Toxic - Luke Hemmings

Chapter 1

Izzy's POV

Freshman and sophomore years of college were a distant memory as I woke up this morning to get ready for my first day of classes. I knew junior year wasn't anything special, having to still complete a few of my general education requirements and all. But, I was finally getting to the fun part, all the more specific courses. I was going at it alone, though, which put a damper on that excitement. I didn't mind not really hanging out with anyone, but sometimes I would find myself wishing I got invited to go out, or at least to a party.

I brushed my teeth as I scrambled to pack up my backpack, having forgotten to last night. I was a last-minute person, but it's worked my whole life so far so I didn't feel the need to change. I had 10 minutes to get out the door and to my first class which was regrettably an 8 am lecture for pre-calculus. I hated math. Even if I understood it I still hated every second of doing it. I rinsed my mouth out quickly in the bathroom right off of my room and slipped my shoes on.

It was times like this that I was grateful for upgrading to a single room with my own bathroom. I would never get to class on time if I had to use the bathrooms that the whole floor shared. I slipped my key card into my back pocket and swung my backpack over one shoulder before hastily running out the door. I was in the same dorm building as last year, just a couple floors up.

I walked into the classroom just in time and sat down right before the professor walked in. She wasn't what I was expecting, but after my first two years I honestly wasn't surprised by anything. High school teachers had nothing on college professors, they were just naturally cooler. She had purple and blue hair and started the lecture off by talking about her cats, with a slide show.

Once she introduced herself, she made us all go around and tell the whole class our names, majors, if we lived on campus or not, and one fun fact about ourselves. This was, personally, the worst part of the semester. The 'ice-breakers' for every class were always the same, and they gave me crippling anxiety every time.

I zoned out most of the kids as we went around the room. I figured I wouldn't remember anyone's names even if I listened anyway. When it got to me I struggled to think of what to say for my fun fact, considering I'm really not that fun.

"I'm Izzy. Um, I'm a bio major and I live on campus. I guess my fun fact is you'll never see me around without headphones in." I nervously said, slightly chuckling at the end as if it'd somehow make my horrible fun fact funnier.

I saw some kid with glasses out of the corner of my eye, even after the next girl started talking he kept his eyes on me. It was uncomfortable, but I ignored it. The rest of the class went by uneventfully, with me noticing the same guy looking at me every so often. I grabbed my things and left to go find my next class the second she dismissed us.

My break came faster than I was expecting, which was a welcome surprise. I grabbed a box a sushi from the dining hall and went to sit by myself at a small table. I've had three classes so far, with two more to go. I decided to jumble all of my courses into three days, so even if I was here until after 4, at least I had Monday and Tuesday off. I was just about to open my sushi when the same kid from pre-calculus just sat right on the other side of my table. I looked up at him, giving him a weird look until he spoke up.

"You're in my pre-calculus class." He told me. Duh?

"And?" I said, a little blunter than I intended, but oh well. He regrouped before he continued, obviously a little thrown by my attitude.

"I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Michael." He said with a small smile. I looked at him for a second, not fully believing that he just wanted to introduce himself. He was honestly cute. He had straight, bleached hair mostly hidden under a beanie and clear framed glasses adorned his face.