Kai shrugged his shoulders, both in answer to her question and to shrug out of his coat. He draped his coat on the back of his chair and balanced his elbows on the desk, cupping his face in his hands. "Can't remember," he decided after a long silence. "I think I've been drunk all week. Got to cut loose before the semester gets too tough, you know."
"Seriously?" Autumn gave him a disgusted look. She had a thing against drugs and alcohol, mostly because she didn't want to end up like her dad. None of the others knew how she'd ended up in foster care, and she never talked about it. "You better not have been driving like that."
"I was driving," he responded, only half teasing, "and every time I got pulled over they let me go. Natural charm, I suppose." He'd learned pretty quickly that DUI's were more pay-to-play, and police officers got really quiet once they realized his status. He guessed the combination of wealth and race let him do that, but really, he didn't care. "What, you worried about me?"
Basil sat down in his seat before chuckling,"Just slept and drank through most of the week, if you know what I mean." He placed his crimson-colored notebook on the right side with a blue pen on top. Slipping out his jet black suit jacket, he set it on the back of the chair.
He made a little "pft" sound while shaking his head. Basil gently brushed out his suit vest trying to make whatever crests and wrinkles there were disappear. "Kai you're still young and handsome, don't drink all of it away.", he advised,"Your liver could give out in your forties."
Autumn rolled her eyes. "Duh, of course I worried about you! You're my friend." She brushed some hair out of her face. "Drinking will get you in a wreck one day, and when it does, you better expect a big 'I told you so.'"
"First it's my liver we're worried about, now it's a car accident." Kai shrugged daintily, casting a wan smile at the both of them. "I like to think my death will be much more tragic and much more Greek."
Kasey miraculously arrived at the class in a manageable amount of time, he pushed through the door and saw some of the others already inside.
Autumn waved at Kasey. "Fine then." She said, smirking at Kai. "A chariot wreck. That Greek enough for you?"
"God, imagine how iconic I would be if I died in a chariot wreck," he said with a laugh. "But I'd prefer if some Greek deity struck me down for my hubris. Now that's a tragedy I can get behind."
Kasey waved back at Autumn, it seemed as though they were having a pretty in depth conversation so he decided not to interrupt. Instead he plopped his bag onto a desk nearby and pulled out his notebook.
Resting his chin in his hand, Basil looked over at Kasey giving him a wink then a little wave. "Mon dieu Kai", Basil giggled," I think it'd be better to fall in love with the deity, have a beautiful romantic love affair, and then they kill you because their parent said there was no other way."
Autumn nodded. "That would be pretty tragic." She grabbed her sketchbook, and began drawing the scene. "Which Greek deity would you fall in love with?"
"I'm already in love with Artemis," Kai said, dramatically. "I'd be honored to let her kill me."
Autumn rolled her eyes. "She's sworn off men, remember? The whole love affair thing might not work out, but you might be able to get her to kill you." She continued sketching the figure of Kai, and imagined Artemis standing over him, foot on his chest, with her bow drawn and aiming an arrow at him.
"That's why I like her," he admitted, "something about forbidden fruit. Anyway –holy shit, that's good." He admired the drawing for a long moment, grinning at the details. Even though it was just a sketch, Autumn had drawn the expressions quite accurately and it was very amusing. "Can I keep this? I want to look at Artemis's foot on my chest forever."
"Might as well 'die trying' as they say.", Basil shrugged. His hand twirled the blue pen around as he glanced out the window. He leaned over to catch a glimpse of what Autumn was sketching. The resemblance between real life Kai and the one on the paper was uncanny; Basil laughed a little trying to imagine the scene. How she drew Artemis gave some life into the goddess. "I believe Autumn is secretly Berthe Morisot.", he nodded," It looks wonderful!"
Autumn smiled at the boys. "Thanks guys." She pulled out some fancy markers(like Copic or something that blends well) and began coloring and shading.
Kai watched her start coloring as the professor walked in, smiling at his students. "Good morning!" the professor said.
Flashing a smile, he bowed his head in response before sitting up straight in his seat. Basil stared up at the clock wondering when the class would start. The opening of the door sort of startled him. He fixed his hair before greeting cheerly,"Oh, bonjour Professor!"
Autumn put her artwork aside and smiled at the professor. "Good morning, sir!" She brushed some hair out of her face as she spoke, and tucked it behind her ear.
The professor nodded his head slowly. "I appreciate you all for coming to class on time today, although I'll admit I'm running behind schedule," he said with a shrug. "I'm hoping we can just discuss today. Lecturing is boring, don't you agree?"
Basil slowly dragged his journal to the middle of the desk. He opened it then sat his pencil down. Lightly nodding, he listened to the professor. "If I may say, a discussion sounds better than a lecture.", he smiled.
Kacey sat down in his chair and pulled out a pen before slinging his bag over the back of the chair. He slouched back in his chair and listened intently, he wasn't big on class discussions but it was much better than a lecture at least.
The professor cracked open his book, glancing at the students. "Did everyone read The Stranger, and write in their journal about it?"
Basil nodded before putting his pencil to the side. Staring down at his notebook, Basil blinked. He flipped to another page finding his annotations and comments on the book. Tilting his head to the right, his eyebrow pushed up while trying to read what he wrote. The pages looked like Waterloo, at least he read it that's all he has to say.
Autumn opened her notebook and flipped to the page with a nod. She quickly read through her notes, with a satisfied smile. She had enjoyed the book, just like she loved most fiction books.
Kai fiddled with his journal. His notes were incoherent, but he'd liked the book okay. Something about the way Meursault handled emotions sort of resonated with him.
The professor looked around the room again. "Would anyone like to provide a working definition of existentialism and absurdism to kick things off?"
(I've never actually read the book. I didn't even know it existed.)
(oh lol you're good, we could do a time skip if everyone wants to)
(Works for me, I was going to search the story up but realized I'd be spoiling it for myself.)