When Melanie said she hated slackers, she meant it, hence why she always hated group projects. There was always someone trying to skate by without contributing at all and imagine her surprise when that someone was her best friend.
That project had nearly destroyed their friendship because there was no way Melanie was going to let people skate by without doing anything, not even her best friend, especially since Abigail's excuse at the time was boyfriend problems. After Melanie walked away with an A and Abigail with a D, they didn't speak to each other for a whole month until they got stuck outside again after another fire alarm happened in the middle of the night. From then on, they agreed to never take another class together again, and if both of them got accepted at the same job, one of them would have to quit. Their friendship remained intact ever since.
“I hate slackers,” Melanie said, shrugging. This wasn’t unknown to the people around her. As she took another sip of her soup, she noticed Abigail grinning, her brown eyes glinting knowingly.
“That’s true, but usually you don’t let them get to you. You just fail them and call it a day, but it’s clear that this Noah boy gets under your skin.”
“He’s arrogant,” Melanie explained. “And not only does he not take my class seriously, but he doesn’t take me seriously. Do you know he calls me Melanie? I’m his professor, not his friend.”
“Some professors let their students call them by their first name. Maybe he thought you were one of them.”
“I told him not to,” Melanie said. “I didn’t spend six years in university to have some athlete brat call me by my first name. And don’t get me started on the time we first met. He purposely missed my class for two weeks, and then he starts to flirt with me.”
“He thought you were a student,” Abigail argued on Noah's behalf. “You should take it as a compliment. Besides, you’ve always had a babyface.”
“Either way, I’m not teaching him. He doesn’t get under my skin like you said. I just don’t like expending my time to students who don’t care when I have students who really want to learn about psychology. When I was in school, I took all of my courses seriously.”
“Everyone isn’t like you, Melanie. Gosh, that used to get on my nerves about you.”
Melanie gasped, stunned by her friend’s words, and slightly hurt. But Abigail just shrugged, raising her hands in a don’t-blame-me gesture.
“I’m just being honest. You call him arrogant, but you were always the one who made it seem like other people were stupid because they weren’t working as hard as you.”
“I don’t do that,” Melanie said and cursed to herself when she heard how whiny she sounded.
“You did that all the time and you still do. Face it, Mel. You're an overachiever, and sometimes, a know-it-all. You have a way of making people feel inferior because they don’t work as hard as you.”
“I never heard anyone tell me that before,” Melanie said, no longer eating her food as she thought back on her past actions. She never thought she was better than anyone else before. She just thought that when people wanted something, they should work hard for it. That's the only way someone will be able to achieve anything in life. It's why she worked hard at everything in life, even her love life.
“You run them off before they get a chance to. I stick around because I know you’re not an arrogant bitch. Maybe a tad bit of a know-it-all, but not a bitch.”
“Well, thanks for telling me how you really feel,” Melanie said grumpily. This was news to her. But then again, when she was younger, her brother never liked to learn anything from her because he said that she always spoke to him like he was stupid. It just annoyed her when he wouldn’t pick up on basic concepts, especially because he was too busy looking at the TV or daydreaming. Her patience had always been very, very thin.
“I’m just saying that everyone isn’t an A++ student like you.” Abigail placed her fork flat on the table, clearly done with her food. A few minutes later, their waiter appeared with their tab, waving them off with goodbyes and a smile.
“I’m going to say this, Melanie,” Abigail said as she scribbled her signature on the check. “If you give those tickets back, we won’t be friends anymore.”
“You’re so dramatic, Abi.”
“How am I supposed to tell my father that I had season tickets to the game, but now I don’t anymore. Do you know how disappointed he’s going to be? You think I’m dramatic, but he’s going to disown me and then I’ll have to live with you again. Do you want that?”
Melanie groaned as she stood. She didn’t want that at all. The thought of living with Abi again, best friend or not, gave her hives. Abigail was way too sloppy for her taste.
They left the waiter a nice tip and stepped outside the restaurant, walking over to Abigail’s car, which Melanie had come with her in. Abigail didn’t like the idea of being seen in Melanie’s car. But Melanie loved her car, and it was a gift from her grandfather before he passed. It held sentimental value to her, and as long as the wheels didn’t fall off, she would keep riding it as long as she needed to.
Abigail got in the driver’s seat while Melanie got in on the passenger’s side. As Melanie placed on her seat belt, Abigail said, “Oh. And you should also think about how Noah feels. I know it might not seem like he cares—”
“He doesn’t. He even told me he doesn’t care,” Melanie said, annoyed. Even if she wanted to keep tutoring for Abigail’s sake, the fact that Noah told her, his professor, that he didn’t care about her course, pissed her off. It was highly disrespectful. She wouldn’t be able to tutor Noah after this. She barely wanted to teach him anymore.
"Maybe he doesn't, but if I remember correctly from what my father told me, Noah is under a lot of pressure. You know he's the son of that great hockey player, Allen Walker, right?"
Melanie snorted. "So, he's a rich white boy who already has the golden ticket to be a hockey player. What's the point of him even going to college and wasting everyone's time? I'm pretty sure he'll be drafted. And if push comes to shove, maybe his father will buy his way in."
Abigail shook her head as she started her car up. "Funny that you say that. His father already tried to buy his way in.”
“What?” Melanie exclaimed, shocked. She had said it because she felt a bit snippy right now with the way Abigail was attacking her character, but she didn’t think it was true.
“Yup,” Abigail said, shaking her head. “It was a huge scandal, and it was all over the news. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it.”
