ILLICIT AFFAIRS | WLW

Lavender Haze

𝐀𝐍: Just a quick heads up, there are grades mentioned in the chapter and I just want to state that where I'm from, our grading system is different to the US. A 68 is a B to me.

It was Friday morning, and Blair Anderson sat in her usual spot, near the back of Catherine Kingsley's "Cultural Transitions in Society" lecture. The sunlight filtered in through the tall windows of the lecture hall, casting a warm glow over the rows of students hunched over their notebooks, but Blair felt anything but warm. Instead, there was a growing sense of unease deep in her chest, one that had been building ever since Catherine announced at the beginning of the week that she'd be handing back the results of their recent exam today.

The atmosphere was more relaxed than usual. Catherine had announced at the start of the lecture that today's session would be used an open study session, an opportunity for students to not only review material they were struggling with, but to also ask for Kingsley's guidance before midterms. Students spread out in small clusters, textbooks and notes sprawled across desks as the light sound of conversation filled the room.

Soon enough, Catherine had begun to move gracefully between the rows of students, handing back exams with a calm and collected demeanour. The small exam from Tuesday had been intended to gauge the class' knowledge ahead of midterms, to give Catherine a clearer idea of where her students were struggling.

It shouldn't have surprised Blair that even something as mundane as distributing papers seemed elegant when Catherine did it. The way she moved, the way she held herself—it was magnetic, impossible to look away from. Catherine was dressed in her usual sophisticated style: a tailored black blazer over a crisp white blouse, paired with slim black trousers. Her red curls, always perfectly styled, fell neatly over her shoulders, and Blair couldn't help but admire how put-together she always looked, no matter the situation.

Blair had prepared intensely for the exam. Not just for herself, but she wanted to prove something to Catherine. She wasn't looking for special treatment or a leniency in grades, far from it, but there was a part of her that wanted Catherine to see her as more than just another student or as a fleeting interest. She wanted Catherine to know she was capable of holding her own intellectually, someone worthy of standing beside her, not just in academia but perhaps...in life.

But today, as Catherine slowly moved through the rows of desks, returning the graded exams to each student, her stomach churned with a nervous anticipation. Her knee bounced under the desk, her fingers drumming lightly on the notebook in front of her as she stared blankly at the page in front of her. Ann, her best friend and constant source of support, sat beside her, flipping through er own notes with a calm that Blair envied. Ann had always been better at keeping her nerves in check, but Blair had never been able to master that art. She wore her emotions on her sleeve, and today, she was struggling to hide the anxiety bubbling up inside her.

"Relax, Blair," Ann whispered, not even bothering to look up from her notes. She could sense her friend's tension without the need to see it, "You look like you're about to puke."

Blair blinked, startled out of her anxious reverie, and gave her friend a weak smile, "I'm fine," she lied. "Just nervous about the test results."

Ann chuckled softly, her eyes flicking up to where Catherine was slowly making her way toward them. "You always get so worked up," she teased. "You've probably aced it. I mean, you spent how many nights studying for this?"

Blair's lips curved into a half-smile, though the nervous knot in her stomach didn't ease. "It's not just about passing, Ann. I want to do really well. I need to."

"Yeah, yeah," Ann said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "To impress Catherine, right?"

Blair's cheeks flushed at the mention of Catherine's name, and she shot Ann a warning look. "It's not about that," she protested, though she knew it was only half true. "I just want to prove that I can handle this material. To myself."