The place is almost empty. And why shouldn't it be? It's ten minutes too early. Crap. I had Chemistry 2 the two last hours and, for the first time since the semester started, the boring woman I've got as a teacher decided to let us leave early, which only implied that I'd be early for Math 2. I sigh again, walking over to the fifth row, letting my black backpack fall onto the desk. One of the good things about rooms in the second floor is the fact that they are designed kinda like an auditory. Each desk is for three students placed in four columns and go all the way up, so even if you're passed the middle, you can still see the blackboard. That is if you've got a 20/20 sight. I still can't see it. The classrooms in the third floor (300s something) are kinda like labs. Long rows of seats for about... ten or so people. Only one row, of course. Boring. If you're stuck in the back you won't see a damn thing. That and the high seats kill your back.

And what is it with the room's numbers? What didn't they place it correlated. I mean, there are only up to 107 in the first floor, up to 210 in the second floor and 309 in the third. Only 26 classrooms in a Faculty of about ten hundred students all in all. I've been told they were numbered like that so you could know which floor your room was in, but I don't buy that. I still think they made a mistake there. That and the fact that there aren't rooms named 100, 200 or 300.

After this small psychological trauma of mine, I take out my small black notebook and place it on the desk at my side. I hope he gets here early enough. Taking out another notebook, I place it in front of me. My pens and pencil are put beside it as I wait for my teacher. The only teacher I actually like this semester is Chau. He's the Master. That boy is just awesome when it comes down to teaching, that's for sure. I had him back in Introduction to Math in the first semester and he was amazing. Sure, his voice is rather low (for which I'm forced to sit rather close instead of on the second half of the room as I usually do), but still. He's so condescending when you try your hardest. He's just plain down nice. I think he's one of the very few teacher you can reason with. You tell them that you did get the idea of the problem, you just fucked up at the end, and he gets it. And he gives you at least some punctuation from trying. Down right amazing, if you ask me.

I bit back a yawn. I'm far too tired for this; I know that now. It's only 9am but for me it's the middle of the night. I still can't believe I had to choose a 7am Chemistry class and then Math 2. Sucks. My whole life sucks.

I've barely let another sigh of frustration at how little amount of sleep I'm getting as the teacher walks in. I sigh again and open the notebook. Where were we the last class? Something about Integration something I just don't get. It's all right; I don't seem to get most of the things he's been teaching for the last week.

I pay attention the whole first hour, another one to go, writing what needs to be written and trying to listen to him when I know I have to be listening. I turn around, loosing what little span of concentration I had a minute ago. Someone is sitting at the end of the desk and I didn't even realize it. I can't believe this. I must have been really out of it, or really into the class (yeah, right!), not to notice.

Something seems to catch my eye about this guy. He's got his backpack closed and on the desk. He doesn't have any notebook or anything along those lines open. He doesn't seem to be taking any notes at all. That's beyond impossible, you know. This is Math2 we're talking about. Reinmann sum up and a lot of laws for Integration that you just gotta learn, so anyone in their right mind would have at least a pad out.

I shake my head nonchalantly. If he doesn't know what Chau's said after this, it's not going to be my fault. I turn back at the blackboard once again.

Seeing some movement on my peripheral vision, my eyes dart over to the door on the right side of the room. Kevin is standing about six feet from it, waving slightly at me. I smile and wave him to come on in. He looks around the room for a moment, before walking to the door and onto the room. He walks up to where I'm sitting.

"Excuse me," he mutters softly to the guy sitting on the end of the desk. The guy stands up and Kevin sits besides me.

Picking up my black notebook from the desk I was saving for him, I whisper. "Took you long enough."

He chuckles softly as he places his own backpack on the desk and proceeds to get a notebook out. "Static run a little bit late."

I shrug. I'm used to this. Kevin is always late after Static. It seems like that teacher just loves giving them extra work. But then again, that always happens when you're in a class that has something to do with numbers.

Kevin takes one of his pens and pretends to write something in his notebook, barely even listening to what Chau is saying. Since our schedules seem to fit, he kills time getting in my classes and I do the same for him. I'm not taking Theology, since I've already passed it, however I still go to his class and his teacher (the same teacher I had last semester) knows perfectly fine that that's Kevin's class and not mine anymore. He even teases us about that. Well, that's the kind of thing you do for friends (and family) when you're as close to them as Kevin and I are. Even though he's four years my senior, we're talking some of the subjects together. That's what happens when you take three sabbatical years to go all over the world and find yourself. All Kevin found was the fact that studying Civil Engineering, something I had been telling him I wanted to do for the past five years, was what he wanted in the end. It worked for me, since now I've got a friend taking most of the subjects I am.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Kevin taking out a couple of copies from his class with Pereyra. For such a small woman, she sure as hell is tough. I don't really like Physics that much (and know that I should love it since I'm gonna study it until I die) and the way she talks when she tries to explain the rotation angle is something I just can't stand. I'm with Vilela. He's a good teacher, but I need to use books when it comes down to exercises. That boy thinks that the only thing they ask us at the exam is theory.

"You taking Physics2?"

I hear a voice asking from my side and I turn around slightly. The guy that was -- that is -- sitting on the end of the desk asked Kevin. That's weird. I could have sworn that Kevin doesn't know him. I know most of Kevin's friends and the boy doesn't even look familiar.

Kevin seems surprise for a moment before answering. "Yeah, with Pereyra."

"Which class?"

Now why is he so inquiring? We don't even know him.

Kevin squints his eyes slightly, a habit he's got for as long as I remember, then answers, "205 I think."

"Me too. You've got exam tomorrow night?"

Kevin nods and I turn around to look at the blackboard as I hear "remembering from last class that integral b to an of f(x) dx is..." leave Chau's mouth. I don't wanna be lost in this class. I hear Kevin answer positively and I already knew that. He's got exam tomorrow night and I've got it on Friday night. The tests used to be given all in one night, not the first seven classes (either from 101-107 and 108-104 or 201-207 and 208-214 depending the year your coursing) one night and the other seven another. I have no idea why the teachers thought that'd be better.

"I'm taking classes with her too. She left the copies of the last class in the Xerox place, right?"

"Yeah, said that we had to find the elasticity constants before anything."

I write down on my notebook the last Theorem Chau has copied on the blackboard. This thing is supposed to be based on the Riemann sum, but I don't see the similarity.

I turn around just enough so see Kevin smiling softly at the guy, the two of them talking way too amicability for some one who just met. Hmmm... interesting.

"Is this your class?"

I really have no idea what right that guy has to ask. I mean, I'm pretty sure it isn't his class, since he hasn't taken any notes so far.

"No, I'm just her with a friend. He's got class, and I've got an hour to kill."

I can almost hear the other guy nodding.

"Are you taking Math2?"

"Yeah," Kevin drawls softly, "with Pavletich."

"I heard he's an ass correcting exams."

The guy's voice is teasingly and half bemused. He's got a nice voice.

I smile to myself and there's no need for me to turn around to know that Kevin is shuddering visibly. When Karen told us that she had taken Math2 with him and that Pavletich flunked her, Kevin couldn't help but gasp and I've never seen his eyes so wide. He doesn't like Math that much and he was hoping Pavletich was nice correcting exams. Well, that'll teach him to sign up with Chau.

"Yeah," Kevin groans, shaking his head, "I've been told that. I hope his not that bad."

He's worse.

"He's worse."

When I hear the guy say the same thing I was thinking, I turn around. Our eyes meet for a moment and I've gotta admit he's got very pretty blue eyes. They are a little bit clearer than mine.

"You guys gotta remember this..."

Those words only mean that Chau is planning on putting that exercise on either the mid term or the final, so that makes me turn around right away and try to understand the last quarter of blackboard he's written.

Damn, I don't get a thing. Ok, so I gotta see which variable I'm gonna change and see which one suits me the best, right? I always get it wrong and choose as u the one that should have been du.

"You gotta pick the easiest to Integrate as u."

That's good. Keep giving us small notes like those. I gotta write it down. I write down a huge { after the last line and copy Pick easiest as u on the side. Gotta remember that when I study.

"I mean," the guy continues and I'm barely even hearing him, "he's a good teacher. He arrives half an hour late and leaves half an hour early of the two-hour class, but he's good. Still, he's a bastard when it comes down to mistakes."

"A friend told me he likes the exercise to be done his way."

I hear Kevin's answer and I remember where he got that info. Claudia. She took Basics with him and flunked it as well. Gosh, now that I think about it, most of the people we know have flunked the subjects they've taken with Pavletich. Kevin'll have to be extra careful if he doesn't want to be another casualty on the list.

"Yeah, exactly the way he's done it on the notebook. And he doesn't really care for trying." The guy seems really confident in his answer. He probably has a friend who took curses with him.

"Well, there goes a good point out to pity."

I chuckle slightly and I'm sure neither of them has heard me. That's a very classical technique when it comes down to Math. When you have no idea what the hell you're doing, you write whatever comes to mind that you think may work and pray that the teacher validates your effort. It works with Chau. It doesn't seem to with Pavletich.

"Are you taking CI?"

I sigh inwardly. CI -- Computer's Intro -- is a very louse reminder that we're gonna have to stay another year in college. This year the Deacon decided that our curricula were screwed up and that we needed to change it. Maybe it's good in the long run, but for us is just down right pathetic. Subjects that used to be taken by second year students are now taken by freshmen. Some subjects have disappeared (like Basics A. There used to be Basics A and B, now it's only called Basics) and some other have come up out of nowhere. One of the last is CI.

"Yeah, we've got a project due next week."

Kevin's right. We gotta have it down for next wednesday and we haven't even looked for info. Evolution of the Computers. How lame. I think we can find enough info in the Glorier. I remember it used to held all truth when it came down to any project I needed back home.

"I had the feeling they wouldn't give us any project."

Well, if that guy thought that, then he's a little bit more naive that I would have thought. I totally knew we've be swamp in projects. It's the only way to make us care about the damn subject. They are teaching us the parts of the computer and what we can do with Internet. I mean, come on people! Anyone knows that, still, we gotta study it.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Kevin shrugging. "I don't really mind that much."

Why would he? That gives us an excuse to stay up talking instead of doing our work.

"Kev," I remember suddenly something, "Richard asked me to tell you that he needs your Static notebook."

He tilts his head to the side, his look bewildered. "Why? He's already passed it."

I shrug. "I'm not really sure, but I think it's for Claudia." The way Richard and Claudia behave, knowing every little thing of the other, one would think they are married even though they've been only two years together. "She's taking class with you, right?"

Kevin nods, scratching his chin. "Yeah, but she hasn't gone the last week. She said she was going with Abad."

I remember that part as well. She told us that she was signing up with Curo because he isn't that bad correcting and going to Abad's classes because she gets him better. "Beats me. He just told me to tell you. I'm sure we'll run into them later today."

"Sure, no prob. I've gotta ask Richard for my Math2 copies anyway. He took them on Friday when we were studying together."

"I thought you didn't study." I knew they didn't study. Since Kevin had Math2 exam on Saturday, just as Richard, they had decided to study together. Kevin had gone over to Richard's, but since the football game was on that night, I knew they'd watch the game, drink a little, talk a lot and end up far too tired to even think about studying.

He chuckles. "We didn't, but he took them anyway. There were so many papers scattered around the floor that by the time we fell asleep on the couch, I just didn't care about them. I was looking for those copies yesterday and I didn't find them. I'm sure he's got it."

"And if he doesn't?" It wouldn't be the first time some notes are lost while studying. When you and five other guys are psychotic because you just can't understand shit about an exercise, copies are coming and going, you just don't care if the paper you're reading is yours or not. If it's got the info you need, that's enough for you.

"I can ask Peggy for hers." He says calmly. "I could ask Barbara too, but I can't get her handwriting."

"Peggy's isn't that far better."

"No, but at least it's legible. Barbara's doesn't even come that far."

I nod. I have to go with him on that one. I've taken courses with Barbara and needed her notes before, photocopying them and ended up calling her home to read me the whole thing over, is so bad. Peggy gets her writing, but then again she's her best friend, so she's gotta get it. Peggy says it took her four years to get used to it.

I glance back at the board and groan in frustration. Do teachers take private classes that teach them just how quickly to write? Because every time I'm distracted for just a minute, Chau seems to have found a couple knew Theorems and about a hundred new formulas for us to learn.

"Are you taking Theology?"

My eyes dart over to the guy for a moment. He's asking questions again, like he wants to keep the conversation alive. I turn back at the board, a small smile on my lips. If I didn't know better, I'd say that guy was flirting with Kevin.

"Yeah. It's not really my favorite subject, but yeah."

Theology isn't that bad. I think it has a lot to do with the teacher. Marco is really an awesome teacher. He's a priest but he's got cool opinions about almost anything.

"With whom?"

"Agüero. You taking Theo?"

I start copying the exercise Chau is explaining and I'm sure that if it's to come in the exam, I'll have no idea what to do with it as I watch the guy nod. How in the world am I suppose to demonstrate that Integral of x / 1 + sen (?x) dx is more or equal 3/4?

"Yeah, with Simmons."

So I gotta take the function and integrate in parts. Ok, I can do that. But then again, I've always said that and ended up having half the exercises wrong. I sigh softly. I hate math.

"I've heard he's a good teacher."

I'm half paying attention at the exercise, the other half of my brain still listening to their conversation. Karen told Kevin that Simmons was a good teacher. I remember coz she said that he's not that bad correcting.

The guy shrugs. "Yeah, he's fine. I don't really like the way he explains his points of view, like it's the only way to see it, but he's fine."

That's nothing knew, actually. Most of the Philosophy teachers think like that. I was lucky and Guzman wasn't that bad at all. He was actually very good. There were another couple of teacher that were just murders looking for fresh meat. We've always had the feeling that people from non-science subjects kinda hate us coz we love numbers so much. I don't know. Maybe that's just me.

The bell rings and I sigh in relieve. At least I'm done for the moment. That's something.

"All you need to do is find the constant C and then equal it to the previous equation, replacing the variable t, and find x."

When did Chau write another exercise? Nevermind. Yeah, yeah, replace and find. I can do that. Well, I'll try to do that today at home.

The blond guy stands up and I turn around to really look at him. Very pretty white skin, really cool blond hair and amazingly clear blue eyes. He's got his boyish charm around him and I would have never guessed that he was in college if I was to see him in the middle of the street. Junior in high school, maybe. Senior, could be. But college? Not in a hundred years.

"It was nice to meet you..."

"Kevin." Kevin smiles, his eyes shinning and his dimples showing. He's always smiled like that.

"I'm Nick," the guy smiles back and I've gotta admit he's got a great smile. "I'm sure I'll see you around." He smiles once last time before walking down the stairs and out of the room.

"He was flirting." The words leave my lips before I can even think about them. I start placing my notebook on my backpack as I hear Kevin gasp.

"Oh please," Kevin places his own notebook in his backpack, sliding one arm inside. "He was so not."

I chuckle. I take one last look at the blackboard and put on my bag. "Yeah, right. He was Kevin, admit it."

He glares at me, shaking his head incredulously. "You're nuts." Kevin walks down the stairs and I follow suit.

"No my friend, in case you forget, I'm the sane part of our friendship." I wait long enough for his 'Yeah, right' look he's master over the years of hanging out with me before laughing right out loud. Ok, so not even I believe that one. "Still," we walk out of the room and to our right over to the stairs, "he was flirting with you."

He makes his way up. "Brian, you've got no idea what the hell you're talking about."

I stop in mid stair; people walking pass me over to the third floor. "I so do. I know the way you look at someone when you like that someone and you were so looking at him like that."

"I was not!"

I chuckle at his indignation, and the way he's looking at me lets me know that I'm right, and walk pass him. "He is kinda cute, after all." I step onto the third floor and stop when I realize he's not following. I turn around and he's looking at me with wide eyes. I give him a laugh between surprise and embarrassment. "I'm not batting your side my friend, I'm just saying. I'm very happy with Leighanne if you care to know."

"I know how happy you're with Leighanne, that's why I was getting worried." Kevin gives me a big grin that's supposed to pass as innocent, but I know better.

I laugh again as he catches up with me. "He was flirting with you. And you were flirting back."

"There was no flirtation involved in our conversation."

"There was. It was palpable."

"You were listening to class, how could you know?"

I turn around and smirk. "I had one ear in your conversation."

"You were suppose to be paying attention at the class." 

Kevin's voice is stern and I can't help but feel a little bit guilty about it. Not because I was invading his privacy (that'd be the last thing I'd care about at times like this) but the fact that I should have paying attention to my class. Kevin's come to master the I'm your eldest and I know better voice topped with the shot up eyebrow and slight frown. That guy has parenthood coming out of every pore. I'm gonna be the one that'll let his children know that Kevin did pull a prank every once in a while when he was a youngster.

I shrug, covering for it. "I was. I was also listening to you and that guy." My eyes find his and I've got a grin plastered on my lips. "He asked for your name."

Kevin groans and rolls his eyes. "I've got classes with him Brian, I was bound to run onto him at some point. Besides, if he didn't ask me my name, I was planning on asking his. It was the polite thing to do."

I snort. "Polite my ass. You wanted his name for personal reasons." I snap my fingers, trying to remember his name. "Norman... Noel..."

Kevin shakes his head slightly, "Nick."

"Nick!" I say loudly, finally coming down to me. "Nick. See, you remember!"

He glares at me. "Of course I remember, he just told me!"

I chuckle slightly. "You like him." We reach Kevin's class and I open the door for him. It's usually the other way around, since he's taller than me, but I was closer to it.

Kevin walks in, sighing in exasperation. "You're nuts, you know that."

And as he walks through the door and onto his theology class for which we are, again and as usual, late, I smirk knowingly and whisper softly, just enough for him to hear me, "you were flirting."

I know he was. He knows he was. We both know he was.