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Swan Lecture Hall
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Tatum walked out of her dorm room on a bright sunny morning, feeling absolutely fresh and happy. The night before she'd closed so many past conflicts, and with a new tattoo on her rib cage, she felt pretty badass. She had her hair up today, for once in her lifetime. The blonde waves were slung back into a long ponytail. She had her books in her oversized bag, and was on her way to her Philosophy class, to take a quiz that she was basically guaranteed to get a less than stellar grade on. But she'd been texting Louis that morning about how they're both doing, and she was sure that Asher must've carried her back to her dorm last night, because she simply could remember walking back to her bed. She pushed open the front door of the lecture hall, and walked through a maze of students to get to her usual seat on the far right of the room. She didn't see Asher there yet, which was a little worrying, since the quiz started in two minutes.
Asher had woken up with his face buried into his arms, his body flat against the mattress with not a thing making a sound. He knew that he had to get up and attend a course, but the issue was he didn't want to. All he wanted to do was draw the blankets up and over his head and mope around for as long as possible. It was a new day, though, and even if he felt the exact same as the night before, he couldn't stay locked away forever. Ash pulled on one of his hoodies over the clothes he was wearing yesterday, and brought the hood around his neck to shield it from the wind. Once he was outside, a slow pace had taken over him, forcing him to walk at a normal speed despite the fact the quiz would be starting fairly soon. Who cared? It wasn't like he would be passing it anyway. The only study time he fit in for this class was yesterday, and he blew that off. "Shitty life, shitty grades." He mumbled, pushing the door open to the lecture hall. There weren't many open seats left, seeing how he had showed up rather late, but he sat down in the middle, trying to avoid the eyes of anyone he might know, trying to avoid the eyes of Tatum.
Tatum pulled a pen and her book out of her bag, bending her head over the material. She had two minutes, so she was going to study for two minutes. The seat beside her, Asher's usual seat, was empty still, and Tatum couldn't help but glance at the door every few seconds or so to see if he made it there. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and made sure the small device was on silent, then stuffing it back into he bag. She heard the professor start to speak and closed her book, looking around the room. Her eyes settled on Asher, he was sitting in the very center, far away from where he usually did. He must've seen her sitting there, must've seen that his seat was clearly open, right?? Why wouldn't he have seen it?? Tatum felt a tap in her shoulder from someone that was passing around quizzes, and so she took one and passed the rest, trying to shake off thoughts about Asher.
Asher had his elbow on the little pull-out desk before him, his head being rested in the palm of his hand. If only this class was something was able to avoid, if only it was possible to skip today and not make up the test that was to be given. He was already there, though, a decision he really should have thought through more thoroughly. A stack of papers here placed on his desk, the person sitting them down before him making a gesture to pass them along. With a deep breath in, he took a paper from the top of the stack, setting it down on his desk and passing the rest of them to his left. It shouldn't have been that hard for him, even though he barely studied. A quick quiz, an easy test, but he couldn't concentrate. Or was it that he didn't want to? Either way, the most he could do is write his name on the top of the paper. So, with an empty mind and a not-so-steady hand, Asher Tyler was scribbled in contract against the white paper. That was it. That most likely the farthest he would get today with schoolwork. Even his name seemed foreign; the letters, the pronunciation. He really should have just stayed in bed today, it probably would have been the bets decision for everyone.
((After the quiz thing now))
The professor cleared his throat once the timer rung, signaling that quiz was over. It had been terrible, really. She was sure that she'd failed it pretty awfully, but hey, things could be worse, and at least eight she was doing perfectly in all of her other classes. She stood up quickly and took her test, walking down to the front desk and handing it to the professor with an awful smile on her face. She walked back up the stairs with her eyes peeled for Asher, she wanted to see what was up with him or maybe how he had done on the quiz. Or maybe she could just go with him to get coffee, since she could use it just then. Tatum walked past such a variety of people in her classes, she was shocked how used she had gotten to being around all these people that she had nothing in common with. She pushed through the masses of far too many people, glancing around for a mop of dark hair and tons of tattoos.
The professor cleared his throat once the timer rung, signaling that quiz was over. It had been terrible, really. She was sure that she'd failed it pretty awfully, but hey, things could be worse, and at least eight she was doing perfectly in all of her other classes. She stood up quickly and took her test, walking down to the front desk and handing it to the professor with an awful smile on her face. She walked back up the stairs with her eyes peeled for Asher, she wanted to see what was up with him or maybe how he had done on the quiz. Or maybe she could just go with him to get coffee, since she could use it just then. Tatum walked past such a variety of people in her classes, she was shocked how used she had gotten to being around all these people that she had nothing in common with. She pushed through the masses of far too many people, glancing around for a mop of dark hair and tons of tattoos.
Asher looked up once a buzzing rang out around the room, a timer signaling that the test was to be turned it. How long he had been sitting there with an absent mind, he had no idea, but by how much the noise had distracted them, it must have been well over forty minutes. With a groggy head, he stood, walking with the flow of the sea of people in order to make it to the front of the room. He had answered a few questions on the front, making it seem as if he didn't ignore the rest of the test completely. There was a chance he at least got those few questions correct, but even if he did, it wouldn't do much to help his grade. Asher handed his paper into the professor, deliberately not making eye contact and trying to squeeze past as fast as possibly. There was still a mass of people surrounding him, barely enough room to walk, but he raised his hands, pulling the hood to his jacket over his head to keep the vacant stares of others away from his own gaze. He weaved his way through the crowd, hand shoved in a pocket to fish out a pack of cigarettes. It had been a few days since he actually had one, and right now it would be the best solution to every problem at hand. Once he was out of the building, it was a straight shot to the pillars outside. Large, white columns with a base particularity grateful for siting. His back was pressed against the smooth surface, fingers opening the box at hand to pull out a thin stick. Ash stuck it between his teeth, taking out a lighter from another pocket and raising it to the cigarette. It took a few tries for the flame to catch, but a soft orange glow quickly lit the bottom half of his face. He took in a long drag, breathing out the grey smoke as slowly as possible.
Tatum walked through the building, her eyes combing over the whole student body of their class. She didn't see Asher, so she kept going until she reached the outside. She accidentally bumped into a couple of people on the way out, but she apologized to each of them, and gave them a big smile. She walked out into the sunlight of the day and felt it warm her skin. God, it felt absolutely amazing. Tatum closed her eyes for a moment and just let the sun sink in, making her feel warm and beautiful. After a long moment her eyes opened, and she looked around some. She saw Asher leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette. It looked so him to be smoking, even though it worried her some. She walked over to him and leaned on the wall next to him "Hey," she chirped "how do you think you did on that?? I'm pretty sure I failed, but I'm not too worried about it, are you?" She asked him, pulling her phone out of her pocket and starting a reply to a text for Louis.
Eyes closed, head tilted upward toward the sky, and the cigarette limply hanging from his lips. Asher breathed in from his mouth, taking in a lungful of oxygen and smoke. Half asleep and barely awake, it was surprising when he heard the voice beside him. Opening his eyes, he looked down, a little surprised to see Tatum staring back at him. He raised his hands and took the smoke away from his lips, holding it between to fingers as he began to talk, "Failed it," he replied, pushing off of the pillar, "only answered four questions." Ash began to walk away in am attempt to shake the girl loose of him. Bringing the cigarette up to his lips, he inhaled, holding the smoke in for a few seconds before letting out the puff. Did she not know what she was to him? How much she made him want to hit a wall whenever her name was brought up? He liked her, a friendly manner of course, but he hated her oh so much. It felt like she pretended to be something she wasn't around him, especially these past few days. Maybe it was just him, maybe he was loosing it again. Asher shook his head, clearing his thoughts for the moment being. All he wanted to do was disappear within his dorm for a few hours, not socialize, and definitely not try to mend a fading friendship.
Tatums brows wrinkled together when Asher seemed to completely brush her off. He responded to her, yeah, but as he was walking away. She didn't like it, and honestly wasn't sure if she should follow him. She didn't want to be that girl that was obsessed with one friend. She had others, like her roommate and a ton of the girls on her floor. She didn't need to follow around mood swing Asher, right? Tatum crossed her arms and took a couple steps towards the retreating guy "Well why don't you let me know when you've pulled that stick out of your ass." She said, her tone sounding extremely sarcastic. Once she was done speaking to him she stared at his face for maybe three seconds, then turned on her heel and walked briskly in the other direction, really just going towards the cafe. Se had a huge design final due in a few hours, and a lot of finishing touches to take care of.
Asher stopped walking when he head a voice behind him. What words rang out weren't necessarily something you'd call friendly, but at the same time, he didn't know if a reply to her would be the best option right now. He turned, his eyes meeting hers for a few seconds before she turned on her heels and began to walk away. The wanting to stab a nail through his skull continued to grow. He had a stick up his ass? Yeah, of course, right, totally. It wasn't like she had been feeding him good vibes just to mess with his head. The secret was out, or so he believed. Ash took a few steps toward her, trying to get back within hearing range of the girl walking away, "I'll get back to you when you can stop treating me like a child." His voice was a little louder than a normal speaking tone, but he stayed content with where he was standing. His hand was now dropped by his side, the steady stream of smoke caused by the cigarette drifting up into the air by his face. Asher took a small step backwards, preparing to turn and walk away in case she didn't move to look at him.
Tatum swallowed hard when she walked away, a scowl on her face. She didn't think he would say anything, thought that they would just walk away from each other. But then he called after her and she was so, so tempted to turn around and scream at him. She was treating him like a child??? Maybe that's because he was acting like one, the guy kept being hot and cold, not making up his mind, thinking that everyone is against him somehow. It was bullshit, and Tatum simply didn't need it. She turned towards him for one second, and simply lifted her middle finger in his direction. She didn't want to cause a scene by screaming and looking like the psycho chick, she just wanted to get out of there. So after flipping him off, she turned around one more time and walked away, taking her old, sweet time, too.
Asher had almost turned around too soon, had almost missed the derogatory motion that he never expected to come from such a small girl. His mouth was parted, enough to breath in air but not enough to be noticed from quite a long ways away. His chest felt like it was caving in. He couldn't do anything right. Nothing. At all. It didn't matter who ruined this particular friendship; he knew that Tatum wasn't someone who cared about him, and she never was. All of these past few weeks had been a nasty attempt to get inside his head. He wasn't sure how she had been able to weave through with a maze of lies, but she had, and he ended up trusting her, which lead him to the moment he was at now. Wrong. All of this was wrong. Asher tossed the cigarette down to the sidewalk, the toe of his boot crushing the smoldering item as he continued to walk forward. He didn't care about the rest of the day's classes. He just wanted to get back to his dorm, to rest for a really long time. Maybe he just didn't ever want to wake up. Ash wanted to hit something, wanted to do something just to get his mind off of it all. Everything was wrong, oh so wrong, and it didn't seem like it would ever stop. He just needed to make it back to his dorm and then he would be alright. Right? He couldn't be upset when he was alone, right? Everything would fade away and he would be okay once he was in his dorm. Right...?
The Swan Lecture Hall is where many classes at Newmark U take place.