A/N: Hey all, Chaddy, and oh boy, I like making these chapters; it gives me that authentic college experience because you know I'm right now in my third year. So yeah, lots of material is going to surge from it. Hopefully, you will enjoy this chapter—also, thanks to Hydrastation, TheLegend27 and Asushipper for beta reading.

Chapter 2: Luck Finds a Way

Shinji's eyes began to widen when he saw his phone.

It's 8:20 a.m.

"Oh shit!" Shinji scrambled out of his bed, almost tripping on the way to his shower.

As he made it to the bathroom, he knew he couldn't waste time; he got in the shower, toothbrush in hand, brushing and washing.

As he got out naked, he ran towards the kitchen, placing a pizza in the microwave as he got his clothes on.

He desperately tried to put his pants on, though that could wait as his breakfast was ready. He hopped towards the kitchen, almost falling if it wasn't for the kitchen counter.

The brown-haired boy placed the pizza in his mouth and grabbed a paper towel, backpack, and phone.

Shinji ran downstairs, trying to slide down the railing like a badass but failing miserably. The casualty of the fall was the pizza in his mouth.

The wannabe musician called an uber as he ran down, and in the nick of time, the driver arrived.

Shinji was out of breath, and his heart pounded intensely.

The driver looked through the rearview mirror, shocked at the state of the boy. "Jesus, kid, what happened?"

Shinji trying to regain his breath said in between breaths. "First wheeze day wheeze of wheeze college."

"Thanks, man." He said to the driver as he ran towards his class, giving the rider a five-star rating and giving him a tip of ten dollars by accident. He didn't care about anything else; he couldn't be late for his first class of the semester. Shinji ran towards the general studies building. As he began to go up the stairs, his breath began to stagger once again, and he was covered in sweat. He checked his phone to see the time—9:00 a.m.

He finally reached the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Upon further inspection, he saw a letter taped to the door.

Professor didn't come. Here is the code and password to enter the class group chat. Sign on the paper to have evidence that you assisted.

Shinji's adrenaline began to go away, and embarrassment and anger rose. He angrily wrote his name, slid down the hallway wall, and ended on the floor. He began to text Kaworu.

Shinji: Dude, what the hell? I thought you were gonna wake me up

Karl is typing…

Karl: Yo, morning to you too. Hey man I tried, I yelled, pushed you, hell I was even tempted to throw water but backed out of doing it.

Karl: I even played an ear rape song. An ear rape song Shinji, and you still slept as if you were Master Chief during Halo 3 to 4.

Shinji is typing…

Shinji: Karl, stop with the Halo references

Karl sent him an Austin Powers GIF saying, "How 'Bout No?!

Shinji: Fine, and about the sleeping thing, I am sorry.

Karl: Yeah, man, no problem, but you really are a heavy sleeper. I may be out of my field when it comes to that but even Ik thats a problem.

Shinji; Yeah ive noticed, its all good though, the prof didn't come.

Karl: Well, your lucky then, prof here is making me want to lose my head. Talk to you later.

Shinji: Bye

Shinji turned off his phone and began to look around. He still had difficulty breathing; he had never run this much. His back was a puddle of sweat, and his forehead was very moist. After leaving the hallway for the bathroom to clean himself up, his stomach began to plead for energy.

Shinji also wanted to cook, but more of a pastime than a profession. Even if he wished to, the university didn't provide gastronomy degrees but offered short courses. He could take an elective and bounce from there, but that would take him time. Nevertheless, he couldn't think without his morning joe.

As Shinji entered the on-campus cafe, he noticed the line was short, which was fortunate for him, as he had heard this establishment fills up during Monday mornings.

"Hi, I would like," he squinted as he looked at the menu, "a Mocha with whip cream, alongside a croissant with butter from the house." He told the barista.

"Sure thing, that will be eight dollars with fifty-five cents." The barista responded.

Shinji was ringed up, and he went to the table. He sat down and browsed his phone as he waited for what felt like an eternity.

"Shinji Ikari!"

He got up and walked over to pick up his order, saying thank you to the barista.

As he walked on the pavement leading to the general studies faculty, he saw people from all walks of life and style. He was rather shocked at the diversity college had, he had always seen movies and shows depicting college as a world filled with people in certain groups, but as he walked by, he saw what looked like girls playing video games with guys, athletes students using skateboards, a shy girl being friends with a group of girls who would mistreat her in any other movie depicting college. Life here was vastly different.

As Shinji arrived at the halls, he saw the classroom unlocked. As he walked in, he saw a lot of desks, many already filled. He saw one empty next to a blue-haired girl.

As he sat down, he saw the girl: long blue sky-haired, red eyes, a grey jacket, some dark blue sweatpants, and black glasses. She was writing on her computer; it was filled with stickers from different anime franchises and Nintendo properties. She had on her backpack some key chains from Star Wars. She looked like your average nerd.

"Sorry, but is this seat taken?" Shinji asked the girl.

The girl shook her head. Shinji sat down, and the girl went back to her computer.

"I am Shinji Ikari."

She looked at him and smiled. "Rei Ayanami, a pleasure."

She kept going back to her computer, though it looked more like one of those drawing computers. Shinji peeked at her laptop and saw her drawing something.

"Good morning, class." The professor said, interrupting Shinji from peeping the computer.

"Alright, welcome to the history class." As he went on, Shinji's face filled with dread. Oh God, his voice, his looks, I already know this will be the worst professor ever.

After almost half an hour, the halls filled with students, prompting the professor to dismiss the class. Shinji looked half asleep as he noticed the girl leave, but he had not seen before that she carried a bag for an instrument. Shinji's eyes lit up.

"Hey, you play music?"

"Uhm, yeah," she said as she swung the bag, "why?"

"Oh, it's because I play music too."

"Oh, that's nice." A long awkward silence lingered between the two before Rei began slowly backing away. "Well, I'll see you next time Shinji Ikari."

Shinji awkwardly waved as she left. Holy fuck, why did I do that? Did I think she would invite me to a club or something? I don't even know if she is in on-

"Oh, I almost forgot! here." Rei said as she ran back to him, handing him a paper. "It's for auditions for the music club; I forgot I had it, so here you go,"

"Oh, cool, thanks," Shinji said. Another silence lingered before the girl left in a hurry, and he didn't even get to say goodbye.

As Shinji finished his classes, he walked to the cafeteria in the middle of campus. He walked down the stairs. The sound was unbearable; the laughter and talking echoed off the walls. As Shinji got his food and paid for it, he began to look for Kaworu.

The grey-haired boy ate his lunch in relative peace when he received a text message from Shinji.

Shinji: I am here

Kaworu got up and looked for Shinji, and spotted him.

"Hey, Shinji!" he exclaimed, yet the boy didn't see him. "He doesn't see me," he whistles at him.

He still looked lost, looking everywhere for Karl.

He took out his phone and began calling him. "I am over here; I am waving my hand."

Shinji: Where?

"Dude, wait, no no no, you missed me, man. Just turn around…ok, stop, can you see me waving."

Shinji: Oh now, I do.

Shinji walked over to him and sat down. "Damn, Shinji, you don't know movement do you."

Shinji chuckled. "Oh, shut up, there was too much noise that I couldn't understand."

"Ok, fair."

The two kept eating.

"Ok, so how was your class or classes?" Kaworu asked.

"Boring as hell, nothing out of the ordinary," Shinji said as he turned off his phone, only to pick it up again. "You?"

"I would say the same, but you wouldn't believe what happened."

Shinji once again turned off his phone and looked at his roommate. "Ok, what?"

"You remember the two guys that crashed into us? They are in my class. Small world, don't you think?" He said as he extended his arms, waiting for a response.

"Very coincidental, speaking of meeting someone," Shinji rustled through his backpack looking for something, "talked to this girl in class, she gave me a paper for auditions."

Karl picked up the paper. "Dude, nice, you going to give it a shot?"

"Yeah, I have to join the club first, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Can you imagine if I get the spot?"

Karl laughed. "Shinji Cello World Tour." Shinji laughed at the idea.

As both kept laughing, Karl checked his watch and his eyes widened. "Holy shit! I am late; see you later." He said as he ran off.

Shinji watched him leave so fast; he forgot to say goodbye to him. He noticed something on the floor; it was his car keys. He picked them up and chuckled, trying to think of a joke for this situation but even feeling embarrassed with the idea of making a one-liner for such a moment.

The aspiring musician still had time before going to his last class, so he got up and noticed a certain girl sitting alone. He saw Rei eating alone while working on her computer. Hey, it's Rei. I don't think I thanked her for the invitation; I probably should do that. "Hey, Rei."

She looked startled at the greeting and looked at Shinji as if hiding something. "Oh hi, Shinji, is it?"

"Yeah, I wanted to thank you for giving me that invitation."

Rei blushed a bit. "Oh, it was nothing, just had one lying around and thought why not, you know?"

Shinji chuckled. "Yeah… hey was also wondering if you wanted some company? You look quite lonely."

"Oh uhm… no, not that I need it, it's that I will leave soon, so you don't have to worry." She responded as if trying to evade him.

"Oh, well alright then, see you," Shinji said as he left her alone. She looked at him and sighed as he departed, speaking softly. "Why do I always overthink things."

As Shinji exited his last class, he began to head towards the parking lot, there he found his roommate, sitting on the hood of the car.

"What are you doing?" Shinji asked. The boy was humming a song. "Is that Ode of Joy?"

Kaworu turned andlooked at Shinji. "Yeah, I couldn't do anything because I lost my car keys, so I decided to hum to calm myself down. Sometimes I think that life is just unfair, you could be having the best day of your life, and the worst thing can happen, don't you think Sh-"

The car beeped as Shinji clicked the car keys; Kaworu began to look annoyed. "You had them the entire time?"

"Wanted to pull a fast one on you." Shinji chuckled.

Kaworu picked the keys and got in. Shinji became worried he was upset at his little joke. As the boy got in, he noticed he hadn't talked to him in a while. "Hey Karl, I am sorry."

"What, oh yeah, no problem." He responded with no care.

"Seriously, I didn't mean to do that." Shinji began to look outside the window, upset that his new friend was mad with him. He didn't know him very well, so he didn't know what made him angry. He was scared that this would cost them the early friendship they had going.

Shinji would bring up the conversation, but Karl wouldn't look at him, just looking serious while driving. From jolly to mad, he began to understand the type of person he was.

The car stopped at a light, where Shinji looked at the radio and glanced at Karl, smiling. "Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, just a meme I saw."

Shinji wasn't buying it. He saw Karl stifling his laughter, trying to hold back the urge to burst. "Are you pulling a fast one on me?"

Karl began to laugh uncontrollably, hitting the steering wheel and hitting the horn accidentally. He laughed as he clapped his hands and pointed at Shinji, snorting like a pig.

"I got you good." He said, still laughing.

Shinji looked mad but began to laugh alongside him. He had learned something new from him; he loved to pull on other people's chains for a long time to get a rouse out of it.

Both laughed as they went back home, listening to some tunes along the way.

It was now Thursday; Shinji longed for the coming of Saturday to rest after so many classes, not that there were too many; he just got bored in all of them. At least the boy, who got comfortable in his sleeping clothes, was glad this one was online since he could wake up without having to worry about transportation.

Shinji entered the Zoom meeting; about ten other people. Shinji got up and went to make some coffee since he could go without it.

"Alright, welcome everyone to the course. I'll be your biology professor for the main and laboratory courses. Just a heads up, this class will be face to face, though some problems made it impossible, so that's why we are here today."

Shinji groaned as he heard the professor explain about today's meeting. So much for not caring about transportation.

"Today's meeting will be relatively short. All I am going to do is pass the list to see who is here, and I'll explain the rest later."

After some time verifying the list, the professor went on with the main work. "Ok, so we will be with the lab class tomorrow, so I'll ask people to get into groups of three; if you don't have anyone, I'll put you in a group; if you have, send me an email specifying the participants. That will be all for today, have a great day."

Once the teacher disconnected, Shinji melted into his chair as he fell onto the floor, all of that for a 25-minute class. Shinji would have screamed, but he saw it as unnecessary; the weekend was coming up, and he only had some assignments, meaning his week was free for the most part. Shinji began browsing his phone when he saw a notification for a group invite.

Upon opening it, he saw two other people in the group chat; both didn't have names, as he didn't have them registered.

Shinji: Hey

Unknown is typing…

Unknown #1: oh hey, we already set some rules. I am the group leader, and we must meet up when we can; if you can't, then write up.

Shinji: Sounds good to me.

Unknown two is typing…

Unknown #2: Ok, btw what's your name?

Shinji: I am Shinji, and what's yours so I can register it.

Unknown one and two are typing….

Unknown #1: Asuka

Unknown #2: Mari

Shinji: great, see you all tomorrow.

Asuka is typing….

Asuka: don't be late.

Mari replies to Asuka: he will be there; take a chill pill.

Asuka replies to Mari: :(

Shinji: ok, then see you guys.

Asuka doesn't reply

Mari sends a peace sign.

Shinji took a deep breath as he analyzed the conversation. He was very weirded out with that Asuka girl; he wondered if she was the bossy type. He didn't mind it but was worried, and the other girl was very calm, almost as if she knew her. God, please let tomorrow be a normal day.