Even though I am absolutely exhausted by my first, less than enjoyable day at university, and all I want is some shuteye, I remain wide awake. I must look like an owl, my eyes flitting from empty space to empty space at every slight shift in the air.

I'm so on edge.

How the hell am I going to sleep with a teacher three steps away from me? I'm facing the wall to escape having to stare straight at him. Tense, I hitch the duvet higher over my shoulders. Hearing shuffling from behind me, I squeeze my eyes shut as the deep, smoother-than-melted-chocolate voice of Professor Hartley fills the room.

"Miss Neversea," he begins, shattering the awkward silence, "Are you uncomfortable?"

After a moment of contemplation, I sigh, turning around and sitting up to run a heavy hand through my hair, "What else do you expect? I'm sleeping with my freaking professor!"

I realise my terrible phrasing too late.

"I-I mean, I'm in the same room-"

"-Understood, Miss Neversea. Would you care to explain why you are so bothered by me? I've done nothing inappropriate," he defends himself calmly, hitching one arm up behind his head as the duvet falls another inch.

Did I mention he's shirtless? He is. And it's very distracting.

Come on, Quorra, suffer in silence. Don't you dare say something about-

"You're half-naked. That's inappropriate," I say before I can stop myself.

Wow. Major brain fart.

I almost see a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips but he recomposes himself to an unreadable sheet of paper, "Would you prefer it if I put on a shirt?"

NO! Don't do that.

As I stutter over a sentence, he gets out of bed, exposing a plane of definitely-there abdominal muscles and a chiseled chest. A pair of shorts hide the bottom half of the V carved into his pelvis. My eyes follow him as he wanders over to the dresser and removes a blue shirt.

With a quick glance at me, he pulls it over his head, runs a hand through his hair, and turns around. He meets my awed gaze, "Better, Miss Neversea?"

A faint pink flourishes in my cheeks as I turn away, mumbling an incoherent, "U huh."

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

I force my eyes open with a satisfying yawn, my back arching like a cat stretching on a lazy afternoon. Languidly reaching for my phone, I nearly leap out of my skin at the time.

Why the hell did one in the afternoon come around so quickly?!

Almost tripping over my duvet, I hurry out of bed (unable to help but notice Professor Hartley's absence) and over to the dresser where I put my timetable last night.

Two lectures today... One from four to six... And one from noon to one.

Oh crap. Oh crap crap crap.

"Fuck!"" I curse, slamming the timetable back against the dresser.

I'm not even late to the lecture. I missed it.

This wouldn't be a problem if I was in some other university where missing lectures is what most people do, but now I'm in this strict one practically designed for dumbasses, I'm pretty much required to attend all of them. Especially seeing as the lecture I had this morning was English, it was probably a bad idea to miss it. Not to mention I was late to yesterday's lecture too... my ass is screwed. I thought I had convinced myelf to attend all my lectures to get a certain professor off my case, but it looks as if my biological clock isn't on my side.

With a heavy sigh, I run a comb through my hair and kneel down to open the dresser's bottom drawer where my clothes are stored. On cue, the door opens after flickering with a small, green light. Professor Hartley steps in, hair messed to perfection and clad in a suit.

After placing his suitcase down, his gaze locks onto me, kitty pyjamas and all. I swallow, drowning in the silence.

"Miss Neversea, would you care to explain why you are still dressed in pyjamas and not clothed, ready for a lecture that you should have attended an hour ago?" he asks, alluring voice as enchanting as usual.

I fiddle with one of the knobs on the front of the dresser, still on my knees, "I forgot to set an alarm...?"

Well it isn't a lie.

He clips his suitcase open and reaches in, extracting a thick booklet and handing it to me. I almost drop it, not expecting it's heaviness.

"That is your catch up work. We started it in class and planned to finish it across lectures, but your job is to complete all of it and guide the rest of the class through it over the next few lectures."

I gape, eyes wide at the booklet that is at least an inch thick, "Professor Hartley-"

"-Sir," he corrects, tensing as he takes off his blazer.

"-This is way too much material to cover! I don't have enough time, patience, or hands!" I exclaim, setting the booklet down as my eyes fill with shock.

He shrugs, tugging off his tie, "Not my problem, Miss Neversea. When you miss a lecture, you should expect that you will have to catch up."

I step closer to him, "This isn't catch up work for one lesson! I missed one freaking hour, give me break! This is day two of university!" I'm half-yelling at this point.

He closes the gap between us, eyes narrowed and only a couple centimetres away from mine. The tips of our toes touch as I look up at him, suddenly feeling very small. I timidly try to step back but he only advances further, unblinking.

"Do not yell, Miss Neversea. Having a bad temper will get you nowhere," he warns in a low voice, before breaking our staring contest and entering the bathroom to change.

Finally feeling like I can breathe, I sit down on my bed, eyeing the booklet with hatred as the running sound of water hitting the sink comes from the bathroom.

I open the thick booklet, swallowing my defiance as I see the small print completely covering the page. Oh jeez.

Actually no - screw you.

Furiously swapping my pyjamas for dark-wash jeans, a shirt, and a jacket, I walk out the door, abandoning the damn booklet on the bed like it deserves to be. As I approach the lift, flames of irritation still burning brightly, I mash my finger into the button for G, impatiently waiting for it to fly down a floor before storming out and instantly slamming into other students in a human car crash.

With an irked expression, I elbow my way out of the mass of bodies, stopped at a hand pulling my elbow. I grit my teeth and turn around with the friendliness of a guard dog, tempted to snap at the array of clueless girls behind me.

The brunette girl at the front, clad in a tight shirt and shorts, giggles, "Look, Martha-May, it's her."

Martha-May? Who the hell names their child that?

The aforementioned blonde whips around, her makeup-caked face analysing me as I yank my arm out of the brunette's grip and barrel down the corridor to drown out their squealing laughter. What the heck - 'her'? What on Venus does that mean?

A door pops open and I quickly halt as Grant steps out from behind it. Walking towards him with a venomous look on my face, I motion for him to get back inside. He seems confused but his eyes light up with something unidentifiable as I follow him in.

"Hey, Quo," he greets as I angrily take a seat on his bed, arm crossed.

"Professor Jackass gave me a shit tonne of 'catch-up' work to do for missing this morning's lecture," I bite out, nails painfully carving half moons into my palms as I accentuate 'catch-up' with mocking finger quotes.

I can tell he suppresses a laugh as I stab him with the daggers elongating from my eyes, "It's not funny, Grant, there's like 300 pages," I force out, imagining my fingernails extending like claws to tear through Professor Hartley.

And his shirt.
Oh shut up, inner idiot.
I have a name you know - it's Maisy.
Just leave.

Grant shrugs, sitting opposite me on his roommate's bed, "I was acually going to visit you to talk about something too."

His eyes seem fogged over, hiding something, but the expression disappears with a blink, replaced with a warm smile. Something skitters down my spine but I ignore it, "What?"

"There are rumours going around that you're sharing rooms with Hartley."

A blend of offence and embarrassment falls across my face, "What the heck? Why does news spread so fast?"

His eyes widen in disbelief, "It's true? You're rooming with him?"

I exhale deeply, "Can you not react like I know everyone else will?"

I stand up to leave, "Never mind, I'm off, see ya," I wave a half-hearted goodbye, wondering why I even bothered coming here.

With a hand on my shoulder, he stops me, "I just don't trust that guy, Quo."

I roll my eyes and leave, "It's not like I chose to be roomed with him. See you in Friday's lecture."

Expression the complete opposite to the one I marched in here with, I retreat down the hallway.

Surprise, surprise - Martha-Mary-Dipsy-Doo is still there with her minions, giggling away and whispering like we're still in primary school.

"Oh haha, you little fucks. Yes I'm rooming with Hartley. Trust me, it's way closer to him than you'll ever get, so suck my dick," I growl, satisfied with the way they immediately shut up.

To complete the moment, Professor Hartley emerges from the stairwell, eyebrow quirked, "Miss Neversea, did I just hear that?"

"No," I snap, brushing past him as the girls start to squeal like pigs again.

When I get back to my room, the booklet remains on my bed, glaring at me with a sinister look upon its pages.

Ugh, kill my sorry ass now.

I grab a change of clothes and get into the shower, triple checking that the door is locked behind me. Jesus Christ, freaking Martha-Mango-Moo is already on my nerves.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

Reluctantly turning off the steady gush of water, I slide the shower door open and dry myself off, changing quickly into my favourite lazy-day outfit: grey leggings and a long jumper. If this doesn't lift my spirits, nothing will.

Hair still dripping with water, I unlock the door and grab a fresh towel from the wardrobe, tryng to pat the remnants out. Ten minutes later, I'm lying down uselessly on my bed, every message from my parents eliciting a ping! out of my phone.

Quorra?

Quorra, we have something important to tell you.

Quorra.

This is a serious situation.

Please answer, young lady.

Fine.

Your father and I are splitting up.

My eyes have been glued to the message for at least three minutes straight.

Honey, we'll be visiting tomorrow to discuss. We've already been permitted a visit by the university.

I wait another few minutes, heart pumping harder.

If you're going to be so immature about this matter, we're not going to comfort you. See you tomorrow.

Instantly, a wave of anger throttles through my veins as my grip tightens around the phone and I throw it at the door recklessly. It doesn't hit the door, but instead a chest as someone walks in. Tears of resentment form at the corner of my eyes.

"Oh, fuck you," I exclaim at my English teacher, infuriated that the cracking sound of my phone against the door wouldn't dampen the flame in me, "I don't need this right now!"

I clamber out of bed, wishing to set fire to the damn place as I head out the room, "Immature, my ass. Who the fuck does she think she is?"

My muttering chain of profanities doesn't dullen as I storm out the door for the zillionth time today, my limitless vexation at my messed up (and now, broken apart) family exuding from me like smoke.

"I was fine with my screwed up family. Why do they have to go and do this?"  I scowl at myself, torn between being mad and feeling ripped apart.

Nothing on earth could possibly reconcile your mood right now, gurl.
Shut up, Maisy, now's not the time.

Even my inner thoughts sense my unwelcoming aura and back off. I can't take this right now. What good thing has happened to me in the past five years of my life? I've failed every single test that's been thrown at me, I've broken apart every friendship I ever had in a fit of rage, I've killed everyone's attempts at helping me, I've pushed away everyone that wants to comfort me, and nothing is getting better.

My parents are splitting up. I don't care if we were dysfunctional from the day I was born. Family is fucking family until the end of time. It was always somewhere I belonged, even I didn't want to.

Gone. That relationship is gone.

And I was probably the last to know.

●（=｀～'=） ●
Hello!
Enjoy the chapter?
So we were introduced to Martha-May this chapter. And Maisy too, I guess haha xD Any favourite characters yet?

Over and out,
Agent Spud. 🥔