If anyone were to be curious about what an Economics classroom looked like on a Monday morning of a brand new semester, they'd be disappointed to know that it didn't look like a room full of bright eyed students listening earnestly to their professor's lesson. Instead, it looked more like a pajama pigsty of lifeless, half asleep floaters trying desperately to stay awake. Even the professor was struggling with the early rise; grumbling in his speech with his puny eyes casted by the dark circles underneath them. What a wonderful start to a new semester.
Laura was no different. Just another face in the crowd, it was easy and tempting for her to nod off here and there, but it was a battle she had to endure. She needed to take this class seriously, especially with how her grades looked like from last semester. She couldn't afford another pathetic passing grade. Over break, she'd considered going to a tutor, because it wasn't that she wasn't trying, she just really sucked at Economics. But the thing about that was that Laura's pride was a little too big and she felt that having a tutors help was basically like pronouncing herself to the world as an imbecile incapable of self sufficiency. Perhaps her thoughts on the matter were a little dramatic and over the top, but regardless, she wasn't that desperate. Not yet anyway.
Her eyelids fluttered shut again and she briskly shook her head; slapping her cheeks with a renewed urge to revitalize some life into her face.
"Wake up!" she chided herself, but she could already feel her body going numb and the professors flat voice sounded so far away. Shrinking and dying out, like a fly getting flushed down the toilet - getting smaller and smaller until blip, gone.
"Now then," suddenly, the professor cleared his throat, enunciating his words with more umph and slapping Laura back into reality, who was practically slouching off her chair, "I've asked for the help of a teacher assistant starting this semester whom you'll be seeing a lot of in the classroom from here on out. You'll all do well to go about your studies as you always have, but expect there to be many changes so accommodate yourselves accordingly." The professor lumbered around his desk and leaned against the countertop before gesturing for someone in the front row to come up to the front of the class alongside him.
There was a unified silence that followed as everyone eyed the tall figure striding towards the professor, then a bustle of hushed comments bursted amongst the students at the sight of the new stranger.
The professor cleared his throat again, silencing the room. "Class, this is Jill Hemsworth, your TA. Please give her a round of applause for being the only one here who showed up in actual clothes." A cacophony of soft chuckles erupted in the class and even Laura found herself smiling a bit at the professors poke, but her eyes lingered on the new girl. Her curiosity was nothing more than intrigue. After all, it was a bit of a relief to finally see a fresh face at this small local college she attended. Plus, the girls hair was killer.
Jill Hemsworth was very pretty, even that much couldn't be denied by the sheer amount of ogling that was happening at the moment from both the guys and girls in the room. From her poised look, her eye catching auburn hair, and the charming closed lip smile she had, she was definitely not your average TA. Even her clothes, which were simple and casual, asserted a sense of purposeful styling that made her look chic and cooly laid back.
And that was how the first day went, with a new addition in the mix. But like all things, once everyone got back into the motion of things and started getting busy with their studies and their lives, all the highs and excitement and even promises made faded with time. Case in point, months into the semester, try as she might, Laura had already found her early resolution incredibly short lived.
She was failing. Failing terribly in her ECON class. Why couldn't she just retain all the information? And the papers, oh god the papers were another form of hell. She sat criss crossed in a lounge chair in one of the many lofts around campus, trying to cram her brain with as much of the material as she could. Rereading and rewriting her notes, flipping through her textbooks like a madwoman, highlighting whatever she thought would be important, and generally just panicking internally.
She rubbed at her temples and tried to calm down and get her bearings. Locks of her chestnut hair framed her face as she sat there frozen in concentration and despair. What was she going to do? There was an exam due in two months and from the looks of things, Laura was considering faking her death or feinting in class during the exam.
Just then, like an answer to her prayers, or at least to others besides herself, Jill Hemsworth appeared around the corner with her groupies close behind; heading towards the community board with a pack of papers in hand. Laura watched her go. Since she arrived, she'd unknowingly spawned a little fanbase and from then on, she was basically pretty much never seen without some hapless and horny pup following her around. She was quite popular amongst the freshmen boys and the guys in general and her name was pretty much known throughout the entire campus. She was almost like one of the seven wonders of the world - everyone talked about her.
Laura watched her curiously, half amused by the guys around her trying to get her attention. It looked like she was putting up flyers, but the boys paid it no mind and continued with their pestering, even after she turned the other corner and left the room. Not being able to help herself, Laura inched her way towards the board to look at the flyers and gulped.
They were flyers for tutoring sessions, from Jill herself. She guessed the girl needed the extra cash. Laura bit her lips. Tutoring sessions from her own TA, wouldn't that be a goldmine? She thought about it hard and swallowed her pride. As much as she hated it, she really needed the extra help. The flyers had little pull off strips at the ends of them, and with a sigh, Laura took one and stuffed it into her back pocket. It was either fail the class and look like and idiot or get a tutor and look like an idiot.
Laura didn't know much about Jill. Only what she heard from rumors and what she saw in class, other than that, this tutoring session was going to be the first time they'd ever spoken to each other, well, the second time. The first time was when Laura gave her the call confirming she'd take her offer. All she really knew about Jill was that she had recently graduated from the college, so she was around 24-26 years old. To be honest, she'd forgotten how old she was exactly despite her having told the class the very first day of the semester. Let's just put it out there that Laura's memory was shit. So Jill wasn't really a fresh face in the college, more like a returning one.
She also knew that she was smart - something about her graduating top of her class? And had lived in the countryside before she moved up here to the suburbs to start her education. That was probably where her laid back attitude came from, always so humble and composed. Furthermore, from what she heard, Jill was the third eldest of six other siblings and actually used to be the softball captain here when she attended the college. All of this, of course, was what Laura had heard, and from it, she had to admit that the girl was pretty well rounded.
Jill's sessions would be at 6:00 pm in the college library on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays and 8:00 pm on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Laura took the Saturday, because her schedule didn't allow for any room for her to even breath during the weekdays.
On the day of the meet-up, Laura was heading out of her dorm towards the library, a little anxious about the meeting and feeling sorry for herself that she had to stoop so low. But it was whatever. She glanced down at her watch and noticed she'd be a little early, so took her time walking across campus.
Laura was just your average student. Average grades, decent social skills, and hardly an interesting existence on campus. She was fairly pretty, like anyone else, had her own groups of friends, did her own thing, but she wasn't much for tuning into what was happening at the campus or in the lives of others. She believed in independence and minding her business.
When she finally arrived, she noticed the library was sparse with activity and people, only a speck of other students here and there. She scanned the room and found Jill sitting at one of the long tables that ran horizontal from the book shelves in front of the big square windows. Laura sighed.
"Just get what you can from this and pass the class," she tried to reassure herself. Breathing in, she finally willed herself to move and trudged towards the tables where she tapped on Jill's shoulders before greeting her.
"Hi, Jill. I'm Laura Eom. I'm here for my session." Laura introduced, with not even a trace of a smile. It wasn't as if she was trying to be petty or rude, she just couldn't bother with the trivial formalities. She didn't like to pretend or disguise or go along with things. She was bummed and she wasn't going to hide it. But Jill didn't seem bothered by Laura's stoic presence.
"Hi," Jill hovered her hand between them for a handshake, "you're just on time. Sit down, please, get comfortable, and let's get started." The twinkle in Jill's eyes were no joke. She was nice and friendly but not overbearing - her kindness was calm and collected. Laura shook her hand and quietly sat down and took out her things.
