Prologue

Frafner and Aru are starting the Spring semester, and things get chaotic and very interesting.

"One vanilla cappucino with caramel drizzle!" a disgruntled coffee shop employee yelled out to the mass of people crowded in the small store.

A gloved hand went up in the air, index finger extended upward, and a voice shouted above the loud noise levels caused by other customers' idle chit-chat, "That's mine! Over here!" 

The customer who purchased the beverage made her way through the crowd, grunting in annoyance as she pushed her way between people who refused to move. It was quite a trek for a destination that was only twenty feet away from where she was, and the fact that she was running late was not making this matter any better. 

The barista yelled once more, a hint of his anger definitely audible in his voice, "One vanilla cappucino with caramel drizzle! Come on, people!" 

The customer finally pushed her way through the last blockade of people, and she angrily yelled back, not realizing that she was right in front of the counter, "I said that's mine you dumbass--oh!" 

Giving her a displeased expression, the barista handed her the drink and gave her a snarky, sarcastic reply, "Enjoy your coffee, miss." 

The young woman blushed in embarassment and accepted the drink, "Uh, yeah, thanks." She immediately made her way to the exit, mostly wanting to get out of the disorganized chaos that was the coffee shop. 

Reaching into her pocket, she found her phone, and pulled it out to check the time. To her shock, it was much later than she had thought, and she stamped her foot on the ground in a combination of panic and anger, "Damnit! I'm supposed to meet Aru at the bookstore in ten minutes!"

Luck in her favor, though, a campus bus pulled up to the stop twenty or so feet ahead of her, and she immediately ran to catch it. The ride went smoothly, and she actually made it to the bookstore on time, albeit just barely. Stepping off of the bus, she looked around at the large number of students entering and exiting the building. Amazingly, she found her roommate, Aru. 

"Sorry Aru, I was running a bit late. I had an annoying time at the coffee shop."

The shorter Indian woman chuckled, and waved her hand in a "don't sweat it" fashion, "No problem, Frafner. I just got here myself because of the traffic. By the way, I checked the mailbox before I left, and there's a letter for you. There was no return address, so I can't tell you where it came from. It's on the table." 

Frafner felt her eyes widen a bit, and she nodded; she knew exactly who it was from. She would have to deal with it later, though, because if the two of them didn't hurry, the books that they needed would be sold out. 

"Alright, thanks Aru. Well," she looked at the mass of students crowded around the doors, and gave a nod and a smirk, "Shall we?" 

Aru chuckled, "Let's just get it over with."

The two women pushed their way through the crowd, eager to find their textbooks and get out as soon as possible. It was utter chaos inside the store, and both of them wondered why in the world they had waited until the day before classes to do this. After some excrutiating searching, they each found all the books that they required, save one for Frafner. 

"I think I see one more Accounting book, Aru! Watch my stuff, I'll be right back." 

The shorter woman chuckled and watched as Frafner made her way through even more people, pushing to get to the aisle that contained the book that she so much needed to have. Giving a satisfied "Aha!" upon reaching an arm-length distance from it, she reached out, only to be met by another hand trying to obtain the very same book. 

"Oh no you don't! I need this book way more than you do, buddy--" Her eyes went wide upon seeing the face of the other person, "--Sneakers!" 

He appeared just as surprised as she was, and he quickly looked away from her, down at the floor, "Oh, hey Frafner. I uh, didn't expect to see you here."

Frafner had dated him when they were both in high school, and they had not seen each other since their breakup, which had been a few years before. The two had been very close in the beginning, but time and differing interests had slowly driven them apart. The breakup had been a mutual decision, but emotions between the two of them afterward were indeed sour for a while. Samuel, or the nickname he went by, Sneakers, had decided to attend a university on the other side of the country, and the two had lost contact after he left. Needless to say, Frafner was very surprised to see him here.

She immediately asked the question that was plaguing her mind, "So um, why did you come to Deveaux?"

He looked around and cleared his throat, "I uh, didn't like the cirriculum at Dellington University. I didn't much care for the atmosphere in Connecticut either. I heard Deveaux had a much better cirriculum for my major, so I decided to switch here." 

Frafner had shifted her gaze to the textbook, and she continued the conversation, "I see. So, um, I see you need the same book as I do." 

Sneakers nodded, "I, uhh, yeah, I do. You can have it though, Frafner. I can always get it next week when they get more copies in," he bit his lip and looked around at the floor nervously, "I have to go. I'll maybe see you around." He took off quickly, and Frafner turned to watch him go. 

She slowly reached down to pick up the book, and gave a regretful expression. Even though their relationship had not worked out in the end, she could not help but feel bad for him. She had not personally kept up with him after their breakup, but her friends would occasionally tell her what he had been up to. From what they said, he had become rather reserved, and slightly depressed. Even though she did not outwardly express it, Frafner did feel slightly guilty for his current demeanor. While standing there pondering the past, she did not even notice Aru walking up to her until she was tapped on the shoulder. 

Jumping a bit, Frafner smiled and gave a light chuckle, "Oh Aru, you startled me. Sorry, I ran into Sneakers--it was awkward." 

Aru tilted her head and looked at Frafner with a quizzical expression, "He's here? Why?" Her eyes then widened as she started to figure the situation out, "Please tell me he's not going here now."

Frafner hesitantly nodded, and sighed, "Yeah, he is. He transferred because his old college had a cruddy cirriculum for his major." 

Aru gave her friend a reassuring pat on the back, "Come on, let's go pay for these and go get lunch somewhere to take your mind off of it." 

Frafner smiled and looked ahead as they began to walk to the checkout line, "Yeah, sounds like a good idea. All I can say is that this is going to be a very interesting semester."   

Author's Note

This is just the prologue; the coming chapters will have a lot more content.