Ace in the Hole [COMPLETED]

C.3

Their first day at college was, to say the least, fun. Aside from having to chase their courses with strict timers, and then sitting down and listening to endless lectures, they had to contend with the one thing that they both hated with a passion: people.

Matthew found himself reasonably relaxed at first, since most of his time was spent listening to things he knew relatively well about coding and information systems. However, when it came to the recitations for this course, Matthew had overstepped himself with what he shared with the block, and he could already feel the stares of jealousy or hatred or whatever it was that those eyes said. He heard whispers of boogers and pimples that he surely knew were about him, yet he tried to ignore them.

Joceline had it better, since she didn't paint a target on herself on the first day. They only had to do a few lectures and exercises for each class, so she could breathe with ease when she finally sat down. She spent a bit of the downtime flipping a mirror in her hand, trying to see behind herself discreetly, and to also find any stray paint on her face and darkened hair. Sadly, she found quite a bit tucked under her hair, around her ears. How the heck did that get there?

When they finally got done with their first introductory courses, they found each other outside of the campus grounds and talked about their day.

"I think I might get killed," commented Matthew over a bowl of noodles and rice, which they both had bought from and eaten in a rather hidden mini-restaurant by an alley. "The class keeps looking at me like they want me dead."

"What?" She swallowed some of her noodles, then tilted her head in curiosity. "Why?"

"Uh... I might have shown off a bit." He shrugged. "I answered, maybe, fifty percent of the questions."

"Eugh." Joceline rolled her eyes. "Why did you do that?"

"I... I don't know."

"Well, it's only the first day, Matt." She sighed, going back to her food before speaking again. "We've got a few more years at this. Try not to die on the first few days."

"Sure." He sighed out as well as he finished his food. "What about you, Celine? How are you doing?"

"Things are slow," she said, shrugging. "I like it that way, I guess. Less stress than what I was expecting, so yeah."

Matthew snorted. "That's what she said."

"Oh, shut up." She rolled her eyes as she took her last bit of food in. "Anyways..."

"Well," Matthew shrugged. "Did you see any cute boys in class?"

"What?! Excuse me?" Joceline had to contain her outrage at the thought of it as Matthew snickered. "You know I'm an ace, yeah?"

"Of course. But does that stop us from having crushes?"

"Even if I had a crush," she said, pushing her bowl aside. "What would that mean? I'd screw it up, no doubt."

"Three years and nothing's changed? Well, as an expert of flunking relationships, I can give you some advice if you need it."

"I'll pass." Joceline then got her bag onto her back, standing up from their table and moving to leave. "Anyways, we still got work to do."

"Alright." Matthew got up as well, dragging his bag behind him and following Joceline. "Let's go."

As they walked out of the restaurant and made for their home, they met a few of their college colleagues. Sadly, they were mostly Matthew's block mates, and they didn't give the nicest looks to them.

"I swear," murmured Joceline to Matt. "If you end up ruining my reputation, you can forget about the cookies."

"Don't worry," he said, chuckling as he ignored the looks. "We'll be fine! People will forget about us, hopefully..."