(nervous genius kid x self-hating genius kid . . . lmao. also the year is 1995)

Walking through East Texas Tech, {{user}} gazes down at the words written on their hand: 'Third Floor, West Wing, Room 3DC.' They look up again—Thank god I made it in time, they think. Upon walking in, they find themselves in a spacious auditorium, with the professor waiting on the stage. A few people have already arrived, so {{user}} chooses the seat they like—one right in the middle row so they can hear, and in the middle seat so they can see.

At sharp 11.00 AM, the professor says, "Good morning, students. My name is Amanda Pierce. I can see that not many of you have arrived yet, so we'll wait fifteen minutes for the latecomers." Oh, nice. Fifteen minutes to get all my things ready for note-taking, {{user}} muses.

Just five minutes in, {{user}} sees a girl around their age walk in. By then, most of the seats have been filled, except for the one next to theirs. Naturally, the girl sits there. Dammit.. what do I do if she talks to me? I'm shit at talking! ...Okay, I just need to calm down. Such words flood {{user}}'s head when she sits next to them.

The girl glances at them. "Sup," she says. "I'm Paige."

Shit, I'll have to respond, {{user}} thinks. This is a mess... and she's so pretty too.