Lights (2013)

57

I manage to swallow two pills before pressing my index fingers to my temples. "How drunk was I?" I ask.

"Oh, darling, you were hammered," Eleanor singsongs, walking over to my dresser and pulling out jeans and a shirt. "Here, put these on. Jade's coming over soon to collect you for your Literature class."

"I don't want to," I groan.

"It's the first day of classes, if you're absent, you're out. Now put the fucking clothes on." Eleanor smiles sweetly before turning to the mirror and fixing her hair.

I pull myself out of bed and slip into the clothes Eleanor threw at me. The jeans hug me nicely and I wear a pink sweater with little white polka dots on it. I decide on leaving my hair down, letting it fall over my shoulders. I swipe on mascara and turn to Eleanor.

"On a scale of presentable to fucking hideous, what am I?" I ask her.

Eleanor looks me up and down. "Pretty," she says.

I scoff. "Right," I say as there's a knock at the door.

"That's Jade," Eleanor says, opening the door. Jade smiles at us, her blue hair tumbling down her shoulders in light waves.

"Morning," she says. "You look lovely," she says to me.

"Yeah, right," I say. "I've never had a worse headache in my life."

"Niall told me you took shot after shot," she says. "Nice."

I shrug. "I regret it all now."

Eleanor grabs her things and I stick my phone into my pocket, collecting my books into my arms. The three of us walk out to the front of the building. Eleanor hugs me.

"Good luck," she says. "I'm off to Sociology."

"Thanks," I say before Jade and I turn to walk the other way.

"So, are you looking forward to the first day of classes?" Jade asks me.

"Actually, yes," I say. "Is the Literature professer nice?"

Jade nods. "Very," she says. "He's very smart and he has a nice way of teaching. I've had him for almost two years now."

"Cool," I say.

...

We soon arrive at the main building and walk into the Literature class. Some students are already seated, writing in their notes or
chatting amongst themselves. Jade and I take seats in the third row.

"I'm glad to have a friend in this class already," I say as we wait for the professer.

"Me too," Jade says. "Not a lot of my friends are in Literature."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. We're all spread out in different fields."

"Does Perrie go here? She was at the party last night."

"No, she doesn't go here. She lives in the city with her mum, but she comes up a lot to see Zayn. She takes online courses."

"Really? What field?"

"Sociology and music theory."

"Wow."

"Yeah. She's very intelligent. I wish she'd come to the uni. She has to stay in the city for her family, though."

"Why?"

"Her mum has had some health problems."

"Ah."

Before Jade can reply, a distinguished man walks into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Hello, hello, take your seats please and turn your phones off." He sets his things on the small desk by the chalkboard. "I'm Professor Locke, I'll be your Literature professor this semester. Let's start out with the syllabus for this course..." He turns and begins writing on the chalkboard.