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chapter one; cleo, ━━━━━━
SOMETIMES SHE THINKS THE UNIVERSE isconspiring against her; that's the only plausible conclusion that makes sense — that or she just has shitty luck. Either way, this unfortunate situation has Cleo currently perched at a table in the far corner of the library, impatiently waiting for her ex-boyfriend to arrive so that they could start on their project for their research class. She despised group projects in all aspects; especially having to rely on someone else's time and effort of contribution and having to be graded on the overall project based off of their work.
She didn't like the lack of proper planning, half-assed attempts or procrastinations, and especially didn't like when someone relied on her to do all of the work. She preferred to be graded on her work based on her own merit not someone else's especially if they didn't obtain the same attentiveness about their grades like she did.
Cleo had always excelled in academia all throughout school, she was smart and liked getting good grades and had a plan that's been cemented since she was ten years old of becoming a lawyer. It was completely antithetical of her parents' jobs; with her dad being an ophthalmologist and her mother a gynecologist, they'd hoped that Cleo would pursue a career in the medical field and would continue through the Vaughn family doctor lineage. They were taken aback by their daughter's shift in career path but nonetheless supported her decision in choosing a Political Science major instead of one in Biology.
There were several times where she became overwhelmed with stress about whether she'd actually pass the bar exam and law school and it had her contemplating if she should switch her major and concede to becoming a doctor like her parents originally wanted. But she managed to prevail through her trepidations, preserving through her courses, and finding a better way to balance studying time and her personal life. It still wasn't easy, there are still times where she wants to cry in frustration at all the work that she has to complete but she's decided to take it one day at a time to help alleviate some of the pending stress.
What wasn't helping her not be stressed was Halen's lack of punctuality and consideration of her time. She told him to meet her at the campus library after his last class of the day so they could begin preparations of their assignment. He told her that his last class ended at 4:15 and when she asked what time would be most convenient for him, he told her that 4:30 worked best. Cleo's last class of the day ended at 2:30; so after her last class she went to the library to start on a few assignments for her other classes while she waited for him.
She plucked her airpods into her ears and sat her laptop in front of her, pressing shuffle on her playlist then began working. She was so indulged into her work that she hadn't noticed two hours swiftly passed by; she grabbed her phone to see if Halen texted her to inform her that he was on the way or that he would be arriving a little later than expected, but she didn't receive any notification whatsoever. The last thing he sent to her was "okay," but that was hours prior after she told him to meet her at the library.
