Meet the plastics (Regina x fem reader)

14- The lecture

It's around a month later when I finally return to lectures, an entire month after the incident. I had been bed-bound for the most of it, sulking in front of the TV, feeling completely useless. Cady did come round almost every day, Janis and Damian not as frequent but as much as possible.

I crutch and hobble my way to the elevator, Janis by my side as the art room is on the same floor as my history lecture. "So, are you excited to see your girlfriend again?" She nudges me as soon as the elevator doors close and we begin to ascend.

"Don't call her that," I grumble. Feeling the early signs of a blush painting my cheeks, I turn my head to the side to hide.

"Come on, Y/n," Janis says, shit-eating grin on her face, "she literally visited you in the fucking hospital. Do you realise how big that is? Regina George in a hospital?" She exclaims, but I have to quickly hush her as the doors ding open and we're met with the scarce corridor.

When we arrive at the door to my lecture room, Janis pulls my bag from her shoulder and helps adjust it onto my own back.

"I'll meet you out here after?" She asks and I smile, nod and thank her again for all her help.

I take a seat at the back corner, out of the way and near enough to the door so I don't have to go very far. Within mere seconds of me getting settled, a familiar floral perfume is taking over my senses. Surprise, confusion and then nerves creep over me. She places her bag underneath the desk, slides out the chair and sits down. I don't dare look nor act like I've acknowledged her presence, far too wound up in my own head.

I'm expecting a 'hello' or to just be ignored as the lecture is about to start. Although, I'm definitely not expecting the first words to come out of Regina's mouth to be, "I've missed you."

What. The. Fuck.

It sets me back, has my head spinning a whole 360 in thoughts and ultimately, extreme confusion. I can't hold back the words that spill out of me. "You have?" It's full of genuine shock, but maybe too much shock, I gather after the words hang in the air for a few beats and I begin overthinking them.

"Don't act so surprised." Regina scoffs, her eyes moving down to inspect her nails, a lighter shade of pink from what I can remember from last time. "Yeah, I mean who else is good enough to mark my essays?" Ah, there it is; deflection. "But you could've just say you've missed me too."

I chuckle nervously, heart racing. Acceptance bleeds deeper into my skin. "I've missed you too," I parrot back, but it's true; I'd be lying if I denied she hadn't been on my mind for the past month.

Regina settles on "good," as her response. It's hummed and comes off rather uncharacteristically meek for her. If I wasn't already completely baffled before, I definitely would be now.

I let my mind drift away from the topic of Regina, who, by the way, is still sat right next to me. Which wouldn't be odd other than the fact that there are plenty of empty spaces elsewhere, empty rows in fact. The lecture starts within the next few moments, Regina pulling out her laptop, eyes not flicking to me once.

The lecture itself goes rather quickly after that peculiar start. At the end, after finishing the last phrase and beginning to pack my things away, I'm called to the front by Miss Maximoff. I pull my backpack onto my back whilst seated, picking up my crutches soon after. I risk a glance at Regina, her eyebrows furrowed as she furiously types on her keyboard. The scraping of chairs echo across the room like a broken record, as other students start leaving.

I make my way to the front and hover around Miss Maximoff's desk. When she spots me, her head lifts, small smile on her mouth before she rises to her feet and rounds her desk.

"I was wondering if you wanted to have some infrequent extra tutor sessions between or after your classes?" An easy smile appears on my face; professors usually don't care this much about helping us. "Sort of like off timetable short classes to help you catch up? You're a smart girl, so I'm not at all worried, but it's just to make you more comfortable?"

"Yeah, okay," I smile at her awkwardly, still pondering over the offer, "that sounds great, thank you." I'm rather touched, actually, by the lengths she goes to ensure our comfort, and the fact that most professors wouldn't care at all.

"Good," she smiles and then gestures behind me with her hand, "Regina here has offered to help you out."

My stomach drops.

Since when did Regina come over?

I whip my head around to see a sheepish looking Regina hovering a few steps away behind me. Discovering a new emotion that radiates from Regina George will never fail to leave me in a state of awe. When our eyes meet, her demeanour fades into confidence, designer leather boots bringing herself even closer to me. She stands between myself and the professor, smirk plastered on her face.

"Are you sure?" I lower my voice slightly, not wanting the professor to gauge what is happening. I frown at Regina, completely shocked by her offering.

I catch a glimpse of Miss Maximoff separating away from the two of us, making her way to the middle of the room where a small group of students are still sat, waiting to speak with her.

Regina follows my gaze, waits, and then proceeds."Of course, baby," she smiles sincerely. There it is again. I can hear my pulse in my ears. "You've helped me so much already, let me return the favour." The words themselves contain such purity and innocence, but the dark fleck in her eye and the way a sort of tone coats her voice has my mind firing off to places I never even considered, let alone should've thought about at all.

She rips out a slip of paper from the small notebook in her hand, and scribbles something onto it. A number? Oh. A phone number. Her phone number. "Use this to contact me, we can start tomorrow after our usual lecture?"

I don't bother asking why the university email chain isn't good enough, but she seems to answer my question, anyway. "It's quicker and easier than emailing, and definitely less lame."

I don't reply, only nod and smile, taking the paper from her painted fingers. Our skin brushes slightly and I involuntarily gulp at the touch. "Thanks." I quickly say, neatly folding it up and pocketing it for later.

"What took you so long?" Janis frowns, a worried aura about her.

"Sorry, the professor wanted to speak to me about getting tutored for the month I missed."

"Oh," concern visibly drains from her figure, "that's nice of her. Who's tutoring you? Anyone I'd know?"

I wince, my body tensing in anticipation. I glance behind me and suddenly spot Regina leaving the lecture room, hurriedly walking in our direction. Shit.

"Uhh," I go to respond, Janis' eyebrows furrowed as she meets my line of vision, until I watch the colour disappear from her face when she realises. Regina is heading straight towards us.

"Y/N," Regina states, matter of factly, quick puffs of air leaving her lips from her speed walk to catch us before we reached the elevator, "you left your pen." She doesn't acknowledge Janis. At all. The tension is grating my bones. Her eyes flit between my face and the pen in her outstretched hand.

"Oh, thank you," I feel like I have whiplash. Like I've been on a rollercoaster that rattles you about and has ten loops in a row. My cheeks burn up, my shaky hand accepting the pen and pocketing it.

"See you tomorrow." Before I can respond, Regina leaves as quick as she arrived; turns on her heel and retreats in the opposite direction.

"'The fuck was that," Janis murmurs, turning to me as we start to slowly make our way to the elevator, Regina long gone behind us. I don't respond, only let the interaction seep in further. "Wild guess, but is Regina your tutor by any chance?" The doors are sliding open, the both of us stepping inside as Janis presses the button for the ground floor.

I duck my head and nod.

"Fuck, dude." She laughs extremely loudly, head tipping back.