i'll hold your hand if you hold mine

William tightened his coat as he walked briskly across campus, making his way to his classroom just as the sky began to darken further with the setting sun. Students were milling around, holding books or drinks from the local shop, waiting for classes to begin. When he finally made his way into the main building, he reached his room and unlocked the door, setting down all of his things on the desk and prepping for the day. When he finished, he ran a hand through his hair and settled behind his desk, waiting for his students to arrive.

Tessa threw her bag over her shoulder and left her dorm as quickly as she could, as her first class was starting in less than ten minutes and she still had to walk all of the way across campus. She managed to make it in time, sitting down next to her best friend, Florence, giving her a quick smile.

Florence took a sip from the thermos she held full of earl grey. It was the only kind of tea she drank, and the only thing she really looked forward to in the mornings. She had a thing about being early to her classes, the kind of thing that made her be early to being early, which is why she stepped foot into Mister Bane's room a half an hour early before class had started. She opened up the most recent book she was reading, Tuesdays with Morrie, and set to read a few pages of that before she heard someone walk through the door to the classroom and looked up to see Mr. Bane. "Hello," she murmured to the older man, or vampire, really. She attended a college for vampires, in hopes of making them able to find a decent workplace in the human world where they could live and feed without worry. Florence was stuck on being a writer, no matter what her parents thought about it. A few minutes went by before Tessa walked in, sitting down next to Florence and smiling at her. She replied with a smile and holding out her thermos in offering to her best friend, whom she roomed with. Even if they had the same first class, they never managed to make it to the room at the same time. Florence spent all of her day writing, getting little sleep before having to go to classes. She did nap during the night inbetween classes, though.

Sawyer slumped into the classroom about a minute or so before the class started and took his seat behind Tessa Bluehallow. She was right fit, if he would tell the truth. And he figured he ought to come to class at least once a semester, so he would get it out of the way near the beginning and not have to worry about it for a while. He'd just cheat off of some wimpy student near him. At least, that was how he always managed to pass classes. "Hey, Tess," he said, poking her in the shoulder with a pencil lightly, "we didn't have any homework, right?" he asked, just to make sure he didn't have to make up some stupid story about why he didn't have his if there was any homework assigned from the last class period.

William murmured a hello back when he saw Florence come into the room, his eyes watching her as she settled into her seat and pulled out a book before looking away. She was always early to his class, and he always secretly admired her and her beauty even though it was wrong to allow himself to. She was a wonderful writer, and he always enjoyed reading all of the papers that she submitted to him for assignments. She was easily one of his favorite students that he'd ever had in one of his Literature classes, as her thoughts were just as beautiful as her outward appearance was, and hearing her thoughts only ever enhance what he sees in her. When the clock hit the time for class to start, William got up and moved towards the front of the classroom. He continued on with his lesson, talking about the book they had been reading.

Tessa took the thermos from Florence when it was offered to her, taking a sip from it before turning around to talk to whoever poked her. "Hey, Sawyer, we didn't," She answered, giving him a smile before turning back around towards the front of the classroom when Mister Bane began to speak. Tessa took another sip from the thermos before handing it back to Florence, taking her notebook from her bag, starting to write down scattered notes as she halfway listened to what he had to say.

Florence kept her notes neatly organised with different coloured pens and highlighters, each having a specific purpose. She and Tessa handed over the thermos every now and then, knowing how much her friend loved the tea she made. Eventually, the class ended and Florence told Tessa she would be out in a minute. Florence pulled out the last paper they had gotten back, having received a few marks she didn't think was right and walked up to Mister Bane. "Excuse me, Mister Bane?" she started off, "I, uh, well, during your office hours I have classes, and I was wondering if you would have time to explain to me how you graded my paper some time today? We can get a cup of tea, but, uh, only to talk about the paper more casually, and only to talk about the paper," she rambled slightly, knowing well that he was her professor and usually, taking your professor to a cup of tea was seen as quite an unusual thing, but since she specified that they would be talking about her paper in a time that would be okay for both of them (since she had classes during his office hours) that it would be okay.

Sawyer hardly paid any attention during the class, taking time to draw random sketches and scribbled instead. He didn't consider Literature a viable class at all. He wanted to be an artist, no matter how much that ruined his "bad boy" attitude. But when the class ended, he poked Tessa once again with his pencil lightly as she was started to pack up. "Hey, you don't have a class after this for like an hour or so right? So you wanna get like, breakfast or something? I'm starving," he asked, figuring that she was just as hungry as he was. Even if they were vampires, they could still eat regular meals, especially proteins to keep them up and running.

William was putting all of his stuff together back into his leather bag that he carried when he heard a student's voice and looked up. When he saw Florence he smiled, nodding his head at her request. "Of course Miss Welsh. What time would work for you best?" He asked, settling his bag into place onto his shoulder and draping his coat over his arm.

Tessa nodded at Florence, watching as she went up to talk to the hot teacher, and she packed her bag in the meantime. When she felt another poke, she looked back at Sawyer again, raising an eyebrow at his statement. "Only if you're paying," She said, smiling, feeling her stomach grumble in response to the idea of food, as she had rushed out of her dorm without getting any, and all she had in her stomach was Florence's wonderful tea.

"Thank you, Mister Bane. Would about two o'clock work okay for you?" she asked, holding her books against her chest, her bag hanging by her side. Florence knew she had to have been the strongest writer in this class. She had grown up copying books and learning grammar from that, to starting her own silly ideas for books and then evolving into full length novels she was still too nervous to show even Tessa, the girl she roomed with here at the university.

Sawyer let our a little laugh and nodded his head, "Yeah, I'll buy, babe," he grinned to her, sending her a wink before holding his arm out as if to tell her to lead the way. "Wherever you wanna eat is fine by me. I'm just starving!"

"That sounds just fine, Miss Welsh. I will see you then," He said to her, giving her a nod before walking towards the door, waiting for her to leave before locking it behind him. William set off the other way, going towards the school's cafe to settle down and grade papers. When he got there, he ordered a coffee and sat down in the corner, bringing out his laptop and going through his emails.

Tessa smiled back and grabbed her bag, putting it on her shoulder and grabbing his arm with her free arm and leading the way out of the classroom and toward the campus's main restaurant. "So, Sawyer, what's your major?" She asked conversationally, as they walked towards the busy building.