Sunsets

.˗ˏˋ Chapter Nine 'ˎ˗

Elaine was sitting in her dorm, resting after a P.E. class. She'd had a French test earlier, which she had accidentally almost pulled an all-nighter studying for. She had almost dozed off until she remembered she had an unfinished assignment. Elaine finished the assignment and then looked through the notes she had taken in her classes over the week. Elaine went for a nap after a while of reviewing her notes. She woke up to music blasting in the dorm next to hers. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Elaine walked out of her dorm and knocked on the door of the dorm next to hers. The music was playing loudly, too loudly for Elaine's preference. Elaine knocked again and the door opened. A girl opened the door, she had dark brown curly hair. The girl was wearing a white maxi skirt, which caught most of Elaine's attention, as well as all the necklaces and bracelets the girl was wearing.

"Hi, how can I help you?" The girl asked, with a polite smile.

"Could you turn the music down? I was trying to take a nap" Elaine asked, a little awkwardly.

"Oh, I'm sorry for bothering you" The girl apologized.

"What are you listening to?" Elaine asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Fleetwood Mac! Have you ever heard of them?"

Elaine shook her head, no she hadn't.

"You should listen to them! They're amazing! Do you wanna come in?"

The girl was speaking at a lightning speed and before she knew it, Elaine was in the other girl's dorm. The room was heavily decorated; posters hung up on the wall, a carpet, colorful cushions, candles and crystals everywhere, and a vinyl player standing up on a shelf with a stack of records next to it.

"I'm Iris, by the way! What's your name?"

"I'm uh, I'm Elaine," Elaine replied.

Iris went to turn her music down and Elaine awkwardly sat down on the other girl's bed. The music was now playing softly in the background.

"Your dorm is pretty," Elaine pointed out, her tone awkward.

"Thanks!" The girl was very enthusiastic.

Elaine walked into the lunch hall the next day, she spotted Iris laughing with Camille and froze. How were those two even friends? It didn't make much sense. During her free period, Elaine texted Valerie. She was supposed to be studying but she'd rather text her girlfriend. Valerie wanted to plan a date but Elaine knew she couldn't because she had an important physics test coming up. Elaine kept trying to text Valerie after saying that but the other girl didn't reply.

That evening, Elaine was doing homework and studying as usual. She felt guilty about saying no to plans with Valerie but she couldn't do anything about it. Elaine went on a walk to watch the sunset and went back to her room to shower and sleep. Elaine got hungry so she ate some leftover pizza she had and went to bed shortly after brushing her teeth.

The next day, Elaine woke up with a sore throat. She went to drink some water but it didn't help much. She noticed her joints aching. This could only mean she was sick. It was probably just a common cold but it felt terrible anyway. Elaine felt motivated to push herself to go to her classes but started feeling terrible right as she was about to leave and decided to take a sick day. Louis and Jules ended up hearing about Elaine being sick and brought her food during their lunch break.

"Thank you..." Elaine smiled and she stretched. She was feeling pretty bad, at least she didn't have a fever.

Elaine spent the day curled up in bed with a cup of tea and a book. She felt unproductive but she knew her headache wouldn't let her work even if she tried to. The day passed slowly, and Elaine felt terrible. Throughout the day she probably took one too many painkillers than what she was supposed to, but so what? It wasn't her fault her entire body hurt. Jules and Louis acted like a couple of concerned caring parents and didn't leave Elaine's dorm room until she fell asleep.

The next morning, Elaine woke up feeling refreshed and way better in general. She got up and ready for school. As usual, she went to get herself breakfast and a coffee. She got into class and took a seat near the front. She got her grades on an assignment. She got the best grade in class, well, it was a history assignment. Elaine did well in history. A person who didn't do that well in history was Camille. Camille was sitting behind Elaine looking disappointed in herself. Elaine felt eyes piercing into her back and turned around to find Camille staring at her.

At lunch break later that day, Elaine went to the cafe she usually went to. She ordered a coffee and a muffin. She sat down near the window and looked around the cafe. She noticed Camille talking to another girl, with a cigarette between her lips. Elaine tried to get a look at the girl Camille was talking to and to her surprise it was the girl she had met not long ago, Iris. Elaine was sort of confused and stunned, Camille, the super pretentious and snobby rich girl, friends with a girl like Iris. The sight was funny to Elaine for some reason. The well-put-together, fancy girl next to a girl with sort of bohemian-style clothes and an ungodly amount of jewelry stacked upon one another. Elaine finished eating her lunch and went to her next class.

Elaine had her dreaded biology class. She sat down at her desk and took a deep breath. She had been dreading this test and studying for it whenever she got the chance. Elaine hated biology ever since she was little. She never understood it. The test took her a long time and she felt as if she had failed very badly. Elaine had been so stressed about the test that she hadn't really been thinking much all day. The next class she had was art, which was her last class of the day. Elaine had to sit next to Camille. Just the other girl's presence alone annoyed Elaine. The smell of expensive perfume and cigarettes was too strong for Elaine. The class wasn't very eventful.

After her classes. Elaine met up with Valerie. Valerie was super sweet and affectionate meanwhile Elaine didn't know how relationships worked. It felt sort of embarrassing to not know how relationships worked. Elaine and Valerie went on a library date. It was fun. Hushed whispers, book recommendations, sweet kisses. Elaine loved it. She didn't want the day to end but eventually, the two had to go back to their places. Elaine felt giddy long after the date. She had never been so happy. As Elaine was getting ready for bed, she Facetimed Jules and told her about the entire date. She was so in love with Valerie. Jules listened, she was happy for Elaine. She knew how fantastic finding someone to love was. Eventually, Elaine went to study a little bit, as well as do her homework and clean up notes. Elaine went to bed and dozed off pretty quickly, still with a soft smile on her face.

Words: 1230