Sona Buvelle digs her fingers into the leather seat she's found herself strapped into, and she feels the metal death trap posing as a car lurch as Evelyn swerves into the left lane. Sona's stomach jumps into her throat as she watches in horror how the speedometer is currently climbing well beyond the speed limit. Eve doesn't do much to quell her fears, when the pretty brunette with a pixie cut and crimson lipstick feels Sona's gaze drift to her she simply smirks. "Sona dear don't look at me like that, you were the one who was worried about being late." Evelyn glances back to her over her pink sunglasses, and Sona swallows the lump in her throat.
She hates car rides. She hates feeling confined. She hates that she can't communicate with people easily. She has no control, she has no way to speak, and Eve's reckless driving is only fueling her anxiety.
The song that had been blaring on the radio fades out and is replaced by a morning radio announcer. "Good morning Demacia, this is your WDMA Morning News Update. Demacian Law Enforcement is still working with Valoran University campus security to find the culprit of this horrific murder. After a thorough investigation of the campus, classes resume today for the first time since the body-"
Sona nearly slams her fingers into the radio as she hurriedly swaps the station. If she has to listen to anymore updates on this, while Eve is driving, she thinks she'll throw up. It swaps to some country station and her roommate, Ahri, laughs behind her. "Country? Really Sona? I thought celebs had better taste." Sona turns around to the backseat to glare at her, her cheeks burning a bright red hue. Ahri purses her pink lips and bats her eyelashes innocently, while Akali who is lounging at her side lets out a biting laugh.
"Ahri, you're playing with fire there!" Akali elbows Ahri in the ribs. Both the dark haired girls know the 'celebrity' moniker is a testy subject for Sona.
Sona sighs and tries to relax into her seat, running her fingers through her cyan pigtails as she breathes and counts to 10. They're almost to campus. Just a few more minutes. She pulls out her cell phone and opens her emails, seeing the one she's pinned to the top of her inbox and checks it for the upteenth time today. "Miss Buvelle, can you stop by my office this morning before class? 7:45 sharp?" She checks the current time. 7:35. She supposes if it wasn't for Eve she'd definitely be late, but it was her three friends who even had her so far from campus in the first place.
Eve and Akali have an off campus apartment in Demacia City proper and had invited Ahri and Sona over for a sleepover for the weekend. A few days just relaxing with the girls before classes resumed. Ahri and Sona live pretty close to campus, and in all honesty it had been getting claustrophobic. Cop cars patrolled the streets, officers knocked on doors to ask questions to anyone who may have been around to witness the young girls' untimely demise. Someone had even knocked on their apartment door, but Sona pretended to not be home. She hadn't seen anything anyway...
Sona's body lurches forward, stopped only by her seat belt catching her as Evelyn stops short. A motorcycle cuts them off as it swerves between cars and Evelyn swears under her breath. Sona's eyes catch how the rider's leather jacket has a Noxian emblem embroidered on it, a detail not remiss to Evelyn either. "Fucking Noxian bastards, they have absolutely no regard for others. Selfish cunts." She growls as her fingers grip her steering wheel tightly.
Sona rolls her eyes, for once glad she can't speak. She had a witty retort like 'you'd make a good Noxian then' but honestly she shouldn't be insulting Eve like that. The girl's nails are sharp. But it's not long after that they exit the highway and park in the campus lot. Sona nearly bursts out of the car when Eve slides into the parking space. She briefly glances at her phone one more time. 7:41.
She grabs her messenger bag from the seat and with a little wave to her friends she's dashing to the classroom. Her feet crunch along the frosted grass lawns of the campus, and she shivers in the brisk November air as she runs as fast as her long legs can carry her. The campus is a blur of red bricks and white trim as she beelines for Laurant Music and Performance Hall. Her hands slam into the push doors, flinging them open as she skitters down the hallways and to her classroom. She slows down, and checks her phone. 7:45. She pats down her cream skirt to flatten out any wrinkles, takes a deep breath to calm her breathing, and steps inside.
Her professor, Dr. Bernard, a portly man with salt and pepper hair, smiles warmly at her as she enters. "Miss Buvelle! Just in time." He gestures to an armchair he's placed in front of his desk which she gracefully glides into. He shuffles some papers he has on his desk and Sona waits patiently, curious what could have her called in so early. She keeps her hands folded in her lap and sits up straight, keeping up her confident outward persona her mother ingrained into her.
"You are one of the brightest students to grace these halls Miss Buvelle, which is unsurprising given your history." Sona has to stop herself from grimacing at the comment. She knows he means it as a compliment even if it brings back distasteful memories. "However there is some room for improvement. I know you've denied having a translator for the classroom, but I can't in good conscience grade you highly in class participation if you aren't... well… participating." Sona bristles and digs her nails into her knees. Translators always make her feel... disabled. She wants to feel normal, like she doesn't need help to do well in her classes. The translator also draws attention. It draws pity.
"Without participation the highest grade you can achieve in this class, which you will be achieving with ease, is an 85%. You can settle for that, or you can pick up some extra credit through my tutoring program." Dr. Bernard continues, he seems to be observing her carefully as he talks. "You help one of my struggling students, and you'll have that A with ease."
She hesitates, mulling it over. It feels unfair to have to do extra work for this grade. She takes notes, she doesn't sleep during lectures like some people, she aces the tests. Why does she need to answer dumb redundant questions during class to get an A? But... tutoring can't be that bad. She supposes this is the price she pays for refusing to have a translator follow her from class to class. She simply nods and Dr. Bernard looks thrilled. "Excellent! I'll give you the contact information for the student, I've already talked to him about finding him a tutor. You two can work your scheduling out together. But if you need any help, I'm just an email away!"
Sona sits beside Akali in their shared lecture class with Dr. Bernard, a music theory class. Akali is the only other student here this early, due to carpooling with Sona, and she slides a cup of warm coffee over to Sona. Sona's eyes light up and sips at it as other students file in, pleased her friend remembered her order. "Thought you'd need a pick me up after getting chewed out by the doc."
Sona rolls her eyes as she pulls out her notebook and writes an explanation in the margins. "Just tutoring someone. Not in trouble :(" She sticks her tongue at Akali as she slides her the notebook to read her reply. Akali snickers as her eyes roll over the words.
"That's good. 'The bad girl' isn't a good look for you I think." Akali teases and laughs at Sona's subsequent pouting. "So which dumbass are you babysitting then? You gotta have rocks for brains to struggle in here." Sona shrugs. She doesn't have the guys name, just his cell number. "Maybe he'll be one of those dumb yet cute frat boys." Akali says quietly, elbowing Sona and gesturing with her chin towards the gaggle of handsome students who just walked in and took their seats in the front row, and Sona shakes her head. She's seen them answer questions correctly from Bernard, she doubts it's one of them.
Two of Akali's friends, Ekko and Qiyana, take their standard seats in the row just in front of her and begin chattering with Akali. Sona sighs, knowing this is the time of the day when she essentially can't keep up with the conversation to be a part of it. She just can't write responses fast enough and the three never pause their banter for her to get a sentence written. So Sona goes back to people watching. Her eyes trace each student, trying to pick out which one could be the one she's going to be stuck with until their grades improve.
Dr. Bernard checks his watch, about to begin the class lecture, when the door to the classroom creaks open a final time. A young man with spiky brown hair and green eyes the color of fresh spring grass saunters in. He has a strong jawline and broad shoulders that are cloaked in a leather jacket. His most striking feature might be the long mustache draping from his lips, that only seems to complete his strange retro look. He sips absentmindedly from a coffee cup adorned with the campus coffee shop's logo before taking his seat at the desk to the right of Akali and Sona. When he sits down the back of his jacket catches her eye, it's the one the motorcyclist was wearing on the road. He props his feet up on the empty chair and leans back in his seat, hogging the duo of chairs.
Sona had noticed him earlier in the semester, but only remembered him as another student who never participated in class. She had taken comfort knowing she's not the only one not answering questions. Now he's caught her attention as a possible candidate for who she's tutoring.
Class starts and the chatter around her dies down. Akali is taking notes beside her as Dr. Bernard waxes poetically about compound beats. Sona slides her phone out from her purse and begins to text beneath the desk, quickly inputting the number Dr. Bernard had given her.
"Hi! Dr. Bernard asked me to be your tutor. I'm Sona :)"
She reads over her text a few times, hoping it's not too formal sounding, before hitting the enter button. She watches out of the corner of her eye as the mustachioed student slides his phone out of his pocket, before beginning to type. Her phone lights up as it gets a message back.
"u in class rn?"
"Lol yeah. He talked to me before class started."
"thought u were supposed to be a *good* student"
She glares at the screen and then looks over at him. He's lounging with one arm across the back of the chair, smiling smugly when she sees him look his way. She looks down at her phone and begins typing furiously back to him.
"And I thought you needed my help." She sends back and looks over to watch his reaction. He simply grins and chuckles under his breath.
"u got me there"
":P" She sends the emoji and pointedly mimics the face at him. He needs her more than she needs him right now, so it's easy for her to throw snark back at him. She has nothing to lose. "We can talk scheduling after class. What's your name btw? He didn't give it to me :("
"draven"
"Okay! Get back to taking notes then Draven! Don't get distracted!"
"YOURE THE ONE WHO STARTED TEXTING ME DURING CLASS"
"I'm also the one with the A in this class :)"
She puts her phone away and gives him one last glance from across the classroom. She can see he's biting back an annoyed groan as she catches his eye. She pantomimes writing with her pencil, motioning to what he should be doing, before actually getting back to doing it herself. The few notes she missed she'll be able to grab off Akali later anyway.
Class ends and Sona begins to pack up, putting away text books and pencils as she does. "Hey, Ahri wanted me to remind you that you and her get more bullshit today for that dumb sorority." Akali says as she slides her own notebook away.
Sona sighs. She had forgotten she hadn't finished the hazing ceremony yet, it had been interrupted by the investigation. She's already had to do menial tasks for weeks for the girls. It's almost not becoming worth it. "Are the parties really worth your dignity." Akali asks, echoing her own thoughts.
"It's not the parties. Opportunities." Sona scribbles quickly on her notepad.
Akali reads it and rolls her eyes. "You and I both know that's a dumb excuse given who you are."
"Who I am is why this will be good for me." Sona writes before slamming the notebook shut.
Akali shrugs and stands up. "Okay you two have fun debasing yourself for a cult of nobodies then." She says with a little wave and heads off with Ekko and Qiyana.
She rolls her eyes as she watches her leave. She takes out her phone to text Ahri, curious if she knows what their next pledge assignment will be, when she notices the bulky figure standing beside her desk. "Hey teach." Sona looks up and sees Draven towering beside her, his hands shoved in his pockets. He's tall compared to her, especially with her still sitting at her desk.
She flips the notebook open, annoyed that she had just been about to put it away only for her to need to take it out again. "It's Sona." She hands him the note which he takes with a curious look on his face.
"You know class is over, we can talk out loud without getting in trouble. Or did meeting greatness leave you speechless." He hands the paper back to her with a sly grin. She grimaces, not enjoying the self congratulating pick up lines.
"I'm mute"
His eyebrows raise and he hums curiously. "Hm. That's annoying ain't it." Her face flushes bright red and she grips the pencil she's been holding onto. She just shrugs, not feeling like that warrants a written response. Her coldness doesn't deter him as he presses on. "Is it hard for people to understand you if you don't got paper or your phone?"
"Wouldn't be hard if people knew sign" she writes down, pressing the pencil so hard it snaps the tip on the last word before she shoves it to him.
"Huh." Is all he musters after he reads it. He clears his throat before continuing. "Anyway I got another class after this so as much as I would love to stay and chat, or keep writing love notes with you, I gotta go. Just text me what days we can meet up for you to help me not flunk this dumb class."
Sona clenches her jaw. This Draven guy was just finding ways to push all of her buttons at once. The rude banter at least came off less grating over text. He saunters off without waiting for a response from her and she just glares daggers into his back. What a jerk. Typical Noxian I guess... She thinks to herself as she gathers the last of her things and storms out of the classroom.