This chapter has a special place in my heart.

Year Three: Meet-Cute

Edison Residence - 7:45 AM

The start of a new semester and James and Daniel are standing in their dorm, looking at the girl sleeping on the small couch in the corner of their room.

Nothing happened. Daniel and James woke in their bunks, both hungover and in their clothes from the night before, and forgot the girl was there until they saw her. She was still asleep, wearing her greyish-purple chunky knit sweater and black pleated miniskirt. Her multicoloured ankle boots are on the floor beside her and she's curled up on the couch, fast asleep in mismatched socks.

It all started at a party in The Boiler Room to celebrate the new semester, students having come back from Christmas Break. Daniel and James were reconnecting with their classmates over some drinks, reviewing their timetables and icebreakers like that. It was late into the night when this girl was talking to Daniel. Daniel can't remember what they were talking about since it was a long night and he's too hungover to remember. Daniel and the girl got too drunk and started balancing alcohol-related equations on the walls with a marker. James showed up and knew they had to call it a night when Daniel and the girl went from chemical compounds to coding and still believed it made sense. James could barely get them away from their weird numerical mess and the girl was too drunk to say where she lived so they went back to his dorm.

James dragging back two drunks to his dorm in the middle of the night wasn't the weirdest thing Edison had seen. Xavier's dorm once had a goose in it.

Nothing about this scene looks appropriate.

So Daniel passed out on his bed. James was grateful Daniel was on the bottom bunk. The girl was settled on their couch, boots kicked off and asleep the moment her head hit the cushion. Then James called it a night.

And now she's in their dorm.

Waking up.

Their eyes lock with hers and then there's screaming. Nobody was sure who screamed first but James's was the loudest.

The girl scrambles on her feet and opens the door, running through. She ducks since Keith was right there and she almost collided with him. The moment they lock eyes when she nearly hits the ground, Keith's world slows down and he's brought back to his 10th grade English class and his teacher was explaining meet-cutes in literature. A meet-cute is when the hero and the heroine meet for the first time charmingly. It's how you know they'll end up together. The cuter, the better. Keith thought meet-cutes were fictional bullshit. There was no way those could be real but, seeing this now, could they?

"Sorry," the girl says as she runs down the hall.

Keith is about to call out to her but his mouth has gone dry and she's already speeding down the stairs. Daniel and James peek out, spotting the lovestruck Keith at their door as he longingly continues to watch where the mystery girl once ran.

"Keith, why'd you let her go?" James asks. "Now we don't know where she went!"

Keith is about to respond but collapses in an asthma attack. James screams again. This is not his morning.

"Keith, don't die!" James rolls his sleeves. "I'm starting CPR!"

Keith waves him off and gets his inhaler from his pocket. He takes a puff and exhales. "I'm good."

All their neighbours are now staring at them. The boys can't tell how long they've been watched but any duration doesn't help their case.

"Nothing going on here!" Daniel yells as he pulls Keith and James inside before slamming the door.

Daniel groans, rubbing his head since his hangover wasn't doing well due to all the sudden screaming. "Can we never speak of this again?"

Keith laughs a little. "Did you three -?"

"No!" James and Daniel yell at the same time.

"Hey, no judgement."

Before further questions are asked, their eyes divert to the multicoloured ankle booties left behind. James and Daniel check to see if the girl put on any of their shoes or boots on her way out but theirs are here. The girl really ran outside, in the ice and snow, in her mismatched socks. And now they have a pair of ankle boots they don't know where to return. Who knows if she'll come back after that embarrassing moment?

"Those are from this season," James says as he looks at them. He picks them up, sees their nearly new condition and puts them by the door. "She'll come back for them."

-o-

Communications Lecture Hall - 8:11 AM

"Naomi, you're not wearing shoes," Victoria says.

Merida and Victoria were chatting in class, waiting for the lecture to start but Victoria's voice started trailing when she saw someone walk into the room. Naomi. Hair dishevelled and cheeks bitten red with the cold. Running through campus in the winter without a jacket, in a skirt, and socks. She didn't bring anything to class. Victoria couldn't stop staring in pure shock as Naomi took a seat in front of her and Merida as if nothing was wrong. Naomi wouldn't have turned around if Victoria didn't point out she wasn't wearing shoes.

It didn't help that Naomi's eyes widen as she looks down at her damp mismatched socks, as if she didn't even know she wasn't wearing any shoes.

"And you're wearing my skirt," Victoria adds.

Naomi looks away and takes a breath. "Please take notes for me. I have to fetch my boots."

Before Victoria could ask any more questions, Naomi scurries out of class.

That's when Merida bursts out laughing.

"You know her?" Merida asks.

Victoria looks at Merida. "You didn't recognize my roommate? Naomi Malliga? Come on, you've met her a few times. I won't blame you if you didn't because she looked like that."

Merida pauses and then it hits her. That is Victoria's roommate! "I thought you said she was a nerd!"

"She is!" Victoria smacks her hands on the desk. "I caught her studying for an open-book un-proctored online test! And now she's in a skirt and running barefoot in the snow! A classy walk-of-shame, if I had to guess."

"What do you think happened to your roomie? Christmas break?"

Victoria shrugs. "Maybe she snapped while visiting her family. She's the type of girl who never disappointed her parents. You know, the ones whose parents thank them for not being rebellious. She's never gotten drunk, done drugs, cut her own bangs, break curfew - hell, she has a protective kit meant for the apocalypse. Maybe her exam marks weren't as good as she thought and she stopped caring. I think she's in the top ten."

"But that? How do bad grades lead to looking like she came from a hookup? Unless she actually came from a hookup as you predicted. You said before and just said she's as innocent as they come, that she has weird social skills because she was homeschooled her whole life."

"Because that's true … or so I thought." Victoria grins, pursing her dark purple lips together. "This is exciting. Shall we investigate?"

"Hell yeah, we are. But the least we could do is take notes for her. She could be going through a rough time or just came from a rough time."

"Of course. We'll need the notes as an alibi if she comes asking."

Allow me to introduce you to our sixth rando of SA, Naomi Malliga.

When I first wrote this chapter back in November 2020, I planned to go on hiatus since our final rando will be introduced in PNG on July 2nd and we're only a few chapters away from this story's anniversary chapter (cause quarantine has rendered me unable to schedule). I've had people tell me that this story and even PNG have helped them and their mental health during these weird times so I will continue updating. I'll be going on hiatus for this story in a few chapters. It'll bring us closer to July 2nd when PNG will have weekly updates!