Shared notes and rumors

As class came to a close I stretched and decided to give my handiwork a quick overview. I felt satisfied by the results. The practice courses I had taken over the summer were absolutely worth the extra effort.

Several soft taps on my shoulder pulled my attention away from the clean notation and towards Rina. She had packed up all of her work and was wearing an apologetic look.

Rina: Hey I’m really sorry, but something came up and I gotta run sooner than I expected. Would it be cool if I just took a pic of the notes with my phone?

That was hardly an issue, I wasn’t the type to be stingy with my notes in most classes. I couldn’t help but wonder what had come up to make her need to leave so suddenly though. She seemed to be in quite a rush; maybe it was just the hectic nature of the first day back?

I chastised myself and pulled back the thought process. I already swore I wasn’t going to keep doing that.

Emery: For sure, no problem at all.

Rina: Thanks so much dude. You’re really saving my ass here. I’m gonna pay you back big time for this one!

No wonder she had accepted my help. I could tell from her tone that she really meant it. The pace Rina set gave me no reason to doubt either. With frankly baffling speed she snapped a rapid succession of pictures, neatly reorganized the pages, handled them back, and almost jumped out of her seat. She turned and shot me a glowing expression.

Rina: Sorry to dip like this. Let’s catch up soon, I’ll text you when I’m less busy. And say hi to Nia for me too.

She pointed a finger gun at me and winked, then proceeded to blitz up the stairs, smoothly gliding through the traffic as if it was second nature to her.

With the hurricane passed, I turned back to my things and started packing them all up. Jun peered up at me from the nest he’d built between his arms on his stretch of desk; a look of curiosity painted him.

Jun: Since when were you so tight with Rina?

I cocked an eyebrow at him, genuinely surprised by his interest in our relationship.

Emery: Could swear I’ve mentioned this, but I occasionally volunteer to help with miscellaneous work that our clubs and teams need. She’s on the basketball team, ergo we’ve been together often over the years. We’ve been friendly since she started as a freshman. I guess you wouldn’t have seen us since you’re never around those parts of campus.

I shrugged and finished packing up my bag.

Jun: You mentioned that you did that, yeah. You never mentioned you were friends with Rina.

Emery: Is that so surprising?

Jun: Nah mane, I just mean…

He held his tongue briefly. I could hear the cogs turning in his head.

Jun: Well, you know, actually a little surprising yeah. She doesn’t hang out with guys very often. On top of that you're a model student, and she’s got some rumors floating around her.

He puts his hands up in a preemptive defense.

Jun: I’m not saying they’re all true, but some of them are. Figured you avoided people who might make it hard to keep a good reputation here.

Emery: You know I don’t care for the student politics that go on. If I can, I try to just stay in my lane and get my work done.

I waited and collected myself. I didn’t want to come across as defensive. I liked Rina, but I didn’t want to give people the wrong impression of our relationship.

Emery: As far as rumors go, they’ve never come up around her and I don’t ask about them. Most of the stuff is about her being a flirt, right?

Jun nodded, continuing to listen as I spoke. He was more interested in this than I suspected.

Emery: She’s just popular cause she’s the basketball team’s ace. I do think she can be a little more physically affectionate than some people are comfortable with, but I’ve never seen her be outright inappropriate. It's easy to see how some people might get the wrong idea I suppose. I’m just saying, in my opinion, there’s hardly anything worth spreading rumors over.

Jun looked like he had something he wanted to say, but wasn’t quite sure how to put it. Eventually he seemed to scrap the idea all together, choosing to simply settle back into his more relaxed state and melt into the table.

Jun: Fair enough. Guess I was just bein’ lazy and going off what I’ve heard. My b, man.

Emery: You being lazy? I’d never make an accusation like that.

We smirked at each other and finished getting ready to head out. Even if the next lecture wouldn’t be starting for a while, it was better to be there early.