[COLOR=GRAY][CENTER][COLOR=8A9A5B][sup]_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/COLOR][url=https://open.spotify.com/track/7pu8AhGUxHZSCWTkQ2eb5M?si=8b5d2c0de0514036][img]https://i.imgur.com/defFT2x.jpeg[/img][/url][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=8A9A5B][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR][I] Science Wing[/I] - [I]Pacific Royal Campus[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=8A9A5B][b]Take On Me #3.036:[/b][/COLOR][I] You're So Vain[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][COLOR=8A9A5B][SUP][sub]___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sub][/SUP][/COLOR][indent][sub][color=8A9A5B][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR][I] Unknown Number / Nameless Insignificance[/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=8A9A5B][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR][COLOR=GRAY][I] Wing to Wing [/I][/color][/right][/SUP][/indent]

[indent][quote][color=#8a9a5b]‘Hey Rora, I was thinking it would be great to do something fun together tonight or maybe tomorrow if today is too sudden. How about we plan a movie night?’[/color][/quote]

[quote][color=#8a9a5b] ‘Alternatively, we could go shopping with the girls. I think most of us still need to get dresses for the dance. What do you think? Let me know! 😊’[/color][/quote] 

A flutter of anxiety surged through Harper as she pressed the send button and placed her phone down with a shaky hand. Her fingers immediately began to drum lightly on the desk, a subconscious attempt to release her pent-up nervous energy.  [color=#8a9a5b][i]Please, please say yes[/i][/color][i], [/i]she silently begged, her eyes flickering back to the phone every few seconds.[i] [/i]The past few days had been tough for everyone, but she felt that Aurora, most of all, needed a break from everything that had happened.  

All the while, her professor continued his lecture at the front of the room. Despite her best efforts to stay attentive, Harper found the whole thing to be a monotonous drone that did little to capture her interest. His voice, steady and unchanging, created an almost hypnotic rhythm, each word blending seamlessly into the next. The classroom’s dim lighting and the soft hum of the air conditioning only added to the soporific atmosphere. The brunette’s eyelids grew heavier with each passing minute, and she blinked rapidly, trying to fend off the drowsiness that threatened to pull her under. She shifted in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs, hoping that a change in position might help her stay awake. Her fingers tapped restlessly on the edge of her laptop now, a silent plea for the lecture to end. The clock on the wall seemed to move at a glacial pace though, each tick adding to her struggle to remain conscious.

The sudden buzz of her phone on the table shattered the monotony of the lecture, jolting Harper from her drowsy state. Her heart skipped an anticipatory beat as she glanced over, a flicker of hope igniting within her. The screen lit up, displaying a message from an unknown number—one she did not recognize immediately. Her excitement quickly evaporated, replaced by a sinking feeling of disappointment. Not Aurora. The brief surge of hope dissipated like a popped balloon, leaving her feeling deflated.

On the preview of the message, she read the words [color=#4169e1]‘Hi???’[/color], finally sparking a flicker of recognition. Her memory quickly pieced together who it might be: one of the few contacts she had reached out to earlier, someone she barely knew and whose name she'd never bothered to save. She recalled having to coordinate with this person in the past, their interactions marked by a lack of cooperation and a palpable tension. One she desperately hoped wasn’t present still. There were notes to be borrowed, after all.  

Her fingers hovered over the screen before she tapped to open the message, bracing herself for the snarky tone she was likely to receive.

And did.

[u][i]Attempt #1: Fail[/i][/u]


[quote][color=#8a9a5b]‘Hi!!! Were you here for Matt’s Biochem class yesterday? Missed it 😣.’[/color][/quote] 

[quote][color=#4169e1]‘Hi??? You missed a lot then! but I guess that’s what happens when you skip class. Maybe try showing up next time? 🙂’[/color][/quote] 

And there it was. [color=#8a9a5b][i]Typical, [/i][/color]Harper thought, shaking her head slightly, feeling her frustration bubbling to the surface. Her fingers flew across the screen, typing out a response before she could fully think it through.

[quote][color=#8a9a5b]‘Thanks for the life advice, Dr. Phil. Now, about those notes…?’[/color][/quote]
 
With a sigh, she backtracked the message, deleting the text with a few quick taps. Closing her eyes, she leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling, exasperation etched across her features.  This wasn’t the time for a petty argument; she [i]needed[/i] those notes, if only to guide her still foggy mind. 

[color=#ffffff][i]“You got a pretty nasty hit there,”[/i][/color][i] one of the healers that had attended to her had remarked, their voice gentle yet concerned. [/i][color=#ffffff][i]“So far, there doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about, but if you find yourself struggling don’t hesitate to reach out, okay?” [/i][/color]

Harper had merely nodded her head at the time, her face a mask of inscrutability. She’d had zero intentions of seeing anyone. Because here was the thing: 

[i]She despised hospitals.[/i]

She had spent too many hours in the cold, impersonal atmosphere she associated with them growing up. And if things continued on their current trajectory, she knew that feeling of dread and anxiety would never go away. And she needed it to go away. But not like that. 

Pushing aside her irritation, Harper took a deep breath and typed out a new message. 

[quote][color=#8a9a5b]‘Look, I really need notes for what I missed. Can you help me or not?’[/color][/quote] 

She paused for a second, rereading the message. It was direct, perhaps a bit too blunt, but she didn’t have the energy to sugarcoat her request. Harper hit send, watching as the message disappeared into the digital ether.

The response came quickly, the tone unmistakably cold and cutting.  

[quote][color=#4169e1]‘You really have a lot of nerve. Don’t tell me you 4got all about it?’[/color][/quote]

Harper frowned, racking her brain for what they might have been referring to. As if having read her mind, her phone buzzed again, a new message lighting up the screen. 

[quote][color=#4169e1]‘You told me that I was incompetent and pretty much unreliable cus of it. All because I had a ‘poor track record’.’[/color][/quote]

Harper’s frown deepened. The words stung now, but she couldn’t deny having said them when she gave it some thought. She had always prided herself on being straightforward, but perhaps she had been [i]too[/i] harsh here. Before she could formulate a response, however, another message appeared.

[quote][color=#4169e1]‘So, why would you want anything from me, Sergeant Baxter?’[/color][/quote]

Harper blinked, her head tilting to the side in vague interest as she realized something. [color=#8a9a5b][i]Wow, proper grammar this time, and through text too. That’s new.[/i][/color] And they'd only been texting for five minutes!

She was so proud.  

A smirk curled on her lips like a cat stretching in the sun, her fingers moving to type a response.

[quote][color=#8a9a5b]‘But look at how much you’ve improved already!!!’[/color][/quote]

Harper, of course, did not send this message either. Her actual response instead showed the amount of sincerity she could muster at that moment. 

[quote] [color=#8a9a5b]‘ohhh mbbbbb! 😓’[/color][/quote] 

[quote] [color=#4169e1]Right[/color] 🖕[/quote]

Harper's fingers stilled, her smirk fading as she stared at the screen. The message hit harder than she'd expected, her earlier irritation giving way to a sinking feeling of regret. She put her phone down, her fingers drumming restlessly on the desk once more.

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