Mondays were my worst days at college. Not only was I sore from training, and exhausted from catching up on lectures all weekend, but I had classes until dinner, with only a break for lunch.

At least now I had Flora to suffer through it together.

She sat across from me at Mandy's, waiting for my lunch order to be called out. I rested my chin on my hand, leaning onto the table to hear her over the chatter of the lunch crowd.

"– and then David literally deleted his Facebook account! Like, how are we supposed to work on the project now? No one knows how to contact him and it's due next week."

I inhaled sharply through my teeth. "That's rough. What are you going to do?"

She levelled me with a look. "What do you think? Do it all myself. Such is the way of group projects."

She sighed and slouched down in her seat. I frowned.

"That doesn't seem fair," I said.

She shrugged. "When is anything ever fair?"

"Well, what about your other group members?" I asked. "Can't they help out?"

"They're too busy with their other subjects," she said, shaking her head.

Before I could respond, the waitress called out my number, which was great because I didn't know how to respond anyway. Flora was busy with her other subjects too. Why couldn't she just get them to help?

"Number fifteen!"

I sprung from my seat, spinning to the counter. My food sat in a takeaway bag and my stomach growled at the sight of it. I plucked it from the counter and turned back to Flora who stood, already hiking her backpack higher on her shoulder.

"Soccer field?" she asked.

I nodded. Mandy's was way too crowded and maybe I'd be able to get a little training in before our next class if I ate quickly.

The walk to the field was brisk. The weather was starting to turn to a chill and each breeze made me clutch my jacket a little closer. Flora shivered beside me and I glanced at her, realising she was dressed terribly for the weather.

Wordlessly, I slipped my letterman off my back and draped it over her shoulders. She blinked, looking up at me with wide eyes.

"Oh!" she sputtered. "You don't have to –"

"It's fine," I said, waving her off. "I've got this sweatshirt. Plus, like, ten layers of muscle underneath."

She rolled her eyes, "Ten layers is a bit of an exaggeration.

I laughed, flexing a bicep. "Is it, though?"

"Thank you," she said after a minute. "Really. I – this is cheesy and all, but it's nice having someone to hang out with between classes." She paused to let out a dry chuckle. "I mean, someone who doesn't ignore me."

"For what it's worth, I like it too. Hanging out with you," I said. She looked up at me with scrutinising eyes, like she doubted my words, and I sent her a genuine smile. "I – er – none of my friends moved here with me, and I've been so busy with soccer that friendship had sort of become a last priority. So, it's nice. You know. Having someone there. In class. And all that."

She giggled and I felt my smile grow, my face warming from admitting that outloud. It really was nice having a friend. How many meals had I scarfed down in my dorm, too embarrassed to be seen eating alone? It'd probably only fuel more hazing from the team – from Rowan.

Rowan, who was sitting a few feet away from us, a book cracked open on his lap.

Of course, he'd be here. It was like he was permanently here – like a troll, except instead of riddles under bridges, he read books at the edges of soccer fields.

He hadn't noticed us yet. We were opposite him, across the field, and Flora was about to sit down on the grass when I started walking.

I didn't know why. Rowan annoyed me. He was arrogant, and rude, and constantly teasing me. And yet... I strode over to him, my shadow covering his pages.

He paused, slowly looking up to meet my eye.

"Ah," he drawled, lifting a brow. "Sebastian. This isn't our usual time."

"Yeah. Do you just sit here all day or something?" I shot back. "You know, we have a library. It's open all day. Full of books. You'd love it."

He didn't reply. Instead, he looked behind me, to where Flora had joined us. His eyes fell from her face to my jacket that sat on her shoulders. His brow lifted as he looked back to me. I warmed, guessing what he was probably thinking, but it wasn't like that between me and Flora.

I searched for something to say.

"You want some fries?"

Before he could respond, I was sitting beside him, resting against the wall and ripping the top of the bag off to reveal the lunch I'd ordered. I'd bought a grilled chicken burger with a side of large fries, a salad, and a cookie.

Flora was following suit, sitting in front of us and crossing her legs as she wordlessly unzipped her backpack.

He stared at me in silence for a moment as I pulled out my food. My first fry was half way to my mouth when he spoke.

"Wow, Seb," Rowan said, eyeing the food. "Is this for you or for the whole college?"

I sent him a sarcastic smile, the fry sticking out between my lips. "Ha. Ha. I'm an athlete. I need a lot of sustenance."

He plucked a fry from the bag and popped it in his mouth. "This is more than a lot."

"Well, you don't have to have any if you don't want to," I muttered back, tugging the bag closer to my side.

Rowan grabbed the other end, keeping it in place, his eyes level on mine. "I never said that."

Without saying anything else, he looked back to his book, occasionally grabbing a fry out of the bag and shoving it in his mouth. He ate gracefully, his mouth shut and making no noises as he avoided getting any greasy stains on the pages.

I tilted my head, trying to make out the title of the book when suddenly he was lifting it up. I glanced at his face to find him staring at me, an arrogant smile on his face.

"It's Pride and Prejudice," he said simply.

"I was just curious," I said. He narrowed his eyes and I warmed, turning back to my lunch.

"It's my favourite," he continued. He wasn't looking at me anymore. He looked down at the cover of his book, his expression gentle and distant as he spoke. "I first read it as a freshman in school. Have you read it?"

I paused. I mean, I'd definitely heard of it. I think it was once assigned to my class back in sophomore year. Or junior year? Weren't there zombies in it? I didn't want to look stupid, though, so I nodded wordlessly, hoping he'd move the conversation along.

Bad idea.

"What was your favourite part?"

"Uh." I glanced at Flora who hadn't spoken in a while. I frowned – actually, she hadn't spoken at all. She ate quickly, her food hidden in her bag. Not the weirdest thing I'd ever seen her do, but definitely up there. "Flora. What are you eating?"

She turned to me; food stuffed in her mouth. "Hm?"

I nodded at her backpack, where her hand was hidden inside, reaching for more food. "What are you eating?"

She swallowed and blushed, refusing to meet my eye. "Just some... food."

Okay. Now, I was interested.

"What kind of food?" I asked.

"Uh. Lunch. Food."

I raised a brow and she sighed, finally pulling her hand out from her backpack. She held a container full of something red.

"Is that kimchi?" Rowan asked.

Flora nodded, not looking at us. "I – uh. I understand if you don't want me to sit with you guys."

"I love kimchi. I didn't know we had any on campus," he said.

Flora blinked, finally looking up to meet his eyes. "What?"

"Kimchi. I love it," he repeated, shrugging. "Haven't had it since I left New York. I didn't know we had any Korean restaurants around this area. It's a bit... homogenous here."

"Oh," she said. "I – well – oh."

"I've never tried it before," I chimed in. "Is it any good?"

"I mean – I like it, but..." she trailed off, her eyes glazing over. I exchanged a look with Rowan who was openly frowning at her.

"But?"

She looked down at her food, poking it with her chopsticks. "Reed hated it. Everyone at St Mark's did. They said it stank."

"Stank!" I repeated, bewildered.

She laughed emptily, nodding. "My mom wouldn't stop packing it for me, though. I started throwing it out before entering the school gates. I just – I don't know. It was embarrassing, how people would plug their noses when I passed. No one would sit with me at lunch. Even my own boyfriend made fun of it."

I scoffed. That sounded like Reed.

Still frowning, I reached forward, grabbing a piece of kimchi, and tossing it into my mouth.

"Sebastian!" she shouted.

Her eyes widened, her hands flying to her mouth as she watched me chew slowly, then swallow. I flashed a smile at her.

"Reed clearly has no taste. That was delicious," I said. I neglected to mention the fact that my mouth was on fire.

She stared at me for a second. Beside me, Rowan was watching with a lifted brow, his lips twitching. His eyes brightened, as if seeing me for the first time. Then, Flora was laughing.

"Oh, my God. Sebastian," she squealed between laughs. "What the hell? I wasn't expecting that."

"I'm full of surprises." I shrugged.

She shook her head. "I just – thank you. But for the record, Reed has amazing taste. He dated me after all."

"Ah, of course," I said, smiling. "Taste in food, then."

"Right." She looked down at the rest of her food, smiling, a giggle leaking from her lips every now and then. She grabbed her chopsticks, starting to eat what remained in the small container – this time, in the open, not hidden inside her backpack.

I followed suit, chugging some water as discreetly as possible before moving back to eating my burger. Within minutes, I had scarfed down the rest of my burger and was halfway through my salad, leaving the remainder of the fries for Rowan to pick at as he continued reading, his eyes never leaving the page as he continued reaching for fries.

"Are you ready for your match this weekend?" Flora asked.

I looked at her, wondering briefly if she was joking. She watched me innocently, smiling in her usual gentle way, and I turned back to my salad, stabbing at a few leaves.

"I mean, it's not like I'm going to play or anything..."

"You never know!" she exclaimed quickly. "You've been training extra hard lately. And, I mean, Alex looks like he's got a little bit of a weak ankle this week. Coach might put you on."

"Huh." I hadn't noticed, but looking back, he had landed on his foot awkwardly at our last match. "Did Reed say anything about it?"

Her smile wavered and she instantly looked down at her empty container, starting to busy herself with packing it away.

"No. I noticed he was favouring his other leg more this week. He had a bit of a limp." She paused and I tried to remember him limping at practice. She cleared her throat before muttering, "I haven't actually spoken with him much this past week."

I looked up, watching as she continued staring down at her palms. What was that about? She still attended every single match, all of our practices and training. Except... now she seemed to come to talk to me. Not the rest of the team. I wondered briefly if something had happened between them that I'd missed.

Actually, in our few weeks of friendship, I hadn't really asked about her at all. We mostly discussed soccer and our shared classes. I didn't even know her last name.

"Well, it's what he deserves for having such bad taste in food," I joked. Her smile returned and she shrugged, looking down at her lap.

I should've stopped prying, avoided the topic of Reed after that, but I couldn't help it.

"You're not going to stop coming to our games though, will you?" I asked. "I really need you there."

Flora blinked at me and I worried for a moment that I'd just said the completely wrong thing to say in this situation, but then she smiled and nodded.

"Of course, I'll still go," she said. "I've been attending soccer matches for four years. I'm not going to suddenly stop now. Besides..." she trailed off, her cheeks tingeing pink in a way that reminded me of Aspen. "I like watching you play."

"Good," I said, grinning. "Maybe one day you can see me actually play in a match."

She laughed and my smile grew wider at the sound. She tugged my jacket closer over her shoulders.

Beside me, Rowan shifted, and I turned to see him watching us, his book closed on the ground between us. He'd turned cold again, his eyes narrowed as he listened, and a chill washed over me at how quickly he could switch moods.

I searched for words to break the sudden tension.

"Anyway," I said, standing suddenly. I'd finished my salad and decided to leave the cookie for later. "We've got thirty minutes before our next class. I'm going to kick a few goals."

Flora looked up at me. "Need a goalie?"

"You play?"

"Err... Well, Reed taught me a little. I'm sure I could catch on pretty quickly."

"Well, I've been told that I'm an incredible teacher."

Over the summer before my first semester at college, I'd taught Aspen how to play soccer. She was terrible, as expected, but within an hour, I'd managed to get her to stop trying to catch the ball at least, and I thought that was pretty decent of me.

Maybe teaching could be my back up plan. If soccer went wrong... continued going wrong.

"I'll be the judge of that," Flora teased. She stood, reaching just below my shoulders, and I laughed, holding a hand up to measure her height.

"I'm not sure if you'll be able to block any goals like that."

"Hey! I'm an average height for my age."

"Are you?" I quirked a brow at her, grinning.

"Yes." she folded her arms, pouting. "Besides, my doctor says that I'm still growing."

"Are you?" I repeated.

Her pout deepened. "Kind of..."

I laughed, ruffling her hair, and reaching down to grab my soccer ball. "Alright. Well, maybe Rowan would be willing to help defend? You'll need all the help you can get."

I looked over at him. He blinked slowly before snapping back into motion. Grabbing his book from his lap, he shoved it into his bag and shot to his feet.

"I doubt she'd need any help when it's you striking."

He slung his bag over his shoulder, and without another word, he turned to leave.

I stilled, exchanging a brief look of confusion with Flora as we watched his retreating back.

He'd always been insulting. Rude. Arrogant. Except, he'd always done it in a teasing way. A smirk playing on his lips. Condescension in his tone. Today, he'd been cold. Sneering at us as he spoke.

What was that about?

"Sebastian?"

I turned to see Flora looking at me timidly, confusion written on her face. I sighed, pulling my lips into a smile, and tossing the ball at her. She staggered to catch it against her chest, her eyes growing wide.

"Let's play."

She grinned, leading the way to the field. Before I followed, I glanced over my shoulder the way Rowan had left. He was gone.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi! I hope you all liked this chapter! Since this is a short story, I feel like it might be a little rushed, but I hope you're enjoying learning more about Flora and Rowan! Would love to hear more predictions hehe

Next time: we learn more about... someone