The Choices of Staff Members of Hydra

3

COLLEGE

"Hey, Rick!" Anna called out to her cousin through the crowd of students leaving the large lecture hall. She had to call out three times in the noise of the conversations and rustling of papers before the lanky, yet well-proportioned youth turned to see her. She refused on principle to refer to him as tall if only because he spent so much time bragging about his height. He expertly moved through the crowd until he was in front of Anna, a small grin on his face.

"Never thought I'd see you outside of a history class," he said mockingly. "I thought you spent all of your time in the engineering building, playing with incomprehensible numbers."

"Just incomprehensible to you, idiot." She shot back, but she was also grinning. "At least I don't spend all my time reading boring books about old time stuff no one really cares about anymore. How can you get a good job doing that?"

"I'll figure it out. You'll be stuck plugging numbers into a machine the rest of your life or creating those dumb video games people can play at home now." He playfully pushed her, but she blocked him with her bag, as usual full of books.

"I need to go to the library," she said, poking him in the shoulder. "I thought you'd like to accompany me to look at more dusty tomes of ancient history."

"As you look through the most boring technical journals you can find? I guess I could do that, but I don't have to like it." He laughed at her as they headed toward the library. The day was chilly, cloudy, and windy, leaves gathering at their feet. It was actually cold to Anna and didn't feel like normal California weather, but the UC Davis campus looked like something from a movie, students dressed in warm clothes walking everywhere, clutching bags and books with papers under their arms. Anna smiled at the sight. She loved the campus, or at least she loved it as long as she wasn't in the dorms.

"How's sophomore year going for you?" Rick asked. "I like the classes a lot better now, the freshman stuff was stupid."

"It is getting more technical this year so it's more challenging, but I didn't hate my freshman year," she replied.

"You hated your roommate," he reminded her. "What was her name? Sarah? Samantha?"

"Shelly." Anna's mouth turned down in disgust. "Partying every night so I couldn't sleep, never studying, screwing every guy she could con into bed. Ugh"

"She wasn't that bad, I talked to her a few times," he said casually.

"Oh, please tell me you didn't sleep with her!" Anna was aghast.

"Maybe once, and I was drunk at the time. You might not like to go to parties, but I can go occasionally." He grinned at her look of consternation.

"You realize you and every other guy on campus did her, right? You should probably get tested for some disease."

"I'm fine. She was okay, but I heard she got kicked out of school for not keeping her grades up, so you'll never have to see her again."

"Good riddance," Anna said firmly.

"You don't like your roommate this year either so maybe it's you not them."

"This one at least studies and doesn't party all the time, but she talks too much."

Rick sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're roommates. You live together, it's kind of expected for you guys to at least be civil to each other, even pleasant. You do know how to be pleasant don't you Anna?"