Life Changes » Marcus Armstrong

Twentytwo.

Jane squeezed her eyebrows together and read the sentence for the second time. It didn't make sense the first time when she read it, and it still didn't make sense after a second attempt. She looked away from her laptop screen and scanned the library; it was quite busy for a Tuesday morning. Her mouth opened, ready to yawn, but she closed her mouth right away. A loud sigh left her mouth.

"Hey," someone suddenly said.

It made Jane look up and remove the headset from her ears. Her eyebrows were raised and she politely smiled. "Hey," she said.

The guy who was sitting across from her was one of her project partners of the previous semester. "Are you okay? What happened to your face?" He pointed at his own cheek, but he meant Jane's cheek.

"I'm fine," Jane answered. "Just an accident. I partied a little too hard, a friend was too excited and accidentally punched me in the face." The polite smile changed into a forced smile, this was the fifth person who came up to her to ask what happened. And it was fine, they showed sympathy, but it was frustrating Jane. She came to the library to study, not to explain to everyone what possibly happened. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright," the guy replied and nodded. "But how hard did your friend hit you then? It looks bad."

I should've put on some makeup today. "I don't remember much from it, I was drunk." Jane her leg was bouncing; that guy never looked at her during the project and now he was suddenly interested, only because her face was swollen and had bruises on it.

"My goodness..." He sighed. "If you need help with anything..." He got up and laid his hand on Jane's shoulder. "...just let me know, okay?"

How? By only making half of it? Jane raised her eyebrows and gave him a nod, also signing this was the end of their chat. If she remembered it right, his name was Christian - or something. He was the guy who barely showed up during the project and didn't do anything.

Jane put on the headset again and looked at her laptop again. A frown came on her face, she was lost in the teaching material. But that was expected. Since the happening, she barely slept anymore. Jane was worrying, thinking about the situation, about what the others would think of her and replaying every second in her head. And another thing that didn't help was that her face was bruised, and since she always slept on her left side...

Minutes passed. Minutes of silence, staring at the screen, of doing nothing. A loud sigh rolled over her lips and she licked her lips. She had to study, but it wasn't working.

"What happened to your face?" Susie, a friend, asked and her eyes widened. She took a seat at the chair across from Jane, who removed the headset from her head. "What happened?"

"Party, drunk, hit by accident," Jane shared the short version.

"By whom?"

"I don't remember it anymore, to be honest." Whose name was she gonna use? Who would be the victim? Naming Leonardo would cause a lot of more trouble. "Woke up with a sore cheek and yeah, it was blue. But it doesn't matter, it happened and we can't change it anymore." Jane shared a polite smile, but she was about to cry. It was just confronting and it wouldn't stop.

Susie nodded. "I really hope that party was worth it, because it looks bad." She looked around her. "The innocent Jane with a blue cheek... Nope, it just isn't right."

"Yeah..." You should know it... Jane closed her laptop, calling it a day; 1) she knew she wouldn't do anything for the rest of the day and 2) how many more times did she have to explain this to anyone? "It is what it is."

"Yah. By the way, have you received feedback on the background story yet? We have to hand in the new version by Friday."

Jane's eyes widened. "We have to hand in a new version?" Her eyes filled with tears, so she looked away. "Why hasn't he told us about it? What the fuck is this? For real."