I Think I Do

The oppressive heat of the afternoon sun pressed down on the university campus, making Daphne's worn boots feel even heavier with each echoing step. Her internal monologue, a familiar symphony of financial woes and academic anxieties, played on repeat.

She paused at the campus's sole working water fountain, a small oasis amidst the academic desert. Her gaze drifted across the tattered flyers clinging to the wall, a kaleidoscope of student events and self-help seminars. One, in particular, emblazoned with the face of Mason Hayes, snagged her attention. A snicker escaped her lips. Even he, the epitome of an annoying slacker, possessed some semblance of competency. A bitter thought, quickly followed by a self-deprecating one.

Just a week prior, her professor, Mrs. Auburn, had delivered a playful yet firm warning about their semester-long assignment in sexual psychology. Daphne, ever the optimist, had been determined to excel, despite her recent academic slump. That resolve, however, had rapidly dwindled the moment she discovered her assigned partner: Mason Hayes.