𝒯𝒽ℯ ℛℴ𝓈ℯ𝒲𝒽ℴ ℋ𝒶𝓈 𝒮ℯ𝒸𝓇ℯ𝓉𝓈 (𝒯ℒℴ𝒰 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝓉 2 𝒩/𝒜)

One Leisure Lecture

Ellie sat towards the back of the Ecology classroom, staring intently at her book entitled, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". She was always the quiet college freshmen, reading an average of 5 books every week. No one really batted an eyelash about it though... Not even her teacher.
Ellie's home life was just like any other young adult... Working hard to get a college degree to hopefully score herself a well paying job, inviting Riley over to play video games every once in a while, then going to sleep and repeating the same thing the following day.

Her life with her divorced parents, Anna and Joel, wasn't very pleasant, but it had quickly become second nature to Ellie by now. It had been 5 years since the divorce came to be, Ellie lived on her own now in a good sized house for a college student like herself.

She had a German shepherd puppy named Cooper, who was a gift from her mom for her 19th birthday. Ellie absolutely adored her new furry friend. Besides Riley, he was Ellie's best friend.

The way he would always greet her every day after college would bring a smile to Ellie's face, no matter how bad her day was. It was such an incredible thing to come home to. Maybe next would be a nice warm body to cuddle with... That is, if Ellie didn't have such bad luck with love.

As Ellie sat at her desk, daydreaming about the ticking clock getting closer to the time she could go home, she overheard her professor ask, "Ellie, are you listening?"
Ellie looked up and rolled her eyes, hiding the eye roll behind the pages of her book. She marked her page with her "Savage Starlight" bookmark and placed the book on the left side of her desk.

With a goofy smirk appearing on her face as fast as lightning, Ellie replied, "No. I already know this sh*t".

The teacher, named Mrs. Blake, shook her head, while crossing her arms out of disappointment, "Ellie, why are you in this class then?" She asked, walking over to Ellie's desk.

Ellie sighed, the smirk now nonexistent, "I don't know... To get my degree in Ecology and move on with my life. At least I won't have a low paying job like you do".

Mrs. Blake stared deeply into Ellie's eyes, her serious expression turning to embarrassment, "What are you implying, Ellie?" She asked, progressively getting close to kicking Ellie out of the lecture.

Ellie crossed her arms to mock her professor and replied, "If you don't want a sarcastic answer, don't ask a stupid question. I wouldn't be here if I didn't wanna be an ecologist one day, but it's people like you who make me question that decision".

Mrs. Blake took a split second to glance at everyone else in the classroom, who were all either on their phones, sleeping, or reading a book.

She glanced back at Ellie and tried to proceed with her "You shouldn't have said that" speech, but Ellie had already grabbed her backpack, textbooks and her phone and was headed towards the door to leave.

Ellie walked into the wide hallways of the University of Washington in its rainy capital of Seattle. She usually showed a lot of appreciation for the school because it was her dream to go to college there, but teachers like Mrs. Blake were the types of people who made her skin crawl... Now she REALLY wanted to go home.

As Ellie made a beeline for her car, her best friend, Riley, ran up to her, "Of course... Can I go ANYWHERE without her asking me what just happened?" Ellie thought, sighing and stopping dead in her tracks, "Ellie!"

Ellie sighed deeply, placing her car keys in the back pocket of her black jeans. She couldn't stand this side of Riley, but then again... She liked it too. After all, they were friends with benefits...

Ellie forced a smile, turning her head to face Riley, "What?" She asked, knowing exactly what Riley was about to ask her.

Riley was all sorts of giddy, the way she was every time Ellie's sarcastic side kicked in during class, "What the h*ll happened in there?"