A/N: Hello everyone! I've been MIA for about a year or so, college has got me stressed out. If you're wondering what happened to We Teach Life, Sir, truth is, I started to write a new chapter then out of nowhere I got this idea. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

10:47 AM Tuesday, December 15th 2019. Richard Dawkins Hall, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD.

True or False. The zooxanthellae/coral symbiosis is a good example of mutualism.

If you don't pass this, your GPA will drop, you'll never graduate in time, and you'll never get a good jo-

I shut my eyes, taking in a deep breath; desperately trying to block these negative thoughts. I was currently taking my marine biology final exam that I had been preparing for weeks now. It only cost me blisters on my fingers from writing hundreds of flashcards, the never ending listening to eighteen 90-minute long lecture recordings, and a really bad neck cramp from constantly burying my nose in my six pound biology book. Not to mention having to balance out my time to study for my other subjects as well.

Okay okay, let's try question 43.

If you wanted to see a fish that possessed a bioluminescent lure, how deep in the ocean would you have to venture?

a. Only as deep as the epipelagic zone
b. About as deep as the mesopelagic zone
c. Beyond the mesopelagic zone
d. Into the ozone

Hmph.

Get it together Jazmine.

'Was it B? Yeah it has to be B, unless… it's C? That sounds right too. No wait, always go with your first choice. Right?'

This is your last final. You know this stuff…

I sighed heavily and jotted down the answers that I knew by heart, praying that I'd at least keep my grade point average at a 3.8. This class was especially important to me, my professor, Doctor Viktorio, had told our class of 105 students that he would pick the top ten students who did well in the course to accompany him on his research vessel. He was on an expedition to do research at sea, and it was definitely an opportunity I did not want miss out on. Not only would it look good on my college transcript, but it's also been a dream of mine to explore the deep ocean blue, protecting the endangered and discovering new invasive marine species.

A semester at sea didn't sound too bad either. Ever since my first trip to Ocean City, MD at four years old, I had fallen in love with the sea. The ocean breeze, the little critters living by the shore, and even getting lucky enough to go deep sea fishing (of course returning the creatures back) had expanded my horizons to a new and interesting field. So, I decided to major in Marine Biology when I first got accepted to the University of Maryland. It is now my second year, and so far I've been doing well in all my classes.

I adjusted my glasses, and finally walked towards the professor to hand in my paper. Doctor Viktorio was a kind and very intelligent professor, his lectures were long and he gave a lot of material to study, but he always wanted what was best for his students.

He took a quick glance at me and spoke, "Good luck to you Jazmine, though I know you won't need it."

"Thank you Doctor V." I replied with a smile

I left the lecture hall afterwards, putting my double breasted coat on as I made my way down the stairs to exit the building. It was snowing here in Baltimore and Christmas break was right around the corner, which meant that I had to go run a few errands before I had to head back to my hometown, Woodcrest.

Woodcrest was a nice, suburban, middle-class neighborhood, just about a forty-five minute drive from campus. I had left home when I was about seventeen, my mother's fiancée-Eric, had found me an apartment nearby so I didn't have to room with anyone on campus. He agreed to pay my rent for about three months, until I was able to find a job. It was a hassle at first, because getting payed minimum wage was barely enough to cover my monthly rent. During high school, I worked at a nearby frozen yogurt shop, and whatever money I had saved up from that went straight to paying my books. I was on a scholarship so I didn't have to worry about paying tuition.

In my freshman year of college, I worked for a few months at the campus library with a salary of $8.25 an hour. Knowing that this clearly wasn't enough to pay rent, I found another job at Starbucks in downtown Baltimore where I worked as a coffee barista, and since I was taking mostly general requirement courses, this didn't affect my school life too much.

I finally walked outside the Mathematics and Sciences building feeling relieved as ever, I beamed. No more finals! Maybe I should go treat myself.

My moment of happiness was cut short when I saw a certain figure come and approach me,

"Hey Jazmine, so how do you think you did on Viktorio's exam?" he sneered with a cockiness latched in his voice.

"Oh, I... I don't know." I replied nonchalantly, walking past him.

"Wait a minute, where are you going?" he asked

I turned on my heel and rolled my eyes, "I have things to do, Cairo"

"Sure you do, but when will you take me up on that offer to get dinner with me?"

"I'm not interested." I answered truthfully

"Not even coffee? Come on… it's just two friends hanging out." He pleaded with his eyes.

I raised an eyebrow

"Classmates."

"Yeah, whatever you say Jazmine, classmates!"

I sighed, shaking my head, "If I say yes will you leave me alone?"

Cairo Evans was a snotty, wise-ass, cocky son of a gun who just happened to be in the same marine biology class as me. Despite his attitude, he was very smart, we studied twice together but I had to call it off when he placed his hand on my thigh and started to feel me up. He apologized and told me it was an 'accident' but I didn't buy it, he tried to ask me out but I politely refused. Apparently this boy doesn't understand the meaning of 'no'…

It's okay Jazmine, you'll be in Woodcrest soon, away from this guy.

We went to a nearby Einstein Bros and got ourselves bagels and coffee. The next forty minutes were spent on him talking about himself, bragging about how confident he was that he was going to be among the ten students to get picked to accompany our professor in his research. I only listened to him yap as I nodded my head, pretending to care.

"You think you'll get on that research ship?" He asked

"I really don't know, but I hope so" I replied

"Hm, well you're pretty smart, and as you can see the rest of the class isn't that competitive, maybe you'll get lucky."

"…thanks."

"No prob, Jaz."

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes for the thousandth time. Noting that an hour had already passed, I started to gather my belongings "Well, this was nice Cairo, but I have to go now."

He smirked at me and winked, "Hope I'll see you on that boat, Jaz. Merry Christmas..."

I don't.

I forced a smile back, "Yeah, me too! Merry Christmas!"

My apartment was about a fifteen minute walk and it began to snow heavily, so I left store and headed towards the bus stop, where it was at least warm. It came in about five minutes, and I hopped on placing my fare change in the meter…

I thought I'd never get to escape. I thought to myself.

In about twenty minutes, the bus halted to a stop, I hopped off and bid the bus driver a good day. I made my way towards my apartment building, going up a flight of stairs until I reached the evident gold number 13 on the door to my right.

I unlocked the door and entered, nothing but the sound of silence greeting me as I walked in. It was peaceful, but it got kind of lonely sometimes. I placed my coat in the closet and walked inside my room, the first thing I did was crash on the bed. It was an exhausting two weeks and I was glad that I could finally rest. I never imagined that I'd be living alone in college, I always thought I'd have a roommate or commute, but, Eric insisted. Being an excited teenager who's just been presented with the idea of leaving home, I agreed immediately. But it's been a year and I'm pretty sure it's cause he wanted more time alone with my mother.

Speaking of mom, I wondered what I should get her this Christmas. At least I didn't have many people to shop for this Christmas, as always. I had to shop for my mother Sarah, Eric, and my best friend. I never did stay in touch with my friends from high school, because I barely had any…

I was never good with friendships, especially with girls. When I was younger, I remember being teased frequently about my hair, even to the point where I was sent home from school for letting my natural curls flow down at my shoulders, they said it was a distraction. I cried for days, begging my parents to let me relax it, I just didn't want to stand out. But no matter how much I'd beg, they both refuse, telling me that I was too young and that it was an expensive process. Middle school started and I began to blossom into a young adolescent, my hair was tamer and it didn't bother me as much. Being the only biracial kid in school, I didn't make too many friends, I only hung out with the people who didn't ask me to leave their group.

In eighth grade, I made my first long term friend, her name was Lisa. We had many interests in common and we often hung out outside of school, she never touched my hair or even asked me about my background. I was happy for a while, until High school came around and I suddenly developed curves and breasts. At first, getting approached by guys in high school seemed kinda fun, I mean I liked getting the attention at first, but then it became a bother. I realized how badly it got when girls started to avoid me. I thought I was only imagining things, but it didn't take long for me to find out. When I was in the bathroom stall I had overheard two popular girls, Kathy Davis and Samantha Hartman telling each other things that weren't true about me.

The rumors that spread about me weren't the greatest, I heard stories from people accusing me of sleeping with the entire football team to snorting crack at a bowling alley. I never knew those people, I never understood why they started these rumors. As a result, I lost Lisa due to someone telling her that I slept with her boyfriend, Brandon.

The next three years of high school were honestly a living hell. I was depressed, lonely-I had no one. On top of that, my parents were getting a divorce. Tom and Sarah couldn't stand to be together in the same room without repeatedly insulting one another. I did what I could to distance myself, I got a job and enrolled myself in after school programs to help me get out of Woodcrest and into a good university.

That's where I met my best friend, Hiro Otomo. It was my Junior year and I was waiting outside the school to get picked up by Eric, who was about an hour late.

"Stuck here?"

I looked up to see a tall, Asian kid. I'd never seen any people of color in my school aside myself, he must've been a new student.

"Yeah." I replied, my eyes not leaving his.

He extended his arm "My name's Hiro Otomo, I just moved here with my parents from New Jersey."

"Jazmine Dubois, I've been here all my life." I replied with a smile, shaking his hand.

"Well Jaz, looks like you might need a ride home. My car is just around the corner, I don't mind."

At first I was anxious, because I have never allowed a boy to give me a ride before. But Hiro seemed friendly, not perverted and gross like the other guys in my school, so I said yes. We spent the entire car ride talking about music, it turns out he was a DJ and often did gigs back when he used to live in Jersey. We were interested in going into the same field, biology. Though he admitted that he did it mostly for his parents, they seemed to discourage his passion for music. Hiro was kind and never judged me based off the rumors that were spreading around. He treated me well and told me that I was like a sister to him.

I was so happy when I found out that Hiro and I were both accepted into the University of Maryland. Despite us having different schedules, we shared a few classes together, he went into pre-medical and I went into marine biology. His pre-medical program required him to take a marine biology course, which he is currently enrolled in, but with a different professor.

I wonder if Hiro would get on that research vessel. I thought to myself.

I glanced at my phone, it was 12:45 PM, and I had to get to work at around 3. During the time in between, I made myself a cup of tea and started to pack my bags; I'd leave Baltimore Thursday morning and head for Woodcrest. Hiro told me he'd give me a ride, so I didn't have to worry about transportation. I didn't have a car, Eric told me I should get around with public transportation until I had enough money to buy a car. I could barely afford to pay the rent right now, but getting a car was definitely next on the list.

Six hours later

"Girl, wake yo ass up!" my head jolted up as I was met with a smirking blonde, putting her phone in my face.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes, did I fall asleep at work again?

It was seven thirty, and I was currently working my last shift at Starbucks. The place was empty and only a few customers had waltzed in earlier.

"Cin. The place is empty… Why are we still here?" I whined

"Cause Rodger is a dumbass that's why." She rolled her eyes

I giggled, Rodger was our manager, and he hated it whenever Cindy and I worked together. Mainly because we'd always crack jokes and talk smack about the rude customers that came in. She was a student at the community college nearby, majoring in nursing. Apparently her college was teamed up with UMD and she was already a part of the semester at sea program, only she'd be working in the clinic. It was very coincidental, but nevertheless I was happy for her.

"So, how was that bio final?" She asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I mean I think I did alright, but I don't wanna jinx myself…" I replied

"Girl, you better not get a low score, I need someone to vent to on that boat!"

I half-smiled, "We'll get the results in about a week… "

"And I better be the first one to get the news about your score"

The anxiety is eating me up alive too… I thought

December 27th 2020. Woodcrest, MD.

It had been about eleven days since I've been back home, and to say I was dreading every second of it would be an understatement.

Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, it's Eric that bothered the crap out of me. He tries to parent me and does a terrible job at it, he bosses me around and acts so controlling. He only does it just so he could prove to Sarah that he's a tougher man than Tom ever was. It was annoying.

I was already stressed enough about my results not coming in yet, my professor told us that he'd have the grades up before Christmas, so I checked my laptop every single day. Hoping that he would post our scores already.

"Earth to Jaz?"

Hiro had accompanied me to Woodcrest, and right now we were both sitting at coffee shop downtown.

"Will you stop stressing the grades already?"

It's like he read my mind, "I'm sorrrryyy… I'm just worried y'know? How come you got your grade before I did!?"

"Because Jaz, we have different professors, remember?"

Hiro had aced the class with a 94%, which wasn't surprising considering that he was one of the smartest people I knew. His parents were happy when they heard the news, but deep down Hiro knew they expected more of him, which bothered him the most.

"Ugh. But-"

"No! Chill! It's your birthday, and we are here to celebrate, courtesy of me of course…"

"Yay" I cheered sarcastically.

He shook his head, taking my phone away from me.

"Hiro!"

"Come on, the more you think about it, the more stressed out it'll make you."

I thought about it for a moment and gave up, "you know what, you're right. It's my birthday, and I should just relax and order another chocolate muffin."

He rolled his eyes, "finally…"

Did I forget to mention that I turn nineteen today?

Biting into my muffin, I ask Hiro about his new gig tonight,

"It's at The Nine. You better come this time…"

"Don't worry I will…"

"You said that last time…"

"You know what happened last time! I tripped on the stairs."

He scoffed, "Fine, but this time no excuses, if you trip on the stairs again you better see my gig before you go to a hospital"

I laughed, until I heard a notification sound from my phone.

And it wasn't a text message notification.

It was

…an e-mail.

"Oh my god." Said Hiro, still carrying my phone. "Do you want me to check it?"

My heart dropped.

This was it.

The final moment…

A/N: Chapter 2 should be posted today, let me know what you think!