American Sweethearts

17

"Are viruses considered to be living?" Professor Argus asks.

"No!" My teams captain calls.

"And why not?"

"They're not made of cells."

"Correct!" She adds another point for our team, and returns to her notebook. "What were the first forms of life on Earth?"

"Microorganisms," the other team responds.

"Correct! Just a few more to go. "Name two areas that biologists study."

"Human diseases and animal diseases," someone in my team says.

"One more for an extra point."

"Species habitation," I add.

"Correct! Is physics considered a natural science?"

"Yes!" My captain calls.

"How about astronomy?"

"Yes."

"Correct! Define the biosphere."

"The collection of all ecosystems, and the uhm...." the other team hesitates.

"It represents the zones of life on earth," my team adds.

"Including?" Professor Argus asks.

"Water, land, and the atmosphere," I respond.

"And we have a winner!" She cheers. "No worries, the red team can always make it up next week."

Each week, at the end of class, Professor Argus gives us a quiz. We were divided into teams in our first class, but the red team won that week. Now, it's a draw. Whichever team has won the most by the end of the semester, gets an extra 10% added to their grade.

I think it's a genius system. It actually makes me want to pay attention during the lectures.

I walk out of the biology building, leaving the air conditioning behind. It's boiling hot outside today, but I don't mind. The sun makes me so cheerful.

I spot Lena standing in the courtyard, looking down at her phone. As in on cue, my phone beeps, but I ignore it. I skip over to her, a giant smile on my face.

"Lena!" I call, surprising her from behind.

"There you are!" she laughs. "Are you ready for coffee?"

"Yep! I'm craving a muffin."

"You should probably have dinner, too right?"

"Probably," I nod. It's still a bit early, but I'm going to support group later. I decided to try the one here first. Lena was right. If I have to take the bus an hour away, I'd stop going.

Lena and I sit down at a cute little café. It's pretty busy, but it has a great view of the garden. It also doesn't smell like alcohol, and Christian doesn't work here, so it's far better than the Barrel.

"How was class?" Lena asks.

"Same old, same old," I shrug. "How was lunch with the girls?"

She doesn't have class today, but offered to drop me off since she was meeting up with her friends, anyway. She's been spending a lot of time with them. I'm glad she is.

Once the weekend was over, we spent hours in bed catching up. Turns out, Christian passed out at the sorority party, and someone drew a dick on his face. I have to admit, that did make me feel a little better, but it's not enough. I'm just happy I haven't seen him around.