Inside Out: The Sitcom (Season 1)

100% Attentive... or Not

Description: Fed up with their disinterest in getting Riley through the school day, Joy proposes upholding an old pact in which they experiment for a week without being distracted during school. This quickly proves to be easier said than done.

Episode inspiration: "Vacation from Marriage"

To Riley, school was just a day-to-day, a normal flow between classes in which she was filled with information she needed to know for upcoming tests and quizzes.

But inside the girl's brain, it was merely eight hours in which they did their best not to fall asleep.

Sure, in first period, Ms. Evans had claimed The Tell-Tale Heart was a brilliant piece by Edgar Allen Poe, but all five emotions were less interested than Riley was. And that was saying something. The only real differences in their reactions were that Joy was on the verge of sleeping and Fear was worrying about the details. Disgust hadn't even bothered to listen anymore and Anger had even taken to playing solitaire. Only Sadness seemed the least bit interested (she read the most out of the group), and even she was getting tired of this.

"What do you mean, the guy's eye is just wide open?" Fear panicked.

"I don't know, I haven't been paying attention," Disgust shrugged, turning the page in her magazine. Sure, they probably should have been listening; how was Riley going to have access to memories if asked about the story? But by this point they were banking on the fact that most of the other kids looked bored as well, and it was likely going in one ear and out the other for them too.

"I don't know, it seems kinda cool," Sadness mumbled, and everyone turned to her except Joy, who had fallen asleep entirely on her hand. The story along with currently operating on an hour of sleep didn't make for a good combination. "What?"

"How can you actually like that?" Anger grouched, flipping over a card. "I needed you like seven cards ago!"

"I mean, it's not the worst thing we've dealt with," Sadness shrugged.

"Right, I keep forgetting you actually read The Great Gatsby for fun," Disgust rolled her eyes. "I got through maybe the first sentence and quit."

"Only because I dared you," Anger snickered.

"Shut up, brickhead."

It was at that moment Joy's head slipped from its position and slammed into the console. Luckily, she didn't accidentally press any buttons, but the shock forced her to sit straight awake and cry out "HE'S THE MURDERER!"

"We... knew that from the beginning," Sadness mumbled.

"Joy, I think you should lay off doing so many Dream Duties," Fear commented. "Clearly you're not getting enough shuteye."

"It's fine, it's just the stupid story," she groaned, resting on her hand again and trying to act like she was giving even just a hint of attention. "When's the juicy stuff coming?"

"If an English teacher recommends something, it's likely dry from beginning to end," Disgust shrugged, flipping to another page. "Ooh, I like that dress."

"Nice to see we've officially lost it with schoolwork," Joy muttered. Even though she hated this part of the day (why in the heck did the school board think putting Riley in a morning English class was a good idea? Especially with the dumb stuff like this?), it was kinda bothering her that by this point in the school year, they'd basically stopped caring about assignments. Even Riley was starting to feel the struggle of having to do schoolwork without her emotions even knowing how to help her through it.

Her mind tickled with a memory. Not a particularly large one, but enough to make her realize a couple of things. 

"Alright, I'm calling a team meeting," she announced.