Jenna's POV

"I'm so, so sorry," I blurted out, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks as I awkwardly stumbled out of yet another wrong classroom.

The buildings are imposing, making me feel like I've made a mistake transferring here. Sigh! I've been here for barely 24 hours, and I already feel dreadful. Brilliant! My old university, isn't much smaller, but it was manageable. I didn't feel like the buildings were mocking my 5'6 frame, and I definitely didn't crash into five different classes on my first day.

That might be because I'd visited several times before I got in, but that's not the point! To be honest, I'm not sure what the point is. All I know is I'm already half an hour late for my first class, which is not a good start.

I look down at the school map on my phone again and then glance around. Would you look at that? I'm just supposed to take a left and go straight through... these prickly shrubs?

'Jenn, I think it's high time we swallow our big egos and admit to ourselves that we have no idea how to read this map and ask for directions,' the annoying little voice in the back of my head says.

"Oh shit!" I yelp as I trip over my own feet, bracing for impact. Instead of face-planting, my hands land on someone's torso. I breathe a sigh of relief. This day was just about to get worse.

I look up at my saviour only to find a very handsome blonde guy scowling at me. What crawled up his arse and died?!

He steps back from me before I can regain my balance, making me stumble again, so I grab onto his arm. I feel his muscles tense under my grip. Damn!

"Get the fuck off me," he spits at me, not literally, that would be disgusting but it might as well have been. He dusts off my hand like I'm some germ and then marches off.

Strawberry blonde hair, icy blue eyes that perfectly match his demeanour, stubble on his almost perfect jawline, and a very arrogant attitude...very hard pass!

"He can be an arsehole," someone says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Freckles! That's the first thing I notice about this guy, but that could be because they're all over his face.

Oh my ovaries!

If I knew that Imperial was harbouring all the hot guys, I wouldn't have basically left them on read.

He has straight brown hair and light hazel-green eyes that are warm and inviting, contrasting sharply with the other guy's icy demeanour. His clean-shaven jawline adds to his charm.

"And you are?" I ask, trying to smile, but it seems that jerk has ruined my day.

"The arsehole's best friend," he replies, a sheepish smile creeping across his face.

I can't help but chime in, "I want to argue and say he's probably not an arsehole, just having a rough morning like I am. But since you're his friend, I guess I have no choice but to agree with you."

He smirks, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Real smooth," he replies.

"Well, you're not too bad yourself," I shoot back, the teasing lightening the mood.

"Oh! You dropped your phone," he suddenly says, reaching down to pick it up and handing it back to me.

I inspect the screen, relieved to find it intact and hug it close to my chest. I've worked too hard to lose it already!

"Are you new here?" he asks, curiosity etched on his face.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I'm Ashe," he says, stretching out his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Jenna, but you can call me Jenn, not Jenny," I say as I shake his hand.

"Okay, Jenn. What year are you in?"

"Second year. Speaking of second year, do you know where Lecture Hall 012 is?"

"Lecture Hall 012?"

"Yeah."

"It's good you asked, 'cause you're going in the opposite direction," he says with a smile.

I can't help but notice his smile lines. It seems his smile only gets wider or thinner, but it's always there. I'm probably just reading too much into this.

"That's fine, come with me," he says as he starts walking, and I trail along with him.

"Didn't your class start at 9?" he asks.

"Yeah, but I overslept and then got lost."

"Happens to the best of us," he reassures me. Something in his voice tells me I need it.

"Do you also have that class?" I ask.

"No, but my friend does."

"Here we are!" he says before I can ask about his friend because I'm sure there's no way this guy only has one friend.

I turn to the door, and glaring right at me in gold letters is 'LECTURE HALL 012.'

Now I feel stupid. I'm pretty sure I walked right past this room two wrong classrooms ago.

"Thank you," I say, smiling genuinely.

"It's fine. Since you're new here, I could show you around if that would help," he offers.

"Could you actually?" I ask excitedly. I could use a friend here.

"It'd be my honour," he says, his smile brightening.

He sure is a smiler!

People who smile a lot tend to have something to hide, according to the crime shows I've watched.

"I would love that, thank you," I say, cautiously falling into what could be a trap.

He calls out his phone number, and I type it into my phone.

"Thanks!" I say, then take a deep breath, open the door, and walk into the classroom.

I shut the door quietly. Every eye in the class instantly turns to me... Awkward!

It's eerily silent, I can actually feel the weight of their stares.

I can feel eyes on me, but I don't dare look around to confirm it. I steady my breath as I fumble with my bag and take out my notebook. A lot of people use laptops, but I prefer notes, it's definitely not because I'm a slow typist or anything.

My pen drops from my shaky hands, so I bend down to pick it up. I catch him out of the corner of my eye as I rise back up.

Shit!

I look around. Out of all the empty seats in the classroom, I somehow ended up next to him. This is definitely on me.

Why?!

I mean, I could probably stand up and sit elsewhere, but that would be rude, and it's going to make me look petty. I mean, I am petty, but now's not the best time.

I realise that I've been blankly staring at him as I see his jaw clench. He doesn't look back at me, just ignores my existence. That's good! I hate it when he opens his mouth.

I force myself (not that it's hard) to turn my attention back to the front of the class, where the lecturer is going through a PowerPoint on the Bernoulli Principle. Luckily, I went over this during the summer; otherwise, I wouldn't understand a thing he's saying since I showed up late, and he's already gone through the important bits.

I jot down a few notes as he summarises the PowerPoint. He's a good teacher; that much I can tell from his explanation. Some lecturers either seem to read directly from the PowerPoint and expect you to magically understand or explain in a way that assumes you're already a genius at the course they're being paid to teach. He's neither. He explains things as though we know nothing about this, the way most lecturers are supposed to but rarely do.

I glance at the guy sitting next to me, and to my surprise, he seems to actually be paying attention to the lecturer. He's even taking notes on his iPad. That's surprising, I didn't peg him as the attentive type, but that probably explains why a seemingly nice guy like Ashe would be friends with him.

"Stop staring at me," he grunts, without turning around.

I roll my eyes. I wasn't staring; I was merely observing. You know that saying, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'?

Yeah?

It doesn't apply here because he's not my enemy, and I just want to stay as far away from him as possible.

The lecturer finishes up the last part of the PowerPoint, and just as we start packing up, he calls out for our attention.

"Your project will be due on the 24th of October. There will be a notice sent out for when your presentation will be."

There are a few groans here and there, but otherwise, no one really says anything.

I raise my hand.

"Sorry, but what is the project?" I ask, standing up so that he can see me.

"You weren't here last week, and you were late this morning," the lecturer states.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I say apologetically.

"It's fine. Ian?" he calls out.

I look around, wondering who Ian is.

"Yes?" The guy sitting next to me replies.

So his name is Ian. I like 'Arsehole' better, but alas, his parents didn't ask my opinion while naming him.

"Work on the project with her instead of working in a three."

No! This can't be happening!

"Okay," he replies.

Okay?! He's okay with this?!

I look at him, but he doesn't even acknowledge me.

"Good," the lecturer says, and then walks out of the room.

Everyone starts making their way out.

"Hey," I say turning to him, but he swings his backpack over his shoulder and walks away.

And he's out!

I take a deep breath in and then slowly release it.

Now I'm mad! Why the fuck did he agree with the teacher if he's gonna be like that?

It's been such a great day already, and it's not even noon yet.