Chapter 2

After a couple of days, classes started up for the new term.

Finn found out that Poe was an English major and admired the stacks of books he kept bringing back from the library. Finn was undeclared so he decided to go to a few different classes to see what he liked.

One of his first classes was Advanced Mathematics. When he arrived the professor nodded at him and everything seemed to be going smoothly but then with a jolt he recognised the glaring boy from the other day. He was sitting with earphones in, writing intensely in his notebook even though the class hadn't even started yet.

Once the class did actually begin, the teacher didn't hesitate. She jumped straight in at a breakneck speed. Finn could barely keep up and couldn't help but notice that the dark haired boy's hand kept shooting up to answer or to question something the professor said.

About half an hour through the hour long class, the door creaked open at the back of the hall. A girl walked in, and said something to the teacher in an apologetic voice.

As she walked down the steps to a spare seat in the lecture hall, Finn stared at her in amazement.

"Wow, she's pretty."

Laughter broke out in the hall.

Wait, had he said that out loud?! Oh no. Oh god, no!

The girl sat down quickly in embarrassment as Finn grabbed his bag and ran from the room, the other students' laughter ringing in his ears.

Poe was very sympathetic when he told him about it that night and he suggested that they go out to a party to try and take his mind off of it.

"I haven't been to many parties before." Finn said nervously.
He'd been to none, in fact, but he didn't want to sound like a loser.
"It'll be fine!" Poe clapped him on the back. "Don't worry about it, man. We can just have a few drinks and relax."

Poe seemed perfectly relaxed at the party, giving little half-salutes to people and getting him and Poe drinks. Finn drank his beer quickly and hoped nobody could tell he was sweating.

"Oh no."
"What is it?"
"That's her."
"The pretty one?" Poe asked.
Finn nodded, clutching his beer in suddenly trembling hands.
"Go talk to her."
"What?! No way!" He said, horrified, "she already thinks I'm a complete idiot."

"Look, she's smiling at you."

Finn looked up in amazement then turned back around, disgruntled.

"No she's not! She wasn't even-"

"Go on! Go talk to her!" Poe pushed him in the direction of the girl and before he had a chance to protest or run away he was right in front of her.

"Have you met Finn?" Poe asked, then rushed off to greet a cute hipster that had just walked in.

"Hi," said Finn, trying not to let the nerves show in his voice.
"Hi Finn," she smiled, taking a sip from her bottle of coke. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice t-to meet you too." He took a quick swig from his bottle.
"I'm Rey."
"That's a nice name."
"Thanks."

They made polite small talk for half an hour or so. Rey was an Engineering major and she complained about the fact that the school was assigning her a tutor to give her extra help with Maths because her old school hadn't covered it very well.

"Wow that sucks."

"I know! And it's not even my fault, it was try old school that didn't teach it properly!"
Finn swallowed nervously. "Um... Listen, Rey, I know we just met and all but do you maybe wanna... wanna go out some-"

She looked down at her drink, embarrassed. "Um, Finn, you seem nice and all but I'm not really looking for any kind of relationship right now. Sorry."
"Oh... okay."
"It'd be fun to be friends, though."
"Sure."
"See you, then." She touched his hand gently and disappeared.

Finn turned and walked back towards where Poe had last been seen, in a daze. Someone came past with a tray and stopped him.

"Hey, man, you want something?"
"Huh?"
"Purple Nurples." The guy grinned.
"Okay."

Poe wandered into the back room a hour later, the hipster's phone number tucked into his back pocket, in search of Finn. He found him, sitting on the floor, surrounded by cushions. A couple of people were sitting about talking, some smoking or drinking.

"Finn. Hey, Finn!" Poe shook him gently.
"Poe?"
"You alright, man?" He sat down beside him.

His voice was so pathetic, "No."

"What happened?" He asked softly.
"She rejected me. I asked her out and she flat out said no way."

Poe winced. "Jeez, that's rough."
"So this guy gave me these nice drinks and then I came in here and made some new friends."

He smiled. "That's great, Finn, but I think we should be getting back to the dorm. It's pretty late."
Finn nodded in agreement.

"BB-8 must be wondering where we are." Poe grinned and stood up.
"He's so cute." He said, almost to himself, standing up too and swaying dangerously forwards.

Poe grabbed Finn quickly and held him up. "Me and him got a lot in common, right?" He chuckled.
"Yeah, totally." He said, nodding sincerely.
He was a little taken aback, and when Finn stumbled over the front door he held him up, a little closer than before.

When they reached their room, BB-8 was lying on Finn's bed, curled up in a circle, fast asleep. He didn't even wake up when Finn crashed down beside him.
Poe made sure Finn was lying on his front before going over to his own bed and sitting down.

He took the cute hipster guy's number out of his pocket and looked at the scrap of paper in between his thumb and forefinger.

With a sigh, he crumpled it into a little ball and tossed it into the trash.

About a week later, Rey went for her first session with her new Maths tutor. She'd been instructed to meet him in the library, and after some searching she found the place.

It was a gorgeous building, all high ceilings, massive windows letting in plenty of natural light, and towering shelves of books covering topics from asexuality to zoology and beyond.

He saw her walking uncertainly around, the sunlight pouring in and shining on her hair, tied back in strange three buns at the back of her head.

She looked up and saw him sitting there at the desk, books around him, a seat beside him pulled out and saw the recognition flash on her face.

"Hello." She said quietly as she sat down.
"Hi."
"Are you Kyle?"
"Kylo Ren." He sounded a little exasperated, as if this happened a lot. "Here's the syllabus."

As they worked, Rey kept catching him staring at her obviously. When he was caught, he would cough loudly and look at his phone awkwardly.

Suddenly his phone rang: "When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band..."
He swore quietly, excused himself and leapt from his chair and walked away to answer it.

"Hux, why the hell are you calling me? I told you I was busy... Yeah... Yeah, I'm with her... What?! No! Shut up! ... I'll see you later, alright?"

He came back over and sat down. After a minute, the old grandfather clock chimed. Rey checked her phone, and stood up.

"Same time next week?" She said.
"Yeah."
"Okay, see you then."

Kylo watched her walk away then instantly took out his phone and texted Hux.
"Tell everybody. We're having a party."
He replied: "when?"
"ASAP."