Chapter 11

Friday evenings were meant for chilling out with friends and looking forward to the weekends, but Grace found herself dragging her feet to the laboratory. The aspect of a torturous tuition later in the evening hung heavily over her, and she felt like even her favorite biodiversity practical couldn’t cheer her up.

After an extra long sigh set out to purge her soul of the day’s frustrations, she started to read the protocol. Except that she wasn’t really reading the words at all, what with her brain registering only every other word in every other line. She let her head drop onto the table defeatedly, her arms haphazardly strewn over the table.

“Hey girl, don’t look so dead. We’re doing vertebrates today! Andrew just told me all about the reptilian gut,” Emily said with a clear bounce in her voice. Grace never figured out what makes this girl look happy all the time. Surely anyone would have run out of cheer someday.

“Wow. Amazing. I am so impressed,” Grace said in a rather sarcastic snort, looking deader than ever. How interesting can a peristaltic tube of muscles be? Although it would be interesting to find out how a snake felt about looking exactly like it’s own intestines.

“Come on, it’ll be great. The displays look more decent than last week’s batch.”

Grace sat up and surveyed the room of its displays of stuffed birds, fossilized turtles and glass jars with live animals she hoped they could play with. Her spirits lifted slightly and managed a weak smile at Emily. Nothing should prevent her from enjoying her biodiversity lessons, she resolved within herself.

When the lesson began, the professor gave them a ten-minute briefing, of which seven minutes were dedicated to reminding students to handle specimens with care. Andrew broke out with uproarious laughter the moment the professor said, “Last lab, someone must have thought they were helping the starfish to reproduce by breaking off one of its arms. But he forgot that dead starfishes do not procreate.”

Daniel had to help him stifle his laugh with a hard pinch on the thigh while trying to physiologically suppress a blooming blush when he saw Grace turning to look at him.

Then, the students began to walk around examining the specimens. When she got to the mammal’s section, she couldn’t take her eyes off the stuffed cat and its kittens, hanging by their necks from the strings that secured them to the board. She had always been a sucker for cats, but dead and stuffed weren’t her idea of an ideal state of being for cats. She could almost see it, Nini getting caught and shipped off to have its carcass preserved, probably neatly sliced open to display its mammalian reproductive system for the education of her fellow Homo sapiens. Utterly horrified with that mental picture she had just painted, Grace didn’t realize the approach of another presence.

“Lovely cats, pity they’re stuffed,” a male voice startled her. It was THAT guy again. He wasn’t looking at her, but fixed his eyes on the cats, a genuine pain shimmering in his eyes. He loved cats too? Grace felt her attitude towards him soften. She managed a tentative smile in return, but only because she thought he would not see it out of the corner of his eyes.

“You like cats too don’t you?” he spoke again.

Grace was taken aback by the conviction in his tone. It was more of a statement than a question, spoken with such confidence it seemed like he had

known her for a long time. Grace didn’t know what to make of it. She was pretty sure people didn’t carry around with them an “I’m a cat lover” sign on their foreheads. She tilted her head to study his expression, her eyebrows dented downwards in contemplation.

The guy smiled even wider, the twinkle reaching the black of his eyes. “I saw the way you petted the cat that roamed around campus,” he said, “it seems like Tommy likes you too.”

Tommy? Grace thought to herself, her eyes fleeted to the ground for a moment before flicking back to his face. What did he mean by he saw the way I petted the cat? He was watching me all those times? Grace frowned incredulously.

“Tommy won’t respond to any other name. That cat’s got a personality I tell you,” He continued speaking, as though Grace’s silence didn’t deter him at all, “and I wasn’t purposely looking at you. I was looking at the cat. You just got in the way,” he shrugged.

Grace nearly dropped her jaw. It was as if this man could read her mind. Sure, she was used to Angel’s mind reading, but to have a stranger read her like an old friend? Her inner turmoil was disrupted by his chuckle.

“You’re pretty easy to read,” He said jovially, “you don’t happen to speak, do you?” his eyes trembled with playfulness.“Erm, hi?” Grace started lamely, she was still whirling over this strange encounter, “Who are—”

“Hey Grace!” Angel interrupted them, “knew you’d be stuck at the cat’s section. Oh sorry I interrupted. Do you know him?” she asked as she slinked to the back of Grace, putting a little distance between the guy and herself.

Grace took a fleeting look at him and said, “Can’t say I do,” in a matter-of-fact way, which made Daniel’s shoulders droop a little.

“You’re Andrew’s friend right?” Angel blushed as she spoke to Daniel. Grace was surprised. Angel seldom initiated conversations with people she didn’t know well, much less with guys. How many more strange things are going to occur today?

“Yup,” Daniel turned his attention to Angel, “I’m Daniel,” he said, indirectly introducing himself to Grace, “you must be Angel, the sweet shy girl Emily always talked about.”

Angel blushed furiously, “You know Emily too?”

“Sure do. She’s Gabriel’s good friend,” Daniel pointed to the mentioned couple, who were both sticking their fingers into the basin and prodding at the lamprey. Emily looked fascinated by the lamprey while Gabriel looked fascinated at the fascination on Emily’s face.

“Oh, so that’s the Gabriel Emily was always talking about,” Angel said, voicing the same sentiment Grace had, “oh, and this is Grace, you know that right?” Angel pointed at Grace, who was getting more and more bewildered at the turn of events. Since when did Angel do introductions? It was most unnatural.

It was like watching a gazelle chase down a lioness.

“Yeah, I know she’s Grace,” Daniel smiled at Angel, and then at Grace, “say, you take Astronomy lessons on your own right? I always see you sit alone in the lectures,” he spoke to Angel.

“Erm, yeah, couldn’t get Grace to take that module with me.” Angel blinked her eyes a few times in shock.

“Why don’t you sit with us the next lecture? I’m sure Andrew wouldn’t mind.”

Angel froze on the spot, but quickly recovered, “That’ll be nice,” she muttered, “Where do you guys normally sit?”

Grace gave a barely audible gasp. Was this the Angel she knew? The Angel she knew would never arrange to sit with people she barely knew, but here she was, agreeing to sit with TWO guys whom she barely knew?!” Grace felt that that she can’t be given any more shocks for the day.

“In the middle block, left aisle, somewhere to the back of the lecture room,” she heard Daniel reply, “call me if you can’t find us,” he said, taking Angel’s practical protocol and scribbling a series of numbers on it.

Grace frowned. So that’s the new tactic to get girls nowadays huh? She knew that twigs don’t fall far from their trees, what did she expect from Andrew’s friend? To think it was her who almost fell for his charms. She had to talk Angel out of this.

Grace pulled Angel away and asked, “Are you really going to sit with Daniel and his friend?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with it?”

“But—” Grace stopped. Okay, so there really wasn’t anything seriously wrong with it. It wasn’t like Angel would get pregnant sitting next to Daniel and Andrew, right?

“Well, you barely know them!”

“I can’t possibly stay reserved all my life right? So I figured I might as well get used to guys. Besides, Daniel’s a friend of Andrew’s, so I’m sure he’s a decent guy.”

Alright, Grace decided, she has officially had enough of the warpness of her world.

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