In a funny way

Round 24: Autumn 2019

Last update: Claudia and Victoria/Jacob/Finn

Next update

Jacob Weaver, Amar Hamilton, Finn Romilly and Claudia and Victoria Kirby are all 18.

(Maia Novak is 17)

This is a long one!

This year, Suffolk University is overrun with freshmen and none of them are wasting any time getting started on their course work.



Of course, it's with no small amount of whining. University work seems to be giving Finn a little more trouble than anything he ever did at high school!

Maybe he should take a tip from his girlfriend, Victoria. She's found that the key to getting through unpleasant tasks like term papers is thinking up a nice little incentive for yourself when you're done.

And she's done.

Victoria managed to snag the best room at Moretti Hall, which just happens to be the only one with a double bed. Finn has his own room but he's yet to sleep in it.

When she's not studying, Claudia can usually be found in the dorm's greenhouse. If she works at it, she might be able to become a master gardener by the time she takes over the family farm.

When he first moved to campus, Finn wasn't really very close to Jacob or Amar. He hung out with Jacob all the time in Grade 7 but it was mostly because he had a crush on Victoria and was trying to get to know her. It's only this year that he and Jacob have become friends. Finn just can't warm to Amar though. There's something about him that Finn just doesn't like.

Yep. Finn definitely can't stand this guy.

Finn just may need to get used to Amar, seeing he's currently dating his girlfriend's sister.

In fact, Claudia has fallen in love with Amar. Or she thinks she has, anyway. She's hoping that what she with Amar could become something like what her sister has with Finn.

Lately though, Claudia has felt a spark with Trace, a guy from one of her classes who she's been studying with a lot.

Trace never stops flirting with Claudia and at first, she was very resistant to him. What was with the raver clothes? And why does he use more hair product than she does?

But Trace has grown on her a lot over the past few weeks. When he flirts with her now, Claudia's response is more positive and sometimes, she even flirts back.

Amar took an instant dislike to Trace, even though they'd never actually had a conversation. The way Amar glared at Trace made Claudia quite nervous.

That was on top of the guilt she was already feeling. Amar could really be so sweet sometimes.

When he was around, at least. Most nights, Claudia watched TV with Finn in the common room and often remarked that Amar had disappeared. Finn wasn't sure why Claudia thought he, of all people, would know where Amar was.

Finn had work to do! Finn was determined to earn as much money in grants as he could and he needed good grades for that. He wanted to always be on surer financial footing than his parents were and maybe even have enough money to take care of them in their old age. He was even majoring in Economics so he could really be an expert.

Trace and Claudia both have very early morning classes this semester. The part where they have to wake up early enough to be in class by 8am sucks but the part where they have the whole rest of the day to themselves afterwards kind of rocks.

They often go for lunch in Exeter after their classes are finished. It's about 45 minutes away by taxi but time is thankfully not an issue.

Some days, they hang out in the hot tub at Claudia's dorm instead. They've cuddled a little but that's it. Trace definitely wants to take it further but Claudia has always been quick to put a stop to it when he gets too amorous.

Until now, that is. Claudia and Trace are extremely attracted to each other and one day, Claudia just lets her guard down.

And then comes the guilt. Afterwards, all Claudia could think about was Amar.

She might not feel so remorseful if she knew what Amar got up to the nights he's not at the dorm. When he's not with Claudia, he's bar-hopping with Jacob.

Jacob is no innocent. He's got a girlfriend back home in Sullivan and Maia would hate to see him with other women. The way he sees it though, it's just flirting and he's not looking to take it any further. Hooking up with random women in bars is not really Jacob's style.

Sadly for Claudia, it is totally Amar's style.

He doesn't quite have Jacob's charm. If Jacob wanted to, he could probably pick up any girl he wanted.

Women aren't quite as fond of Amar. Some of them even flat out tell him that they've got their eye on another guy and could he please get out of the way.

There's always at least one girl who's ready and willing though.

Amar has never come back to the dorms disappointed.

Claudia was still wracked with guilt over Trace, being completely in the dark about Amar's night-time activities.

Jacob was feeling a little ashamed of himself too. Claudia had been his friend since childhood and here he was, watching her boyfriend cheat on her and keeping his mouth shut about it. Jacob started to think that perhaps he should tell Claudia or at least talk to Amar.

Amar was getting daring and invited one of the girls over to the dorm while Claudia was at class. It turned out that she lived on campus too, right across the street.

Claudia's classes do not last as long as Amar thinks they do, however, and she gets back to the dorm just in time to see Amar and Diana getting quite cosy in the hot tub.

Once Amar realises Claudia is behind him, he climbs out the hot tub, to be greeted by a furious Claudia.

It's not long before Claudia's anger is replaced by hurt and sadness. And Amar is angry at her, for some reason.

Amar didn't seem like he felt bad about cheating at all. He seemed almost proud of himself.

He even tries sharing his tips about women with Finn. Finn feels horrible for Claudia but at the same time, quite vindicated that he'd never liked Amar. Now he had a good, solid reason to dislike the guy. And he won't be taking any advice from Amar about girls.

He's very happy with Victoria. Finn didn't feel any urge to go and "sow his wild oats", or whatever stupid turn of phrase Amar had used.

Victoria, meanwhile, has her hands full trying to console her heartbroken sister.

Once Victoria has calmed her down a little, Claudia tells her sister the whole story - Amar's constant disappearing acts (which Victoria had already noticed) and the fact that Claudia had had sex with Trace in the hot tub.

Victoria is a little taken aback to hear about Trace - who was Trace, even? - but decides now isn't really the time to discuss that.

Claudia is feeling foolish right now and there's no need for Victoria to add to that. Claudia can't believe she worried so much about cheating on Amar, when along he'd been sleeping with God knows how many other girls.

Victoria feels like she should stay at home with Claudia but her sister insists she go and enjoy a night out with Finn.

Victoria is very distracted for most of the night. She's worried about Claudia, "all alone in the dorm", even though she's not all alone at all, as Finn reminds her. Jacob's with her.

Yes, Jacob is with her and Claudia is wondering if he's actually flirting with her. She's not sure if she's quite ready to jump into another relationship but in the last couple of years of high school, she started to see Jacob in a different light. It's not quite a crush but she won't lie - the prospect of dating Jacob is kind of attractive to her. As is Jacob himself.

But Claudia knows he's still dating Maia. What she doesn't know is that up until recently, Jacob was contemplating breaking up with Maia. There's only a year's difference between them but it's been seeming like a lifetime, with Jacob away at college and Maia still in high school.

But when they meet up, Jacob has every intention of splitting up with her but he finds he's genuinely happy to see her and he just can't do it. Maia still won't have sex with him though and he's definitely getting a little impatient about it.

Finding Jacob in the hot tub, Claudia doesn't see the harm in joining him for a soak. Jacob's not sure if he's ever seen Claudia in a bathing suit before but he gets a nice long look now and rather likes what he sees.

It crossed Jacob's mind that he might be able to get Claudia to fool around with him in the spa. It feels different to be considering it with Claudia, as opposed to the strange girls in the bars he frequents. But it seems like Claudia wants to talk. A lot.

Jacob sidles over closer to Claudia and whispers in her ear what he'd rather be doing.

Jacob doesn't know about Claudia's little not-crush on him, so he's kind of surprised when she lets him go for it.

Jacob definitely has a lot to think about the next morning. He loves Maia but she won't sleep with him. He loves Claudia but he's still with Maia. And there's Patience too. Even though they broke up 3 years ago, he's always held a candle for her.

Jacob knows what happened between him and Claudia was wrong but he still can't resist making the same mistake again a few nights later. Especially with that sly grin Claudia gave him as she lowered herself into the water - she was not there to talk.

Jacob's even more confused now, so he seeks out some advice from the other guys in the dorm, trying to keep Claudia's name out of it. Amar, unsurprisingly, doesn't see what the problem is.

Jacob's not sure why he bothered asking Amar.

So he asks Finn instead. Finn, at the very least, understands why this is a problem. But he insists he can't make Jacob's decision for him and isn't really all that helpful.

Jacob hasn't mentioned anything about what happened to anyone but maybe Claudia has. Or maybe Claudia and Victoria just have some kind of twin ESP thing. The way Victoria is looking at the two of them makes Jacob think Victoria might suspect something is up.

Random pic:

(click to enlarge)

Has anyone ever seen this want before? I never have! Finn must miss his little sister, which is pretty adorable, considering what a hellion she is.

Notes:

• Title comes from In a Funny Way by Mercury Rev.
• I don't think Finn has even entered his room, let alone slept in it.
• Isn't Claudia making up for lost time? LOL! She arrives at her dorm a virgin and she's finishing up her freshman year having slept with three guys! All of which were autonomous, I'll add! I was expecting her to sleep with Amar and I wondered if Jacob would have a crack too but Trace was a total shock! I almost didn't write in the sex with Trace but I decided to leave it in at the last minute. It required extensive re-ordering of the pics for it to make sense (they actually jumped in the hot tub together about two seconds after they met) but I think it turned out okay!
• So Amar is a total, unrepentant ass and Jacob is kind of an ass, but feels bad about it. Jacob might end up settling down eventually (with who is still up in the air, especially now that Claudia's thrown herself into the mix) but Amar...I don't know what will become of him!
• Among all that, these guys did actually manage to finish their Freshman year! All of them have 4.0 GPAs, apart from Amar. Amar was a lazy bum in his first semester and only got a B, so even with his A+ in second semester, his GPA is still only 3.5.