"The Fates are against me. They hate me," Emily complained to her best friend as they walked to class.

This was supposed to be Emily's year. With a new start in a new school, she was determined to leave behind the shy, mousy Emily of high school and become a confident, self-assured college student.

But, right away, college threw her a curve ball. She and Hanna had followed Ezra Fitz's advice and registered early for Lit 132, so that they could get into Andrew Bolton's section. Ezra knew him from grad school. He was a great educator, and consistently got high ratings from his students. That's why his section was always the first to fill up. They were delighted to find out that they had made the cut, but, a week before classes started, they received e-mail:

"A Bolton is currently on leave. Literature 132 Section 09 will be taught by P McCullers."

They hadn't been able to find anything out about P McCullers. Ezra had never heard of him, and there were no ratings for him.

"What do you think that the 'P' stands for?" she asked.

"I don't know. Maybe 'Puke' or 'Pissy'"

"I think that it's 'Poindexter.' I'm so not ready for Poindexter McCullers today," Emily said, derisively.

Just then, a slim woman in black slacks and a cream button down down strode in front of them with a cup of Starbucks in her hand and some notebooks under her arm. She turned slightly to face them as she stopped to open the door to the classroom. "It's Paige, actually," she said brightly, asking, "And you are?" as she held the door open with a welcoming smile.

Emily was frozen to the spot. It wasn't just that Paige McCullers had overheard them making fun of her name, but Paige McCullers was a woman - a drop-dead gorgeous woman. Emily clutched her notebook tighter against her chest and hunched her shoulders slightly, staring at the floor. Hanna nudged her in the shoulder. Paige McCullers was still holding the door, and still waiting for an answer.

"Sorry," Emily finally said, in reply to Paige's question. "I'm very sorry!" She reiterated as she ran inside and took the first open seat that she saw, in the front row, in the far corner of the auditorium.

"She's Emily," Hanna said cheerfully, without a trace of remorse. "And I'm Hanna. It's nice to meet you." Paige nodded her head and gestured Hanna inside.

There wasn't an open seat close to Emily, and Hanna preferred sitting in the back anyway, so she set up shop in the rear of the auditorium. She was sure that Emily would be fine on her own.

Emily opened up her notebook and leaned over the desktop, drawing small circles on the inside cover so that she would have something to occupy her eyes to help her avoid Paige McCullers' gaze in the awkward moments between their first encounter and the start of the class. She looked up only when she heard Paige clear her throat to get the class' attention.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Paige began, introducing herself as a first-year grad student. And there's that smile again. Emily chastised herself for staring. But she couldn't manage to keep herself from staring when Paige McCullers went over to the board and began writing her name and office hours on the board, her well-toned ass bouncing up and down in her slightly tight slacks with each bold stroke of the marker.

Paige McCullers moved back to the head of the class and jumped up onto the table, folding her left leg under herself and letting her right leg dangle. Her every movement was so confident and self-assured. The hem of Paige's slacks rode up a little when she sat down on the desk, allowing Emily the view of a small tattoo of the Penn State paw-print on the back of her calf, just above the ankle. Emily closed her eyes and swooned a little, wondering to herself where else Paige McCullers might be inked.

Emily immediately felt a buzzing in her jeans and felt a rush of guilt before she realized that the buzz was only the phone in her back pocket. When she was sure that Paige McCullers' attention was elsewhere, she furtively pulled the phone out and slid it unlocked, muting it before she read the text that had just come in.

Hanna: icu!

Emily twisted her head and found where Hanna was sitting, staring down at her with a huge smile on her face. Emily shrugged her shoulders and shot Hanna a "what the fuck?" look. What is she, five years old?

Emily saw that Hanna was typing again, and she looked down at her phone anticipating Hanna's explanation.

Hanna: drooling over paige mc hottie!

Hanna included various heart emojis and a monkey with eyes bulging out of its head.

Emily felt all of the blood drain from her face. If Hanna could tell that she was staring at Paige, she realized that Paige must've seen it too. Emily lowered her head in embarrassment, focusing on a spot on her desk and allowing her long, black hair to dangle down and hide her face.

All of a sudden, she realized that Paige McHottie - McCullers, she corrected her internal voice - wasn't talking anymore. And her heart started racing as she heard Paige McCullers' heels clicking in the direction of the desk where she was sitting. Then she saw three slender, well-manicured fingers descend on top of the desk. "Emily? Are you okay? Do you need me to open a window?"

Emily couldn't look up. Paige saw the curtain of hair that was hiding Emily's face swish slightly as Emily shook her head no. She tapped the desk one time before she walked away to address the rest of the class again. "I suppose that this is as good a time as any to point out that, if you ever need a moment to step out in the hall - to get some air or take a phone call or whatever - you're free to do so. Just be respectful of the rest of the class. Okay? So, we're not in high school anymore. You don't have to feel glued to your seat. All right? We're all adults here."

Emily didn't register any of that announcement. She didn't get much of anything that Paige McCullers said that morning. She would have to get Hanna's notes - as ridiculous as it felt to have to depend on Hanna for class notes - and do better next time. When she noticed that students around her were gathering their things, she started to do the same - until she heard her name.

"Emily," Paige McCullers said sweetly, "can you stay behind for a sec?"

Emily's heart rate tripled. She clutched her notebook tightly to her chest and went to the front of the auditorium, doing her best to keep her legs from wobbling. She was staring at the corner of the table from which Paige McCullers had taught most of the class, once more hiding her face behind her long, dark hair. Why would she need me to see me? she wondered. Oh, God - she noticed me staring at her inappropriately!

"Hi, Emily," Paige said, her tone friendly and non-confrontational. The rest of the class was filing out of the auditorium. Even Hanna had abandoned her. "So, listen. I wanted to apologize for the way that I called you out in class. I wouldn't have done it, but it really looked as though you were feeling faint."

Paige observed a small bob of acknowledgment in Emily's head, so she continued. "I hope that you don't feel uncomfortable because of what I overheard you and Hanna say earlier." Emily gave no response. She just readjusted the death-grip on her folders as she continued staring at the table. "Because it was really no big deal." Paige bent her knees and dipped her head, in a vain attempt to locate Emily's eyes. "Of course, if you'd feel more comfortable in another section, we can work on getting you transferred..." Emily looked up, her face still half-hidden behind her hair, and shook her head no vigorously. Oh, God. I'm really fucking this up, she thought. Paige nodded with a smile, not that Emily could see. She reached out to place a comforting hand on Emily's shoulder, but thought better of it and switched to reaching for an awkward handshake instead. It was awkward. And quick. Like first-time sex. And, like first-time sex, it left Emily's body tingling, yearning for more. She ran out of the room and leaned against the wall to breathe again.

"Kept after class by Paige McHottie!" Emily gasped and smacked Hanna sharply on shoulder for the way that she had startled her. And for having said "Paige McHottie" so loud that Paige couldn't have helped hearing. And for having sent the text that had gotten her kept after class in the first place. She grabbed Hanna by the bicep and rushed her from the scene, relishing the sensation of fresh air when they finally made it out of the building.

"So, I guess the Fates don't hate you after all, do they?"

Emily looked up from her comfort mocchachino, confused. "Why would you possibly think that?"

"Well, you wanted a new start, and BOOM! The fates drop Paige McHottie right in your lap!"

"Stop calling her that!" Emily scowled. "I swear to God, Hanna, if I slip up and call her that by mistake, I will physically kill you!"

"Whatever!" Hanna was undeterred from her theory. "You can't deny my point: The Fates must love you."

"Hanna, the Fates have nothing to do with this!"

"What? The Fates are only behind the bad things, not the good things?"

"Yes. For me, at least. They hate me. And, besides, they didn't drop her in my lap. I'll never even see her outside of class. Thank God."

"Well, what if I told you that the Fates put her at the table behind you, right by the door? And that she's staring at you right now?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Emily said, but she played along and slowly turned her head around, only to see that Paige McCullers was, indeed, at a table by the door and that she was, indeed, staring in Emily's direction. Smiling, in fact.

Emily almost got whiplash from turning her head back towards Hanna so fast. "Hanna!"

"What? You're mad at me now?"

"YES! Why didn't you warn me?"

"I did warn you! You just didn't believe me!"

"Shit. I told you that the fates hate me!"

"What? Why? Because they keep throwing you and the hottie whom you're crushing on in the same room?"

"Yes, Hanna! Putting us in the same room so that she can see what a dork I am. And so that I can see her obviously hot girlfriend."

Hanna looked back over at Paige's table. "That's not her girlfriend," she said confidently.

"How do you know that?" Emily asked, annoyed.

"I can tell. They're not sitting together the way that girlfriends do."

"Hanna..."

"Besides, at least, then, you'd know that she's gay. 'Cause I don't care how hot that girl is, she couldn't compete with Emily Fields! Stop being such a pessimist!"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Stop being such an optimist," she said under her breath. "And, anyway, do you think that's the kind of girlfriend I'd want, the kind who would dump the girl she's with when someone hotter comes along?"

Hanna reached out and took hold of Emily's hand. With a very sincere look on her face, she told her, "It's okay, Em." Emily nodded her head at what she thought was empathy until Hanna completed her thought, "because there's no one hotter than you to come along!"

"Got a thing for the hot brunette over there?" Shana asked. "She's cute!"

Paige was drawn back into the present by her friend's question. She had, in fact, been staring at the brunette, but more at her body language than at her body itself. She was drop-dead gorgeous, but she was sitting slightly hunched over as if to hide that fact; almost as if she were ashamed of being so beautiful.

"No, it's not like that," Paige replied, finally turning her eyes and her attention back to Shana. "She's in my Lit section," she shrugged.

"Oh, that class that you got roped into TA-ing? It's not looking so bad now, is it?"

"You're such a perv, Fring. But, yeah - I guess that a little eye-candy never hurts."

"You need me to scoot so that you can lay that old McCullers magic on her?"

Paige laughed. "No, Shana. I told you, it's not like that."

"Well, she's obviously into you."

"Believe me, Shana, nothing could be further from the truth."

Shana patted Paige's forearm. "You are so adorably clueless, McCullers. Let me tell you a little something about women. When they catch your eyes and look away quickly, it's because they want you to make the first move."

"Not in this case," Paige said, shaking her head. "She's just - I overheard her and her friend making fun of my name outside of class this morning, and she was mortified. Honestly, I thought that she was going to pass out in class. She's obviously still embarrassed."

"Uh huh," Shana said without emotion. "If you want to believe that."

Emily lay awake that night thinking about things. Maybe Hanna was right. Maybe the Fates had put her in that class - and in the Brew this afternoon - for a reason. It may have been a good thing, she thought. She wanted a new start, and she wanted to be more bold. Perhaps, she thought, the Fates were giving her a gentle push.

She sat up in bed, not knowing what to do. She knew that she couldn't talk to Paige - not yet, at least. She would need to break the ice first.

She finally got out of bed and walked over to her laptop to design a card. She put an apple watermark in the center - an apple for the teacher - with the words, "Welcome to Hollis!" At the bottom left, she put the block-H logo of Hollis University, and, on the right, she put the Penn State paw print that she had seen on Paige's leg. Too forward? she worried, but she left it.

Early Tuesday morning, she stopped by the department offices and left the card in Paige's box.