Chapter Text
"It's all over!" Annette Dominic wailed, collapsing back onto her squeaky mattress and throwing her arm over her eyes to add to the overall dramatic effect. Really, she should have probably fainted or something - in Annette's opinion, her behavior wasn't nearly dramatic enough to fit the horrible situation at hand.
Mercedes von Martritz, best friend, big sister figure, and woman who had just been interrupted in the middle of reading her business econ textbook, sighed heavily and stood up, following Annette into the tiny space that she'd taken over as her bedroom in their 1+ bedroom apartment. The plus was basically a walk-in pantry space without any shelving, just big enough to fit in a twin bed and a little dresser. "Annie, what happened?"
Annette peeked at Mercedes from beneath her arm. "Group tasks! Do you recall how I said specifically at the beginning of this semester that if there's one thing I want to avoid this semester, it's group tasks?"
Considering the semester had only begun a mere two weeks before, Mercedes didn't have to think very hard at all. And, judging by Annette's current state... "Oh no!"
"Oh yes!" Annette said, pushing herself up onto her elbows. "Professor Seteth decided that it would be just such a great idea for our midterm projects - which he already assigned, by the way - to be done as a group task. A group task!"
"Seteth...is that your humanities requirement?"
"Yes," Annette said grumpily. "It's 20th Century Art. Our group got significant artistic movements from 1910-1920."
"Well," Mercedes said, clearly aiming to present the task in a positive light. "That's right during the war, yes? War is terrible, but often leads to new artistic expression."
"Yes, I know, but Mercie, you don't understand!" Annette whined, flopping herself further up the bed so she could sag against the wall. "I didn't want to do any group tasks this semester because I have so much to do! I have that concert to prepare for at the end, and there's the play, and I've already got four other classes because I wanted to retake my math, and I don't have time for a group task!"
"Well, how many people are in your group?" Mercedes asked.
Annette glared. "Three other than me. Want to know who they are?"
Ah. Mercedes felt they were coming to the crux of the problem now. "Yes, very much so."
"Well first, we have Linhardt," Annette said. "Which shouldn't be terrible news, but..." Annette trailed off meaningfully.
"...but Linhardt would as soon sleep through an entire class," Mercedes finished, having had the experience of Linhardt as a classmate before. The guy was brilliant, probably almost at genius level, except for the fact that he only cared about the classes in his major, which was not humanities - it was genetics. And even then, he wasn't exactly the most motivated student. "What is he even doing in your class?"
"I don't know," Annette grumped. "Same as me, I guess. Last minute requirement."
"This wouldn't be so last minute if you'd just let yourself admit a B isn't bad," Mercedes chided Annette gently.
"We are NOT talking about that sociology class," Annette pleaded. "That was a horrible class."
Privately, Mercedes agreed. Their professor had been terrible and the projects had been complicated beyond explanation, but while Mercedes - who had also taken the class - was more than happy with her B, Annette was determined to receive As across the board. Hence, retaking the course requirement with this class, and doing so with what seemed to be a class full of people doing it because they'd forgotten up until this point. "Who else?"
"Leonie."
"Oh dear," Mercedes said. Yes, her initial impression seemed correct. It was always better to take care of the non-major classes early, just to avoid the stragglers. Leonie wasn't a bad student per se, but she had absolutely no interest in anything that wasn't sports. She did just well enough to keep her sports scholarship, and that was absolutely it. Leonie often took her classes with Ignatz, a boy who was very sweet but who Mercedes thought probably did a little more of Leonie's work than Leonie herself. No, this was not good. "Who's the final member?" she asked with trepidation.
Annette sighed, long and so discouraged that Mercedes wanted to wrap her up in a hug on the spot. And when Annette finally released the name, Mercedes did just that.
"Felix Fraldarius," Annette mumbled, her cheeks pinking.
"Oh. Oh dear," Mercedes said again. "You poor thing."
Annette went willingly into Mercedes' arms, clutching at her and whining quietly under her breath. "Why? Why did it have to be this semester? Why couldn't it be next semester? I'm never going to graduate at this rate."
"Oh Annie," Mercedes said. "Yes you will." And she would. If there was one thing Mercedes knew about her younger, sweet and slightly frantic friend, it was that she would graduate with flying colors if only she would stop doubting herself. "Here. I think we still have a box of brownies somewhere. Should we make them?"
"What about your reading?" Annette asked, sniffling a little as she wiped at one eye, pretending there wasn't a slight wet spot now on the shoulder of Mercedes' shirt.
"It can wait," Mercedes said. "It'll be fine, and so will you." It was true - she knew Annette would be fine in the end. But no, this group task wasn't going to make anything any easier.
Especially not if Felix Fraldarius was involved.