Steady

The Invitation

Eddie yawns for about the fiftieth time since the beginning of the class. Slumped over his table, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, he fights against the drowsiness taking over. His eyelids flutter to ease the sting throbbing in his bloodshot eyeballs. A nudge from Robin wakes him up for good as his arm slips off the table in the process.

"Focus, Eddie!"

"I'm trying."

"Try harder."

Drawing in a deep breath filling his lungs, Eddie stretches his arms and picks up his pencil, lending an ear to Mr. Morgan explaining the differences between concave and convex lenses. He scribbles the words down on his loose sheet of paper, hardly able to understand his own writing after re-reading it.

A few minutes later, the teacher distributes a kit of optical experiment and a small box of lenses per table, instructing them to recognise the type of lenses he gave them and to draw a diagram of each piece. Each student pairs up with their neighbor, resulting in Eddie and Robin to work together, much to their relief.

Robin prepares the experiment kit, eyeing her weary partner.

"Okay, you need to get your shit together," she grunts. "I can't afford failing that class."

"Me neither. But I just couldn't sleep last night."

"The beds again?"

"Nah. Got used to that... I think."

"What is it, then?"

Eddie shrugs and buries his hand into the box, picking up a random lens. He turns the kit on, letting the three strings of light jut out of the machine. He sets the piece of glass a few inches away, until the lights deflect from their original trajectory. Robin squints her eyes as she examines the result, picking up her ruler to draw the diagram.

"I don't understand any of it," Eddie admits in defeat. "I guess I'm just too dumb to graduate high school."

"You're not," she scolds him, giving him a light kick in the ankle. "I think I get the concept, but if you want to be sure to understand it, ask Nancy. She knows everything."

He rolls his eyes and buries his face between his crossed arms.

"Ugh! If I hear anyone mention her one more time, I'm gonna lose my shit!"

"Huh? What's wrong with Nance? She's awesome and saved your ass!"

"I know that, I know!"

"Hey, Munson and Buckley, less talking, more working!" Mr. Morgan interrupts with a fist on his hip. "Don't make me remind you."

Robin nods and resumes her drawing, tracing lines on the lined paper of her notepad.

"For real, though, what's wrong?"

"Harrington won't shut up about her. Everything's all about Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. He follows her around like a fucking dog."

"He's in love with her, what do you expect?"

She picks the pencil up from the paper and gasps, a wide grin drawing itself on her traits. The freckles across her nose accentuate its cunningness.

"You're jealous, Munson!" she squeals. "You're in love with Nance!"

"What the— What are you on about?!"

"I'm right! I'm totally right! Of course you'd fall for Nancy!" she laughs, poking his arm. "Sometimes I wonder how on Earth I haven't fallen for her yet, but I guess that the fact that she's like a hundred percent straight is helping with that."