Carmilla strolled into class just as the bell went off, flopping down into her desk in the far corner of the room as she stretched out her legs beneath the chair in front of her. She took the rest of the room in, most kids were sitting on their phones waiting for class to start, the other few were dozing off, and then there was one girl who was frantically writing.

The reason Carmilla paid attention to this one girl in particular, was because she noticed her reading Camus the first day of school, probably because it was on the syllabus, but it didn't matter. The girl looked like she was genuinely enjoying it, which was hard for most people to do.

The teacher came into the classroom then, dropping her books onto the desk that sat in the front of the room, and turned to the class. "Hope everyone has their homework today." She said, looking pointedly at a student who was asleep in the second row.

Carmilla rolled her eyes as she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the girl picked up her speed of writing, or was trying to anyways.

The girl looked up at the teacher who was starting to walk up and down the aisles to check for the students' homework, and then back down at her paper frowning.

Carmilla decided that the girl was trying to desperately finish her homework before the teacher got to her desk, so in an act of sheer kindness (gross) and impulse, Carmilla spoke up. "Uh, Ms. Bodenstein?"

The teacher looked up, squinting her eyes as she looked back at Carmilla. The brunette was her best student with an F in participation. "Yes, Carmilla?"

"I had a question about the syllabus." Carmilla said casually, pulling at strings. She had no idea how she was going to stall for this girl who started to write again.

"And what would this question be?" Ms. Bodenstein asked as she checked another student's homework.

Carmilla sighed, how was she going to get the teacher to pause in her homework checking? "Well you stopped at Poe's House of Usher, I'm curious as to why we haven't picked up Camus' Stranger yet?"

Ms. Bodenstein shook her head, "We stopped because most students have trouble grasping The Stranger. It takes a couple of lessons before hand to work on articles written in a similar hand before we start reading Camus."

Carmilla fought the urge to roll her eyes. The teacher did stop checking homework though. She quickly looked over at the girl who was still writing, but was beginning to slow down. "Yeah, but it's already May, are you sure we're going to have enough time?"

Ms. Bodenstein frowned, "Miss Karnstein, if you have an issue with the way I teach, then you can see me after class to discuss it, but for now we need to move on with today's lesson." She then made it over to the girl's paper, nodded her head approvingly, and then went on to the boy that sat behind her.

Carmilla leaned back in her seat, shaking her head. So stupid, now she had to talk to the teacher after class all because of a stupid possible crush she had on a girl who may or may not be dating the school's track star.

"I see you didn't do your homework either, maybe you should worry more about the present then the future Miss Karnstein." Ms. Bodenstein said a moment later as she stood over her desk.

Carmilla scoffed, serving her another glare from the teacher and a stern, "See me after class."

XXX

After a being lectured for fifteen minutes and being given a Saturday detention, Carmilla finally left the classroom to find the girl from earlier leaning back against a locker outside the door.

"Hey." she said, smiling at Carmilla.

Carmilla raised a brow, "Hey yourself, cupcake."

"I just wanted to thank you for what you did."

"And what did I do exactly?" Carmilla asked, trying to figure out how she had been found out.

"A personal chewing out from the Bitch From the West just so I could finish my homework."

"And a Saturday detention." Carmilla added, already admitting defeat.

The girl shook her head, still smiling. "Wow, you sure know how to make a girl feel special."

"I'd be able to do much more if I knew your name."

"It's Laura."

"Carmilla."

There was a moment of silence, before Carmilla began to walk. "You better be able to talk about Camus though, otherwise this will have all gone to waste."

Laura laughed, catching up to her. "I hated the Stranger."

Carmilla chuckled, "Me too."