Cicada took a deep breath and went from running to sprinting. She used to run track and cross country, so he just made a big mistake. Her movements were effortless, minus the heeled boots, as she dodged the other people shouting a quick, "Sorry!" as she passed. Moments later she had almost caught up to Phoenix. She trusted that he would lead her to the entrance, but if she passed him she would have to figure it out herself. When she saw the entrance and figured that was their destination she kicked up to high gear and passed him, "Who's a slow poke now?"
Snickering, he slowed his sprint into a jog to come to a steady pace. "I may be the slow poke, but I'm the slow poke that got you to class on time." He smirked, watching her continue to run. "Now, I'm assuming your class is on the first floor," He began coming up next to her. "And all the classes on this floor, are to your right. Even numbers on the left, odd ones on the right. You think you got that?" Phoenix asked her crossing his arms over his chest with a light smirk.
Cicada slowed down after seeing him not by her anymore. She stopped and looked back at him with a breathless smirk. Her arms crossed as well and she nodded along with his words, "Okay, but what makes you assume my class is on the first floor? I'm a junior you know. Unless that's where the computer labs are."
"Just an instinct. But if it is upstairs, don't wait for the elevator. For only being two floors, it takes a ridiculous amount of time. Stairs are much faster." Phoenix shrugged to her, leaning back against the door frame. "Layout is the same on the top floor as the bottom. There's just more classrooms upstairs." The young man informed, glancing at his watch. "You better hurry, you don't even have a minute."
Cicada nodded and gave him a smile, "Thank you for all your help. Hope I see you later." With that Cicada left and entered the building. She luckily remembered the room number and would you know it, it was on the first floor. She made it in just as class started and the professor was understanding. She let out a relieved breath and sat down at one of the workstations for class.
Watching her begin to walk off, his smile dropped as he starred at the ten overtop of her head. 'How on earth can someone like her be a ten?' With that thought constantly echoing through his head, he numbly began walking over to his own class. 15 minutes and counting down until he was late. "Come on, just stop thinking about her. You need to just focus on getting to class on time." Phoenix muttered under his breath.
Cicada’s class seemed to fly by and afterwards she spent a good time talking to the other Computer Science majors. Best start trying to get into a friend group now. All the kids seemed friendly enough and most accepted her in. She wasn’t sure about the real quiet one, but she would get to her eventually. Cicada checked her schedule to figure out where her next class was, or if she had a next class at all.
(Sorry, I was having a hard time coming up with a response)
As for Phoenix, his class seemed to drag. It was an English class, which he had always hated in high-school. But the college demanded you take at least one English for three years, same going for Science and Math. To get it over with, he had started his Freshman year in all three classes, and was currently in his Sophomore year. At the sound of the teacher dismissing them all, Phoenix was the first up and out of the class.
(Don't blame ya.)
Cicada was out in the main campus area not having another course for an hour or so. She wanted to soak up the sunshine while it was still around and maybe run into Phoenix again. The people in her major were friendly, but Phoenix intrigued her. She really had to put up an act in order for him to relax around her and even then he still seemed on edge. Her eyes wandered around trying to figure out where he was.
The young man was jogging again, messenger bag hung over his shoulder as he did. Where he was running to, he really didn't know, but he needed to just run for the sake of running. Being stuck in that stuffy classroom always got to him. Especially since the teacher was so dry mouthed when he talked. "Just shake it off. You've got 30 minutes until your next class." Phoenix mumbled to himself, slowing his pace to more of a walk.
Cicada spotted Phoenix and began makong her way over to him. She had a smile on as she walked up to where he was walking. He had mumbled something, but she wasn't all that bothered by it. It was probably about his class or something like that. She gently touched his shoulder again, "Hello again! Fancy seeing you here."
Whipping around, he jumped just a bit at seeing her. It took him a moment to regain himself, and gave her a weak and forced smile. "Oh, hey. Did you find your class in time?" Phoenix asked softly, trying his best to relax his nerves. Cicada was a sweet girl, from what he could tell, but the blaring number ten above her head made him incredibly uneasy. "And was I right about it being down stairs?"
Cicada nodded smiling at him. She probably scared him because she walked up to him without warning. He was nice to hang around and a bit of a dork. Highschool Cicada probably would have targeted and maybe bullied him when no one was looking, but she was older now and knew better. She wanted to be friends with him, "Yeah I made it right as class started, so not technically late. And yes, it was on the first floor."
Letting a good natured smirk come to his lips, he nodded just slightly. "Told you so. Do I know this place, or do I?" Of course, he didn't really mean it. Phoenix had gotten turned around on his way to his own class. But she didn't know that, so he wasn't going to offer her that information. "Anyways, where are you headed? Class, dorms, just on a walk?" Phoenix asked her, getting annoyed at the nice and warm weather outside.
Cicada snickered ever so slightly at his comment. He had been here longer than Cicada had, so of course, he had known the building better than her. Overall, it was wrong to think her class was on the second floor, but it wasn't her fault exactly. She shrugged at his question holding onto the strap of her bag, "Just out for a walk, enjoy the last few days of hot weather before it goes away for the winter ya know? You do like warm weather right?"
Laughing at her last comment, he shrugged just slightly. "Hardly," Phoenix admitted, giving up trying to tough out the sweatshirt. Yanking it off, he was wearing a simple white t-shirt underneath. "The only thing I really like about it, is that I can play baseball without getting finger cramps. And swimming is nice. I burn way too easily." Phoenix explained, tying the hoodie-sweatshirt around his waist. "Other than those couple things, I really don't care for the so called 'nice' weather."
"Well unlike you, I love the summer," Cicada responded watching him. take off his sweatshirt. She understood the need to take it off as she would love to take off her long-sleeved dress, but revealing her scars wasn't an option. Her smile stayed on throughout the whole time, "So you play baseball? Are you on the team at school or just a hobby that you have?"
Running a hand through his curls, he did his best to tame them. "Just a hobby. I was never serious enough about it, I tried playing one year in high-school. Coach kicked me off the team after about a week." Phoenix snickered, remembering the incredibly frustrate baseball coach. "That man had some issues… what about you? Do you have any sports you play?"
"I ran on both the track and cross country team at my old college and in high school," Cicada responded with a slight laugh. She didn't think someone would just kick a guy from a team. Phoenix must've done something or just not have been that good. Her hand went up to her neck and rubbed the back of it as she lifted her hair up to let fresh hair hit the back of her neck, "I haven't officially decided if I want to run here too. I'm at least taking a semester off of running to get adjusted."
"Won't that get you out of practice? Then you'll have to work up to it. The school is really serious about their sports teams here. Only another reason why I won't even consider joining the baseball team." Phoenix shrugged just slightly, catching sight of a set of picnic tables off the path. They were on somewhat of a slope, so cautiously he began to jog down the hill to the group of empty tables.
"No, I'm going to keep running to stay in shape. Just not going to run competitively," Cicada responded as she let her hair fall. She shrugged her shoulders to help get it back in place and let her hands fall to her sides again. Her eyes caught him going down to the picnic tables and she followed him down. A smile was on her face as she kept going down and sat down at one of the empty tables, "Besides, I have a pretty good record of winning, so I'm sure I'll get on."
Phoenix snickered, crossing his arms over his chest before sitting on the edge of the table. "You hope so at least. A lot of current great athletes played on these teams. And some didn't even make it on." He hummed out, looking over to the small tree grove shading the in ground grassy area. Somehow it got watered, and somehow it got sun. Where from, he had no clue.
"Yeah, well, I have to have confidence don't I?" Cicada responded with a smile on her face. She leaned onto the picnic table her elbows down and her hands holding her head. Her eyes caught the little tree grove that Phoenix was looking at before her eyes going back to him. He was her 'target' at the moment, and that's what she needed to focus on, "If I don't I'll never make it anywhere."
Only now did he begin to grow slightly cautious. Something was off, and he didn't like it. Here they were, alone, in a rather secluded area. For all he knew, she could be a murderer waiting to strike. Phoenix needed to be careful, as he barely knew a thing about this girl. Her name was Cicada, but he didn't even know her surname. That was basically it. She could run, he had seen that in action. That was a useful skill for someone who could hurt people, they wouldn't be anywhere near the crime scene once police were alerted. "I mean I guess so." He shrugged, shaking off his thoughts.
Cicada pushed off of the table and moved so she was now sitting atop like he was resting her feet on the bench. She had a smile on as she looked over at him. Her whole demeanor seemed innocent and unassuming. She wasn't going to do anything to him, not now or ever (hopefully), "So are you an upperclassman? I mean, a junior or senior?"
