Good Luck Charm (Completed)

Annoyances and Allegories

Hailey and Vincent sat next to each other for Biology class, as they had for the past couple of weeks. Vincent still wasn't very confident at school, and having to be apart from Hailey's side still terrified him. He'd wanted to sit towards the back, but Hailey had insisted on sitting at the front of the room. Vinny was absolutely determined to avoid answering questions, and spent the time staring daggers at his perfectly neat notes. It was hard to stay unnoticed when you were next to little miss 'knows every answer' who kept raising her hand like a shot and having a minor panic attack when the teacher wouldn't call on her.

Hailey was impatient, and incredibly competitive, so not being the center of academic attention practically killed her. Meanwhile the little round letters of Vincent's notes seemed to taunt him every time a question was asked and he was far too anxious to raise his hand. Finally the lecture was over; and Vincent stood up with Hailey to quickly gather their books.

"That took forever." Vincent complained, "Our classes were never long like that in high school."

"We aren't in high school anymore." Hailey rolled her eyes, "Colleges have longer blocks for their classes, so you'll have to get used to long lectures.

Hailey and Vincent made their way out of the classroom and into the quad. The small liberal arts college had a grassy open expanse for a quad, with lots of trees and a statue in the center. There were picnic tables and benches scattered about, usually flocked with people, and some students had even elected to sit right on the grass. It was a warm day and the leaves hadn't changed yet, so it reminded Vincent of the summer that had slipped away. Most colleges started in August, rather than in September, so Vincent felt particularly robbed.

"I have a hole in my schedule right now." Hailey stated. "What have you got?"

"Same." Vincent nodded. He had a two hour break before he had to be back on campus for his second class. "What do you want to do?"

"I might run to the library and study." Hailey said solemnly. Vincent could tell she didn't want to, but knew she should get a leg up on her homework.

"I'll come with you." Vincent nodded, and the pair set off to the library, which marked the end of the quad on the front side. It was a big old building, and the first one that had been displayed on the brochure for the college as Vincent and Hailey considered going there. Inside however it was clinical and a little musty, not quite as scholarly as the photos would have suggested.

"We should get moving towards the Biology books." Hailey said more to herself than to Vincent.

"I might try and write an essay for English." Vincent whispered back, and she only shrugged so he started off in the other direction.

The aisles stretched off into the distance, and Vincent wasn't quite sure where he should go. He'd brought his laptop, so he had the option of sitting in a more comfortable chair if he wanted, rather than a stiff desk chair at the ancient library computers. Deciding that was as good a plan as any he could come up with, Vinny slumped onto a moderately dusty leather couch and got settled in.

It was a slow grueling process, as he had very little interest in the subject matter of his essay, but Vincent enjoyed writing and tried to fanci-fy the language to entertain his artistic side. Late romantic literature was even more fun when you sprinkled in a few vernacular words, and he hoped the teacher would agree. Though after reading it through Vinny got anxious and scrapped it. Being an English minor meant Vincent would have to write many essays like this. He didn't mind though, as it would open up more doors for him.

Vincent felt the couch beside him dip, and looked up from his work to see Lucas Marshall sitting beside him with a book in his large hands. Vincent stared at the other boy for a moment and his frustration grew. He had come to the back of the library to be alone, and now somebody was sitting directly next to him when there were many open seats. He wanted to ignore the other boy, but that too seemed weird, especially since they knew each other; small talk had never been his strong suit.