FLAKES | NATHAN CHEN

ONE

FEBURARY 11TH, 2019

      Waking up to the sound of an alarm at seven thirty on a Monday morning was not something that Avery enjoyed. In fact, she hated it. She didn't know why she had chosen to pick an eight o'clock class at the very beginning of the week, when she knew that she would be up late on Sunday night studying. However, it was just passed the first section of the semester, and Avery was too stubborn to change her schedule.

     Groaning at the intensity of her alarm, Avery stuffed her face deeper into her pillow. She heard her roommate Jess laugh at her as she bustled around their room. Avery didn't understand how Jess would wake up every morning at six thirty to study. Granted, Avery was a night owl while Jess was a morning person. "Avery, darling, you have to get up. Your class starts in thirty minutes, and you have a ten minute walk from here to class," Jess chided, pulling the covers off her half sleeping friend.

     "Remind me next year to never sign up for anything before nine," Avery said, although it became muffled by her pillow. Only receiving a laugh in response from her roommate, she began to begrudgingly slide out of her twin bed with her bare-feet hitting the floor. Shivering slightly, she grabbed a pair of mismatching socks from the floor before continuing to get ready. She quickly put on a pair of black leggings and her typical Yale crew neck before taking down her bun from the night. She frowned in the mirror as she noticed that her curls were more frizzy then usual, but with the lack of time she settled by just putting in some hairspray.

     Grabbing her textbook that read 'Statistics I' off her small desk in the corner of her room, Avery stuffed it in her bag before grabbing a granola bar from the basket on their mini fridge. "See you later," Avery called to her roommate, Jess calling back with a goodbye. Stepping out of her dorm room, Avery read the time as seven forty-nine. Unwrapping her granola bar, she threw the wrapper in a nearby trashcan before picking up her speed to get to class on time.

     Avery arrived to her class with one minute to spare, so she quickly greeted the teacher and sat at her usual spot in the classroom. She took note of a new boy, who appeared to be asian with black curly hair, sitting next to her in class. She didn't remember him being there the first few weeks of the semester. Assuming he had just picked up the class a few weeks late, she took out her textbook and her notebook before looking up at her professor.

     "Good morning guys, turn to page two hundred and six, I want you to do the first few review questions covering the material we did before break before we start today. I know all your brains are still in vacation mode from our small break, but it's time to come back to real life. You all can discuss your journeys to Fort Lauderdale at a later time," Professor Silverstein stated, before the bald headed man began to prepare for class.

     Avery sighed as she turned to the page instructed, wishing she could just be back in bed. She went to reach in her bag for her pencil case when she noticed that her bag felt empty. A confused look placed itself on her face, swiping her hand all across the bottom of her bag. When she looked in she noticed that there was nothing there. 'Great,' Avery thought, 'how the hell and I going to survive this class without a pencil.'

     Her thoughts were interrupted though when she saw a hand slide a pencil onto her section of the table. Looking to the owner the the pencil, she saw the same boy who had randomly appeared back at school offering her a closed lipped smile. "Thanks," she said, offering a small smile back. "No problem, it would be hard to get through this class without anything to write with and I figured you didn't want to get up and ask for one," the mystery boy said in a look voice, trying not to attract the attention of the other students. "Well you thought right, I probably would have suffered in silence instead of getting up in front of everybody."