Malan Hall

Diamond stood outside the dorm looking at it with the biggest 'golly gee this looks so serious' expression Jack had ever seen on her. She held her suitcase in front with both hands and just seemed to gently swing back and forth with it. She was in her blue jeans, a bit lower on her hips than Jack had thought was possible, and a thick cotton t-shirt which had insufficient length to reach the belt. She had a cute belly though. Her navel had that perfect sunken quality which, while common enough, requires just the right thin layer of fat over the abdominal muscles to really look soft and feminine. And she had that graceful dimpled lower back which just seemed to scream out "hand holds here, Jack!"

Fortunately Jack had seen it enough by this point that he could enjoy the aesthetics without feeling the need to do something about it. But a couple of times the week before, Diamond had found her self being held very tightly by him and kissed. She had no objections to his advances however. The expressions on her face suggested she might have liked it. Maybe once or twice anyway.

"This is our dorm," he was explaining. "We'll be here for the next two weeks."

"Two whole weeks?" exclaimed Di. "How can Bounder keep my slot open? He hates being a girl short. Especially when it might be one more trophy on his shelf."

"Rosa said she'd handle that, Di," said Jack. "Don't you remember?"

"Oh yeah," recollected Diamond. "As far as Bounder knows, I'm the only dark elf witch that dances anywhere and that is it's own draw. Poor girl . . ."

"Poor girl?"

"He will fill up my slot with a new girl and she'll think she's gotten in and then she'll be booted in two weeks."

"Bounder may take someone else out," suggested Jack.

"Oh please not Rochelle, oh please not Gabrielle," whispered Diamond.

"No prayers for Cocoa?" asked Jack. He found that curious.

"Meh," sighed Diamond.

"Well let's claim our rooms," suggested Jack.

"What's this building called, darling?" she asked.

"Malan Hall," answered Jack.

They walked into the main hallway. To their right was a dining room and beyond that was a kitchen with cheap appliances. To their left was a lounge and beyond that was a study hall. But in front of them a grand staircase rose up to the next floor.

"That's so big!" she gasped. There was a pause, and then a little lilt in her voice. "I've never seen one . . . that big. Woof!" Then she looked at him and said. "But I prefer something not quite as big . . . but bigger where it counts . . . somewhere else."

Took Jack a moment to get it. He started to snigger as he walked up the stairs.

"Diamond? Are you being bad?"

"Uh huh?"

They passed the bathrooms and then Jack opened up a room.

"This is yours," he said. "I had it arranged special."

Diamond walked in. It was a grand room, with couches and chairs, a tall bookshelf, and a big comfortable bed.

"How did I get something so big?"

"I pulled a few strings," explained Jack. "In the form of a very nice donation to the campus for room maintenance. I want you in the best."

"Can I see your room?"

"Sure but it's not . . ."

"I wanna see I wanna see I wanna see!"

"Okay okay," he said.

He led her across to the other side of the floor and opened up his room. It was somewhat nice, but there were two singles, some rather cheap bookshelves, and a few simple chairs. It did have a nice fireplace though. Also was a young fellow of african cast with a button up shirt, v-neck sweater, and a pile of electronics around his feet.

"Oh hi!" he said. "Tiberius Willard, technology major. From Pleasant View, and you are?"

"Jack Fearthegn, Communications major, from the Islands."

"The Islands? I've read about them. That's supposed to be the only place where mermaids are common."

"Pretty much," replied Jack.

"Are they as cute as they're supposed to be."

"Well I've only seen one, her name was Minnow. She hung out with my first g . . . friend, Ariel, a couple of afternoons. She was a teen ager, but she wasn't bad looking in the face. Those scaly legs take some getting used to though."

"And who's this?" asked Tiberius. He could tell Diamond was in some fashion connected with Jack.

"This is Diamond, my girlfriend," replied Jack.

"Hi!" said Diamond. She grinned a little goofy grin and waved.

"And your major?"

"Huh?"

"Communications, like me."

"Yeah, that."

"Okay," laughed Tiberius. "I take it you're kind of new to the college thing."

"I never thought I'd ever come here so I kind of don't know much about it yet," explained Di.

"Well," continued Tiberius. "We're getting ready for the orientation gathering in the Union. Come on over?"

"How does that work?" asked Diamond.

"You come in, meet people, get free stuff, that sort of thing."

"Cool! Come on Jack! Let's go!"

"Let me put my backpack down!"

"Free stuff! Meeting people! We might miss something!"

"Like what?"

A pixeled guy dashed in, jumped up and down once, did a little dance, shouted "hey!" and dashed out.

"Like that!"

"Really Di? Really? You were afraid of missing something like that?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she sighed. She seemed to think for a second. "Poor guy, the only thing he can do is dash about and show everyone his shortcomings."

Tiberius was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"That's a pretty cool girlfriend you have there, Jack."

The three of them headed out of the dorm and proceeded towards the center of campus. The weather was warm and sunny.

"Feels like summer here," observed Diamond.

"It is," answered Tiberius.

"It's fall in the Islands," added Jack.

"Crazy how the seasons work," observed Tiberius. "So Jack, have you seen the latest issue of Captain Stupendous?"

"Not yet," replied Jack. "But I heard the graphics are seriously awesome. I plan to write a comic book myself this winter."

"Really?"

"Yeah I'm an author in my spare time, hope to retire from the news room at some point and do it full time."

"Have you written anything?"

"Mostly articles," began Jack.

"He's got a seriously sweet love story he's writing right now," added Diamond. "Love Under A Beldin Moon. It's got the coolest characters and there's so many of them! It's like all the guys in the football team. I can't keep 'em straight. Wait a minute! Back up . . . I can keep the guys in the football team straight, and the baseball team, and the rugby team, can't do the lacrosse team but they're all girls so that explains it."

Jack looked at Diamond, his mouth hanging open slightly. She had her little shy fawn face on, with a wide eye'd innocence thrown in for good measure.

"Bwahahahaha!" roared Tiberius. "I just got it! You gotta jock girlfriend Jack! How'd you do that?"

"Tiber?" sighed Jack. "If I started to explain it to you, we'd be here 'till graduation."

"So tell me about this comic book you're writing," continued Tiberius.

Jack paused. He looked around. "Let's sit there," he said.

They walked over to a tree and sat down in a semi-circle. Diamond was on his right, Tiberius was on his left. Jack pulled out a sketchbook and he began to sketch.

"This is the super-heroine," he explained.

The lines began to converge. There were big eyes, a cute overbite, and white shining hair parted down the side and hovering just above the shoulders

"You're going to make your girlfriend the super-heroine?" gasped Tiberius. "You are seriously scoring points dude. Wait! Diamond? You know super-heroines are in skimpy skin tight outfights right? You okay with that?"

"Oh Tiberius," giggled Diamond. "Jack knows how good I look in skin . . . tight outfits."

"Not entirely," observed Jack.

"Well I'll just have to model for you so there's no doubt," she retorted as she got up.

Tiberius just shook his head.

Reaching the Union building, they walked in.

"Some of the main lectures are in that side of the building," he started to explain. "But . . ."

"Photo booth!" cried Diamond. "Goofball pictures! Everybody in!" She started dragging Jack and Tiberius both.

"Wait, whoa, we can't fit all in there!"

"Do it anyway!" she said as they tumbled all in. The photo booth rumbled a bit do to the stress of three people, one of whom was at full energy in her enthusiasm, which drew the attention of two jocks.

"Dude," began the first, a fellow by the name Ronnie Blackstone. "That photo booth is rocking. Is that girl doing two guys at once in there?"

"If she is, she's serious jock material," replied the second, a fellow by the name of Anoki Moon.

"Better alert the Frat House," concluded Ronnie.

"Yeah but man we don't know who she is yet," argued Anoki.

"She's a Frosh that's for sure. Gotta be some nerd who'll know how to do an ID off our photos," replied Ronnie.

"What photos?"

"The one's we're about to take with our cell phones frabhead," groaned Ronnie.

"Oh yeah."

Diamond, Jack, and Willard fell out of the booth laughing. Jack helped them both up and Diamond gave him a little kiss.

"That was so much fun, darling," she added.

Meanwhile Anoki and Ronnie were snapping away.

"She's seriously drop dead," whispered Anoki. "Girl looking that good has got to have pictures somewhere."

It was at this point that a large Llama came strutting by.

"Trish?" began Jack.

The woman looked at him for a moment. "Do I know you?"

"Probably not," continued Jack. "But you dropped off the bucket last summer at my houseboat in the islands. I'm Jack Fearthegn and this is my girlfriend, Diamond Gemstone."

"Diamond Gemstone," whispered Anoki, "We got positive ID now. Get the nerd on it."

"Hi!" said Diamond waving her hand.

"You're kind of new here," observed Trish.

"Yeah I guess," bubbled Diamond. "It's really getting to be fun. I can't wait to see what happens next."

"You know the school cheer?"

"You have a cheer?"

Trish began the little dance and chant.

Rebels to the left,
Jocks are to the right,
Nerds are in the middle,
It's a Fight Fight Fight,
Llamas!
Llamas!
Gooooooo Llamas!

"Hey I can do that!" exclaimed Diamond. The thought that she could do anything in college excited her. It was like a whole new discovery. Jack for himself, was tickled pink that she was getting so into it. From his point of view, every little success Diamond had here would knock a little piece down from the wall that kept her from seeing her own natural intelligence and abilities.

Within a couple of cheers, Diamond was perfectly imitating the moves and the chant and from the perspective of the two jocks watching the affair from a distance, she was doing it better than Trish.

"Wow!" exclaimed Trish. "I've never seen a girl pick it up that fast."

"Hey," exclaimed Diamond. "I'm a professional." She turned to Jack and gave him a saucy wink.

"Yep," thought Jack. "We have inside jokes now."

"That girl knows how to move," observed Ronnie. "She was doing it that last time better than the Mascot, and no one has done it better than Trish before. She's serious Jock quality. Gonna be String 10 by finals if we get her going."

"But she did two Nerds," argued Anoki.

"She was probably feeling sorry for them," replied Ronnie.

"But she did them without a keg!"

"Not every girl needs a keg to do the woo hoo dare," answered Ronnie.

Diamond was now hovering over the table with all the freebies . . . she grabbed a frisbee and promptly whipped it at Jack. He caught it, but barely. Then, she picked up a kicky-ball. With a flick of her wrist, the little ball was in the air and for the next few moments, it was staying there as Diamond shifted legs, knees, elbows, and wrists keeping it in the air. It got so fast that it seemed to be a blur. Then she was on her back and kicking it in the air over and over again. There was another flip and she was back on her feet and the ball was in her pocket.

"Jack? I'm heading over to Keith's Komics, if you want to join me later."

"Thanks Tiber, that might be fun sometime. But right now I'm on a date with Diamond."

"We are?" asked Diamond.

"We've been since we left the Islands," observed Jack.

"Oh," recalled Diamond. She looked at him. Her expression began to get soft. "I'm really here aren't I?"

"Yep," replied Jack.

"It's not a dream any more. It's real. I thought I lost you forever, but I got you back. And now . . ." she began to just circle around the whole room. Then she looked at Jack again. He noted she was getting one of those little emotional moments.

"PON CHEE!" and into his arms.

"Whoa," he groaned.

"Jack?" she said over his shoulder. "Are you saying I'm getting fat?"

"No Diamond. You just almost took me by surprise. But I heard your battle cry and knew how to defend myself."

"What's upstairs?"

"Let's see."

For the next couple of hours they were playing pool. It was something that Jack was better at than Diamond because while Get Funky's had a pool table, Scuzz did not. What Jack began to note however was that when he was busy lining up his shot, Diamond was always eyeing a nearby mirror. Finally his curiosity got the better of him.

"Di?"

"What darling?"

"Why are you looking at that mirror all the time?"

"I want to see which pose looks best when I'm holding a pool cue."

"Really."

"And playing strip-pool with you in my head."

Jack paused to take a breath and recover his balance.

"I'm down to my thong now. Put that ball in the pocket and I have to take it off."

Jack missed.

"Better luck next shot," she suggested with a little wicked grin.

Jack won anyway, but he suspected it was a slightly closer game than it should have been.

It was getting late and so they walked over to Simburger. Jack had his arm around her and she would routinely snuggle up to him when they had to stop and wait for traffic to clear the street.

"It really does feel like a date, darling," she observed as they dashed across the street to the diner. "And we haven't had once since . . ." she looked at him sadly.

He nodded. She had gotten one night off after she had moved in. But they had been so busy putting the houseboat together, getting all her stuff moved in, that they had just spent the evening moving things. Then flopping out on the couch, they played a few moments of Final Fantasy before they had just cuddled on the couch and closed their eyes, taking comfort in their proximity.

They sat in the booth and Diamond ordered a salad while Jack got a burger. They ate for a while and chatted small talk. She smiled. There was some gentle hand holding at points. Then he suddenly began to chuckle. Something seemed to strike him. He grabbed the menu from the metal stay and once again reviewed it. Then said, "Yes! We can do this here."

"What?" she asked.

He ordered a chocolate milkshake, and two straws.

She asked him what he was going to do. He told her it was secret stuff. She began to bounce on the seat wanting to know. He told her nothing. She begged, she begged some more, she did little waves of her fists in the air. But he would not relent.

"It's no fun when you won't fall for all my seduction tricks," she sighed.

"You love the fact that I'm holding out and you know it!" he retorted.

"That's beside the point," she answered.

When it came, he put the shake in the exact middle between them. He gave one of the straws to Diamond and took the other.

"Grandpa did this with Grandma," he explained. "It's supposed to be one of those old courtship rituals. I thought we'd try it."

"How does it work?"

"Put your straw in your mouth, like this."

She did so, but held it out in front with her index finger and thumb and then pretended to take a toke.

"Like this?" she asked, holding her breath in. Jack took a second to stop snickering.

"Not quite, now we put our ends into the shake together and we drink it simultaneously."

"We'll have to get really close together to do this," she observed.

"That's the idea."

They leaned in, and started drinking. She began to giggle, and he began to snigger.

"Try again," he asked.

"Uh huh?"

They actually had to do it quite a number of times, because they would burst into giggles. But they were constantly looking into each other's eyes.

Of course by that point the waitresses were giggling, the soda jerk was giggling, in fact most of the working staff was having what would be best described as cutie pie fits. Then the milk shake was empty, they made the slurping noises at the bottom just for a final set of giggles, and then Jack paid the bill, tipped the waitress and they started to walk home.

"That was the most romantic thing I think I've ever done," she sighed. "I don't think I've ever looked that long into your eyes ever. And Jack. I really lost myself in them."

He looked at her, and suddenly she grabbed his face and planted a big smooch on him.

"I love you I love you I love you so much Jack," she sighed. "It's . . . it's back . . . what I felt the first time I . . . touched you. It's like the bad thing never happened."

"Yeah," he sighed. He put his arm around her and they just leaned against each other on the sidewalk. The university stretched out before them all lit up for evening. "Only now? There's nothing hidden between us."

"Crazy how it all worked out for the best," she observed. "You spend all that time chasing Ariel, then you get just little glimpse of me out of the corner of your eye. You dash off, but you don't entirely forget. Then you are led to treasure first, then me, just after Ariel get's sick and throws up. And we fall in love because we're ready. You are ready because Ariel has strung you along just a little too long and I am ready because I've already thought you are beyond my reach and then suddenly, you're sitting across from me on a table and telling me I'm beautiful."

"Just like every customer in the club I imagine," sighed Jack with a bit of ironic grin.

"No no Jack," she said. "It was so different. The entire time, you were looking at my face. Darling, you're the only man who ever just looked at my face."

"Seriously?" asked Jack.

"Cross my heart," she replied. "I don't remember a single guy who ever made a come on to me that told me I was beautiful just by looking at my face. I had to be a bit more exposed to get the compliments." She paused. "And so when your hand brushed against mine I had to grab it and hold it and hold you and just lose myself in the love I was feeling for you. And then it was sweet time after sweet time with only a few moments between us, and then my heart was shattered. But the air was clear between us. And then Ariel, sweet little butterfly that she is, flits off and leaves you devastated, and lets me know. And Gabbi, sweet little thing, told me that you needed me and I ran as fast as I could crying all the way, looking into your face and crying even more, and telling you what I had to be free to do and you let me and I cried again. But darling, we were back together again and I was so happy,"

She was getting weepy again. "And now . . . now you've given me a house and taken me to college and here I am . . . in the middle of the most beautiful dream in the world and I don't have to worry about the bad things because I'm safe again."

She leaned against him for a moment and wiped off her tears. She looked up and smiled.

"Wow," sighed Jack. "You have no idea how much . . . to see you this happy . . ."

They just held each other for a moment and then walked back to campus. He walked her to her dorm room and then she kissed him goodnight. A long sweet set of kisses. And then he wandered back to his own room. He opened the door, and then just kind of leaned upon the door posts. Tiberius looked up from his lap top.

"Looks like that was one seriously hot date," suggested Tiberius.

"Steaming," said Jack. "You have no idea how emotional and passionate that girl can get." He sighed. "I don't think I could ever possibly love any woman more than I love her right now."

"Hope I can find a woman like her some day," mused Tiberius.

"Be careful what you wish for," warned Jack. "There's always more to it than meets the eye."

"Really?" asked Tiberius. "You get a really exotic looking woman, rich creamy gravy grey skin, big red eyes, white shimmering hair. Hardly any woman in the world looks like a dark elf. Elf, Jack! She's an elf. She does magic. Real magic, and she has those really cool pointed ears! And she's the hottest date you've ever had? What is wrong with that picture?"

"Back story dude," said Jack. "Back story. This princess has a lot of dragons around her that need slaying. Some very big and nasty ones."

Tiberius exhaled suddenly. "Monsters eh? Long time it's been since I heard someone talk about them as if they existed outside a computer game."

"They do," intoned Jack. "Oh yes, they do."

"Better be up for it then," advised Tiberius.

"I have to," sighed Jack. "It will kill her if I'm not. And that isn't meant figuratively."


Across campus, around a large wide screen computer, a pack of Jocks were looking intently with wide eyes, and not a little drool, at least metaphorically.

"Man oh man, look at that rack," moaned one.

"She is so hot, I can't believe she was in that photo booth. What's that she's pulling the string on like it's about to come off? I didn't think they made thongs that thin."

"Silver g-string guy. Not many strippers wear them any more. But if they do, it's hot. And then they take them off!"

"Diamond Gemstone, the only exotic dark elven dancer in . . . Scuzzbuckets! That place is like the Geronimo's in France. Only the best dance there. It's better than The Mustang in Lucky Palms!"

"No frabbin way!"

"Yeah frabbin way. She's not only got the ass, she's got the moves to go with it!"

"And she's here on campus, we gotta get her into the party scene. Get those long legs up on the table! Yeah!"


Diamond was snuggled up in a very comfortable bed. It had red sheets and a black coverall, her favorite colors. There was a knocking at the door.

"Who is it?" She asked sleepily.

"It's me Jack, it's time to get up Diamond."

"What for?" she looked at the clock. "Jack," she sighed. "It's six thirty in the morning."

"College is different Di."

"Nuh uh!"

"Diamond don't make me come in there."

"Maybe I'm pixeled and that's my plan?" she suggested between yawns.

"You wear a thick terry cloth robe Di," observed Jack. "I've seen you in it, remember?"

"I could take it off," she threatened.

"And spoil the courtship?"

"You're no fun!" she moaned. "When do we have to go to that class thing?"

"Microstructure of Integrity 102, in the Nicolaus School of Business, twelve noon,"

"Jack! That's hours from now! I wanna sleep in!"

"Gotta get breakfast Di, and study."

"Study? Why?"

"It's what you do in college Di," he explained.

"No!" she said, opening the door, her bright red terry cloth robe still on. "It's not! You can't fool me Jack. This is not what you do in college."

"Oh?" asked Jack, leaning against the door post with his arms crossed and a slight smile upon his face. "And what do you do in College?"

"PARTY! WOO WOO WOO WOO!"

"Um try again," suggested Jack.

"You can't fool me Jack, I might not do math but I've seen the movies."

"It's all illusion Di," he replied.

"Wha?" a look of uncertainty began to cross her face. That possibility had not occurred to her.

"WHO SAID PARTY!" came a loud girl's voice behind Jack.

"I SAID PARTY!" cried Diamond with a look of total triumph in her eyes.

"PARTY! WOO! KEGGER! WOO! BONFIRE! WOO! MAKE OUT DARES! WOO WOO WOO!" the two of them shouted together pumping their arms to the rhythm of it..

"Why do these things always happen to me?" sighed Jack closing his eyes.

The two girls proceed to do a little march dance around Jack singing "Sleep all day! Party all night!"

"What's your name?" asked Diamond to the new girl. She had olive skin, a Mediterranean cast, and thick black hair parted down the middle. She was in a blouse with a pull over sweater and blue jeans.

"Tammy Parker," she replied. "I'm majoring in PARTY!"

"ME TO!" shouted Di.

The two of them paused to do another "WOO WOO WOO!" cheer.

"So who's this cutie pie Nerd boy?" asked Tammy giving Jack an appraising eye. She was one of the top Jocks on campus and normally would not have paid the slightest heed to a non-Jock, but she could see the way Diamond was looking at him and wondered if there was more to him to know. And upon second look, she noted he had a certain contemplative ruggedness which suggested deep affection. That's a turn on for any girl.

"That," said Diamond in a tone of happiness with a little 'hands off him or else' spread on top, "Is my BOYfriend, Jack."

"Whoa, you just got here and already snagged him?" asked Tammy. Campus timing usually took three days before you got that serious.

"We've been together already back in the Islands," suggested Jack.

"And you're going to college together?" asked Tammy, "And you're not in the same room?"

"He's so romantic!" sighed Diamond with a little girly grin. "I'm being given an old fashioned courtship."

Tammy shrugged. "Whatever," she said.

Jack wondered if she even knew what Diamond was talking about.

"Diamond, we gotta talk after breakfast, kay?" She finished.

"Right!"

Tammy walked off. Diamond looked at Jack with a certain gotcha in her gaze.

"Owned," she suggested.

"I thought we could have breakfast together," sighed Jack.

"Ah Jack, yeah," she said. She smiled because she loved them doing things together.

"And then study together before class?"

"After I talk to Tammy, kay?"

"Before Di, it works best to go to class with a little time between study and class."

She sighed.

"Diamond," began Jack. "Cutie pie elf girl," he added for good measure because he had learned she ate up little flatteries like a glutton. "Give it a try. You yourself never expected to be here. You might like studying with me."

"Okay," she agreed.

It was downstairs for waffles someone had made and then he led her back upstairs to the couch in her room.

"That was the other reason I had them do up this room," He explained. "We have our own private study hall here. Just like High School. You remember how much fun study hall in High School was?"

"Nope," she replied. "I was having too much fun being a cheerleader and flirting with all the boys and leaving them totally unsatisfied." She began to sing and do a little dance about the room . . .

"I know what boys want,
I know what guys like,
They want to touch me,
I never let them,
Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah?
Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!"

"Diamond? Did anyone ever tell you that you're just evil?"

"Yeah," she said with a flirty grin.

He pulled their respective class books out of the book shelf and handing her's over, he sat down on the couch. She promptly sat in his lap and looked into his eyes touching his nose with hers while gently bumping foreheads.

"Hi!" she said in a cute flirty way. "If I had known this is what you did when you studied, I wouldn't have had to let you talk me into it," and proceeded to give him some serious make out kisses for a moment. Jack really did not have too strong an objection to being kissed like that. It was after all, the girl he was hopelessly in love with. But he picked her off of his lap and sat her down next to him. He put the book into her hands opened to the first chapter.

"You start to read here," he suggested.

"Oh alright," she sighed.

For about five minutes there was nothing but the silence of turning pages. Then Diamond had a comment to make.

"BOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIING!"

Jack had to admit he was a little disappointed. But if she never had developed study habits in High School, this would be chore for her. But she saw his disappointment.

"We can still walk to class together," she offered. When he smiled at that, she felt satisfied and stood up, leaning over to give him a kiss. "Gonna talk to Tammy now. Bye bye and don't forget how much I really love you."

"Love you heaps and heaps back," he said with a brave smile.

She walked out of the room.

"Oh well," he figured. "I can study with Tiberius." He texted Tiber and shortly thereafter the two of them were reading their respective books and on occasion, making comments about what they were discovering. Then at eleven thirty, he met Diamond and they walked together to their class. She hung on to his arm the whole time walking beside him. He would occasionally steal a glance at her and she'd look back at him. And he knew she loved him just from her gaze.

Class was a bit of adventure as well. Professor Sparks was their teacher and Jack scribbled frantically trying to get everything down. But every so often Diamond would lean over and scribble a little heart on his note pad. About a third of the way through the class, he responded by drawing a little bag of sugar and a pie on her pad. And then she wrote "Aw" on his note pad. And then as the class was about to wrap up, he turned to write I, followed by a heart, and followed by a diamond, and realized her note pad was covered entirely in random doodles. She had not taken a single note. She did like his little 'I heart diamond' though, and tore it out of the pad and put it in the billfold in her purse.

"How can she hope to get a passing grade here?" he wondered.