Lost Souls

Part 2

She followed his progress as she caught her breath.

 'Jerk!' she mumbled and contemplated running after him, but a quick glance at her watch had her rushing for the door. Classes were due to start in a few minutes and she still had no idea where she was going. With the campus map in one hand, she bolted onto the driveway, brushed past several groups of students mumbling apologies and headed for the building she hoped looked vaguely similar to the one on her map.

With her sides hurting from the run and the knock from the door she opened the lecture hall door gingerly to see most of the seats filled and the lecturer, a stocky woman standing at the lecturn.

Could she sidle past her to an empty seat she spotted near the door? Taking a deep breath, she crept through the door. Crouching low she hustled towards the seat, only to stop dead. Someone was already in it. When had that happened? She looked round desperately.

'You're late!'

She turned to see the lecturer and most of the class staring at her. She could feel her face turning a bright red.

'I'm sorry,' she mumbled, still looking round.

'You're wasting time,' the lecturer sighed, 'find a seat.'

With no other options she bolted up the stairs, passing several packed seats until she caught sight of a row near the back that looked empty. She slid in gratefully, keeping her head low, avoiding the other students' eyes. She dropped her heavy bag onto the chair next to her and heard a muffled grunt.

'What the...?'

She looked down in horror, as the boy who had apparently been lying horizontally across several chairs, pushed her bag away and sat up, his hair poking in all directions.

'What time is it?' he asked, yawning.

'Shhh,' she said automatically, praying no one could hear him. She was already in enough trouble without attracting any more attention.

She fumbled for her bag, looking for her books, when he caught her wrist.

'Hey!' she whispered, 'what are you...?'

He flipped her wrist over and peered at her watch. 'Ah, 9:10,' he let go of her and stretched.

What a weirdo, she thought, and pulled out her books and pens, trying to catch up with the lecturer.

'The theory of...'

'Hey, lend me a pen.'

She frowned trying to listen to the lecturer.

'Hey,' the boy was poking her shoulder insistently, 'give me a pen.'

Without looking she grabbed one and rolled it towards him, scribbling her notes furiously as the slides changed. Before she could jot everything down, he was tapping her shoulder again.

'What?!' she hissed, her eyes still on the slide.

'Paper,' he replied.

Flipping her book she tore out some pages without looking, thrust them at him and went back to listening to the lecturer.

'Hey, you know...'

'What?! What is it now?!' she exploded, turning to face him.

He put his hands up, a surprised look on his face. It was then that she realised how loudly she had spoken and that the lecturer was no longer speaking. Turning round her heart stopped. All the students including the lecturer were staring at her.

Oh dear god! She wanted to crawl under the desk and never come out.

'Did you have something to say?' the lecturer asked coldly.

She shook her head quickly and looked down at her book, willing everyone to go back to what they had been doing.

'Does anybody else feel the need to add to this slide?' the lecturer asked. A cacophany of nos followed and she nodded. 'Right, let's get back to Mathieson's...'

Skye closed her eyes. It was only the first day and she was making a fool of herself. A stifled laugh from next to her had her turning to see the boy who had started it all trying to contain himself.

'Don't talk to me,' she hissed angrily, 'this is all your fault!'

For the rest of the lecture she studiously ignored him, inching away from him when he started tapping her shoulder again, until she was perched precariously at the furthest edge of her chair, trying to keep her book from falling off the table.

'That's it for today,' the lecturer said finally, 'make sure you read chapter 5 before tomorrow's lecture.'

Skye took a deep breath and sat back as the rest of the students started packing up their books and leaving the room, her eyes following them blankly. It wasn't the best start she had to admit, but now she could put it behind her and focus on...

'Hey!' The voice right next to her ear had her practically leaping off the chair.

'What?!' she turned and nearly smacked her nose into him. He was chuckling.

'You know, you're really funny?' he asked.

'Thanks,' she said and started packing her belongings, she really wanted to tell him what she thought of him but then thought better of it. Hopefully she would never meet him again.

'What's your name?' he asked, watching her stuff her book into the bag.

She ignored him and grabbed the pen she had lent him earlier. He rolled it out of reach.

'For gods' sake!' she gritted her teeth, stretching past him to catch the pen. She caught it and moved back to see the boy holding her diary and flipping through it casually.

'Hey!' she tried to grab it out of his hands, but he held it out of reach, still reading it.

'Skye Taylor,' he said, 'nice name. Isn't there a dog called that?'

'No,' she said, grabbing the diary and stuffing it into her bag quickly.

'Yeah there is, it's a terrier,' he said with a grin.

'Fine, there is,' she replied, and started to move away.

'Wait up!' He slid out behind her, 'Where are you going?'

'Away from you,' sheretorted as she bolted for the door. Sheheard him laugh just before she got through the door. 'See you around pet!'

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