MIA POV
The study group is Cara's idea, which means I'm sitting in the campus library at 7 PM on a Thursday with five people I mostly know by face, a highlighter I've already chewed the cap off, and absolutely nowhere else to be.
"This is good for you," Cara whispers, spreading her notes out like she's settling in for a siege. "Community. Collaboration. Human contact that isn't"
"Don't," I say.
She smiles and says nothing else.
There are six of us around the table. Cara. Me. Britt, who I actually like. Two quiet girls whose names I keep mixing up. And Derek.
Derek arrives four minutes late, drops into the chair directly next to mine even though there are two empty chairs on the other side of the table, and says "sorry, sorry, traffic" to a library that he walked to on foot.
I shift my chair slightly left. Almost imperceptible. Just enough.
Derek doesn't notice. Or notices and doesn't care. I'm not sure which is worse.
