Chapter Text
Oliver takes a deep breath as he steps up the stairs of the gorgeous, historic building located in the center of campus. He glances up to admire the beautiful gold letters above the archway: MIDDLETON LAW SCHOOL. This is it, he thinks, as he straightens and adjusts the strap of his bag. Day one of law school. Time to find out if this was the worst decision of his life, or the best.
He looks around at the frenzied rush of students, trying to make it to their class on time. Luckily, his is in the main lecture hall on the first floor, so he takes his time, simply watching the crowd as it swarms around him. He shuffles nervously in his spot, hands shoved in his pockets as he glances at the faces around him. Everyone looks at least half a decade younger than him. It makes him feel even more self conscious than he does on a regular day.
Too bad it took him eight years to figure out that an office job isn’t all he wants to do with the rest of his life. He wasn’t happy, so he decided it was time to turn his life around. He signed up for the LSAT–and got a near perfect score. Though it seems the rest of it won’t be so easy. The snippets of conversation that he hears as he walks into the lecture hall is a clear indication of that.
“I threw up four times this morning worried she was going to call on me.”
“She’s a ballbuster, sure, but I spent my summer interning for Chief Justice Roberts. So I know how to handle a big personality.”
“Dershowitz has the upper hand in the academic world, but Keating’s clearly the better defense attorney.”
Eyes wide, Oliver looks around for students who seem to know what they’re doing. There’s a circle of students around the desk in the front of the room. Upon closer inspection, he discovers it’s a seating chart. The initial feeling of relief that he wouldn’t have to awkwardly ask a stranger ‘is this seat taken?’ quickly fades upon the realization that he’s been randomly assigned to the first row. Just his luck.
He takes his seat next to a beautiful woman–with an enormous rock on her finger–twirling a highlight in her hand. He thinks conversation might be his best bet. Why not try to make friends on his first day?
“H-hi. I’m Oliver. First day jitters, huh?”
She doesn’t bother glancing up from her notebook. “Speak for yourself.”
“I–I guess I kind of was,” he laughs nervously.
She finally glances up to get a good look at him. “Wow,” she says softly. “You have no idea what you just walked into, do you?”
He doesn’t get a chance to respond because the front doors of the lecture hall burst open, and the room quickly falls quiet as their professor moves to the front of the room, elegant and dangerous, like a shark through water.
“Good morning. I don’t know what terrible things you’ve done in your life up to this point, but clearly your karma’s out of balance to get assigned to my class. I’m Professor Annalise Keating, and this is Criminal Law 100, or as I prefer to call it… how to get away with murder.