After a week on campus to get settled into his accommodation, it was time for Luke to do what he actually came here to do. He'd breezed through the first couple of General Education seminars without a hitch, which had settled his nerves, but now the real challenge was about to begin. He glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand headed: ANT 1619: Cultural Anthropology.

This was the first test to see if he really had picked the right path. It made his heart flutter with excitement and trepidation in equal measure. He was here to study for an Anthropology Major, and if he ever wanted to make it to that major, he needed to rack up credits in these groundwork courses.

People fascinated him, their quirks and cultural eccentricities. He always marvelled at the divergence of human societies, from continent to continent, country to country, and even from city to city. The trail of breadcrumbs that you could trace back through history to pinpoint just where those forked roads were laid down, that was what had snared Luke's imagination for the longest time.

His bag hung on his shoulder, crammed with formidable textbooks and a laptop, heavy with the weight of what it represented. Luke steeled himself, straightening up. Other worlds waited beyond that door. He reached out, clasped the handle and pushed.

The hinges didn't make a sound and he almost tripped forward from the lack of resistance as the door swung open. He caught himself in the nick of time, straightening up and inhaling a sharp breath as he released the handle. Thankfully, no-one seemed to notice his near-miss and he crossed the threshold, pivoting to face the front desk. The tutor – a middle-aged man with a bald head and an impressive bush of a grey beard bristling around his mouth – straightened up and looked at him expectantly. His waistcoat and trousers boasted a colourful crimson of tweed.

"Good morning. Name?"

"Luke Arbor," he said, trying to speak at a normal pace.

The tutor glanced back at his screen for a moment then nodded. "Welcome to Cultural Anthropology, Mr. Arbor. I'm Doctor Maresfield. You downloaded the introductory material?"

Luke patted his bag and nodded. "Got it all right here."

"Then grab a pick a desk and get settled." Maresfield gestured to the room and his attention fled. Luke turned.

Ten desks were arranged in pairs facing the front desk, and a dozen students were already sitting, chatting animatedly as the minutes ticked down for the class to start. A couple of them glanced up – one or two even offered a wave or smile. Luke smiled back but before he knew what he was doing, sat down at the desk on the front left of the room, turning his back to the other students in a moment of nervousness. He sank into the seat, feeling blood rush to his cheeks.

It's just the first class, it's just the first class.

Luke blew out his cheeks in a sigh and started to dig around in his bag. He deposited three textbooks onto the desk, followed by a rickety looking laptop he'd picked up second-hand. It didn't look like much, but it would do the job for his coursework. Ready to go, he relaxed back against his chair, pulling up the introductory notes and skimming over them yet again as the minutes ticked by. As they approached eleven o'clock more students trickled into the room, moving past him and filling the room from the back. That didn't bother him unduly. He knew it was his own fault for inexplicably planting himself right at the front of the room – the proverbial hot seat – but the swell of voices behind him did lend a sense of exclusion to the whole exercise. He drummed his fingers on the desk, willing the second hand on the clock to move a little faster

At two minutes to eleven the door opened again, and one last student entered the classroom.

Luke looked up.

His eyebrows rose sharply in surprise. For a moment he thought he was imagining it.

But no, standing in the doorway clear as day, it really was her. Oaklynn stepped into the room, textbooks wrapped up in her arms and a worn laptop bag resting on one hip. Her eyes scanned the desks for an empty chair as she took two steps forward, but then she saw him and seemed to freeze, her eyes widening.

Unsure of what else to do, Luke raised one hand slightly and gave her a clandestine wave.

"And you must be Miss... Cooper?" the professor said after glancing at his computer. "Well, come on in and sit down, we're just about to get started."

When she still didn't move, Luke dipped his head towards the empty seat beside him. The glimmer of a smile formed around her mouth and she started moving again, sweeping around the side of the desk and sliding gracefully into the seat alongside him. She placed the textbooks down and dug her laptop free. As it hummed into life she glanced at him, looking a little sheepish.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi, yourself," Luke replied, shooting her a mischievous look. "So, this is stage two of your elaborate scheme?"

"Oh, shut up," she laughed, giving him a light kick under the table.

"Looks like we can't stop running into each other." He cleared his throat and made show of flicking through his textbook. "Literally."

"I will flip this desk if you bring that up again."

"Now, I think that would be an overreaction, don't you?"

She replied by digging an elbow into his ribs.

He let out a squawk of surprise and almost fell out of his chair, but she caught him by the arm and pulled him back from the brink. Only then did Luke notice Doctor Maresfield looking disapprovingly over at them, his beard bristling. He stifled a giggle and shot Oaklynn a mock glare of outrage. She released her grip on his arm, only to jam a clenched fist against her mouth to contain her own mirth.

Apparently satisfied for the moment, Maresfield's attention moved away again, and the general chatter of the other students filled the room once more as the final minutes counted down.

"You alright?" Luke whispered, leaning over so she could hear him.

Red-faced, Oaklynn nodded; exhaled a steadying breath. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Got to say, I'm surprised to see you."

"Why?"

"Honestly, I wasn't convinced you were even a student here."

"Well, why not?"

"No name tag? And you did walk out a little... abruptly?"

"Sorry about that." She gave him an apologetic smile. "I just needed to leave last night. It wasn't about you."

"Glad to hear it." Happy to be absolved of responsibility for her sudden exit, he took a chance. "It's good to see you again."

For a second she didn't reply and he felt a twinge of panic. Was that too much?

"You too, Luke," she answered, the storm of her eyes enveloping him. "You too. I didn't mean to be so... weird last night. It's just been a big adjustment coming here. That's all."

He thought he heard a hint of sadness creeping into her voice, something that cut through the mischievous looks and enigmatic words. Before he could consider what that might mean, however, Doctor Maresfield interjected himself into their world with a thunderous baritone.

"Good morning, everyone," he boomed, rising from behind his desk like an ancient Atlantean sentinel. "Good to see you're all here on time. I like a good first impression." He rescued a black marker from the jumble of pens on his desk and turned to whiteboard behind him. "Now, if you can all pull up your introductory course notes, we'll make a start."

*

"You know, you might have mentioned we were going to be on the same course," Luke laughed as the door banged shut behind them.

Oaklynn grimaced, hugging her bundle of textbooks to her chest. "I know, I know," she conceded with a wry smile. "But there are a lot of different ones on offer. I didn't realise we'd end up in the exact same seminar."

"Okay, I get that," he replied. "But is me knowing your degree path really such a trade secret?"

"I guess not," she conceded.

"Look, I'm not trying to interrogate you, and if you don't want to tell me stuff that's your business," he continued. "But... well, help me out here. If you didn't want to talk to me why didn't you just tell me to beat it the second I said hello?"

"It's not that at all." Oaklynn shook her head. "I don't mind meeting people, I'm just... careful, okay? There are a lot of creeps out there."

"I'm not going to argue with that. I'm just trying to make some friends."

"I know that. God, I'm sorry, it sounds like I'm accusing you of being a freaking stalker."

"I hope not," he laughed. "Relax. I'm just another kid who has the inexplicable drive to study anthropology." He jerked a thumb back over his shoulder in the direction of the classroom. "How did you end up going that way?"

She considered that for a moment, lips twisting as they walked. "I guess I just want to understand people better." She made a vague gesture to their surroundings. "There's a lot of crazy stuff that goes on in the world. People do a lot of crazy stuff. I'd like to figure out why."

That tinge of sadness returned to her voice on the last word, like she wanted to get to the root of something a lot more specific than just 'people'. Luke just nodded, however, not wanting to press those kinds of boundaries with someone he'd barely met.

"I guess if you want to study crazy, college is where you'll find it," he joked instead as they started down the stairs of the main humanities building, making their way down from the first floor into the lobby.

He put a shoulder to the door at the base of the stairs and stepped through first, gesturing with his free hand for her to pass through.

"And they say chivalry is dead," Oaklynn said as she passed him.

Luke smirked. "I'm happy to open doors, but if we run into any dragons, you're on your own."

"What, no knight in shining armour for me?"

"Do you really think you need one?"

"I guess not." A grin flashed as they fell into step together again.

"Besides," he continued. "I left my dragon-slaying gear at home."

"Well, in that case, you're off the hook. I'll do the slaying for both of us."

They slid into the bustle of the lobby where new students milled back and forth, trying to find the correct route to their classes. A harassed-looking young man at reception did his best to direct those who'd given up on their own sense of direction. Unlike the marble of the admissions office the humanities building looked closer to his dorm building – all dark wood and warm lights. A fuzz of grey carpet sponged underfoot as they headed for the glass doors.

Just as they were about to step out onto the campus, Luke caught a quick, jerking motion out of the corner of his eye. He paused and glanced to his left on instinct. What he found there was a tall, brawny male student staring at them, his brow furrowed as though he'd just spotted a face from a wanted poster. The kid looked like he was older by a year or two, with deep bronze skin and a short tangle of curling black hair. His eyes were large, aquamarine irises burning.

Oaklynn didn't seem to notice, striding through the doors ahead of him. He swallowed hard and jerked his gaze away. Feeling his shoulders bunch, he walked quickly out after her, pulling level and forcing himself not to look back.

Once they were outside, though, it suddenly occurred to him that they had just started walking after leaving the class without any actual destination. Now that they were in the open he stopped, a little unsure where to go from here. Unease still prickled the hairs on the back of his neck He glanced back at the lobby of the building but thankfully there was no sign of the kid who'd been staring.

Oaklynn took a few extra steps before she noticed he'd stopped. Frowning, she twisted on her heel and walked back over, giving him an inquiring look.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah of course," he blurted out. Wincing, he hesitated for a moment before finding the words. "So where are you headed next?"

She shrugged. "I've got nothing till three."

Luke slipped his phone from his pocket and glanced at it. "Well, that's twelve noon. It's now socially acceptable to have lunch." He looked at her hopefully. "Do you wanna go grab something to eat?"

She pursed her lips; glanced around, as if afraid to be spotted having this conversation.

"Still not trying to make friends?" he ventured.

"No, I just..." Oaklynn bit her lip, then shook her head and looked him in the eye. "You know what? I have no idea."

"Okay," Luke said, not quite sure how to take that. In the end, he just opted for some clarification. "So... lunch, yay or nay?"

Her smile was the brightest he'd seen since he met her. "Let's go."