Y/N

_

"I'm heading out!" I yelled out into the apartment, grabbing my things.

Elliot taught me how to play the violin yesterday, which didn't go very well. I gave up halfway through the night, leaving him to serenade me on his own.

"You seem happy," the boy said, stopping me, "what's going on?"

"Can't a girl be happy to get to class?"

"Absolutely not," he laughed, "no one likes class, don't fool me."

"I'm not like other girls," I teased, briting into an apple, "didn't you know?"

"Fair, have fun in class."

"Will do," I winked, shutting the door behind me.

I walked towards the school with an extra skip in my step, anticipating what would happen after my final class ended. Last night seemed completely normal, but when I woke up this morning, I felt a strange connection to Timothee.

Perhaps it was because there was a picture of him all framed up next to my bed, but besides that, I think he may have won me over a little bit.

After all, he seemed to take interest in my interests. My curiosity still longed to know why he asked Elliot where to take me yesterday, but I was more than grateful that it happened. Seeing the Mouth of Truth in person with him was quite the experience.

I made my usual greeting to Professor Enzo, before taking my seat. An anxious smile was plastered across my face, and my pencil tapped quickly against the desk. I didn't think my unusual happiness was so noticable, so I flinched when I felt someone tap my shoulder.

"Psst!"

I dropped my pencil on the table, a tiny clatter ringing out into the classroom. Turning around in my chair, I came face to face with a brown-haired boy. I recognized him as Percy Stanton, a fellow classmate who had been sitting behind me for the past few days.

"You seem awfully happy," he smiled, raising an eyebrow, "what's the occasion?"

I had spoken to Percy before, but he's never inquired in anything other than the answers to Professor Enzo's pop questions. He was generally attractive, but not my type, with his strikingly hazel eyes staring back at me. However, I took complete notice of his Italian accent. I wanted to ask him if it was just part of his immersion experience, or if he was actually Italian.

"It's not an occasion," I shrugged, "and I'm not entirely sure where I'm going."

"But you seem happy about it, nonetheless."

"That's true," I nodded.

I wasn't keen on giving him information about Timothee and my past excavations, but his enquiring gaze seemed to draw the words out of my thoughts and off of my tongue.

"I'm meeting someone," I slipped, "we might go somewhere today."

"Oh?" he let out breathily, "a date?"

"No, we're just friends," I explained, "but we've been going on tours around the city recently. I'm not sure if we'll be doing it again, but I'm hoping."

"It's always good to hope," he nodded, "who is this friend you speak of?"

I might have let the rest slip before, but this time I was able to contain the name to myself. It wasn't my place to run my mouth off about things I wasn't sure were happening.

"Just a friend," I commented, "that's all."

I gave him a satisfactory nod, and spun back around before the class began.

_

Given the spontaneous conversation from this morning, I decided to have lunch with Percy in between classes. I usually ate alone in the courtyard, since I wasn't well-known to any of the other guys in my class, so today was a change.

"Okay," I said, taking a bite out of my sandwich, "you totally don't have to tell me, but I was curious."

"Should I be scared of this question?" Percy laughed, shoving his hand into a bag of chips.

"No! It's nothing bad," I continued, "I was just wondering about your accent."

"italiano, giusto?" he smirked.

"Well, yeah, I know it's italian," I giggled, "but were you born with it?"

"Yeah," he smiled, "I live here, didn't you know?"

"No, how could I possibly have known that!"

"I'm messing with you, don't get so flustered."

"But why are you in an Italian Language class?" I questioned, "that kind of defeats the purpose of being born in Rome."

"I wasn't born in Rome," he shrugged, "I was born in Sicily, before moving here when I was 12. Since I spoke Sicilian, which is a different dialect from the one they speak here in Rome, I needed to perfect it."

"Perfect it, how?"

"So I could get a job. I was turned down a lot of things in highschool because I couldn't understand some of the things customers said."

"Oh, that's cool that you came here to NYU though," I smiled, "and your english is really good."

"Thanks," he winked, "I did manage to learn it during primary school."

"Primary school," I sighed, "I love how it just rolls of your tongue like that."

"I mean, my accent doesn't sound special to me, but I guess you could say that."

"Yeah," I nodded, taking another bite out of my sandwich.

_

The rest of the day passed by quickly, since I had someone to spin around and talk to during the slow parts of the class. During the last few minutes of the second half, I started to glance outside the window to see if Timothee was outside.

"Hey," Percy whispered again, "why do you keep looking outside?"

"Nothing," I mumbled back, trying not to be heard by Professor Enzo.

"You're lying!"

"Zip it," I hushed, shaking my head.

I felt him kick the back of my shoe, and I turned around just to throw him a playful glare. As the clock counted down the last few seconds, my heart dropped when I realized there was no one standing outside the room.

And by no one, I meant Timothee wasn't there.

I pursed my lips, my stomach filled with disappointment, and hung my head as the bell rang. Grabbing my bag, I got up and leaned against Percy's desk.

"Did you finish the essay?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the empty hallway.

"The one due on friday?"

"I thought we only had one?"

"Yeah, it was a pointless question," he laughed, before tilting his head towards the door, "you coming?"

"I'm not planning on staying here, if that's what you're asking."

"Touche, Y/N, touche."

We walked side by side out of the classroom, but once we passed Timothee's locker, I held back.

"You okay?" Percy asked, noticing that I had stopped walking.

"Yeah, I'm waiting for someone," I said, biting my lip, "I think."

"Oh, you friend?"

"Yeah," I laughed nervously, "except I'm not sure if he's coming."

"Doesn't sound like much of a friend if he leaves you hanging."

"Well, it's not like that," I explained, "it's more of a mutual thing-"

I paused when I realized the boy's gaze was focused on something else. The sound of footsteps coming near echoed from behind me, so I turned around to see what had been taking all of Percy's attention.

"Timothee," the boy said through slightly gritted teeth.

I watched as the curly-haired boy approached us, an unpleasant shadow looming across his face. He was wearing a grey shirt, with the french flag printed on the front, and black shorts. It was a different look than I was used to him wearing, but I hadn't known him long enough to judge his style.

"Y/N," Timothee muttered, his arm brushing against mine as he came to a stop, "so you've met Percy."

I wasn't oblivious to the solid tension between the two boys.

"Yeah, we're in the same class," I smiled sheepishly, the awkwardness of the moment putting me on edge.

"What are you doing here?" Percy said, his eyebrows narrowed.

"I go to school here," Timmy retorted, "art department, if you didn't already know."

"I'm not an idiot, I meant what are you doing here."

I had not signed up for any of this when I first stepped onto campus. Drama already? It's only the third day of classes, and yet I felt I was drowning in the agitation being shown in this conversation.

"None of your business," Timothee said, turning to me, "let's go."

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was paralyzed by the feeling of Timothee grabbing my hand. I flinched in shock as he laced his fingers quickly through mine, pulling me away from my classmate.

Percy took a step back when he saw my hand locked in Timothee's, but I didn't have the words to explain it.

Besides, I was already being dragged away.