A/N: Thanks so much for the fic love. I hope you all enjoy this slightly longer chapter. :)

The walk from Maura's freshman composition class to her dorm typically lasted around twenty minutes, but that afternoon Maura made it in less than fifteen. At the end of class, her professor handed back their essays and Maura had been excited about receiving her first graded assignment as a college student. All throughout high school, Maura had never received any grade below an A, so she was horrified when she turned to the second page of her essay and saw her fate. There, in red ink, was a letter D followed by the words, "I expected better from you, Miss Isles." There was no constructive criticism or any explanation as to why she was given a D. What exactly her professor expected, Maura wasn't sure. All she knew was that she had gotten a D on the first graded assignment of her college career.

While down the hall from her dorm room, Maura took out the Slangtionary her friends had made for her that defined different slang terms they used on a regular basis. She was angry with Professor Bell for the grade he had given her and the words to accurately describe her feelings weren't in her own vocabulary, so she decided to borrow some words from her friends.

Maura slammed the door behind her when she entered her dorm. The noise nearly made her friends jump, but Maura was too focused on what she was about to say to notice. "Professor Bell is a…" she paused while scanning the Slangtionary for the right word. "Professor Bell is a—a—douchebag!"

"Good job, Maura," Stash said from her spot on Maura's bed. "You're learning."

Out of the three of them, Markie was the only one to get off her seat and approach Maura. "What happened?" Without giving her an answer, Maura wrapped her arms around Markie and started crying into her shoulder.

"It probably has something to do with this," Stash said as she grabbed the essay from Maura's hands. "Maura, he gave you a D? Maura, you're capable of a D? I thought you were like some freaky genius or something. Did you write this while you were sleeping?"

"No," Maura sobbed.

"Shut up, Stash," Markie said angrily. "It took her three days."

Roxie snatched the paper out of Stash's hands. "This isn't so bad, Maur. It's easy to get good grades in Bell's class. I didn't even turn my paper in or go to class today and I got an A."

"How?" Stash asked, although she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"I fucked him," Roxie said nonchalantly.

"You had sex with Professor Bell?" Maura asked. "He's fifty."

"So?" Roxie shrugged. "What's wrong with that?"

"Roxie, you're seventeen," Maura pointed out.

"She knows she's a walking felony," Stash added.

"Why don't we get back on topic?" Markie asked. "Don't let this D get you down, Maur. It's just one essay. It's not your final grade."

"And Bell throws out your worst grade," Roxie informed her.

"Anything below a C is failing. If I fail, I'll have to repeat the class and I can't fit that into my schedule," Maura said matter-of-factly. "I won't get Phi Beta Kappa or any other academic honors and I might not get into medical school."

"Yes, you will," Markie reassured her. "You just need to chill for a bit and then focus on the next essay."

"He didn't leave any comments for me so I'm not sure what I need to change," Maura informed her. "All he wrote is that he expected better from me."

Without a warning, Roxie pulled Maura onto her bed. The unexpected gesture caused Maura to fall on top of her, face-to-face. It felt innocent enough until Roxie started speaking. "Now I know what Jane feels like."

Maura quickly rolled off of her and huddled in between the wall and her pillow. She had been teased all throughout her childhood and teenage years, but she had her intelligence and good grades to fall back on. This was the first time Maura had ever felt worthless.

"Just have sex with Bell," Roxie said. Her words pulled Maura from her thoughts and she couldn't believe her friend had the audacity to suggest that. "It's no big deal, Maura. You're eighteen and he likes girls our age."

"I would never do such a thing!" Maura said angrily. "I would never sell my body for grades. There are so many reasons, Roxie. Did you forget about Jane? I'm her girl and I'm faithful to her."

"You're cute, Maura," Roxie told her in a condescending tone.

"Hey, you guys," Stash said to get their attention. "There's another way to improve Maura's grades and it doesn't involve fucking a professor or studying."

"I like studying," Maura pointed out.

"But this is more fun," Stash insisted.

Markie leaned in, ready for whatever Stash had to tell them. "What is it?"

Stash slowly rubbed her hands together in anticipation for what she was about to tell them. "We could kill Roxie."

"What?" Maura asked. Although she had wanted her friends to think she was appalled, she quickly got up and scooted over to where Stash was sitting.

"If your roommate and—I'm assuming suitemate—commits suicide, you get straight A's," Stash informed them. "We could kill Roxie and make it look like she committed suicide."

"No, no way. Fuck you guys," Roxie said before covering her face with a pillow. When she realized it would be too easy for them to suffocate her in that position, she tossed the pillow aside.

"That's just an urban legend," Maura told them. "It's never happened."

"Yet," Markie corrected her. "It's never happened yet. We could do this. I think Maura should do the honors."

"Why does Maura get to kill her?" Stash asked. "It was my idea and I'm the one who is forced to live with her."

"Think about it," Markie began. "Maura could probably make the cleanest cuts or come up with some method that doesn't even involve Roxie bleeding out. If we were killing her with a hacksaw, I would totally let you do it, Stash, but this has to look like suicide and Maura is just awesome with anatomy."

"Okay, cool," Stash said excitedly. "Maura, you in?"

"I'm in," Maura responded without giving it another thought. "I might have a scalpel."

Roxie tried to get up, but the three of them held her down. "You guys can't be serious. C'mon. Don't do this," she pleaded.

"We have to for our grades," Stash insisted. "Markie and I really don't want to fail and Maura has her whole future to worry about if she doesn't pass freshman comp."

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked worriedly.

"Just a few quick, clean cuts," Markie said nonchalantly. "No big."

"No big?" Roxie asked through her sobbing. "I thought we were friends, Markie. And fuck you, Maura."

Stash let out a maniacal laugh. "Are those your last words?"

"No," Roxie screamed. "Please don't hurt me. I'll do anything."

"Anything?" Maura asked.

"Anything," Roxie pleaded.

Maura, Stash, and Markie all exchanged glances as they waited for just the right moment to put Roxie out of her misery. "Never, and I mean never, suggest that I have sex with Professor Bell ever again," Maura said as she gripped Roxie's shoulders.

"Wait, what?" Roxie asked with a confused look on her face.

"In other words, don't fuck with Maura," Markie said forcefully.

"We can get a little protective," Stash added.

"So this was a joke?" Roxie asked. "You bitches! I hate you all. Just—fuck you guys. I hate you guys. I'm gonna kill you all so hard. So hard. Maura makes one joke in her whole life and it's this. You demented ass bitches. I want new friends."

"No, you don't," Stash said as she pinched her cheeks. "You're kinda cute when you're all mad. I'd kiss you, but I don't know where your mouth has been. Correction, I know where your mouth has been which is why I don't want to kiss you."

Before Markie and Maura could stop her, Roxie grabbed Stash by the collar of her shirt and pulled her in for a kiss. Markie and Maura were far too shocked to do anything, so they turned away and made a failed attempt at small talk.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Stash said as she moved as far away from Roxie as she possibly could. "I think I have syphilis now. Maura, cure me!"

"I think she enjoyed it a little too much," Roxie announced. "She has a girl boner for me."

"Gross," Stash said with a disgusted look on her face.

Markie and Maura wanted to tease them for as long as they could, but they were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on their door. "She's finally here," Markie told Maura. "I called your lover girl while you were busy arguing with Roxie. I figured you might want her around."

Maura rushed over to the door and practically flung it open now that she knew Jane was on the other side. Her Jane, her beloved Jane had heard about her grade and rushed over to her. She's so perfect. Had her friends not been there, Maura would have Jane pinned against the wall, but since they had an audience she settled for the opportunity to rest her head on Jane's shoulders.

"Markie told me what happened," Jane said as she caressed Maura's back. "My poor girl."

"My Jane is here," Maura said softly. She felt her worries fade away the moment Jane gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I made you a card," Jane said. "It's not really a card. It's more like a piece of lined paper that I folded a few times and wrote on with a pencil. I would have given you something nice, but I wanted to hurry over here."

Maura had expected a heartfelt note or at least something sweet, but she unfolded the sloppy piece of notebook paper to reveal a note that read, "Welcome to mediocrity. Love, Jane."

"One of us! One of us!" Maura's friends started to chant.

"Do you mind if I borrow her?" Jane asked them.

"Go ahead," Markie told Jane. "I guess we'll allow you some time alone with your girl."

Maura's friends were going to let the two of them have the room to themselves, but Jane didn't like what that insinuated. Now that they had started having sex, it was all their friends expected them to do together, but Jane and Maura wanted more from each other.

They decided to take a walk around Maura's campus. It was still bustling in the afternoon, but Maura knew of a secluded spot in which they could be alone and focus solely on each other. When they found a spot beneath a tree, Maura took it upon herself to sit sideways on Jane's lap. It was a chilly October day and Maura had forgotten to put on a jacket, so Jane took off her zip-up hooded sweatshirt and put it on Maura.

"Your arms are cold," Maura said worriedly.

"I'm fine," Jane insisted. "I like the way you look in my clothes."

"And I like the way you look out of your clothes," Maura admitted.

"I knew you were using me for my body," Jane quipped. "I knew it! You can continue if you want."

"Stop," Maura laughed.

"Are you feeling better?" Jane asked.

"I can momentarily forget about it, but nothing will change my D," Maura told her. "I got a D, babe. This has never happened to me before."

"You're not used to that grading system," Jane pointed out. "It's all arbitrary."

"How so?"

"You're used to facts, Maura, and you're used to your grades being based on how well you know and present these facts," Jane paused to give her a quick kiss. "In this essay, you had to analyze a couple of quotes. That's not you, Maura. If the writer says the chair is blue, you think, 'Okay, the chair is blue.' You don't go on for five pages about how it represents something from his childhood or whatever is happening in the book. It's not your fault, Maura, and it doesn't make you any less smarter than you were before you wrote that paper."

"Sometimes the chair is just blue," Maura pointed out.

"Sometimes, the chair is just fucking blue," Jane agreed.

"Jane?"

"Yes, babe?"

Maura took a deep breath. "I love you—your beanie. I love your beanie."

"You love my beanie?" Jane asked. As much as Maura loved Jane's beat-up olive green beanie, she had so desperately wanted to tell Jane that she loved her, but she worried about it being too soon.

"Yes," Maura said nervously. "I love your beanie."

Jane took the beanie off of her head and placed it securely on Maura. "It looks good on you. Anything would look good on you."

"I'll give it back to you next time I see you," Maura promised.

"Keep it," Jane insisted. "Years from now, we'll look at the beanie and remember the day you became a mediocre genius."

While sitting under the tree that afternoon, Jane filled Maura's heart with hope and comfort without having to try. Maura knew it came naturally to her and what they were telling each other was in all sincerity. When Jane said they were going to be together years from now, Maura knew she meant it. She wasn't her girlfriend yet, but she was already falling in love with her and, that night, as she laid down with Jane's beanie still on her head, thoughts of her grade faded away and all she could focus on was everything she wanted to experience with Jane.