Cycle 2-2: A Battle of Wills

“U-um, excuse me.”

The brown haired guy looked up in surprise. Kaitlyn looked away reflexively. No, you have to do this. You’re already committed, no backing down now!

“Ah, uh, c-can I sit with you? There’s no other tables open, and um, I guess…” She trailed off awkwardly.

His mouth opened in a silent “oh”. “Um! Yeah, of course. Go right ahead. No one’s sitting here or anything, I mean.”

“T-thanks.” Kaitlyn settled into the seat across from the mystery guy. Success! Part one accomplished. “I’m Kaitlyn. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh! I’m Ian.”  He smiled at her nervously. “Um, nice to meet you too.”

They were both silent for a moment. Ok, now for part two. Now I have to actually hold a conversation. Hoo boy. This might be rough. “Um… What major are you?”

“Me?” Ian blinked. “I’m just a CS major. Er, Computer Science.”

“Oh, cool!” Kaitlyn paused expectantly. Dangit. Isn’t that the part where he’s supposed to ask what major I am? How is he even worse at this than I am? “Um, I-I’m a Bio major.”

“Nice. I don’t really know much about bio, to be honest.”

She snorted. “Yeah, I don’t either, really. Wish I did.”

Ian chuckled slightly, then fell silent once more. Boy. He’s really not doing me any favors here. I mean, I don’t necessarily know what to talk about either… I was hoping he’d help me out, you know?

As her mind worked to think of a new conversation topic, she remembered the sandwich sitting on her plate. She hadn’t even touched it yet. She broke eye contact with Ian and started eating. Unfortunately, the awkward boy seemed to take that as an indication that their conversation was done. When Kaitlyn looked back up, he had returned to his own food and phone.

Dangit! She screamed internally. Now I definitely can’t start up the conversation again. I was gonna ask what classes he had, too. Though I guess I already know we don’t share any of them. Maybe it would be better to ask how his food is?

Chewing, she considered her options. I could still interrupt him, maybe? But that would be SUPER awkward. He obviously doesn’t want to talk to me. At the very least, he’s more interested in whatever he’s reading. I don’t want to force it or butt in here.

Before she could conjure up a satisfactory excuse to talk to Ian, he pocketed his phone and stood. He was done eating. “See you. Um, nice to meet you.”

Kaitlyn straightened. “Y-yeah! See you around sometime.”

He nodded with a shy smile, then walked off. As Ian disappeared beyond the doors of the dining hall, Kaitlyn slumped. Things had not gone as well as she hoped.

Well, given last time, I guess I should’ve expected it. Nothing’s been easy here. At least I have another name and a major to go with it though. Surely I can do something with that info?

With a sigh, she pulled out her own phone to browse as she munched on the sandwich.

***

She was headed back to the dorm when she remembered that Heather would still be moving in for a while yet. Last time Kaitlyn had filled the intervening time by searching for her classes, but now those routes were burned into her memory.

Well, guess it’s as good a time as any to figure out what I’m doing with my second chance. She settled on another bench under the shade of a leafy oak, collecting her thoughts.

Before anything else came the regrets. What had been her biggest mistakes last time? Classes, definitely. Not just being terrible at them, but the fact that I cared about them WAY too much. Even when it was obvious that I was getting nowhere. I gotta avoid that this time.

Still, it wasn’t like she could skip out on classes entirely. That would be going too far. It would also reflect pretty poorly on her if anyone found out about it, worse than bad grades even.

Maybe I keep going to classes, but just leave off on so much studying. No more zeroing in. That just made me miserable. Surely just hearing the lectures a second time will get something to stick, right? At minimum I’ll do better than last time.

Then there’s the romance. Kaitlyn sighed. That was her real regret. She had made next to no time for getting to know the dating sim targets by the end of the semester. Or anyone, for that matter. It was mostly because of classes, of course, but still. This time she wanted to do better and really experience the romance and social part of this game.

Which means… I need to learn more about these guys still. And figure out what route I’m going with, ideally.

Based on what she knew, there were five options available - four, really, since she hadn’t even see the fifth guy yet. Of those, Philip was out of the question. That guy was a complete jerk. No way would she try to talk to him more.

It’s probably impossible anyway. I’d bet his route is the one where I have to ace every single class or something like a brainiac supergenius. Not happening.

Ian was also an option, but not a great one based on the encounter just now. Sure, he was cute, but he was also incredibly awkward. Almost as much as Kaitlyn herself. If they could barely hold a conversation with each other, then she wasn’t holding out hope for hanging out anytime soon, much less dating.

That leaves two. Elliot and Alex. Elliot was the more mysterious one of the two. Considering that he was a male lead, it was perfectly reasonable to assume that he was currently single. However, based on the library encounter, things weren’t likely to stay that way.

He seems nice enough, so I still want to talk to him more. Still, I have no idea how long I have before that route is blocked off. Unless he’s already taken, and that route involves me pulling him away from his current girlfriend or something. She shuddered. I REALLY hope that’s not the case. No chance I can compete with that chick. Even if I wanted to.

Even as she considered the pros and cons of the Elliot route though, her mind kept circling back to Alex. Alex, the only guy who she’d had a meaningful interaction with. The friendliest and most charismatic guy on the roster so far. The only guy who had actually sought her out and expressed some sort of interest in talking - even if he did forget her name.

I… I think I want to get to know him better. Kaitlyn blushed. Not that I like him or anything! It’s just because he’s nice. It’ll pass. It’s not weird, right? I mean, I’ve only talked to him a little, but these guys are here to be dated! It’s not weird to be attracted to him! Especially when he’s that athletic and tall and nice and… Yeah. This is normal. It’s fine.

Her path forward decided, the next step was to figure out the details. She still didn’t know his classes - aside from Econ, based on his final. Hobbies, hangouts, and other basic info were also a mystery. However, she knew he’d be in cross country.

I can make more of an effort to get to track meets this time. She paused. Except… I still have no way to get off campus. Maybe I can skip class or figure out some of those scheduling conflicts for the home ones, but I don’t know if that’ll be easy.

The answer was staring her in the face. Kaitlyn just didn’t want to admit it. She did not want to join cross country. In fact, it was hard to imagine a more unattractive thing than her sweating buckets to maintain a slow. laborious jog in front of other people. She hated getting sweaty.

Only… I stayed in my comfort zone last time, and look where it got me.

Closing her eyes and groaning, it was obvious. It was simply the best option. Running would get her closer to Alex, give them a shared activity, and give her an excuse to hang out with him. Maybe she’d even get closer with his friends.

I just don’t want toooo, she whined. Dangit Alex, why do you have to be an athlete? Can’t you like gaming or something instead? That’s at least something I like too!

Still, if she wanted to know Alex better, this was the best chance she’d get. Maybe she wouldn’t have to stay on the team. Maybe they’d kick her off and he’d feel bad for her. Or, more likely, she’d quit.

Nope, no quitting. That’s probably a fast way to torpedo my chances. Plus, I’ve got some level of self respect here.

Kaitlyn sighed and pulled out her phone. Heather was probably still moving in. Cross country likely didn’t have practice today since classes hadn’t even started. She reviewed her plan as she began restoring her web browser’s lost bookmarks.

Focus on learning about Alex, join cross country, do the bare minimum for classes, and enjoy myself. Easy. Maybe I’ll actually look into a game system or something this time around. Or something to cook with. Anything else I’m missing…? Don’t think so. Just… gonna try to have fun, get by with no regrets. Hopefully.

Tomorrow she’d talk to Coach. Today, she had plenty of time to herself.

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