A Life Less Ordinary

Anything Is Possible No Matter What I Do, Okay

Sang:

Thursday morning, I woke up stiff and exhausted. Rolling out of bed with a groan I got ready for the gym. I was back at the dorm early enough last night to get a full eight hours of sleep even after thirty minutes of yoga and a warm bath. Unfortunately, Jade was still in a snit. She alternated between screamo and heavy metal until Tamlyn shut her down at midnight. That solved the music issue but not the angry Jade issue. Tam had to come back at two. From the screaming I could hear through my floor Jade was not happy about being escorted to the medical center for the rest of the night. After that the dorm settled and I was finally able to fall asleep.

Tamlyn and Karen were in the kitchen when I got there. Both looked as exhausted as I felt. Tam's hair was still wrapped in the silk wrapper she used to keep her braids from frizzing and Karen's hair was standing on end like she'd just fallen out of bed and hadn't brushed it yet.

Karen looked up from the mug of coffee she was nursing, "Morning Sang. You look like you need to still be in bed."

I snorted, "I feel like I should still be in bed. Sadly, I have too much to do today to sleep in. Auditions for orchestra start this morning and I need to hit the track and gym before they start at nine. Three hours of sitting and worrying that I'll forget how to play while everyone else sounds professional and well rested."

"I need to know what else you have today. I'm tired just thinking about working out and then auditioning for three hours. Do you at least have a quiet afternoon?" Tamlyn asked.

Karen laughed, "Nope crazy girl has field hockey practice this afternoon at two."

I just shrugged, I liked being busy, "I have a lunch meeting at the team coordination center, and a one o'clock academic meeting. I also have my athletics physical scheduled for this afternoon." I filled my water bottle while I mentally checked my day's schedule. "I think that's everything today."

Tamlyn and Karen both stared at me. "I'm tired just thinking of that schedule." Karen commented.

"Speaking of tired you both look like you want to head back to bed."

Tamlyn shook her head, her tiny braids clicking against each other, "We haven't actually been to bed yet. An emergency disciplinary hearing was called last night, or rather early this morning, to address the Jade situation. Karen was called up as one of five randomly selected jury members." Smothering a yawn Tamlyn went on "I had to be there as witness/dorm supervisor. It is a mess. Right now, she is in detention awaiting a final ruling on any disciplinary actions. Karen told me about the note that was left on your door as well as Jade's tirade yesterday afternoon. The Academy has, in theory, a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to bullying but like everything else in life the rules don't always apply to everyone."

"Jade is pushing her luck this year," Karen took over from a sleepy Tam. "This might actually stick. I'm not going to hold my breath, but we'll see." With a yawn, Karen stood from the table and stretched before heading for the stairs.

"Karen is right, Jade is pushing her luck. Anyway, the jury of peers is meeting later this morning to decide on an appropriate punishment for Jade's actions over the last day. What happens from here out shouldn't concern you unless Jade attempts to blame you for her bad actions. Your name is nowhere on any of the complaints even though you were targeted twice." With that Tam rose from the table, rinsed out her mug, placed it in the drying rack and left the kitchen, leaving me to process their words.

Early morning silence once more descended on the kitchen. I let the quiet seep into my bones as I tried to focus on what had just happened. I knew that the information Tam and Karen had shared was important, I also knew that Jade wasn't going to accept any consequences for her actions gracefully. I just couldn't get my brain to care yet, it was still too sleep hazed. I finished my morning smoothie and cleaned up after myself. The new recipe was a great improvement over the previous smoothie varieties I'd been 'enjoying', no idea what the flavor was just that it was good. Packing my morning snack into my work out bag I was ready to head for the track. Today was going to suck, too many activities I needed to be fully alert for and I was running on three hours of sleep.