[h3][b][color=blue]Alina Sanford[/color][/b][/h3]
Chemistry, as ever, was no fun. She understood the basic concepts, at least, even if she wasn't on Mary's level. The problem was that it [i]dragged.[/i] It dragged beyond all reason. And she was sure the teacher wasn't trying to be a drag, at that, he seemed fairly into his subject, kept getting people involved and everything.

But... almost every day she had a class here, she recognised that she'd missed part of the lecture when she snapped to attention, and usually had to ask somebody what she'd missed later. And a lot of the time, that was Mary. And since she'd all but admitted to a crush on Alina, that was gonna be... maybe a bit weird.

Or maybe she'd pretend like Alina had never asked the question to begin with. That'd be fine too. She tried to keep the thought off her mind by poking around a thin crack in the desk in front of her. It was weird, honestly... she didn't necessarily have a set seat, so it was probably made since last time she was here, but the crack was an odd shape. Kind of unsettling, though she didn't know why. Maybe because it was uncomfortably warm, a bit like somebody had sat on that specific spot. Or like an overheated electrical device? That would explain the draft coming out of it...

'Psst, hey,' came a voice from next to her. Who was this guy... Mark, right? With a cat picture on his phone, and she guessed a sympathetic smile and tone. 'You look a bit down, Alina. You want to look at some pictures, and I can share the transcript with you after?'

'No thanks. I've got it.'

'Aw, come on,' he quietly tried to persuade her, 'I know you keep asking Mary about stuff afterward. I just...' He puffed out from the corner of his mouth, as if trying to phrase himself. 'You never look happy in here. I wanna see if- tell you what,' he realised with something of a glow to his features, 'maybe you can come with me and my friends, and we go to the cinema? Mary'll be there, I'm pretty sure!' He did seem earnest, but...

'No thanks. Mary wanted to study with me tonight.'

'Well, that's fine,' he continued, 'it'll be over the weekend-'

'I said no, Mark.'

'...psh. Fine, then,' he uttered, turning back to face the front with more disappointment than true annoyance. Then turned back for a moment: 'And my name's Guy, by the way.' Ohh, that explained why she didn't remember it. It made sense now.

The lesson continued unabated. Damn, she'd missed something important again. No way to avoid that awkwardness now.