Tides

Bio-Chemistry has to be the worst invention in the entire world.

It is quite possibly the bane of your existence. The thing is, it isn't that you can't muddle your way through chemistry, because you can. You're confident you can get a passing grade at the very least. The thing is that you don't even like science.

You love your dad though, and he wants you to become a doctor someday, so you had begrudgingly allowed yourself to be registered for General Chemistry at the start of the term.

That is how you find yourself locked in the Bio-Chemistry lab for the next three hours of your life. You claim your seat at a work bench and immediately lean your head against the table because you already have a headache.

"Careful there, sundance, don't want to get any nasty chemicals on that pretty face of yours," a voice drawls behind you so you sit up to see who is talking.

She's taller than you, and it's pretty obvious even with you sitting in a chair. She has on black boots, dark wash jeans, a black short-sleeved shirt, and a leather vest. Her dark hair falls down past her shoulders in light curls and her bangs fall past one of her caramel colored eyes. She's emitting confidence and power into the air and you don't think you've ever been so caught off guard by a stranger before.

It isn't until you register the smirk on her face that you realize you've been staring at her.

"Uhhhhh yeah, no, we wouldn't, I mean I wouldn't want that. Thanks for that. Saving my face from chemical burns, I mean." You can feel your face heating up under her stare and you're aware that your mouth is not even attempting to stem the stream of senseless babble tumbling from your mind, the traitor.

She raises an eyebrow at you as she walks to the back of the room to grab her long white lab coat. Somehow, despite the fact that the coat covers her leather vest, she still manages to look bad ass. You wonder if she's going to be your lab partner, which scares you a little because how are you supposed to pay attention to your lab work if you're too busy tripping over your own tongue the entire class period, when you notice the writing just above the pocket of her jacket. "Teaching Assistant" it reads. You groan because you realize that she's going to be the person you have to talk to when you need clarification during the experiments.

//

Perry and LaF live in the apartment building across the way from yours, and you figure that LaF is the perfect person to ask about how to properly write the introduction for your Chem Lab report so you decide to head over. You knock and wait a few seconds before Perry opens the door. She's wearing her favorite apron and there's flour all over it.

"Hey Perry!" your voice is cheery as you greet her and it makes you smile because you really love her. You especially love her when she's baking.

"Oh! Hi Laura. What are you doing here?" She says as she shepherds you into the apartment.

"I actually was just wondering if LaF was here? I need their advice on an assignment for my lab class and I figured they would know exactly how to answer my questions."

Perry hands you a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie before she says, "LaFontaine is at work right now, but I'm sure you could just go see them there. You know, it's one of those work-study jobs."

You nod your head, remembering that LaF works at the information desk at the school gym. They only have to hand out towels to students going to the pool, so you know that it's okay for you to go sit with them during their shift. You thank Perry and make your way toward the gym.

"Hey LaF!" You call out as you get closer to the front desk.

"Hey L!" they reply as they swing the door open for you to come into the office.

The information desk is more like a room with a window that opens up so the people who use the gym can communicate with whomever is working there. It would probably be more aptly called the "equipment room" because most of the sports teams actually house their equipment there in one of the many cabinets that line the walls behind the counter that LaF is sitting at. There are jump-ropes hung over a towel rack to one side and shelves of basketballs. Students walk by on occasion on their way to work out or to the pool and check out equipment or towels. It's a pretty low-key job that doesn't require a whole lot of effort on LaFontaine's part.

"What's up, Laura?" Laf pushes a rolling chair your way and you shrug off your backpack as you sit down.

They eye you suspiciously as you start to pull out your lab notebook. They start to say something when someone else walks through the door.

All dark colors and broody attitude, your lab TA steps through the door. She's got a pair of headphones hanging from one ear and a bored expression painted across her face. She's staring down at her phone, presumably replying to one of the many girls you've seen her around campus with, when she looks up and registers the two of you sitting in front of her.

"Ginger nerd." She acknowledges Lafontaine and they quip back with, "Vampire."

LaF starts to gather up their stuff and stand up. Your TA immediately sits down in the chair LaF had previously been occupying and throws her feet up on the counter.

"Uh, yeah," you say as you stare at her "so I was just wondering if you could look over my Bio-Chem Lab report before I turn it in. You know, just to make sure I'm doing it right." You turn to LaF and they are already nodding their head at you.

"Yeah, of course. I'm actually late for a meeting with my Bio partner right now, so do you think you could just meet me at my apartment in like two hours? Sorry, L, but the meeting is important and as you can see by the presence of this Vampire," (The TA sneers up at LaF at that comment) "my shift is over, so I actually have to leave now."

"Oh, yeah, okay, well I actually have to go work in the writing center in two hours, so I guess that doesn't work. Thanks though! I'm sure it'll be okay." You call out to LaF as they throw an apologetic look and an "I'm sorry!" over their shoulder at you.

You sigh and reach over to grab your backpack and head back to your apartment.

The girl next to you clears her throat and speaks, "You know, cutie, I do happen to know a thing or two about bio-chemistry assignments."

You're not sure if you're more shocked that this girl talked to you despite her apathetic nature or that she actually just called you "cutie". You look around for a second just to ensure that she wasn't talking to anyone else before you finally make eye contact with her. You aren't sure whether that was an offer to help you or not, but before you can process the words necessary to ask, she's already rolling her eyes at you.

"Just hand me your assignment already." She says, so you reach into your bag and pull it out.

She is probably a third of the way though your paper when your blurt out, "I know I should probably know this already, but what's you name?"

She doesn't look back up at you until she finishes the sentence she is reading, but when she does you can see the amusement in her face.

"Carmilla." She says as she turns back to your paper.

You fidget uncomfortably in your chair as you wait out the next ten minutes. You don't mind quite so much though, because you take advantage of the fact that Carmilla is paying attention to the paper in front of her instead of you. You notice the furrow of her brow as she concentrates on your words and the satisfied nod she gives whenever she reads something that makes sense. For all the world, she looks like the kind of girl you don't want to get on the bad side of. She has a sharp jaw line and you think it's fitting because Carmilla seems like she's all sharp edges.

You're wondering what kind of music she was listening to when she walked in when Carmilla looks up at you again.
She hands back your paper and says "Perfect." without breaking eye contact.

You know she's talking about your paper, but she sort of made it seem like she was talking about something else too.