Out of Time

Chapter 7

Other than every appendage being frozen together beneath her mittens and thick socks, the next semester couldn't have gotten off to a better start. Paige liked all of her Professors so far, her TAs seemed friendly enough, and better yet, Marissa was in the same chemistry lecture and lab section as her. Together, they trekked across campus with dark skies threatening them overhead, their heads burrowed beneath hoods, and their eyes remained fixed on the sidewalk to make sure they didn't slip on hidden ice.

When they finally reached the lecture hall, it was like stepping into a sauna. The diligent heater mixed with the body heat that came from a four-hundred person lecture, both girls instantly unzipped their coats and pulled off their mittens. They let the sea of students carry them down the aisles until they reached the front of the class. Paige slipped into a row, revelling in the energy that came with the first day of class – the excitement mingling with the nerves. She began to get settled into her seat and drew languid spirals in the corner of her notes page, letting the chatter of other students wash over her.

"Paige," Marissa whispered, leaning over until Paige could feel her warm breath on her cheek.

Paige turned towards her. "What?"

"I think some guy is staring at you."

Paige leaned away from her with a look of incredulousness. "What?" she repeated.

"Three rows back. Near the wall on the left. The guy with the glasses and blue coat hasn't stopped staring at you for the past few minutes."

"How do you know he isn't looking at you?"

"'Cause when I looked over, he didn't do anything. He didn't look away like he was all embarrassed and he didn't smile like he was trying to catch my eye, so clearly," she switched to a sing-song voice, "he's looking at someone else."

Paige smothered a laugh and heat rose to her cheeks. "Alright weirdo."

"Just pretend to reach for something in your backpack and look over there if you think I'm crazy."

"Class is about to start."

"Which means it hasn't yet, so you have plenty of time to turn your head ninety degrees."

Paige said nothing.

"Look! I'll even do it now!"

Paige scoffed as Marissa sat up as straight as a rod and turned her head to one side.

"Fine! Fine. To our left, right?"

"Yeah. Dark hair, blue coat, and glasses."

Paige sighed, hoping to convey some level of external exasperation, but internally, her heart was skipping over itself for no good reason. Her cheeks still felt unnaturally warm and she had to put conscious effort into stopping her foot from bouncing nervously. But, she controlled herself enough to reach down and dip a hand into her backpack, searching for nothing while her eyes searched three rows back. Sure enough, there sat another student glancing between the board and her. His head was cocked to one side and one corner of his lips was drawn up in some kind of a smirk.

"See him?"

Paige cleared her throat. "Yes."

Marissa gave a victorious laugh and leaned into Paige's shoulder. "I knew it! You should talk to him after class or something."

"Yeah, okay," Paige said sarcastically.

"Why not? He's kinda cute, isn't he?"

"Shh, lecture is starting," Paige responded, though her mind couldn't focus on the lecture. The review of last semester's chemistry flew straight over her head, turning diagrams of molecules into a mess of lines and discussions of electrons into bees buzzing in her ears. Every few times the Professor changed slides, Paige quickly turned back and every few times she did so, the boy was still looking at her with his head tilted to one side. And every time, Paige smiled to herself and settled herself forward again.