We hop on the tram just in time and make our way to uni where we find Hailey, Carol and Max already chatting near the tram stop. Max and Carol looking incredibly lovey-dovey with Max’s arm draped over Carol’s shoulder.
“Oh, I’m being promoted from a third wheel to a fifth wheel?” Hailey comments with a smile as she’s the first one who sees us arriving.
“Good morning, Hailey.” I walk over to my friend and give her a hug.
“In a huggy mood today?” She asks.
“Ami is always in a huggy mood.” Sam laughs.
“Fair enough.”
I give Carol and Max a hug too while Sam just waves and fist-bumps Max.
“I suppose you already know about Carol?” Sam asks Hailey.
“Yes, she called me as well.” Hailey returns a nod. “That means the only thing that’s left is to practically arrange this?”
“Mhmm.” I nod as well after I rejoin Sam at her side. “I already called Veanya about it. She is going to make the last arrangements. It’ll take a couple of days at most.”
Carol sighs after I say this.
“Something wrong? If you are having second thoughts, you should definitely say something.” Max prods her girlfriend’s arm.
“It’s not that. It’s just that it’s… fast… you know?”
“Want some more time?” I ask. “That won’t be an issue at all.”
“Nah, I’m fine with it, really. There’s not been many things I’ve been more sure about in my entire life.” Carol does show quite a lot of confidence when she says that, which makes her easy to believe.
“So sure, huh? I wonder how good that date went if you are that sure.” Hailey giggles which makes Carol blush.
“If you want to, I can tell you everything about it.” Max gives us a wink.
“P-please, not yet.” Carol puts her hand over Max’s mouth. “It’s still a bit too embarrassing right now….”
Max slowly takes Carol’s hand away and smiles. “Fine. We’ll tell the tale when you are ready then.”
“Thanks.” Carol gives Max a quick kiss on her cheek, which makes Max blush this time. It looks like she’s not completely used to public displays of affection yet either. Or at least, not the kissy kind.
Sam then throws her sports bag into Max’s arms with quite a thud.
“Hmpf. What’s that for?” Max looks a bit shocked.
“We kinda need to go now and you said you’d carry my bag today if you lost that bet.”
“Oh, right, I did that, didn’t I? Do I really have to carry it the entire day?”
“That’s what the bet said.”
“Uhh… What bet are we talking about?” I look inquisitively at my girlfriend.
“It was about something we did in the locker room after the game on Saturday, nothing important, sweetie.” She smiles back.
“Sam, that sounds even more suspicious…” I frown.
“It’s nothing, Amicia, really.” Max pats me on the shoulder after which she takes up her own sports bag as well. “We just did a sit-up and push-up competition in the locker room after our game as some girls from our team challenged us to it.”
“One thing led to another, it was only Max and I left, and you know how competitive we are.” Sam rubs the back of her head.
“The person who fails first was going to carry the bags of the victor for a day, and here we are.” Max explains.
“Ahhh.” I give an understanding nod.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Wait, wait.” Hailey stops the conversation. “But you didn’t know you two were going to be left in the end, right?”
“Nope.” Sam shakes her head.
“And you didn’t stop the competition mid-way to bet?”
“No, we didn’t.” Max shakes her head as well.
“So that means, both of you made the bet whilst doing the sit-ups and push-ups?”
“Yep.” Sam nods.
Hailey looks at our two athletic works of wonder with open eyes and a half-open mouth. “That’s incredibly impressive.”
“Sadly, they are both already occupied.” Carol giggles.
Hailey sticks out her tongue to her friend who just continues giggling.
“Anyhow, we should be off now, still need to get changed and all that. See you at noon?” Sam leans over to kiss me. Obviously I oblige.
“Yes, see you. I’ll text you to say where we are at.” I smile and give her another kiss after that.
“‘Kay.”
Max gives Carol a kiss too before the two sportsy friends make their way over to the gymnasium.
“We should go too so I can sit down for a bit.” Hailey says.
“How so?” Carol asks.
“I got tired just by hearing them speak about their athletic overperformance.” Hailey laughs.
“That’s fair.” Carol chuckles while I just giggle along.
When we get to the classroom, we just do some casual chit chat until the lesson starts.
“I can’t sleep at all with this weather.” Hailey laments as she slumps on top of the table. “Why is it suddenly this hot, it’s November already. Climate, please.”
“Are you bad with heat, Hailey?” I ask.
“Bad is an understatement. I start melting when it’s above 22°C and I prefer the nights quite a bit colder.”
“You should get yourself one of those FDVR consoles as well. That way you don’t need to worry about any of that.” Carol replies while sipping on a juice box she brought along.
Hailey turns her head to the side to look at Carol. She looks pretty surprised at that suggestion. “I actually hadn’t thought about it that way.” She then turns to me. “Do you know if there are any arctic exploration games on that console?”
“Uh…. Now you are asking me something…” I scratched my cheek. “I wouldn’t know, but I can ask Hilda to see if she knows.” I take out my phone and quickly start typing up a message to our addon family member.
“If there is one, are you going to play a catgirl in it?” Carol asks.
“Why would I play a catgirl?” Hailey turns her head once more.
“I mean… it’s fun…” Carol shyly scratches the back of her head. “Your tail might keep you a bit warmer?”
“But cats very much prefer heat, don’t they? Wouldn’t that just make you feel like it’s way too cold?”
“Uh…” This time Carol doesn’t know how to reply to Hailey’s question. “Ami, willing to back me up on this one?”
“Just a second.” I finish typing the message to Hilda, with an extra question tagged onto it, asking if you are or are not able to play catgirls if such a game actually exists. “And… sent. You were asking?”
Hailey asks her question again.
“I’ve not really felt colder since becoming a catgirl.” I shake my head. “But I do love snuggling a lot more than I did. Especially in bed with Sam. She’s really warm.”
Hailey snorts. “I’m not sure if that’s your cat-part speaking or the ‘I-love-Sam’-part. But it’s adorable nonetheless.“
My phone then starts vibrating. It’s a message from Hilda. “Oh, that was fast.”
“What does she say?” Hailey leans over to read the message along with me.
“She says there are a couple but most of them aren’t really good. Apart from Turn of Destiny there’s only one other game that focuses on exploration that does it decently well. So if you don’t want the RPG elements you should go for that.”
“What’s it called?”
“Exploar.”
“Oh… Now I just need to find one of those consoles to try it out then.”
My phone then vibrates again, the message makes me chuckle.
“Hmm?” Carol tilts her head at me.
“And the answer is yes, there are in fact cat girls too.”
Hailey sighs while Carol and I giggle a bit.
As the classroom fills up a bit more we decide to speak about non-catgirl related things, just so we don’t draw some weird gazes to the three of us. When the professor then finally arrives a couple of minutes later, the lesson quickly starts.
Most of the class is about fiscality, especially the fiscality that pertains to artists. Not a terribly interesting subject, as a couple of classmates prove as they clearly are dozing off halfway, but incredibly important if you want to pursue a career in art. The Professor also explains that she understands it’s not one of the most interesting classes ever but that former students have always complained that they really didn’t know how to do their taxes after leaving uni, and now we don’t have that excuse anymore.
Luckily the last part of the class is reserved for some more energetic matter, mostly on the professor's own initiative. To wake us up again she’s made a small quiz about art and pop culture of fifteen questions. The winning group of three students get a CD from the professor’s own band.
Hailey, Carol and I sadly grab second place as we all flub an incredibly easy question about Machinerello.
“Ah shit, why did we answer that? I KNEW it was 1512 and not 1521.” Carol pinches the bridge of her nose.
“We just turned the numbers around. It’s not that big of a mistake.” Hailey replies, but her face betrays that she’s also pretty disappointed in herself.
“Urgh.” Carol puts her head on the table. “I’ll never make this mistake again. Bloody numbers.”
-Although losing is never fun, since it is now lunchtime, my mind is more set on a smoked salmon and herbed cream cheese sandwich than on the loss of a CD.-