Sneak Attack

 Midterms were only a few days away and Tara was beginning to panic.

 She was struggling in her classes, barely keeping a passing grade. She was practically drowning, thrashing desperately in the waters with each assignment.

 Ellie's stress didn't help either. She cursed and scolded Tara often blaming her for the potential bad grade she would get which resulted in a lot of fighting.

 "You shouldn't have taken me to The Coaster to go see Nate's band! That was a valuable hour that I could've spent studying and preparing! If I fail it'll be all your fault!"

 "What?! You're blaming me for an hour taken out of your life? Wow I'm SOOOO sorry that I gave you an hour of a good time. Burn out is probably worse! You SHOULD be thanking me!"

 "Of course you're not going to take responsibility! Do you even care about your school work? You never study, and I've seen your grades on your desk! You're not doing great!"

 It was because of that back and forth that Tara decided to lock in and start focusing on her studies…at the library.

 She sat in the plush brown seat in the middle of the room, her books and papers scattered across the long wooden table.

 Her phone was out with a timer set for her to switch between each class's work – a strategy to try and stop herself from suffering burn out or getting bored.

 There was a bottle of energy juice and water in front of her, which she took constant swigs of, mostly to give herself a break from writing.

 It was already late. Her hand was cramping and her fingers burned – practically rubbed raw from holding her pen.

 As she sat there, so focused with her studies, she didn't even notice that others had sat at the table with her, nor did she care.

 What mattered right now was filling her brain with stuff she didn't even really like.

 Sure, she loved arts and crafts as much as the next girl, but decorating your notebooks with stickers and fancy text was much different than painting something out of scratch.

 It wasn't really for her, but she was trapped now as Tara and she couldn't let the old Tara down, or Tara's mother by getting kicked out of Hyzen University.

 Julian leaned against one of the large bookshelves, his eyes staring at the back of her head with a smirk on his face.

 He noticed Jade and Chloe sitting on the opposite side of the table, with a book or two in front of them.

 While he didn't really know the two girls personally, he DID know Sydney, and he knew that they were her 'trusty servants.'

 Which meant that wherever they went usually misfortune followed.

 He tilted his head, an eyebrow raised as he watched Jade motion to Chloe, pointing to her coffee cup and then pointing to Tara's books.

 Chloe giggled silently and nodded, gently taking the lid off and placing it back on.

 Julian approached, his long strides allowing him to reach the table just as Jade knocked the cup over.

 He grabbed it and placed the loose lid on, pressing down until he heard a 'POP!'

 "You girls should be careful with your drink. Wouldn't want to waste your money, right? Keep pushing on the lid until you hear that pop, that's how you know it's on securely."

 His tone was calm, yet full of warning.

 The two girls pursed their lips and took the cup back from him.

 "Oh my god…it's Julian. Let's go before he puts a target on our backs…" Chloe whispered into Jades ear, who nodded in response while gulping hard.

 The two scrambled to close up their books and ran to another table – far away from Tara.

 Julian pushed Tara's books over before sitting down next to her.

 "Hey! Hey! Stop! I have it all organized!" Tara exclaimed, grabbing the books and holding them down to prevent him from pushing them over more.

 "Is that how you thank the man who just saved all your hard work? Or would you rather have had coffee staining everything and running the ink?"

 He lifted up one of her books and saw that it said "ART HISTORY" on the cover. He lifted an eyebrow and chuckled, "Ah. Maybe you would've liked it. My mistake. Coffee covered papers could be seen as art I supposed. Who knows what kind of design it would've made."

 Tara glared at him and shoved the book back down.

 "Thank you for saving my work. There. Now please leave I really need to study."

 She turned her attention back to her notes, scribbling a few more things down as he leaned back in his chair.

 "You know, the prince usually gets a kiss on the cheek for saving the princess. Or maybe you're actually a pauper?"

 Tara rolled her eyes, and turned to face him, flashing him a disgusted look.

 "I don't know what stories you've read where that happens but I already gave you my thanks. You're distracting me, now go away."

 "Hmm. Touchy are we? I guess you do need to study. Considering you're what…an art major? You probably couldn't make it in real education huh? I guess your brain only mixes up weird images and can't comprehend real stuff."

 Tara slammed her pen down on her notebook and turned to him again.

 "How dare you!"

 "SHHH!!" A bunch of people turned to her and she became aware of the fact that she was in a library.

 She quieted her voice after a slight blush came over her face.

 "How dare you," she repeated in a whisper, "That's such an ignorant thing to say. There are plenty of people that are very smart and do art. It's not just mixing up weird images but I guess someone who actually lacks intelligence wouldn't understand that."

 Julian leaned in, his face almost touching hers, "But you're not one of them? Me? Lack intelligence? Hmm." He leaned back and rested his head on his hand, "You got me."

 Tara went back to her studying, shaking her head with an eye roll.

 Julian stayed a few minutes more, watching her, before getting up and leaving, a smirk on his face the whole time.