Undercover

There's Always A First Time

Nate followed Bina to her regular studying place: The library, of course.

Bina headed straight to the promised seat, left to end, near the window. It was a nice corner providing maximum privacy and silence, but allowing quick breaks for the eyes to rest on the window view. The faculty was located in the highest point of the campus and so the whole campus could be seen from there.

"Quiet a view from here", Nate commented.

"Well there are advantages in being the richest faculty... Like deciding where your luxurious main building will be placed." Bina smiled with satisfaction from her intended-to-be humor.

Although Nate didn't quite get the point of her statement, it did manage to raise a smile on his face.

"I guess..." He tried to cooperate. "So... What are we doing?"

Bina started unloading her backpack. A laptop, simple pouch with writing tools and highlighters, checkered papers, a notebook, a printed summary... It seemed like the ritual wasn't about to end soon, but it quickly came to an end when she finished organizing her artifacts in a fine row across the whole wide table and plugged in her laptop.

Nate watched the ceremony with a dull expression, and imitated Bina only in her sitting action.

"We are both having computation and compilation this semester, and these are probably the worst of our courses, so we have to start with conquering them." Bina explained.

"So what all of this?" Nate asked, pointing at the army of papers in front of him.

"These are the notes for today to go over after we finish preparing for tomorrow."

"What is there tomorrow?" Nate was confused.

"Our first lecture in computation, of course."

Our? I actually have to attend this lecture? Nate obviously hadn't checked his schedule before, but goals are goals and goals require determination.

Wondering why should he practice materials which he had not yet seen, Bina provided him a fine answer to the question that was never asked. "If you want to be able to follow the teacher tomorrow, you should at least know what he is going to talk about. It's easier to concentrate on something you can anticipate." She explained.

Feeling like an apple just hit his head, Nate agreed, "That's a point there." and started to show more interest in the terrifying pile of papers.

"Oh, there's just one more thing," Bina remembered, getting her phone out of her sweater's pocket, "phones muted."

Her request was born out of her own habit, but it was mainly asked in response to Nate's nonstopping engagement with his phone. Frowning at first, Nate submitted to the request and placed his phone next to Bina's, far from direct eyesight.

With a small shot of motivation, the two began their session. Bina shared her laptop and notes with Nate, and read the material aloud, discussing what she had just read with her partner.

It's been about an hour, and Nate started to show signs of tiredness.

Feeling a bit disappointed but somehow understanding the situation, Bina offered to have a snack break.

"Let's have a fifteen-minute break," She suggested. "I'll be at Open Space, if you want to join me."

She waited for a couple of seconds to hear a reply.

"No, thanks." Nate grabbed his phone and went outside without saying a word.

On her way out too, Bina spotted her new partner making a phone call. Not having much interest in the personal life of her new acquaintance, she made her way towards the cafeteria and awarded herself with a hot cappuccino and a dark chocolate bar.

Precisely fifteen minutes passed, and Bina was waiting for Nate by the entrance to the library. As she noticed that Nate hadn't been paying much attention to the time limit, after waiting for another five minutes she simply passed through the library's door and made her way to her seat. Annoyed but not surprised, she continued her session unitarily.

Nate was taking his time outside for about another half an hour, conducting an entertaining conversation on his phone. Any listener could easily guess that he was talking with his girlfriend, as his choice of words could not be mistaken for other thought.

"No... I'm going to be pretty busy this year, babe, sorry.

"Oh, no, I'm not saying we aren't going to meet anymore, we'll just be meeting less.

"Sure but I have to take care of my future too."

Saying his last phrases made him remember he was actually in the middle of the realization of latter. He moved his phone from his ear to look at the time, and with a small panic uttered, "s**t, I have to go!", hanging the phone and rushing to the library to his new abode.

He found Bina sitting comfortly doing her deeds, not moving an eyelid.

"You continued without me?" He asked.

Bina rolled her eyes only, looking at him.

"You weren't coming and I had no time to waste."

"Why didn't you call me?" Nate was furious and if it wasn't the library, he would probably raise his voice.

"You ignored me, so after five minutes waiting for your attention, I just went in."

Bina was strict with discipline, and nothing could move her left or right from the brick she was hanging to.

Nate frowned rolling his eyes, and placed himself back in his seat. Almost immediately, Bina handed him some papers.

"I've just gone over it, you can read it too. There isn't too much new here." She said gently.

Nate looked at the papers with a shocked face. "I'm not really sure how to handle it," He tried to read first few rows of the note. "I honestly haven't done this before, I used to study only before the exams and it also was too much for me."

"Well, there's always a first time." Bina shrugged her shoulders with a smile. Willing to motivate the poor guy besides her, she complimented him, "besides, if you could do well studying just before the exams, you can do even better keeping on track during the semester."

The two got their eyes back on the papers for another hour or so, and soon enough the torture came to an end.

"I must confess that it wasn't that bad." Nate admitted as they finished and Bina started packing her stuff.

"And I must confess it gets worse later." Bina smiled with a hint of pity. "But don't worry, you get better at it as well."

Nate chuckled and shook his head in a demonstration of disbelief.

As the two walked out of the library, Bina reminded Nate of their upcoming lecture and listed him the days she planned on studying.

"I have a day off on Thursdays which I usually leave for heavy homework, so I guess I'll leave it to the project and you'll be having a day off."

"Well, about that," Nate hesitated, "I was wondering if we could also take this project together." Nate was embarrassed to be the commoner who asks the highness for her blessing.

Bina paid Nate a long, pointy and heavy stare.

"Definitely not."

"What? Why?" Nate felt his Earth dropping down below his feet.

"Seriously?" Bina asked. Waiting for a fair response that never came except a series of hasty nods, she let out her no-tact side talk.

"Just look at you. You've never even once participated in teamwork, you haven't appeared in any lecture or meeting for a whole year, you failed all your exams, and you prefer to party or chat for an infinite time instead of studying."

Nate crossed his hands and nodded in agreement, putting a serious countenance on his face.

"Yes, everything you said is true, but I'm trying to change!"

Bina sighed. "You don't change in a day," she wrinkled her eyebrows, "Some people don't even change in a lifetime."

"But I want to try and I really need this chance!" Nate pressed his hands begging. "This is the only chance I got from Fischer and I really can't miss it."

Bina shook her head and turned around, but Nate hurried to block her way. "At least think about it?"

"No."

"Let me prove myself and then think about it again, Okay? Please."

Rolling her eyes tired of their conversation, Bina agreed. "Fine. You'll have to work hard."

Making a winning gesture, Nate thanked her.

Just before parting each to its own way, Bina remembered to ask Nate for his contact information.

"Do you want to share your phone number with me so we can coordinate?" Bina asked.

Nate was a little unsure whether he wants her to have his phone number. She could be disturbing.

Losing her patience, Bina stressed, "I'm not asking your phone to obsessively chat with you, I'm not your fan-girl. I just want to make it easier to communicate and actually help you, and if you don't want to share just don't stand up our meetings and do your assignments on time."

Nate chuckled and motioned her to start typing. They shared their phones and parted to their ways.