Calculus Quiz!

Your Wednesday morning starts out well, with a cup of coffee and a plate full of sausage, toast, and eggs. The dining hall is busy with the morning rush hour. Students swarm their way in, ready for their fix of calories, so it’s no surprise when you see Vignesh sliding into the seat next to you, still wearing a shirt a size too large, a cowlick sticking up the side of his head.

“Hey Alex,” he says, taking a bite out of his bagel. “You ready for the Calculus quiz today?”

“Less ready than you are, I’m sure,” you smile. “But Luck said we get to work in pairs, right?”

“That’s what I came to ask you about,” he says, glancing nervously over his shoulder. You follow his gaze and see Ruby chatting with a couple of her friends, munching on a dainty breakfast muffin. “Yeah… it’s about her. But don’t stare too long! She might catch us!”

You chuckle, having glanced at her for no more than a second. It’s Vignesh that’s doing all the staring.

“Eyes back here, dude,” you say, patting his shoulder, and it takes Vignesh a **** second to pull his eyes away from her.

“You’re wondering whether you should work with her for the quiz?” you ask.

“I know you’ve been warming her up for me,” he says, and then he frowns slightly. “But the issue is that time is running out for me! You remember how I told you I’m transferring out of this class and into graduate analysis at the end of this week?” You nod, dimly recalling such a thing. “Well, I’m not going to have an excuse to talk to Ruby once I’m gone, and so, I don’t know, there’s isn’t too much more time for you to warm her up. I need to do something, but I don’t know what…”

“You’re right,” you say, after a moment. “We don’t have much time. I’d set you up with Ruby now, but if I’m being frank, I don’t know if she’s ready for that yet.” You pause, thinking to yourself. “But tell you what. There’s going to be another quiz on Friday, right? I think that will be the perfect time to strike.”

“So you think I should wait until Friday’s partner quiz to make my move?” Vignesh asks, sounding anxious, as if the thought of actually making a move is mildly terrifying to him.

“Give me a second to think,” you say, draining half your mug of coffee.

There’s a lot to consider. The way you see it, you can put off deciding on what moves to make on Friday, but that still leaves you with the difficult choice of choosing what to do for today’s quiz that’s coming up in… ten minutes.

You could let Vignesh work with Ruby on the quiz today, drawing the two of them closer together. You could work with Christina in that case, which has its appeal to you. Or, you could work with Ruby, either to warm her up so that you can bring Vignesh in at the right moment, or, more darkly, you can try to keep her for yourself. You come to a decision as you look over Vignesh, that cowlick still sticking up from his head.

“First things first,” you say, licking your fingers and taming down his hair. “Tomorrow, I’m going to give you a few tips on style, so that Friday goes as well as it possibly can. Now, as for the quiz today...”