Crestfall (The Crestfall Saga Book 1)

2 - Night Class

Night Class.

Chapter Two

Amelia had chosen her first class to be later in the day just so she would have time to wake up, prepare herself for the day, and find her classroom. However, her body apparently hated mornings so much that she had slept through her alarm and woke up just fifteen minutes before her first class was supposed to begin. Wearing jeans, flip-flops, and the Batman t-shirt she had slept in, she looked more like a hobo than a college freshman, but she was too worried about getting to class on time to think about her appearance. Thankfully, she'd had the sense to pack her backpack the night before, so all she had to do was figure out just where the heck the Lowell Memorial Building was. Or rather, which one it was. From what she could remember, it looked a hell of a lot like the Lovett Center...

Sighing in frustration, Amelia stopped and looked around the campus. Sidewalks split in all directions, leading to this building and that. Student housing was directly behind her, so there was no sense in turning back. Her eyes scanned the old buildings within her eyesight, and finally she noticed a sign not too far ahead that showed which buildings lay in which direction. She jogged up to it, and shook her head. "You've got to be kidding me." She muttered and looked ahead. The Lowell Memorial building rested on the other side of campus, straight ahead of her, and before she had time to allow herself to be mad about that fact, she broke into a run in the correct direction.

At least her classroom was on the first floor, she thought with relief as she made her way inside the old brick building, panting and sweaty. She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead and fought the temptation to stop at a water fountain, but she was already ten minutes late. She hurried down the hall, seeking out the English Composition I class in Room 117 and when she finally laid eyes on it, she burst through it more recklessly than she intended.

She smiled sheepishly at the teacher, who had stopped speaking in order to stare at her, and Amelia muttered an apology before she flocked to the nearest open seat and sat down, dropping her backpack to the floor. She would have been embarrassed, but she was too exhausted.

"No need to apologize, miss." The teacher - an older woman with salt and pepper hair and bright eyes - said, smiling. "I'm sure it's easy to sleep late after being up all night saving the citizens of Gotham City."

The roomful of students laughed, and Amelia looked down at her shirt, laughing as well. The woman, whose name Amelia remembered was Mrs. Rebecca Lupin, had been playful, not mean, and it put Amelia at ease. She shrugged her shoulders and smiled back at the teacher. "Yes, ma'am. Plus the Batmobile was having engine trouble."

More laughter, and Amelia relaxed in her seat. Mrs. Lupin nodded and waved her hands in the air to bring the student's attention back to her.

"As I was saying before, my class will focus mostly on essays centered on fiction ..."

With the rest of the class focused on what Mrs. Lupin was saying, Amelia managed to quietly maneuver her backpack open and retrieve her binder and an ink pen, which she laid out on her desk. She opened the binder and clicked her ink pen as silently as she could manage, then focused her attention on the woman at the front of the room, and the things she had already written on the blackboard. The day had started out hectic, but Amelia thought it was looking up. She would just have to make herself get better at the whole 'waking up on time' thing.

"Psst."

Amelia's ears perked up, and she turned her head, looking at the young man in the seat directly to her right. Marrok Tala, the frat boy from orientation the night before, smiled at her and waved from beneath his desk. She smiled back, shrugging an apology. At first, she hadn't noticed any of the students in the class, much less him, but now she paid attention to the warm, electrical feeling that washed over her, the same as it had yesterday when she had first encountered him.