Intro to Love

Chapter 1.1 - Free on Sunday

When you hate going to class as much as I do, you learn to turn off alarms in your sleep.  Once you figure that out, it's all downhill and you'll always be late to morning classes.  You'll end up like me: throwing on a hoodie over your pajamas and running to class in flip flops.

Being late to my morning class wasn't that big of a deal.  It was an intro-level psychology lecture.  A "gimme" class compared to my others.   Plus, the class was so big that no one would notice if I came late or even showed up at all.  Except for Fridays.  Fridays were quiz days and if you weren't in class in the first 10 minutes you didn't get a quiz AND you got a 0.  No makeups.  No dropped quizzes. I was running full sprint across campus and with no breakfast in me, the only thing keeping me going was the sheer fear of dropping a letter grade because of 1 quiz.

I made it to the building where my lecture hall was and threw the doors open.  This was a mistake because they were way lighter than anticipated and I ended up scaring the shit out of myself and anyone who was responsible and wanted to spend their morning studying in the common area.  Their piercing glares and furrowed brows were completely warranted.  I felt my face flush red, but I'd have to be embarrassed later because the clock on the wall read 9:07.  The elevator doors closed right when I looked at them.  If only I had telekinesis powers.  I booked it for stairs and after about 10 stairs I remembered that I forgot to take my asthma medication the night before.  Not exactly a great technique.

This time, I didn't throw the doors open.  A TA walked up to me and handed me a copy of the quiz.

"Just in time," she whispered with a raised eyebrow.

I was not even remotely prepared to speak to a human being this morning.  I managed half a chuckle and muttered something along the lines of  "Yeah, I know.".

I quickly looked around the back of the lecture hall for an empty seat, realizing that the only empty seats were at the front of the class.  Because today couldn't get any better, the sound of the door was so loud I should've just thrown them open, to begin with.  The whole lecture hall turned to look at me.  The professor even paused to glance my way.  My brain chose this time specifically to reflect on my current outfit choice. 

My navy blue hoodie didn't exactly gel with my orange and black jack-o-lantern pants.  And the flip-flops didn't exactly help my cause.  I knew for a fact that I didn't brush my hair while I was running out of my dorm, which meant I probably looked like I lived in that elementary school lost-and-found bin with my wild black hair sticking out all over the place.  Not to mention I was also red and sweaty from running here.  I had only one thing on my mind as I made my way to the front row in my surprisingly loud flip-flops: "I need to get my life together.".

I sat down in the front row and quickly started my quiz, doing my best to avoid eye contact with either of the people next to me.  It was easy enough and I finished fairly quickly.  I started to pack away my things, but then accidentally made direct eye contact with my professor standing 10 feet away.  I sighed a little.  I couldn't leave early without prolonged awkward eye contact with my professor which was too much for me at the time.  I sat back in my seat.  'Ok,' I thought to myself. 'This lecture end in 25 minutes.  It should be fine".

I was definitely not fine.  Sleeping 3 hours a night does not necessarily lend itself to early morning lectures.  I started nodding off, snapping myself awake when my head hit the back of my chair.  I imagined that this is what it was like to fight off a demonic possession.  I definitely would have been taken over by the demon because I completely fell asleep. 

I jolted awake with pain in my arm.

"Ow!" I  said a little too loud.

The professor was looking right at me.   Shit.  I slept through the question.  I racked my brain for something I could say that wouldn't make me look like a complete idiot in front of everyone.