Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Throne stretched his arm out behind him, feeling the cold sheets where he should have felt Cress. With a half-asleep frown, he lifted his head and glanced over his shoulder.

Cress was sitting up, the dim light from her port shinning on her face.

"What are you doing?" He mumbled.

"Just seeing if I got in." Cress whispered.

"It's a community college, of course you got in." Thorne blinked. "Sorry, that didn't come out the way I meant it to—what time is it?"

"2:15. And I knew I'd get in, I just wanted to see if I got in."

"Yeah, of course."

Cress faintly smirked, shutting her port off and tossing it aside. She turned back and laid back down beside Thorne, sighing.

"You wanna go back to school shopping tomorrow?" Thorne asked, already starting to fall asleep again.

"I should figure out what classes I want first, don't you think?"

"Mm... probably. I'm sorry I was... mean with the... community comment."

Cress faintly laughed and she squeezed her arms around his. "It's okay, I knew what you meant."

"You're so good to me."

Much to Thorne's surprise, Cress was still sleeping when he blinked his eyes open several hours later. He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, nestling his head against the side of hers.

Cress took a deep breath, faintly groaning as she arched her back.

Thorne kissed the space just behind her ear. "You're cute when you're asleep."

"You're cute when I'm asleep too."

Thorne poked her side and she squirmed. He hooked a leg around both of hers, trapping her. "You be nice to me."

"I'm always nice to you." Cress said, holding one of his arms against herself as if it were a pillow.

"I'm gonna go to the gym, you want to come?"

Cress sighed. "Yeah."

Thorne kissed the side of her head again, smacking her backside as he got up and started to get dressed.

Cress shivered as she stood up.

"Why don't you sleep in pants if you're cold?"

"I don't like to." Cress shrugged, running her hands through her hair and pulling one of her drawers open and pulling out her sweats.

They hit the gym for an hour or so, though Cress spent most her time on the treadmill and then in one of the empty class rooms. She didn't like working out in public and the gym was especially crowded this morning.

After a thorough workout, his muscles achy and sore, Thorne went in search of Cress who was still one of the workout class rooms stretching. He paused before walking in, wondering how in the universe it was possible for her to contort into so many knots and make it look effortless. Comfortable, even.

She glanced up and caught him staring. "What?"

Thorne smirked, shoving the door open. "That looks both painful and... not at the same time."

Cress laughed, easily swinging her legs around and getting to her feet. She pulled her sweatshirt over her head and trotted towards him. "I used to stretch all the time on the satellite and don't want to loose all that flexibility." She added as an explanation.

"No, it's cool." Thorne grinned as he slung an arm across her shoulders.

Cress rested her hand on the other side of his waist. "I'll make us breakfast when we get home."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

While Carswell was in the shower, Cress assembled everything to make pancakes and eggs. She glanced over her shoulder at her port sitting on the counter. The school page was probably still open and she was tempted to check to see if she had gotten a registration date but resisted. She probably wouldn't know for at least another week or two.

"Smells good." Carswell said, coming down the stairs and pulling a shirt over his head.

Cress grinned.

"So, what are you thinking of majoring in? And please don't say computer science because there's no way any of the teachers here are going to teach you anything."

Cress laughed, pride swelling in her chest. "No, I was thinking something a little more... I don't know, broad. Like I'd like to study Earth and Luna's history more indepthly, or learn more about weather patterns and atmospheric anomalies." She shrugged.

"Oh is that all?" Carswell deadpanned.

Cress shot him a glare. "Just normal stuff."

"Okay, so what you can either do then is just take classes and not do any kind of major, or you can start on your gen-ed right away and pick a major later."

Cress nodded. "I like the second idea."

"Cool." Carswell picked up her port and opened the page with the college catalog. "Let's see what gen-ed classes are still available."

Cress tried to fight a grin from spreading onto her face. She knew how much Carswell hated school and she'd been so worried he would think it totally ridiculous that she wanted to go. Seeing him so attentive about it made her heart swell.

"Depending on what you want to major in, you might not need a crazy math—but you'll need something. Though math classes are always first to go so you might want to try for a history or English or geography."

"Can I only take one at a time?" Cress asked, lightly frowning.

"No, of course not. Full time I think is four or five classes." Carswell looked up, reaching for a handful of chocolate chips. "Do you want to try full time?"

Cress shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah, kinda. I mean, it's not like I'm doing anything else."

"True."

"Is four or five classes to much, do you think?" Cress asked, chewing her thumbnail.

Carswell shook her head. "No. Not for you—super genius that you are."

Cress shoved his shoulder.

"I'm serious!"

Cress shook her head, flipping the last three pancakes onto a platter and scooping the eggs into a bowl.

"Syrup?"

"On chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Do they all have chocolate chips?"

"Yeah, sorry."

Carswell waved a hand in the air, walking around the counter and grabbing a couple plates and forks from the cabinet and setting them on the table.

Cress followed with the pancakes and eggs, her eyes wandering to the massive window. It wasn't raining at the moment, and the greenery was so intense it almost looked fake.

"Here, look over these while you eat and start getting some ideas." Carswell said, sliding her port towards her.

Cress nodded. She scanned over the list and jotted down the classes that sounded the most interesting. Carswell pointed out a few of them that would probably be full right away so the likelihood of her getting into them, being a freshman, was low.

Aces, she was a freshman!

"Oh! I already have a registration date—a week? I only have a week to decide what classes?"

"That's more than enough time. You already know what you want."

Cress nodded. She chewed her lip, excitement beginning to build in her chest. She was going to school!