A Chance At A Time

Chance III: Give Them a Benefit of a Doubt

That following day, Harper made her way to the library that afternoon after lunch where she had a free period. She was meeting with her group for the assignment discussion. She didn't even know what to bring with her so she took her notebook instead. It was the beginning of the semester so the library wasn't as crowded as she expected. Her eyes quickly darted around the room and from her left side she caught the hand that was waving to her. She turned towards it and noticed the unfamiliar guy waving to her vigorously. 

Harper had to look behind her just to make sure he was waving at her and not at someone behind her. She didn't know that face but then again, she never paid attention to anyone in her class. She quickly made her way towards him.

"Hey, Harper. I saved you a seat." He removed his bag from the chair beside him and allowed Harper to sit. "I am Geoffrey."

Harper gave him a small smile and pretended she was too busy arranging her stuff on the table to avoid shaking his hand. She didn't like touching people she didn't know. "Nice to meet you." She said out of etiquette. 

Geoffrey scratched the back of his head after the awkward encounter and cleared his throat. "Oh, here comes Kris. Let's get done with this assignment before this Friday, shall we?"

Again, Harper gave him a small nod as she went through her notebook while Geoffrey removed his laptop from his bag and opened it. 

"Hey." The spoken about Kris greeted them and Harper looked up only to come face to face with the Kristofer who almost ran over her with his bike the other day. Her eyebrows came down in a frown. He was in her class?

He must have seen her contempt of him because suddenly looked away and removed his stuff from his bag. 

Kristofer had a graphic black t-shirt on, his low-hanging black jeans with shredded knees being held around his lean hips by a large belt. His t-shirt didn't hide the tattoo that ran up from his bicep to his neck. One ear was pierced three times. Harper couldn't help but think that if she had met him in the streets, she would have crossed the road and walk on the other side. He looked very intimidating, the kind of intimidation that would have him punch you for just staring.

That was the kind of look he had when he noticed how she unabashedly stared at him.

"When you are done categorizing me with all the other criminals you've come across in your short life, get your computer out so that we can start sharing the workload." He said tightly.

Harper's eyebrows snapped up. Was it that obvious? She wondered. "I-uh-don't have a computer."

Geoffrey made a choking sound and looked at her in surprise. 

"Then how are you going to do your part?" Kristofer sounded annoyed suddenly. 

Harper pointed to the library computers. "I can always work from here." 

"Why don't you have a computer?" Kristofer suddenly asked her then gestured to the gold bangle around her wrist. "I mean that piece of jewelry can get you a very good computer. Why are you acting like a cheapskate when I know you are not?"

Harper gritted her teeth as she ran her fingers on the gold bangle. Kristofer had no idea what he was talking about. He didn't know how much that band meant to her. "Because this is the only thing I have to remind me of my dead mother." 

If Harper thought that those words would have meant something to Kristofer, she was dead wrong because they didn't so much as cause his eyes to soften. Instead, he turned to his computer and started issuing out orders on who did what. Geoffrey took the orders like a good little boy but it irked Harper that Kristofer would think he knew better than them.

"Who made you leader, Kris? As I see it, we are a group and we should have equal footing." Harper suggested, crossing her arms across her chest. 

"This is not about being a leader, it's about getting the work done. It is easier to break the assignments into components that everyone can contribute to. Do you have any suggestions that will work better for you, princess?"

Something snapped inside Harper that she thought she was going to explode with anger. How dare he say to her? He had no idea who he was dealing with. "Excuse me? Why would you refer to me as a princess other than belittling me and under minding my suggestion?"

"That's not--" Kristofer started but Harper quickly put her hand up to stop him from digging deeper into his grave. 

"Listen here, I don't care whether you are the rebel of this college or whatever position you carry among your friends. I don't care whether you are trying to show off in front of Geoffrey or the others but may this be the last time you use me in your lame-ass examples. Oh, you don't want to do this with me--believe me." She glared up at him, making sure he saw just how upset his name-calling had made her.

Harper saw the way Kristofer's jaws worked against each other before he turned to his computer and continued issuing the work as if Harper didn't say anything. Harper sighed and rolled her eyes. She could see that Kristofer looked like the type who issued out demands and intimidated people to work on them. She wondered if he did any of the work himself. 

"If anyone is unhappy with the workload, you can always switch to other groups." He turned to Harper and his eyebrow arched up slowly. 

If she could move to another group, she would have done so the moment she saw him approach that table that afternoon. Unfortunately, all the other groups were already confirmed and it was a nuisance trying to chat to the students about shifting when she wasn't even that close to anyone. 

A tight smile appeared on Kristofer's face when no one objected and he looked down at his watch. "I have another appointment. Let's meet again before class on Friday--"

"Hey, Kristofer. Hey, everyone." A girl came to where they were sitting and greeted all of them politely before turning to Kristofer. 

"Hey." Kristofer got up and added, "Let's go." Kristofer led the girl away before anyone said anything else. 

Harper looked down at the work she was supposed to do for the assignment and she didn't even know where to start. She looked at Geoffrey who happily typed away on his laptop before he suddenly closed it then got up. 

"I have basketball practice right now. See you later." He left, leaving Harper a little frustrated on where to start with the assignment and a little too proud to ask for help.

It seemed that the girl that came to Kristofer was his study buddy because they didn't leave the library. They went a little further into the library where they sat and studied. 

Harper grabbed her stuff and went straight to work.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER...

Harper must have fallen asleep while working because when she finally came around, the library lights were on and more people had joined in. Harper turned to her work and quickly sent her progress to Kristofer's email then saved it to her student account before collecting her stuff and getting up. She was hungry and thanks to Clair, she had a small amount of food. She hoped that the 'Share a smile' program really paid the amount they said they would pay per day. She did a little research on it and it was a program that allowed people across the country to give back to the community by doing small projects that raised the standards of living for the poor. There were several projects that one could take part in, including renovations of a children's hospital not far from the college. 

As Harper made her way out, she noticed that Kristofer and his girlfriend had long left. She wasn't the person to mind people's businesses but she wondered what that pretty girl saw in that overbearing Neanderthal. Just a few minutes in his presence and she was raging mad! He wasn't bad to look at. In fact, he had very striking features that made him stand out in crowds. He had the kind of face and piercing dark eyes that would force one to remember him after an encounter. However, he had an attitude that Harper didn't like and for that, she disqualified him for a lot of things. 

"Harper!" Clair exclaimed as Harper entered the dorm. "You're back."

Harper didn't understand why with the little words that she normally exchanged with Clair, Clair always found a way to talk to her. Clair had a very refreshing personality and Harper couldn't help but look forward to it whenever she was having a bad day. She was almost completing her degree but Harper didn't see her stress over it like the other seniors. Just a few days ago, she heard her speak about finding a place out of campus since she just had one module and her thesis to complete and didn't need to stay there. 

Harper and Clair didn't have much of a conversation but with the few topics they talked about, Clair was always excited and happy. It seemed as if she didn't have much to worry about. 

"This is my boyfriend, Maxwell. Max, this is my gorgeous roommate, Harper. She doesn't talk much but she's great!" Clair did the introduction and Harper gave Max an awkward little nod. 

She couldn't believe that Clair would call her gorgeous. Clair had an angel face and personality to match. She was way prettier than her. 

Harper didn't want to intrude so she placed her stuff on her bed and said. "Let me give you a little privacy--"

"I was just leaving." Max quickly got up and placed his hands in his pockets. He had a very boyish face and when he smiled, dimples appeared. 

"Max just opened up a coffee shop nearby--" Clair said then her eyes widened. "Oh! And Harper was looking for a part-time job.." she turned to Harper excitedly and repeated, "You were looking for a part-time job, right? Max is hiring!"

Harper's eyebrows arched up in surprise. Why was Clair so nice to her? She didn't even know her that well. 

"Yeah, you can come by and try it out," Max said casually as he removed a card from his pocket and handed it to Harper. 

Harper accepted it and gave him a small smile. "Thank you." 

"Well, have a great evening ladies," Max said and went out. 

"Why are you helping me like this?" Harper suddenly asked when Max had left. "I mean you don't even know me that well, yet you are helping me so much."

A smile softened Clair's face as she grabbed her backpack and cardigan. "Because I tend to give everyone a benefit of a doubt and I want to believe that if I was in the same situation as you, that you would have helped me."

But that wasn't the truth. Harper wouldn't have helped Clair if the tables were turned. In fact, she wouldn't have known Clair to begin with! It is the reason why it shocked Harper that someone would help her without wanting something in return.  

"And you should go for that interview at Max's coffee shop, okay. Now that he knows you are my roommate, he might give you bonuses." Clair smirked and went to the door. "There's some pizza on my desk if you want some. I have a presentation on Thursday so I will be in the library the whole night I guess. See you later."

"Okay." When Harper heard the word pizza, her stomach grumbled loudly but she was grateful that Clair didn't hear it because she had already left.

Harper was glad that Clair was someone who understood the meaning of personal space. She kept her things neat and tidy on her side of the room. Harper tried to keep up with the neatness and tidiness but she came to discover just how hard it was. Back home, she always had Bertha take care of things for her. 

Harper had come to learn just how much work went into making her bed in the morning, how much time and effort went into folding her clothes and putting them in her closet, and just how strenuous it was to iron her tops every morning but Bertha did all that without any complains and sometimes Harper could have sworn Bertha smiled and enjoyed her work. 

Harper wasn't used to it and she pulled a muscle just the other day when Clair caught her shoving all her clothes into the washing machine at the same time.

'You need to learn to separate your whites from your colors. You don't want to end up with clothes that look as if the rainbow had thrown up all over them.' She taught her.

Harper recalled spending an entire day loading and offloading the washing machine and drier until her body ached. 

Harper opened the pizza box and she was very sure Clair left the pieces for her. She knew when it came to pizza, people tended to clean the boxes. She and her friends used to have pizza nights and there were never leftovers...but that also meant an entire day at the gym the next day to burn the calories. Oh, how she missed her friends. Harper savored the first bite of the pizza. She was very hungry and having something edible in her mouth was heavenly.

Though Harper wasn't giving much thought to Max's coffee shop, she saw that she had no choice but to accept the offer and go for an interview. She had never done any part-time job before college because she didn't need to but she knew she had to learn. Everything had a beginning and if until to that point, her father had not contacted either the college or her personally, she knew she was on her own and needed to prove to him that she could survive without his help. Harper had a proud head on her shoulders and running back to her father for help was the last thing on her mind. He sent her there to learn and that was what she was going to do...although she didn't know exactly how everything connected to her shoving the woman in the swimming pool.

With a shrug, she continued eating.

                                                                                **********

Kristofer opened the email from Harper that had the progress of her part of the assignment. He was glad that she sent him her progress because if she hadn't, she would have cost them marks for the assignment. She had no idea what she was doing and the information that she got had nothing to do with her part of the assignment. Although, he had to give her credit for organizing the work well, still, the information she got was useless. 

Kristofer scoffed lightly remembering how angry she got with him for taking charge. He wasn't the person to carry other people's problems on his shoulders apart from his family's. He already had enough s**t there to last him a lifetime. He didn't need any more. Kristofer started working on Harper's part of the assignment, highlighting the pieces that she needed to do more research on and the kind of information she needed to find. He also linked the articles that she needed to read and listed down what kind of information she had to get from the articles. He frustrated him that she was not going to see the information until that next day.

Kristofer came to the conclusion that Harper had the kind of background that nursed her like an egg then suddenly she found herself in the real world. He could tell from the way she carried herself, from the way she dressed, the blind pride she had, yet there was a small part of her that was curious about her new situation. He didn't want to know what actually happened to her because he wasn't interested in it but if he wanted to pass that course and retain his scholarship as well as have a chance at the internship that was going to solve all of his problems, he needed to have teammates who understood what they were doing. After remarking and commenting on Harper's part, he sent it back to her.

"Hey, Kris." Suddenly Kristofer's roommate, Cash, entered the room with some of his friends. "We are going to Freddie's, wanna come?"

"Nah, you guys go ahead. I still have a lot of work to do." Kris waved the guys away. 

Cash smirked as he placed a hand around his shoulders and said. "I know you are trying to avoid Melody but rumor has it that you two are already a couple."

Kristofer turned his attention to Cash and said. "I'm not avoiding anyone and Melody is not my girlfriend. The only person who can start such a groundless rumor is standing right in front of me. Did you start the rumor, Cash?" 

Cash suddenly stuttered for a moment then straightened up and ran his hand through his hair. "Me? Start such a rumor? Why would I do that? What will I gain from that?"

"I wonder that as well," Kristofer muttered pensively. "The time you publicly announced that I was your roommate to every girl on campus was just so you could talk to most of them--I wonder what you will gain from this rumor."

"Hey, Kris!" Cash chuckled softly. "What do you take me for?"

"A user," Kristofer answered without hesitating. 

"Hey Cash," One of Cash's friends called from behind them. "Kris is not interested in Melody, that's a known fact but the girls' tongues have been wagging about him being with a certain brunette freshman--the same one that got into a confrontation with Melody the other day."

Kristofer's fingers stopped moving on his keyboard and he turned to the loud-mouth. "Don't you have anything else better to do with your life, Jace, other than listening to gossip?" 

Jace shrugged his shoulders. "You make college experience worth it. There's always something happening around you and it gives the rest of us a fighting chance with boredom." 

Kristofer rolled his eyes as he went back to work. "Get out of here before I kick y'all's asses." 

They chuckled and scoffed as they left the room.

Once the door was closed, Kristofer stopped working and leaned back on his chair. If Jace got the information about him and Harper in the library, it meant that information was going to reach Melody very soon. Kristofer didn't give a rat's ass about Melody but he knew she would retaliate against Harper, knowing fully well that it was the girl who challenged her the other day. Kristofer didn't want to care about what happened between the girls provided it had nothing to do with him but unfortunately it was because of him that Harper was going to get hurt. She looked like the type to take care of herself but Kristofer didn't want it to reach the stage where she needed to take care of herself because of him.

"Fuck." Kristofer pushed his chair away and grabbed his jacket before removing his phone from his pocket and dialing Cash's number. "Wait for me, I'm coming with you guys."

If Melody was going to be at Freddie's then she and him needed a very long talk about boundaries.