Cycle 1-5: The Right Chemistry

Kaitlyn found herself walking back to the dorms with a skip in her step. Finally, finally, an interaction with a guy had gone well for her.

Not just well - amazing! I know what team he’s on, when it meets, and even got his name! She hummed to herself. Alex. It’s got a kind of ring to it, doesn’t it? Way better than “athletic guy” or “black haired guy”. Even better because I’m pretty sure that there’s another dating sim guy with black hair too. Now if only I can get the names for ginger and brown hair…

As she strolled through the lobby towards the elevator, she considered what to do with this newfound information. Well, I can obviously go watch practices more, but he’ll be busy during them. Not exactly the best way to learn about the guy or talk. Might be that this was the intro encounter, and I have to branch out to more places for others. If I could find out what classes he’s in maybe? No, I haven’t seen him in mine, so that won’t help.

I need a way to talk to Alex more. Just to get to know him better, encourage future encounters. In case I want to go for his route. But how? Maybe… I should join cross country?

Kaitlyn shook her head, rejecting the idea immediately. She had never been an especially athletic person. Exercise had never been her thing, though her figure didn’t let on about it as much as it could have. Embarrassing herself by trying to start sports now would just be self sabotage.

Still, that doesn’t mean that cross county is an entire loss. Maybe I can go support them at meets or something? Still, even that idea had issues. She didn’t have any pre-existing connections to the team that would explain her presence at meets. That might make her seem even more strange than going to watch practice. Unless I go to like, all of the sports meets and games? That sounds like a lot of hassle for a cover story though…

Plus, it was very likely that Alex would be busy at meets. That meant they wouldn’t be a great way to socialize anyway. Her best shot was going to eat with the guy or finding some other common hobby to bond over, if they had one. Or hope that he had a friend group she could get along with outside of the team.

She resolved to look up the cross country meet schedule, just in case. She’d figure something out. Probably.

***

A few weeks of coursework was enough to dampen the feeling of success from the Alex encounter. Especially because it involved a distinct lack of progress on any front.

Initially, making contact with Alex was enough to embolden her to approach the ginger-haired guy in biology class. And by “approach”, she meant sitting a few rows behind the guy rather than halfway across the lecture hall from him. She was convinced that he’d recognize her if she got too close, and given how their last interaction went she wasn’t sure she could handle being brushed off so casually again. Even if she had been able to work up the courage to sit next to the guy though, he usually arrived to class right about when it started. He also tended to take seats in densely populated areas, so there wouldn’t be space for her anyway.

So even if I gambled and guessed where he’d be sitting just right, and THEN worked up the courage to talk to him, there wouldn’t even be much time for it. She considered the option again. Maybe I could get his name that way? That might be it though - and it would be almost embarrassing to call that an accomplishment. Plus, who’s introducing themselves to the people they’re sitting next to at this point?

So Kaitlyn once again sat in class brooding, letting the professor’s droning roll by and flicking her gaze towards the ginger occasionally. Maybe being recognized would be a good thing, because it would give her an excuse to thank the guy again? With how he had responded to it before though…

Soon enough, time was up and the crowd of students came to life, filing out of the lecture hall. As the guy stood, she considered following the tall fiery-haired guy to see where he’d go next.

No, that would be weird. I don’t want him to think that I’m a creep or something. I mean, I don’t even know anything about him yet, why would I be following him like that?

Another day with no apparent progress. At this point, she was sure she had seen the brown-haired guy a few times when walking around campus too. She always lost him before getting close though. Alex was really the only guy she had talked to, and watching the occasional cross country practice on weekends hadn’t helped her on that front.

Kaitlyn sighed. At this rate, she wasn’t going to know anything about any of these guys, much less get close to them. Forget dating, even friendship seemed far off.

How am I supposed to figure out which guy I want to date if I don’t know anything about them?! She huffed. The game’s supposed to give me way more information than this - at least a few real encounters to work with! What am I doing wrong?

***

Kaitlyn wanted to pull her hair out. Calculus was bad enough, but now Chemistry had decided that it also wanted to involve a bunch of math, too.

Will barium sulfate precipitate if 10.0 mL of 0.0020 M Na2SO4 is added to 100 mL of 3.2 × 10−4 M BaCl2? Recall that NaCl is highly soluble in water and that the solubility product of barium sulfate is 1.08 × 10−10 at 25°C.

How the heck is this even chemistry?! She chewed at the eraser on her pencil in frustration. It’s not! Chemistry is supposed to be, like, the periodic table and bonds and mixing colorful liquids together in flasks or something. This can’t possibly be useful to anyone. Friggin’ weeder classes.

A slight thump on the table made her stop glaring daggers at the problem for a moment and look up. Sliding into the seat across from her, settling in front of a newly placed stack of books, was Heather.

“Oh my GAWD I have so much to do today.” The blonde slumped. She was wearing a cute, lacy cream with a pair of bell-bottom jeans. The outfit stood in stark contrast to Kaitlyn’s trademark hoodie and sweatpants, and she couldn’t imagine that top would keep the girl warm enough with how cool the weather had been lately.

“Yeah?”

Heather groaned. “I have, like, two reports to write, one from International Relations and one for that stupid required writing class. Then on top of that, I got a bunch of reading from my Psych class, and of course it’s another research paper. Like, I dunno who writes those things, but would it hurt to make them a little easier to understand for us humans? At least I got ahead on the IR stuff last week, and that Jazz History GE doesn’t have any assignments.”

Kaitlyn nodded along with the girl’s words. She had come to appreciate Heather. Despite her overly-outgoing nature being a lot to handle in person, it did have positives. In fact, she quite appreciated how much alone time she was afforded in the room as a result of Heather’s busy social schedule. Plus, she usually didn’t push Kaitlyn to participate in their “conversations”.

“Well, do you mind if I study here too? I don’t like working alone, it’s like waaaay less effective for me.” Heather directed a beaming smile towards Kaitlyn.

“Sure,” she shrugged. “I mean, I’m not being super productive myself.” So it’s not like you can distract me any more.

Heather waved her off. “Don’t worry about that! Sometimes you’re just not in the mood, y’know? You’re trying, and that’s what counts!”

Surprisingly though, the stylish blonde didn’t continue chatting away like usual. Instead, she opened up one of her books and began reading. Every once in a while, she’d jot down a note or two in neat, loopy handwriting on a notebook by her elbow. Other than that though, this was the quietest Kaitlyn had ever seen her.

Huh. Well, that’s unexpected. To be honest I was kind of looking forward to an excuse for being so distracted. She sighed. Guess I really am unlucky. Why did my roommate get the better major anyway?

She turned back to her own work helplessly. Try as she might, this stuff just didn’t click with her. Add that to the sheer amount of stuff she still needed to do… Kaitlyn felt the stress settle like a physical weight on her shoulders. It really was impossible. How was anyone expected to handle this?

Deep breaths. It’s ok. Just… Just take a break.

After a few more minutes of frustrated brooding, her thoughts turned back towards the dating sim part of the game. She still hadn’t made any progress with any of the three guys she’d met - even Alex. She was sure that she could be doing something more, but what? And how? Especially when talking to people was so hard.

She glanced across the table. Well, maybe I can ask the expert. If anyone knows how to talk, it’s her.

“Hey… Uh, Heather?”

“Hmm?” She glanced up briefly, finishing a scribbled note.

“Um… Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, sure you can! What’s up?”

“I, ah… How do you, um, approach someone?”

Heather’s expression turned puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, like, how do you talk to people so easily? I-I mean, I don’t know how you do it…”

“Cuz it is easy!!” She beamed and tossed her long curls over one shoulder. “You just start talking and like, saying what’s on your mind, and that’s it!”

“U-um, kind of… I mean, I get nervous with most, well, most anyone really. But approaching guys is even harder, even if I just, I’m not…”

“Approaching a guy? Well, that’s your first problem. You don’t.”

“... Huh?”

“I mean, why would you approach a guy? They should be coming to you, y’know?”

There was a moment of silence, interrupted only by Heather flipping a couple of pages in her book. That’s… Not helpful. I mean, is that really how it works for her? Like, is being attractive that important to even starting a conversation?

She decided to press on anyway. “O-ok, but what if they don’t come to me first?”

She scoffed. “If they don’t recognize your worth, you shouldn’t even give ‘em the time of day. Like, any guy worth his salt should be leaping at the chance to impress you. If they’re not, that’s like obviously a red flag, right?”

Kaitlyn gulped. I honestly can’t tell which is worse - if this means that THEY’RE the problem or I am. That’s… that’s bad. Seriously though, this has gotta be bad advice right? Though, well, what I’m doing obviously isn’t working, so maybe she has a point…

“S-sure. Ok. But, um. Let’s say that, maybe, you want to get to know them anyway. Is… Is there anything you can do?”

The blonde finally set down her pen and rested her chin on a dainty hand. Her bright blue eyes met Kaitlyn’s. They were simply glowing with mischievous intent. “Do you have a crush on someone, Kaitlyn?”

“N-no! Of course not! Obviously! I just-”

“It’s ok, it’s ok! I’m just messing with you.” She grinned and waggled her stenciled eyebrows. “Well, if that were the case though… Then you’d have to get serious about it.”

The blonde then proceeded to launch into the most detailed explanation of a sociopolitical psyop that Kaitlyn had ever heard. It was a generalized framework, but that framework outlined potential factions with a stake in a romance, cover stories for getting in with a friend group, subterfuge tactics to keep her intentions hidden, and intel gathering strategies. It was obvious that Heather had done this before, and from the fire in her eyes, it sounded like something she very much enjoyed.

“...and once you’ve identified the five people whose posts he interacts with most on socials, you have to make sure that you follow up on any girls in that category. If any of them are single, those are your biggest enemies, whether they say they’re interested or not…”

“...remember that under no circumstances can you directly ask him if he likes you or if he wants to date. Like, never. You have to field that question through one of your own proxies, or, even better, through one of his. Best case, you get one of his own female friends to float the idea for you and report back…”

“...his guy friends have to be avoided at all costs, like, don’t even try to get in with them, it’s not worth the risk. Treat ‘em like a hostile faction even if they seem nice…”

“...remember you have to track how much time you’re ‘available’ and not let your schedule stay too open. Gotta keep that hard to get feeling…”

Kaitlyn was stunned. This is… This is too much. I mean, obviously she knows what she’s talking about but… Wow. I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of operation. Especially for just figuring out if I DO want to date a guy. I mean, how many people would I have to talk to just to have a chance at getting someone to approach me?

It was starting to sound more like a full-time job than anything romantic she had ever heard of. Still, it kind of reinforces that I can’t just talk to a guy, even as a friend, huh?

“...So maybe you’d get him in position by the end of the semester, if you start now. Maybe earlier if he doesn’t have strong friend groups yet, but that stuff’s probably already formed by now. Does that make sense?”

“Um. Yeah I think so.” Kaitlyn blinked. “T-thanks, for the advice. I’ll… I’ll think about it. Let you know if I have any, um, questions.”

“Of course!” The girl beamed and flashed a peace sign. It felt incongruous with the ruthless, cutthroat operation she had just explained. “I’m here to help!”

Yeah. It makes sense that she’s a Political Science major. Kaitlyn shuddered. I’m glad I’m on her side. At least, I think I am.

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