Breaking Free: A Living Again Novella Read Free

like to give out a paper copy. Sorry, trees,” she joked. Alexis liked her already. As she continued going through the basics of the class, Alexis doodled in her notebook, writing down a few key things the professor said but otherwise lost in la-la land.
    “I’m going to assign lab partners for the class. You will need to meet your partner at least once a week in the lab to complete the assignments. I will not change partners, so deal with it. You’re big kids now, so act like it.” Oh yeah, Alexis liked her. She never enjoyed the pettiness of high school and was glad to leave it behind.
    Professor Wilkins flashed a list up on the large screen at the front of the room. “Write down who your lab partner is, and their email. You will have to email each other to set up a time to meet. Trying to do that right now would be chaotic and too difficult.”
    Alexis scanned the list for her name, finally finding it. Her partner was Greer Henderson. She looked around, wondering if he was nearby. She assumed Greer was a he. She really hoped he wasn’t one of those fools flirting with the professor; she didn’t think she could handle that.
    Alexis pulled out her phone and tapped out an email to her new partner, hoping against all hope that he was someone that wanted to learn and not just have her do all the work. I wish Luke was in my class , she thought, then shook her head. She didn’t even know the guy and she was already swooning like a heroine in a romance novel.

 
     
     
    Greer looked around the room, watching the guys fumble over their teacher. He didn’t understand such foolishness. He was here to learn. He hated these large classrooms, much preferring the quiet of a small setting. But he had been down this road before, last year. He had made it then, and he could make it now.
    Just remember what to do when you get overwhelmed , his mother had reminded him this morning. He had nodded at her and backed away, not wanting her to touch him. Sometimes he could take it, but not this morning. He was already on overload, it being the first day of classes again. He was a sophomore now, but that didn’t stop the anxiety. He had new classrooms, with new professors. And he could hope that maybe this year, he wouldn’t be called names. Greer had thought that after high school, all of that would stop. But when you lived in the same town you had all of your life, and ended up in college with some of the same kids, it kind of followed you.
    “Greer the Queer” resonated through his head, and he shook his head, refusing to allow that thought to come. The problem was, once his brain started thinking about something, it was hard for him to stop.
    He forced himself to look at the list that Professor Wilkins had just put on the screen. He hated lab partners. He didn’t need anyone to work with him; he could do it all himself. And he was bad at small talk. Really, really bad. He didn’t understand the need for constant eye contact and talking. He talked when he had something to say.
    Sighing, he found his name next to an Alexis Nichols. Great. A girl. Not that it mattered. Boys and girls alike had been terrible to him his whole life. Boys hurt him and called him names, and girls rolled their eyes at him and whispered to their friends. He had one person other than his mom and dad that he could call his friend, and that was Camden. He had been his friend since they were little; their parents were best friends. He moved out of Tallahassee for college, though, so now Greer was all alone. He didn’t have any siblings, and as much as his mom and dad tried, it never happened.
    He pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened up the email to email her. Other than science, he was great at technology. He spent a lot of time working on computers and researching the latest and greatest. He knew everything there was to know about both current and past devices.
    Greer was surprised to see an email already from his lab partner. Hopefully she