"I see you also met Felix," Kehi said as soon as Jules gave his miserable roommate a cup of water. Kehi quickly slipped on a pair of boxers and discarded his towel as Jules was looking away.
"If you consider being begged for water to be meeting someone, then yes," Jules responded sarcastically. She thought back to when she first saw Felix laying near-dead on the stairs and wondered if that also counted as meeting someone.
"Felix has no manners," Kehi shook his head. He took random clothes from his drawers and began putting them on. Felix stuck out his tongue before chugging the whole cup of water. "If you couldn't already tell, he's my new roommate. Felix, this is Jules."
"Sup," Felix said with a brief shrug, not really making eye contact with Jules.
"She's my best friend. So, be nice to her," Kehi warned.
"Who said I wasn't," Felix said, puzzled. Jules wondered if he was genuinely confused or if he was merely joking back. It seemed Kehi wondered the same thing because he did not say anything. Kehi did, however, drink his smoothie so quickly that Jules almost didn't notice he was drinking it in the first place.
"Well, I bet Knox is done making our burgers," Jules piped up. "You should eat, Kehi."
"Yeah, whatever. After that, we're dipping. Can't have you stay around him too long," Kehi grumbled as the two ambled out of his room.
"What? Are you scared I won't be able to resist his charms?" Jules mocked.
"Something like that…" he mumbled with distaste.
Going through the messy hallways and stairs to reach the kitchen didn't faze Kehi, which told Jules that he was most likely already used to the frat house being in such a disordered state. Jules, however, had only the delicious smell of burgers to thank for as the kitchen was still cluttered with dishes and moldy food all over the sink and counters. It was quite a horrendous sight, but at least the burgers smelled nice.
"God, I'm so hungry," was the first thing Kehi said when he entered the kitchen.
Knox was at the stove, a dry kitchen towel over his shoulder and he flipped the last patty. There were two burger already in their breads at the table, surrounded by condiments, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, cheese slices, and pickles. They could put whatever they wanted in their burger now.
"Who the hell does the groceries in this house?" Jules asked, amazed that they weren't going to feast on instant noodles and Mountain Dew.
"Mostly Knox," Kehi said. "It's the only good thing that came with him joining our frat house last semester," he added in a whisper.
That explained why Jules hadn't seen him before. She avoided the frat house last semester because of all the verbal harassment she went through in here the semester before. Two semesters ago, the fridge was definitely never filled with such good food. Usually, the frat boys would order pizza or takeout, or they would pop in some random crap in the oven. Unfortunately, the ungodly number of dirty dishes was still a problem, today. Jules vowed never to date any of the boys in this frat house. They would make terrible husbands, she thought, throwing one last look of disgust at the pile of unclean dishes.
"I heard that, Kehi," Knox said with kind laughter. "I appreciate having you as a frat-mate as well, buddy."
Jules couldn't tell if Knox was being sarcastic or if he had simply heard wrong. Either way, she couldn't repress herself from giggling at the flabbergasted look on Kehi's face.
Soon after, Knox was done cooking and settled himself at the table with them. He was gently humming as he placed the ingredients in his burger.
"You seem in a good mood," Kehi pointed out, eyeing Knox suspiciously.
"And you seem in a dreadful one," he replied with an amused smirk. "How was the smoothie?"
"Amazing, as always," Kehi deadpanned. Knox frowned slightly at him before switching up and taking a happy bite of his burger.
"It's really good," Jules said through a mouth full. Knox smiled pleasantly at her, while Kehi grimaced.
"You don't like it, Kehi?" Knox asked almost in concern, as if Kehi not liking food was extremely bizarre and apprehensible.
"I love it," he said without emotion. His lips twitched into a smile and Jules nearly snorted her food out of her nose. Did Kehi always behave like this with Knox or did Jules' presence warrant his extra-protective side to come out?
"Glad you love it."
Nothing really happened after that. The three of them ate their delicious burgers in quiet, only the merry sound of munching to be heard. The minute Kehi was done, he began dragging Jules out of the house, and she had to carry the rest of her burger in her hand, barely having the time to wave goodbye at Knox.
The next day, the weather was warm and sunny with a nice breeze that kept Jules and Katrina comfortable as they settled on a table outside the library. It was officially the first day of the semester, and the girls managed to squeeze a meal in between two classes.
"He seems like a nice prof," Jules said before taking a large bite of her sandwich.
"I don't know. Michelle had him last semester and said he was a harsh grader," Katrina warned, pointing a wary fry in Jules' direction before munching on it. Jules had met Katrina and Michelle on their first day of class a year ago. They were randomly assigned to work together in a group project, but got along so well, they ended up as friends.
"At least, we only have three assignments to turn in for his class," Jules shrugged. She was rarely the optimist, but perhaps today was a good enough day for optimism. "Besides, Michelle doesn't always pay attention in class."
"That's true. I'll make sure she knows you said that." Katrina laughed. Jules smiled and huffed a laugh through her nose. "What do you have next? I've got another psych class."
"Introduction to Latin American history," Jules said almost by rote. "I'm using one of my electives for this semester."
"Brilliant. Why this class?" Katrina asked.
"I like history, and I haven't learned much about Latin American history, so I figured now is the time," Jules said with a shrug.
"Aren't you part Brazilian or something, too?"
"Uh, no. My sister married a Brazilian woman," Jules corrected.
"Right, she did!"
"You literally went to the wedding last year." Jules snorted, shaking her head in disbelief at Katrina.
"Which is exactly why I got confused. You know, half the guests were Brazilian so I was like, oh, half your family must be part Brazilian, or something," Katrina explained, looking like she was trying not to laugh at herself.
Jules cackled, but a piece of sandwich spat out of her mouth and landed on Katrina's face, which made the two burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"So, gross!" Katrina grimaced through her giggles and wiped the mushy piece of sandwich off her cheek.
"I'm so sorry!" Jules managed to say through her chortles. Katrina rolled her eyes playfully at Jules and the two continued their meal with light-hearted humour.
History class was in the James Building, which was a building that Jules had never explored before. After getting lost at least three times through the odd maze of hallways, Jules managed to find the classroom just when class began. The professor nodded and smiled briefly at Jules before resuming his introductory speech to the class.
There were around forty students in the classroom, which was smaller than what Jules was used to: at least one hundred students cramped in an auditorium, and a psychology professor with a small microphone attached to their shirt, standing rather seriously at the front of the class.
"As I was saying, my name is Frank Garcia. Please don't call me "professor" as I find that very odd. I mean, you can call me "prof" if you want, but most preferably, call me Frank. We're a rather small class, so we can drop the formalities here," the lecturer said. He was a middle-aged man, though he seemed a little younger than most professors at the university. Jules thought that Frank sounded like one of those "cool" professors who tried to have good relationships with their students – which let her know that she was going to have a blast in his class. Often, professors who weren't so rigid and bored, were the best at teaching.
The lesson went on, Frank gave a brief overview of what they were going to learn this semester, which included myriads of events through five-hundred years time within a whole continent. Jules realized that the class would require a lot of studying on her part, but she was pleasantly surprised to learn that the final assignment was to write a historical fiction set anywhere in time and location in Latin America.
"Since this is our first class, it would be a great idea for you all to get used to each other and perhaps eventually make study groups for this class. Now, if you please, pair up with anyone around you, in groups of maybe, two or three. Take a look at the prompt I've set up on the board and work on it together."
Jules looked around her to find potential groupmates. The two girls sitting on either sides of her had their backs on her as they decided to work with other students, leaving Jules on her own. Now, she had to turn around and hope whoever was seated behind her would be free and also looking for a teammate. She hated group work—
"Oh," Jules said as soon as her brain registered who she was looking at. The student seated right behind her, whom she hadn't even noticed was here when she entered the class earlier, was none other than Knox. The very man Kehi forbid her from talking to.
"Oh?" Knox repeated, almost mockingly. His dark hair curled ever so slightly over his perked eyebrows. "Surprised to see me?"
"Yeah. I thought you were majoring in Law," Jules admitted.
"And I thought you were majoring in Psychology," Knox returned. A playful smirk toyed at his lips, and Jules tried not to roll her eyes.
"I am. This is an elective for me," she said.
"It's an elective for me too, but I don't really like history, if I'm being honest. This was the only class that fit my schedule," Knox explained. "I was thinking of dropping this course as soon as I found something else more interesting, but seeing as you're here too…"
"So, my mere presence is enough to convince you to stay in a class you have zero interest in?" Jules asked, bemused. She wasn't sure if Knox was being flirty or friendly or if she was simply overthinking because of the warnings Kehi placed in her head.
Knox chuckled as a response.
"Careful. Your ego is a bit inflated there," he teased. Frank began walking around the classroom to see if students were working. "Anyway, we should work on the prompt, now."
"Right," Jules nodded, turning around to read off the board. "Choose a historical figure from Latin America and write down a small text about any specific event in their life. Think about their age, gender, geographical location, and the year in which the event takes place."
"Seems simple enough. Frida Kahlo, easy. And we could just write about her wedding day," Knox said. He looked like he had it all figured out, but Jules wasn't so sure.
"I feel like everyone is doing Frida Kahlo, though. Maybe we should look up another more obscure figure," she suggested.
"This isn't for marks. It's for practice for our final assignment. No need to spend years on it. Here, I'll start it off." Knox swiftly opened his laptop and pull out a text document. Jules didn't bother complaining. Knox did have a point. "It was a beautiful sunny day. Frida Kahlo was to be betrothed to… Um… What's her husband's name, again?"
"Lemme check," Jules said. She grabbed her laptop and looked it up. "Diego Rivera."
"Betrothed to Diego Rivera," Knox finished off. "Okay, so, your turn, now. Don't make me do all the work," he added jokingly. His dark eyes were looking intently at Jules, which made her lose track of what they were doing for a split-second.
"Right, um… Her mother did not approve of their marriage, but… Wait how do we know that? Was her mother even alive when Frida got married?"
"Let's just not mention her mother, for now…" Knox said, musing.
He looked up some more information on Frida Kahlo on his laptop. His dark eyebrows were furrowed as his eyes were fixed on his laptop, scanning for information, and his lips pursed to the side as he took it all in and assessed what they could use. As easy-going and carefree as he seemed, he was also hard-working, apparently. Jules tried not to look at Knox for too long, but there was something absolutely breathtaking about him.
"What about this…"
By the end of class, the two had managed to create a pretty coherent text on how Frida Kahlo's wedding could have gone.
"Alright, folks. Now, for homework, just read chapter one and two from the textbook, and class dismissed!" Frank declared.
The buzzing of chairs moving and students chatting suddenly filled the classroom. Jules was packing her bag, but she felt someone looming over her. She looked behind her and found Knox, his backpack hanging on one shoulder, and his hands in his pockets as he waited expectantly. He wore grey slacks with an off-white blouse tucked inside of it, which was a lot more formal than Jules' sweatpants and hoodie combination.
"What?" he said innocently.
"Are you waiting for me?"
"Well, yeah."
"Oh. Just, give me a second," Jules said. She managed to fit her too-large laptop back into her bag and hoisted it over her shoulder. "What is it?"
"Aren't we going to give each other's contact information. We're a study group, now," Knox said.
"We are?"
"Sure. Who else? We don't know anybody else in this class," Knox said as if it were obvious.
"Right, uh, here." Jules unlocked her phone and gave it to Knox. After typing in it, his phone went ding!
"Got it," he said, handing her phone back to her. "I'll read chapter one, you read chapter two, then we share notes, yeah?"
"I think we both should read chapters one and two, and then share notes," Jules proposed. Knox debated her idea for a split-second but ultimately nodded.
"Cool. What class do you have next?" he asked. The two were now walking out of the classroom and into the maze of a hallway, which was filling up with students walking out of their classes.
"None," Jules said, playing with the arms of her bag semi-nervously. It had just occurred to her now that Kehi would be upset if he saw her with Knox.
"Me too. You wanna hang?"
Knox's question hung in the air for a moment too long before he asked again: "Jules? You wanna hangout? We're both free."
"What? Oh, uh, I can't. I have to meet my friend," she lied wildly. Well, it was a half-lie. She did typically meet Katrina afterclass, but it was never an obligation.
"Alright. I'll see you next week, then?" Knox said, unbothered.
"Yep." Jules nodded.
They waved each other goodbye before parting ways. Jules tried not to panic.
"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. "Kehi might just kill me."