Tale Teller (West Hampton U Series #1)

Chapter 12 ● Panopticon

-- Sameer --

We had fallen into a routine with Muskaan. Suhana and her would come to campus together. I'd drop her home and spend time there when I could until Suhana came. When neither of us were able to be with Muskaan in the evenings, she would stay in very public areas like the café so that there were always plenty of people around. We didn't let her spend a second in that apartment alone.

Ruhaan's mom had sent over some listings for the girls to review but I didn't want to pry and see what they were thinking. Having discussions about finances and future planning seemed a bit extreme for our less than one month old relationship. All I knew was that there was a condo in the building next to ours and I wouldn't hate it if she was literally a stone's throw away.

I feel a tap on my shoulder, taking me out of my thoughts. The scent of her familiar perfume greets me before her bright smile. Her smile was as wide as usual but I could see in her eyes that she was still struggling with what happened last week. Her eyes were missing their usual spark.

Muskaan sits down on the couch in front of me, stretching her legs out until they're intertwined between mine. I hand her the muffin I knew she'd want as she gets comfortable in the chair.

"How was class?" she asks absentmindedly, unwrapping her muffin. The weirdest thing I'd ever seen I think but Muskaan ate her muffins with a fork, and she did so gleefully in front of me now.

"Good. But this exam is going to kill me," I groan, her words a reminder of just how behind I was with studying.

"Need some help?"

"How much do you know about musculoskeletal anatomy?"

"Not much...," she grins sheepishly. "But in other news, Suhana and I signed the new lease so I guess I'll be seeing a lot of you neighbour."

I do my best to keep my excitement at a respectable level. "You finalized the building next door?"

"Yeah, Ruhaan's mom got us a great deal. We couldn't say no. We get the keys in a week," her voice is a mix of nervous and excited.

"Well I guess we better go get some boxes," I grin as she pulls out her phone when it pings.

She swipes through a few things but with each passing second, her smile gets smaller and smaller until it's a frown. Eventually even that frown disappears and her face looks like it's seen a ghost.

Instantly I'm up and taking the seat beside her. "Muskaan, what's wrong?"

"I failed my sport sociology paper," her voice trembles.

I take her hands in mine, hoping to keep her grounded with the contact because after last time, I could tell she gets lost in her own panic. "What's your grade?"

"55%," she looks up at me, water brimming her eyes.

"Moose, it's okay. There must be something wrong. I took the class last semester. Let's compare your paper to mine," I suggest, truly believing that there was an error here. Muskaan was a straight A student, there was no way she did so poorly on such an easy course.

"See, I told you, there has to be a mistake," I lean back in my desk chair, taking a reassuring breath for myself. Although I never doubted her, a part of me was scared Muskaan really did deserve that D+. She's obviously had a lot going on, I wouldn't blame her for falling short on some assignments. But after a quick comparison of my paper from the course and hers, it was clear that she deserved an A.