Monday morning.

Your phone buzzes against the nightstand. Then again.

It's too early to be awake. The sheets are tangled around your legs, and there's a familiar heaviness in your body that tells you sleep is still pulling at you. The air in the room is cool, but the heat trapped under the blankets is warm. Comfortable.

A third buzz.

The phone screen glows when you shift to look at it.

Professor Aldridge: Group project assignment is posted. Check your email.

Below it, another notification from the campus portal.

You have been assigned to Group 3. Teammates: M. Kline, T. Chen, and L. Harper. First meeting scheduled Wednesday, 4 PM, Library Study Room B.

Mara Kline.

The name sits on the screen for a moment. You've seen it enough times—she's in half your classes, always a few seats over, always with something to say during discussions, always writing in that neat, slightly loopy handwriting when she takes notes. You've never really talked to her, not properly. Just the occasional exchanged glance when someone makes a joke, or the way she sometimes hovers near your table in the café before sitting elsewhere.

You don't think much of it.

Your thumb hovers over the screen.