Conditional Love

10. Spirit

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Michael

Alyssa told me that it would take her five minutes to get from her physics class to mine - it's the only overlap in our schedules. I offered to rearrange my classes, but she insisted on being able to run from her building to mine. She said something about being a runner, but I couldn't really care less. She could be riding a cheetah for all I care. The only thing that matters to me is punctuality - I hate tardiness.

I check my phone again. It's almost four - my class ended twenty minutes ago.

So why the hell am I still in my classroom?

The last couple of students who stayed after class to talk to the professor, Dr. Hall, have all slowly trailed out. Dr. Hall cheerfully whistles as he turns off the projector and packs up his briefcase. Just as he's about to leave, he looks up and spots me sitting at the very back. His brows furrow together in concern.

"Do you need help?" he calls.

I quickly shake my head. "No thanks, I'm waiting for-"

"Hi Michael!"

I nearly jump out of my chair as Alyssa comes bursting into the room through the door behind me. I can hear Dr. Hall quietly chuckling as he slips out the side doors.

"You're late," I grumble, straining over to turn around. I'm taken aback for a moment. Her pants are smudged with dirt, her shirt is wrinkled, and random remnants of a tree stick out from all sorts of directions in her hair. I stare, bewildered at her jarring state. "The hell happened to you?"

She laughs and begins pulling out the tiny twigs and leaves tangled into her hair. "Sorry! I saw a baby bird fall out of a tree on my way here and helped get it back up into its nest."

"You can't just mess with nature like that, Alyssa. Haven't you ever heard of survival of the fittest?"

She sticks her tongue out at me. "Of course I have," she scoffs. "But I wasn't about to let a baby bird die at the mercy of someone's foot."

"Whatever, I'm already late for my meeting, let's just go."

Alyssa efficiently slings my bag over the handles of the wheelchair and wheels me out of the room. Despite it only having been six days since the accident, we've gotten into a relatively decent routine. We're definitely nowhere near good when it comes to my standards. But at the very least, we aren't constantly at each other's throats anymore.

The early afternoon air is icy and nips at my cheeks as soon as we're outside. I know that there's a new wool scarf in my bag that Alyssa got for me. I called it stupid and unnecessary but she insisted I keep it with me. Asking her for it now would be blatantly admitting I'm wrong.

I'm not going that far to avoid the cold.

I'm Canadian, we've adapted to live in this weather, alright?

"You sure have a lot of meetings, huh?"

"It's to weed out the weaklings," I chuckle. "The first couple weeks are always purposely hectic."

The ones who are committed and hardworking are the ones who stay, everyone else bails. Jane was unsure about it this year, having such an unstable team and all, but I managed to convince her to keep the tradition going. Out of the twelve new students who joined, seven are still left.

Alyssa is silent for a moment before speaking up hesitantly. "That sounds a bit harsh."

"You're one to talk, sororities sound like they're full of snobby elitists who cherry pick their members," I scoff.