I woke up the next day feeling better, with no dreams or nightmares, at least that I could remember. I had classes and a shift at my internship today, it was set to be a day dull enough to make my teeth ache, if not for the fact Yaten was having a rager later.

There was always a decision in the mornings that I found most difficult to make when I was newly awake, and that was the decision of being responsible and going to class or skipping it and sleeping in. I had friends in every class who wouldn't mind giving me their notes, and since this was college and not high school, specifically the University of Denver, its not like attendance was really a factor. Some of my class mates only showed up for exams and still managed to pass. But the bed felt cloyingly hot and I wasn't all that tired, so today seemed like a good day to go to class in person.

You might think it was stupid to even toy with the idea of not going to class considering how much each quarter of college costs, but I had grown up with a silver-spoon lockjaw lifestyle, so the university tuition wasn't even a factor in my decision making. My dad's career as a traveling businessman (some sort of financial consulting, I really don't understand much about economics) meant that even if I got kicked out for partying too hard, they'd probably just pay the tuition for another school and pretend like nothing had happened. That's what would be most proper in that world anyway, to just pave over any blemishes in your history with money and then do your best to never mention them again. I'd seen it happen for my brother several times already, with his stints in jail for embezzling. He'd tried to follow in dad's footsteps, but Sammy lacked both the talent and the education for finances, and so far had been caught embezzling funds from clients at a stock-trading company, and attempting to run a ponzi scheme. He'd be sentenced to a hefty fine and volunteer work since it was a first time offense. But when a crime's only punishment is a fine and community service, the crime is really only meant to penalize poor people, and we weren't poor. So Sammy went right back to his old habits, most recently I'd heard that he was going to try opening up his own financial advising firm. I somehow doubt he learned his lesson.

And my step-mother was a professional socialite. She blew through dad's money before it could even reach their savings account most of the time, throwing lavish parties complete with open bars, catering, and live music. And usually they were just for the sake of maintaining social appearances, not even to celebrate anything. I understood the appeal of a good party, but I didn't much care for the formality of the events she hosted, everyone there always felt so stiff even when they were drinking.

I knew I was prone to the same privileged thinking, even considering sleeping in instead of attending my class lectures, but it was my final quarter and I'd developed a serious case of senioritis. I figured my bad decisions wouldn't hurt anyone but me either, which is more than I could say for Sammy or my step-mother.

I breezed into the first class of the day, Inorganic Chemistry, taking my seat in the third row aisle next to Lita a few minutes before the lecture started. Compared with Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry felt like child's play, and so most of the class went by with me just doodling around my notes and texting as the lecture continued. I did notice that the resident exchange student, Almas, was sitting right behind me again. He knew I wasn't interested in him, as I'd made it vocally and abundantly clear several times already, but that didn't seem to deter him from trying since we were both Chemistry majors and in a lot of the same classes. He was good looking and all, but up until recently I'd been unavailable anyway, so I wasn't sure why he bothered chasing after me when there were so many other available women on the campus. I tried not to think about it.

It was uncomfortable to feel his eyes on me throughout the class, but I powered through and even managed to focus a little on the material being taught. Kudos to me.

Lita was a good friend, and probably the classmate I would have asked for notes if I'd chosen to sleep in this morning. She was an athletic beauty and a member of our university soccer team, and I'd always been jealous of how toned her muscles looked, but never had the discipline to hit the gym to try and attain them for myself. She was not a rule-breaker though, and that meant we'd probably never become more than class mates and good friends since I knew I couldn't behave myself like that. She studied hard, and was going for a double major in Chemistry and Accounting. I figured in a decade or two, she'd probably be better off than anyone else currently attending this university, but also still alone. She hadn't dated anyone in the 3 and half years I'd known her, and even though she and I went to many of the same parties, she never drank or stayed for long. Too much studying to do I guess.

Lita wanted to get lunch together afterwards, so we made our way to the dining hall, both chattering excitedly about what we were planning to wear to Yaten's party. She was a bit more on edge than usual because apparently someone had found a body on the campus yesterday, which I had to admit was very disturbing, but it wasn't unheard of. Colorado had the dubious distinction as being the state with the sixth highest murder rate in the country, and seemed to have a disproportionate amount of both homicidal shootings and serial killers. I doubted I would ever understand it fully, but I did feel like I might be going a little crazy sometimes just from all the gray weather.

Sure, the tourism industry would like you think Colorado was nothing but a blue-skied, mountain climbing, and snow-skiing outdoor adventure paradise. But the reality was, more often than not, the weather could only be described as dreary. Often it was bitterly cold, rainy, snowy, or under blizzard or tornado warnings. I didn't mind the weather so much, in fact I enjoyed storm-chasing the tornadoes, but I knew more than a few dozen people from my high school who had left the state as soon as they could just because of the weather. I couldn't blame them.

So I saw a dead body on the campus as very creepy, but also more of a statistical inevitability than a shock. Lita didn't know the details anyway, only that she'd heard some rumors it had been a mob hit, and gruesome. I didn't really think we had much organized crime out here, but I also didn't really know much about that scene. Crips and Bloods I saw a lot of graffiti for around downtown, but I also don't think I've ever heard of somewhere in the country where they weren't.

We finished up our lunch and I waved to her as we headed out in opposite directions to our next lectures.

I admired the view while I walked, the campus had beautiful architecture. Most of the buildings were a Germanic-style, with cream-colored walls and diagonal wooden boards, and there was a large green park wrapping around everything. If you dropped somewhere here blindfolded and without context, they would probably think they were in Europe. It was hard to imagine any violence happening somewhere that looked so peaceful.

I knew that my scenic stroll was just me trying to delay the inevitable though, my next lecture.

My second class was a GE requirement I'd procrastinated on for almost four years, Calculus III, better known as Differential Equations. I was terrible at math, and this lecture always felt like torture, even though I knew I only had a few more weeks left before sweet freedom and graduation would arrive. Lucky for me, my roommate Mina was in this class with me and that made it just bearable enough to survive.

I frittered most of the class away texting Rei, but I do think I understood at least one or two things during the two and a half hours the lecture went on for. Mina shot me a few sly looks when she caught me, but I could tell she was trying very hard to focus for most of the class.

We both headed back for the parking lot afterwards, so I could get my lab key card from the glove compartment for my internship, and so she could head back to the apartment to pop an aderall and try to shove all the math we'd just learned into her brain.

"I think that was the most attention I've ever seen you pay to Professor Wilson," she commented as we walked. "You're probably in the top 10% of that class."

"I'm brain-dead and probably going to fail the final, but thanks for rounding up." I muttered, kicking my shoes in the dirt.

"Hey, neither of us is going to fail the final," Mina insisted, squeezing my waist. "We'll cram together, test each other, and pass with flying colors!"

"If only!" I groaned, smiling despite myself. "Hey, are you going to Yaten's party tonight?"

"Yaten Wong?" I nodded. "I don't know. My parents have been on my back lately about my grades, I totally bombed our midterm. I really should study more before finals get here, and I've got a mountain of homework to do."

"Do it tomorrow," I said. "College is almost over, and you haven't come out to party with Rei and I in weeks." She made a noise like she was internally imploding, and I knew my wheedling was working. "Mina B Aino, you need to relax a little! You've been studying really hard, you deserve to come with us to Yaten's party tonight."

"Fiiiine, but you're vacuuming and scrubbing the apartment floors this week. I saw that burn on your carpet when I went by your room this morning and my parent's will bury me if we end up losing the deposit after how hard I begged them to let me live off campus with you."

"Your parents just didn't want you anywhere near those fraternity boys," I teased. "But yes, I'll try to save the carpet. Just for you." Mina flashed me a pearly white grin.

"I'll need to borrow your pink skirt too," she added.

"But I was going to wear th-" I sighed, glaring at her. "Okay, fine but you've got to fix my hair all nice like last time." I tugged at a frizzy strand that had escaped the ponytail I was wearing.

"Deal!"

We split ways at the parking lot with friendly waves, and I grabbed my key card. The internship was unpaid, but I knew I wasn't their best intern so to me the universe remained in balance. I showed up late sometimes, and was really just using the internship to get something respectable on my resume before leaving college to find a job. It wasn't all chem work, but the lab was chem-adjacent as a forensic science company. The two other interns, Alan and Dominique, were juniors who acted like they were trying to earn permanent positions in the company by how hard they worked. Not that it bothered me, I didn't intend to work in the forensic sciences after I graduated, I planned to get a nice cushy job working for some big-pharma company. I pictured a nice fat salary earned by doing some morally questionable work selling pills for ridiculously marked up prices, and didn't think I'd lose any sleep over it. Someone would end up researching, developing, and profiting from making new medicine to help the sick, right? Might as well be me.

I saw Alan was on shift with me today while pulling on my lab coat, and it seemed like most of our work today was PCR tests, probably for paternity. We also had a couple samples that needed to be run through the centrifuge, and a couple titrations. Sometimes I felt like our lab work was a double-blind experiment and we interns were the guinea pigs, since most of the samples given to us were so heavily guarded to protect patient's medical information. HIPPA or some such, I don't honestly remember. I listened during the on-boarding training well enough to pass the quiz they gave us afterwards, but it didn't seem like knowledge worth hanging onto. I know they had state of the art security around the lab, hence the key cards and pass codes required to move about the rooms in the building, or even get into the building, but considering that most of the work we did seemed to boild down to the 'You are the father' announcement on Maury, it felt like overkill.

But I was 5 minutes late, and not about to complain since this was the only work experience beyond food service I'd have exiting college. If they wanted the lab to feel like something that could be a movie set for CSI, more power to them.

I wasn't thrilled to be working with Alan, though. While Dominique was a great coworker and generally laid back, Alan struck me as an un-diagnosed mildly-autistic pain in the ass. And tonight he seemed to be extra neurotic, insisting on going back over everything I did like he was chaperoning me. He knew I was a year ahead of him but treated me like I was the junior, and it was infuriating, but I swallowed down my anger since I needed this internship. I kept telling myself he was just trying to do a good job, and I knew it was true, but it didn't make it any easier to work with him.

I managed to finish all my work earlier than usual, which was great since I was itching to get ready for the party. I left without saying goodbye to Alan, swinging by my boss Sharon's office to see if she was in before I bailed. Her lab coat was hanging on the wall hook, so I figured she'd already left for the day and practically danced out of the door. Tonight was looking up.

Or so I thought.