Cookies･ﾟ✧ (gxg)

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Aera couldn't believe what she was doing. this hadn't been the plan. this hadn't been her plan. she had hoped, prayed even, that this time things would work better. but no, of course, it hadn't. 

she should've known better and yet here she was, typing away at her laptop at an ungodly hour of the night, muttering profanities under her breath.

she hated group projects. she absolutely detested them. those assholes could rot in hell for all the help they'd been.

with only six hours left to submit the assignment and no cooperation from her partners whatsoever, she had no other choice but to pull an all-nighter, eyes practically drooping at this point from reading for hours. 

but she needed those grades.

and whether or not her so-called partners took part in it was now out of the question.

sometimes if you wanted to get work done - you had to do it yourself. sometimes? scratch that, more like every time. come to think of it she couldn't remember one group project in all her years of schooling that didn't involve her scrambling to get shit done all by herself.

she growled low in her throat before shutting her laptop closed. she could use a break. she considered this for the first time in hours. there was no point in staying up late to get work done if all she could see was red.

grunting, she clambered off her dorm bed and shuffled to where her slippers were. she yawned as she pulled her phone out of the pocket of her shorts and glanced at the screen to check the time.

2:41 AM.

great.

absolutely wonderful.

she switched it off and shoved it back into her pocket.

rubbing a hand over her tired eyes, she stepped out of her dorm, locking it behind her before walking down the corridor.

she stopped at a window that was left open and walked over to it, leaning against the window frame and smiling despite herself as she felt a cool night breeze play with the ends of her dyed blonde hair.

yes, all she had needed was a breath of fresh air and something other than the lack of texts to look at.

the moon was full to bursting in the sky, glowing with its pale light as it stared back at her from its nest in the heavens.

she couldn't tell if she had just zoned out or fallen asleep with her eyes open for a time because when she felt her phone vibrate against her thigh, she jerked back to her senses.

brows furrowed, she let her hand slip into her pocket and take it out. a smile blossomed on her face when she saw who had sent the message.

Margret

hey

u up?

when she read the texts, anger and hope both simmered within her. maybe, just maybe, one of her partners would finally help. maybe that's why Margret had messaged her - to offer assistance.

though one half of her yearned for this possibility, the other half continued to rage at the fact that Margret would suddenly become available six hours before the project was due. 

her other partner, Elliot, was apparently convinced that he had contributed his part for the assignment after collecting a flimsy page of data that was almost laughable in its usefulness.

swallowing, Aera typed out a response, trying to sound as polite as possible even though every cell and sinew of her body longed to give the asshole a piece of her mind.

Aera

yeah

I'm working on the project

we have to turn it in in a couple of hours remember?

Margret

oh

I just wanted to tell u that we don't have much time...

you better hurry

anyways goodnight <33

for a long minute, Aera found herself staring at her phone. disbelief and incredulity cloaking her thoughts. and then it hit her. pure and unapologetic rage.

how dare this bitch tell her to hurry up? how the fuck could she say that? 

Aera had sent her that message hoping that the dumbass would understand, would finally do something. but the idiot tells her to 'hurry up'. Aera held the phone in a vice-like grip, her knuckles were blanched white with the tension.

she had half a mind to hurl her phone against the wall but then it struck her that would do absolutely nothing to help the situation.

she wasn't going to take this from Margret or from anyone for that matter. she wasn't going to work her ass off on something just for somebody else to get the credit for it.

her jaw clenched. she needed to calm down, she knew it but the sheer audacity of it all made it difficult to see past her emotions.

her eyes grew hot with tears that threatened to spill. she couldn't finish this in six hours. she needed more time.

this was work meant for three people being done by one person. she felt herself recollecting the past week as she had tried to contact them, communicate with them, get them to do something, and send it to her, to no avail. even then she had known she would be doing most of the work, but she had hoped that knowing this would motivate her partners to assist her as best they could.

she considered calling Margret and getting some sense into her but knew that even if Margret agreed to help she would still need her to give her instructions and tell her what to do. 

no, it would be easier to do it herself.

but could she?

panic settled in as her resolve melted. 

she needed more time.

her vision blurred and she ground her teeth together to keep herself from drifting away.

she needed to calm down.

she needed something warm and soothing to drink to collect herself, to calm her nerves.

with a shuddering intake of breath, Aera began walking towards the communal kitchen in the hopes that she would find something warm to drink, even if it was just heated water.

the sheer mountain of work she had to do seemed doable less than twenty minutes ago but the unfairness of it all seemed to really crash down on her after that conversation.

all the dread and anger and frustration seemed to collapse on her all at once.

the sound of her footfalls were nearly inaudible as she silently made her way down a flight of stairs at the end of which stood the communal kitchen of her dorm building.

her fists were clenched at her sides and despair was an almost physical weight dragging her down.

she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't register the fact that there was someone else there in the room as well until she walked right into them.

⚜❇⚜

okay so this is actually a short story that I had originally planned to publish as one part, but my draft ended up being longer than I had expected it to be sooo yeah this probably won't exceed 3-5 parts but I don't know I mean I haven't finished writing it yet so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but anyways I hope you liked that first chapter and that you're excited to read the next part <33

all the love,

~Avi