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Chapter 2

Author: Yesterday's Sun
Three days after I turned Katy down, she suddenly asked me out to dinner.

She picked Bellini's, the little bistro on the street behind campus, the place we'd been going since freshman year.

By the time I got there, Katy was already seated in a booth, makeup done just right, smiling and waving me over.

"Anita! Over here, over here!"

I sat down. She slid the menu over to me immediately, fussing over me in a way that felt almost excessive.

"My treat today. Order whatever you want."

I raised an eyebrow and said nothing, just picked two dishes at random.

We made small talk for five minutes before she finally got to the point.

"Anita, I really can't handle my senior thesis."

She set down her fork, her eyes rimmed faintly red.

"You know my coding is weak, and my advisor's on my case constantly. If I don't graduate on time, my mother will kill me."

She reached out and gripped my wrist, the pressure calculated just right, somewhere between affection and pleading.

"Just help me this one last time, okay? I'll take you out for a big dinner once I graduate. I mean it."

I looked into her eyes.

There was weakness there, and flattery, and even a trace of certainty she couldn't quite hide.

She was certain I'd say yes.

Because I never had said no to her. Not once. From saving her a seat freshman year, to writing her lab reports, to editing her papers, all the way to carrying her senior thesis. I was her most reliable tool.

"Katy."

I pulled my wrist back, my voice even.

"I really don't have the time."

The smile on her face froze.

"What have you been so busy with lately?"

"Getting some things of my own in order."

Something flickered in her eyes, like she was trying to gauge what I meant. Then she recovered that fragile, soft look and smiled.

"All right. I'll figure something else out, then."

We went our separate ways after dinner. At the fork in the road, I caught her out of the corner of my eye pulling out her phone and dialing someone in a hurry. Her back was to me, her voice pitched low, but the night wind carried a few fragments over.

"She's not right lately... she won't help me anymore... what am I supposed to do?"

I didn't turn around. I didn't stop walking, either.

I didn't need to guess who was on the other end of that call.

Sure enough, that night, Harley texted, his tone ten times gentler than usual.

Harley: [Babe, are you not feeling great lately? Want me to take you out this weekend?]

Harley: [Oh, by the way, Katy said she's stuck on her thesis. If you've got a minute, help her take a look, would you? It's nothing, really.]

I stared at the words nothing, really and nearly laughed out loud.

An entire senior thesis, and he called that nothing.

Of course it sounded easy to him. It always did, for things he never had to lift a finger for himself.

I sent back one word: [Busy.]

He replied instantly. [Busy with what? Didn't you say you weren't going abroad anymore? It's way too early to be studying for grad exams.]

I didn't answer again. He sent three more messages in a row, his tone sliding from gentle to irritated.

Harley: [Anita?]

Harley: [What's with the attitude?]

Harley: [I'm talking to you nicely here. Can you not be so passive-aggressive?]

I put my phone on silent, opened my laptop, and went back to researching the application materials for the AI lab at Elinseburgh.

The professor's research focus happened to be natural language processing.

My future self had been right about that, too. That lab would catch Coogle's eye two years from now.

All I had to do was get myself into it before the end of my first semester.

As for Harley and Katy? They could help each other if they wanted to.

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