The Ascension of Laney: Chapters 1-5

three

Kass

Monday morning, about halfway through my first finance lecture, I sense Laney in the building. Of course, I knew she had class in the business building; the Archs gave me her schedule when they assigned us to her. What I didn't expect were the feelings she was putting off. She had a flirty feel to her and she was anxiously happy. We can sometimes sense our assignment's feelings but this was way more intense a connection than I've ever had, and definitely not the emotion I want to sense, especially considering it's not directed at me.

I figured she would still be unhappy after Saturday. She wasn't one to hold a grudge, at least not that I can remember, but she sure was pissed at that party. Maybe I was wrong about the whole grudge holding thing.

The feelings begin intensifying and I can't take it anymore. I'm sitting in class, slightly turned on, and I have no clue why. Quietly packing my bag, I head out of the classroom to find Laney. As I exit, I hear the class laughing. Probably one of those asshole professors making a joke out of people leaving early.

I get to the café on the same floor as my classroom and stop. Standing outside of the café is Laney and some scrawny little guy. Why is it always a scrawny guy? She has her hand on his arm and she's smiling. I used to love that playful smile she has on her face right now. I know what follows and that makes my blood boil.

Stomping over to them, I smile the biggest smile I can muster right at Laney. I drape an arm over the scrawny dude and he tenses. Good. Maybe he's not stupid after all.

"What's up Laney?" I say, jostling the guy a little.

"What do you want, Kass?" she spits, her hatred for me clear on her face and radiating through her emotions. I almost hate myself from the intensity of it. She's definitely into grudge holding these days.

"Oh, you know, just going to class and stuff." Really? And stuff? I sound like one of those stupid, giant football players who've had way too many concussions to form a coherent thought. I may have been a football player in a past life but I'm not stupid, so why am I acting like it?

"Right, well I've got to go." She smiles at scrawny guy and says, "I'll see you later, Carl." Oh, Carl. Such a great name, I almost laugh.

I release Carl, none too gently, and walk off as Laney walks the other way. I have no idea what came over me. Well, I know what came over me but that shouldn't happen. I'm not supposed to have the ability to feel jealous, especially not over a human, well... sort of human.

I'm supposed to be getting her to trust me so we can train her, but so far she's yelled at me and I've made a complete fool of myself. Her hate seems to be getting stronger with each meeting we have. I really need to get a handle on this. If we don't deliver some type of progress soon, we'll be reassigned. I've never been reassigned and I don't want to be now.

As I'm leaving, I notice Miguel walking toward the building. He has this class with Laney. Lucky bastard.

"Hey," he greets.

"Hey." I make a show of looking at both of his empty hands. When we first got assigned together, he seemed to take this job more seriously. The last year, he's kind of been falling down on the job. "Not even a spiral or at least a pen?"

He shrugs. "What's the point? The grades don't matter and it's the first day. What kind of notes do they expect me to take?"

I shake my head. "We're supposed to blend in. People are going to notice if you don't even act like you're trying."

Miguel grabs the spiral out of my hands and holds it up. "Got a pen?" I sigh and hand him my pen. He takes it and walks away without a word. I really hope he doesn't screw this up for us because I desperately need this time with Laney. I haven't quite figured out what that means for any of us, but at the moment I can't find it in me to care.