy café food and the inner workings of the brain."

"I'm sure I could find a link," she said. "Look at it though, it's revolting. There are so many better options – look at your mum's place, everything's fresh there. Not a stale shortbread to be seen!" She raised her hands dramatically to the sky. I was starting to get used to Ro and the flamboyance around everything she did.

"True," I said. She had a point: Mum did try to keep everything as fresh as possible. I felt quite proud that Ro had noticed.

"Do you have to bake any of it?" she asked, seeming genuinely interested. I might have been getting used to her dramatic flair but the fact that she wanted to know more about me and my life surprised me every time.

"Nah," I shook my head. "Not trusted with that stuff. Mum's only brave enough to let me out on the tables."

"Bad cook?"

"Too many run-ins with the smoke alarm and the toaster."

She laughed as we got to the front of the queue and ordered us a couple of lattes. "It's on me today. You can get the next ones."

"Sure," I said, taking a scalding cardboard cup from the barista. "You're on."

We wandered along the corridor towards the psychology classroom in a comfortable silence, each attempting to sip our drinks at regular intervals then regretting it as we burned the top layer off of our tongues.

There was already a crowd of students waiting in the hallway as we arrived. A few of them smiled and nodded when we approached. I still found it strange being somewhere I wasn't invisible to the people around me but it didn't shock me as much as it had done a couple of weeks ago.

"Morning everyone!" Jen opened the door and let us all file in. Naturally, we all took the same seats we had during our first lesson and every lesson since. I'm sure Jen must have had some interesting research to back up why we were such creatures of habit.

I took out my pencil case and smirked as Ro grabbed it and took a pen for herself. Organisation didn't come naturally to her but she clearly managed to charm her way to getting people to lend her what she needed. Personally, I didn't mind being charmed if it meant I could be her friend.

Jen took us all on a quick run through of research ethics. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed by the dreary topic for the morning. I was desperate to get into the juicy bits of psychology but it seemed I'd have to wait for another lesson for that.

"Thank God we got coffee," Ro muttered under her breath. "It'd be impossible to stay awake through this if not."

I tried to cover my snort with a cough and grunted in agreement. "True story."

"How are we only fifteen minutes in?" It was pretty impressive how she managed to wail under her breath. "I swear we've been here hours. Days even!"

"Now you're just being melodramatic," I whispered.

She looked shocked and clutched her hand to her heart as if to say, "Melodramatic? Me? Never!"

We settled into comfortable silence as we continued to listen to Jen. I took a few notes but ended up doodling on my book after a while. Ro hadn't even started note taking – she'd gone straight to drawing pictures of obscure Pokémon all over her page. It was very her.

There was something about Ro that made me really want to be her friend. I felt like she was exactly the type of person that I'd been missing for the last few years. The type of friend that would challenge me and champion me in equal measure. I needed that and I needed to put in the effort to keep it.

"So," I forced myself to ask. "What time are you going to crazy golf?"

"Hmm?" Ro looked up from a particularly intricate drawing of some variation on Jigglypuff. "Oh, golf. Think we're meeting in town at 4."

"Oh, right." I'd brought it up but couldn't quite figure out how to ask myself along after rejecting the last invitation.

"How come?"

Thank God. She'd thrown me a lifeline. "I got my days wrong when you asked before – I'm free after all."

Ro grinned. "So you'll come?"

"Yeah, I'd like to," I said. "If you're sure your friends won't mind, that is?"

"Nah, they'll be fine. They'll love you."

I wasn't entirely sure about that, but I was determined to be positive about meeting new people. Even though my stomach had started churning at the thought.