There has never been a morning where Flora was on time to class.
She's always at least ten minutes late, rushing through the door and filling the air with Victoria's Secret perfume.
"Good morning Ms.Abner! Tuesday's am I right?" She chuckled nervously and took her seat next to me.
"She hates you." I whispered.
"She'll come around"
"Maybe if you came on time for once."
"That seems unnecessary..." she yawned and began to fold her arms on her desk, her honey brown hair draping over it as she laid her head down.
"Cmon Flor' we have a worksheet" I nudged her shoulder and handed her a pencil.
She got up with a sigh, "wanna do it for me? I'll buy you coffee after school"
"Can't, I'm doing my history homework, and I'm hanging out with Calum after school anyways"
"Hemmings' on your ass again? You know I never do my homework in that class and he's never said anything" she spun the pencil around her fingers and turned to me with a wink, "I think he's got a thing for you"
"Sure" I rolled my eyes at the idea.
"So wheres Calum taking you?"
"I'm pretty sure we're just gonna do homework and get a pizza, Tuesday stuff"
"Aw a date! You still have those when you're married?" She teased.
"I guess we do"
I spent a lot of my time with Calum, even the weekdays. I never liked being alone, and I found that I enjoyed his company more than my own or any one else's.
We had grown so attached over the years that I genuinely couldn't imagine daily life without him, and that was a scary concept to recognize.
"Alright everyone, let's have those worksheets turned in by tomorrow morning"
Before I could get the chance to finish my long overdue history homework, class had already ended.
I picked up my backpack with a sigh and waited for Flora to do the same.
"Goodluck with Hemmings!" She chirped before patting my shoulder and going her own way down the hall.
I made my way to Mr.Hemmings classroom, feeling slightly anxious about not completing the homework.
"Jasmine! Morning" he grinned as I took my seat.
"Morning Mr.Hemmings"
He was wearing plaid trousers today, with a white button up shirt. His hair had gotten longer since the beginning of the school year. It was messy and blonde and fell perfectly just below his ears.
Everything about Mr. Hemmings was attractive, I had to admit. Even the dark purple hue that gently decorated his under eyes, a result of long nights of grading papers.
He looked human, and lived. Not fresh or perfect, but human.
I wondered what it would be like to examine his features up close, to trace his jaw with my fingers and touch the tip of his nose.
"Jasmine"
I turned to my side to find Ashton, Calums best friend and essential part of the friend-group, looking absolutely exhausted.
"You look horrible"
"Thank you Jasmine, now can you just let me copy the homework" he sighed.
"You seriously look like someones dead beat dad right now"
"Jasmine. Homework. Please."
"You look like-"
"Jasmine please" he whined.
"Well unfortunately for you, I didn't do it" I sighed, "but seriously what happened to you?"
"I was up til 5 AM writing this stupid essay on the Great Gatsby. And guess what?" He scoffs, "she extended the due date Jasmine! She extended it to Wednesday! So now I feel like I'm on the brink of death for no reason"
"Sorry man, just nap after school" I shrugged.
"You're a genius Jasmine" he remarked sarcastically.
"Just trying to help"
He stuck his tongue out at me and opened up his book to do the reading.
He wasn't normally this irritable, he was a naturally cheerful person so it was strange to see him like this.
Ashton was the first of Calum's friends that I became close with. He was always welcoming and made me laugh from the first day I met him. He wasn't acting like it now, but there was something about him that was bright and beautiful and made you feel like you were accepted.
Ashton ended up falling asleep about half way through Mr.Hemming's lecture. The rest of the school day was slow and seemed to drag out forever. But eventually it ended, and I found myself waiting for Calum outside of his last class.
As I expected, we shared a normal Tuesday of doing homework, eating pizza, and kissing in my bed.
"So my class is getting an exchange on Thursday" The vibration of Calum's voice rang through my ears as I laid with my head on his chest.
I picked my head up to face him, "from where?"
"An American, whoever they are they've got a great singing voice so they're transferring into our choir program"
"So you'll have competition?"
"Of course not Jas' I'm the best"
I smiled and laid back down on his chest, I listened to his slow breaths and thought about the feeling of his hoodie-clad arms around me. He was warm and soft, he felt like nostalgia and vanilla candles. There was nothing that brought me more comfort than resting on his heartbeat and knowing that that very heart was mine and had been mine for so long. Nothing could challenge the many years we had spent devoted to each other, even if the thought had sometimes crossed my mind.
"What about you? Anything to report?" He looked down at me.
"Nothing much, other than how horribly behind I am in history"
"Why don't you just copy off of Ashton?" He asked.
"He's just as bad as me. It's Hemming's, he assigns more work than any other AP history teacher in the department. He's killing me"
"Well," he sighed and ran a hand through his raven hair with a wink, "you want me to seduce him for you?"
"if anyone can do it it's you" I let out a small laugh and shifted off of him. "it's getting late though, I've got a lot to do" I opened my phone to check the time.
Calum groaned and hid his face in the pillow, grunting something out when he did so.
"what?"
"you're doing it again"
"what do you mean?" I asked, sitting up in the bed.
He sat up with me and looked up with his big brown eyes.
"you know, you used to beg me to stay" he half smiled, moving one hand to caress the side of my face. I leaned into his palm.
"it's not like that Calum, don't make it like that" I sighed.
"sorry, overthinking I guess" he removed his hand and got up, "you're right, I should get going"
He picked up his backpack and headed out of my room, I watched him from the top of the stairs as he rushed out. I felt a lump grow in my throat, I had hurt his feelings.
"Cal"
He turned to look at me before he reached the door, I hurried down the stairs to meet him.
"Good luck on your work ok?" he ruffled my hair.
I nodded in response.
"I'll see you later Jasmine"
I'd been the one to imply he should go, but I missed him a lot when he was gone.
