Jake Addams April 19th, 20XX

I watched Alice leave the room in tears and restrained my instinct to go after her.

Things would change a lot from now on for both her and me.

As a sports student, I didn’t particularly have to join the showcase, but it was a good way to get my face out there.

Ahh, there was also that recommendation I was getting from her dad. It wasn’t like the school would rescind my acceptance if he withdrew it, but it would make things more difficult for me in the future.

We hadn’t parted on terrible terms, so I didn’t think that she would go ask her dad to make things difficult for me, but who knew what would happen if he overheard her complaining about it and took things into his own hands.

Maybe I would text Alice later and ask her not to mention anything. But no, I was the one that had said we couldn’t be friends for a while. I couldn’t be the first one to text her and ask for a favour.

The clock struck four, and I got out of the chair, meaning to get to the room I was meeting with Sparrow in. It was only a few doors down, anyway.

I noticed a piece of fabric mid-step and redirected my foot’s landing spot, but I ended up losing my balance.

Things moved so quickly that I had a hard time processing it at the same time it happened.

“Watch out!”

One moment I was lamenting at the loss of a relationship and getting into my feelings, and the next, I was in the arms of a completely different girl, inches away from having my head split open by a dangerous-looking spike at the edge of a desk.

“Whoo! Glad I made it.”

I noticed a small spindly birthmark on her inner wrist as Sparrow pushed me up to my feet. She was stronger than I would have guessed she was.

I turned around to face her and try to figure out what had just happened. I also needed to know where she had come from.

“Sparrow? Where did you come from?”

An awkward and apologetic expression blossomed on her face, and she ran a harsh hand through her copper-red hair. I followed her line of vision and found a closet I’d somehow missed until now. The door stood ajar, and a comfortable-looking cot revealed itself.

“In my defense, you two were the ones that barged in here and started screaming without making sure you were alone. I woke up from my nap about half way though and couldn’t find a good time to leave.”

It was hard to get angry at someone that had just saved you, but I still had to take a moment to calm down.

Instead of jumping right into another confrontation, I decided to ignore it and move on to what she’d wanted to give me. The interaction that had led to Alice blowing up at me.

“Ah well. Thanks for saving me, I guess. You said you had something for Finn?”

It occurred to me that Finn had a pretty large share of blame in all of this as well. If not for him, then Alice wouldn’t have started chasing after him and ignoring me so badly. Sparrow also wouldn’t have had a reason to seek me out and ask me to meet her.

How the hell was I the best way to get in contact with him, anyway?

I didn’t think we were close at all, but somehow I was the one with the most information about his whereabouts.

“Ah! follow me! It’s only a box of stuff that my older brother wanted me to get to him.”

I turned around to pick up my stuff that had fallen when I’d slipped and made to follow her when I felt a strong palm set itself onto my shoulder.

“Well, since I have you here, anyway. Can I ask you for a favor?”

It took a lot of guts to ask a favour from someone who had just discovered you were spying on them, even if it was by accident.

Well, even if I was going to reject, she didn’t give me a chance to respond.

Alice often did the same thing, but with Sparrow, it more seemed like she genuinely didn’t think I’d have anything to say, as opposed to Alice, who talked over me because she knew what I’d say and didn’t want to hear it.

“I’m participating in the showcase with a few friends from my department and I wanted to ask Finn to join us so he can get the credit that he needs. A management kid can’t get full credit if they join a group with less than two department participants. Since you aren’t helping Alice anymore, then would you want to pair up with me and help Finn out?”

My first instinct was to reject the offer. After all, how would it look if I joined her group directly after breaking things off with Alice?

However, the earnest way she looked at me and the nervous expression that didn’t suit her usually confident face made me think about it a bit more.

I wanted to participate in the showcase, even just as something to fill up my time for the next few months.

Finn was also a pretty talented guy. The only reason Finn would have a hard time finding another group would be because of Alice’s rash text, and I was kind of at fault for not sticking around to calm her down after the whole cafeteria incident.

I wasn’t in charge of making amends for anything that she had done in the past, but since Finn and I were friendly, I didn’t mind helping him out.

“I dont know if I can get any of my teammates to come with me, but I don’t mind helping out.”

Her face lit up as she received an agreement, and she suddenly grabbed me by the upper arm.

“Perfect! you stay here while I gather my things then we can head out!”

She suddenly exploded into a ball of energy and bounced around the room, gathering fabrics and machines and whatever else she crammed into her bag and arms.

“Follow me!”

“huh? where are we going?”

Sparrow only slowed down enough to dump a pile of things on top of the box I was already carrying and refill her arms with more stuff.

“My apartment!”