OCTOBER
of twenty-nineteen
narrator's pov.
a blaring sound woke up elena, and she immediately jumped from her desk. her phone was almost out of battery, and her schoolwork was scattered all around her. it was nearly seven in the morning, and she was running late.
elena scrambled to shove all of her work in her backpack, and she quickly changed into a new outfit. the girl ran out of her house, and quickly made it to her bus stop.
"whoa, el, what's up with the outfit?" presley asked, gesturing at elena's baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants, "you never wear comfy clothes to school."
"i literally fell asleep on my desk," elena answered, "wait, since when do you take the bus?"
presley shrugged, "corbyn used to drive me to school, but we're not exactly on speaking terms."
the dark-haired girl placed her backpack on her lap, and took a power nap until the bus reached the school. after what felt like two seconds, the bus stopped, and the students began to file out and into the school.
"dude, did you brush your hair?" daniel asked, watching elena yawn as she opened her locker.
elena glared at the blond, "i'm not in the mood, daniel."
"yeesh, i apologize," daniel declared, putting his hands up, "did you do the calc work?"
elena nodded, "why?"
"i had a rough night, el, so i couldn't do it," daniel pointed out, "can i copy yours?"
"you had a rough night?" elena scoffed, "at least your stepmother didn't totally lash out at you for coming home at ten o'clock, and practically made you clean every inch of your house! not to mention the mounds of homework you had."
"uh, you could've just said no, elena," daniel mumbled, laughing a bit, "also, i'm pretty sure you know i don't have a stepmother."
"whatever, that's not the point, anyway," elena sighed, passing daniel her calculus folder, "it's in there somewhere."
daniel smiled, "you're the best, el."
a grin slowly formed across the girl's face, "yeah, yeah, whatever. just make sure you get my folder back to me by third block."
"you got it," daniel replied, walking away to his own locker.
right after daniel left, corbyn appeared next to elena, "sup, el."
elena jumped, and rolled her eyes, "are you going to critique my outfit?"
corbyn quirked an eyebrow, "huh? i was going to ask if you think i should put the cake in the cafeteria refrigerator or just give it to mrs. bryant right now."
"give it to her right now," elena replied, shutting her locker to a close, "oh, and thanks to you and rosie for doing it without me. i've been so overwhelmed with work the past few days."
-
elena was half-asleep once mrs. bryant began to talk about the project. the teacher announced, "alright, before we get started with today's lesson, i want to collect all of the written paragraphs for your projects."
"that's you," rosaline remarked, tapping on elena's shoulder.
elena jumped, "oh, right."
she opened her anatomy binder, and was surprised to only see a piece of lined paper with a single sentence written, "huh?"
"what's wrong?" corbyn asked, looking over elena's shoulder, "um, why is there only one sentence written?"
"did you not do the project?" rosaline asked.
"i swear i did!" elena replied as she began to freak out, "wait, shoot, that was before i fell asleep. oh my goodness, i never finished it."
"elena, corbyn, and rosaline... i'm waiting for yours," mrs. bryant declared.
elena sighed, and stood up from her desk. she passed the teacher her work, and mrs. bryant immediately raised her eyebrow, "uh, ms. carmen, is this it?"
"unfortunately, it is," elena answered, walking back to her desk.
"alright," mrs. bryant responded, putting elena's paper in her grading folder, "let's get started with today's lesson, class."
elena sulked as she sat back down. corbyn inquired, "hey, are you okay?"
"yeah, it's fine," elena lied, "i've just been having a pretty bad week."
"don't worry, el, i'm sure you can raise your grade up," rosaline reassured.
-
"you got a thirty percent on your anatomy project?" karen asked, her voice raising, "you had days to do it!"
"i-i know," elena stuttered, "i'm sorry, karen."
her stepmother immediately grabbed the phone that was in elena's lap, "you're not getting this back until you get your anatomy grade up."
"y-yes, karen," elena stated.
"go to your room, elena, i don't want to see you," karen declared.
elena nodded, and ran up to her room. she fell on her bed, and immediately burst into tears.
...