Shine Of The Sunset

1

'How the hell am I gonna pass this math test...'

Aurora Sherwood stared down at the assignment list she was just handed, before letting out an exhausted sigh. Four assignments due by Tuesday of the following week, with a test on Wednesday. It was Thursday. A lot of work between right then and that test, not to mention the studying that would be needed. It didn't help that Aurora was awful at math, still knowing barely anything that the teacher was talking about, even so late into the year. Her grade reflected this: it was a D-, teetering on the balance of a F.

She thumped her head down on her desk, causing a few students heads to turn her way, before they all refocused on the lesson.

'God, Mom and Dad are gonna kill me...'

Being a junior in high school, Aurora was expected to be much more independent. She had been heavily reliant on her parents to help her through high school. 

She still was. 

Her parents worked to help her through her schooling, math in particular, in any way they could. Despite their help, Aurora's grade hung in the balance. If it dipped below that D-, Aurora would be struggling big time in her senior year to earn enough math credits to graduate, which she was not prepared for. Aside from her parents, Aurora acted as if she was independent, wanting to do things on her own whenever they weren't around. She found it hard to learn off others, as her mind tended to wander towards other things that she found herself much more interested in.

She kept thinking to herself. 'Maybe I need some help.', before her mind quickly interjected with a resounding, 'No. You're not used to others helping you.' She then retorted, 'But Mom and Dad help me all the time...', with her mind responding, 'Just no. Don't. Ask your friends.' Aurora stopped arguing with herself after that.

She sat back up, trying desperately to pay attention to her teacher and his lessons. In her trance of thinking about her independence and needing help, the lesson had ended. She had missed the entire thing.

RING!!

The bell rang with a loud, droning clatter as the rest of Aurora's class filed out of the room. Fully breaking free from her dazed state, she frantically packed up her things and left as well.

Thankfully, Aurora had time to think about a plan. Math was her last class of the day, so she had that afternoon and the following morning to think this through. Her friends were going to need to be a massive support.

She caught up with her girlfriends while fleeing from the math room.

'Hey, Aurora! How are you, like, doing?'

She slowed to a stop in front of the girls, a touch breathless from the panic of missing a whole lesson.

'I'm okay...', Aurora got out, while still trying to catch her breath, '...I'm just a bit...worried is all.'

'Math again?', another girl said, before letting out a scoff.

'Yeah...just kind of...I don't know...wanting advice? What should I do to get through all this homework and, not to mention, a test, too...'

'Just do what you always do!', the third and last girl in front of her exclaimed, 'Push through it! I know you're a tough cookie.'

'Yeah...yeah...I guess. Thanks, girls.'

'Any, like, time!', the first girl said, before giving Aurora a pat on the shoulder and leaving with the other two girls in tow.

Aurora held her face in her unoccupied hand.

'That didn't really help...', she thought, before a new idea popped into her mind.

She decided to rush down the stairs and out the school, books still in one hand, as she located someone else she knew, whom was leaning up against one of the school's outer brick walls.