An abnormal advent calender

m-30

I woke up with a start. I blinked a few times and turned my head to check the time. "Shit, shit," I swore when I saw the clock showing 8:24. The problem was that school started at 8:00, which meant I had to hurry if I didn't want to miss the second English lesson. I started running around the house, half-awake. Fifteen minutes later, I left the house and dashed to the bus stop to catch the next bus, which was leaving in two minutes. Luckily, I caught it just in time. I sat down, trying to catch my breath because my little morning run had really worn me out.

I arrived at school more than an hour late. I knocked on the English classroom door and waited for the teacher to let me in. As the door opened, I apologized and went to sit down as quietly as possible in the back of the class. I took my things out of my bag and realized I had forgotten my pencil case. I turned my head to the right to ask my desk neighbor if I could borrow a pencil, but my eyes widened as I looked at the person sitting next to me—someone I didn't recognize. He must be a new student, I thought. He probably introduced himself during the first lesson while I was still asleep.

I gathered what little sociability I had left in me and asked, "Hey! Can I borrow a pencil, please? I forgot mine at home." He looked at me and handed me a pencil without a word. I took it and returned my attention to the teacher's explanation.

After those two hours of English, I had Biology and History. As I was walking to the cafeteria, I saw Charlie coming toward me, with Mia holding her hand. I smiled and continued walking in their direction. "I heard from Arthur that you were late today," she said as soon as I was close enough.

"I don't know why my alarm didn't ring! You should have seen how stressed I was. I hate being late, and the worst part is, I didn't even have time to drink a hot chocolate," I complained.

"Oh no, so tragic," she said, teasingly. "But anyway, Arthur also told me you have a new student in your class! How is he?"

"I don't really know. Why didn't you ask Arthur?" I replied.

"He was in a hurry because he was going to eat with Sophie," she told me. Oh, right, he mentioned that during Biology class when we weren't exactly paying attention to what the teacher was explaining.

"Oh, right! I forgot," I said. As Charlie commented on my bad memory, the three of us walked toward the rest of the group, who were probably already in the cafeteria. Lunch was funny because Noah was describing how he had almost been killed by Nori's driving practice for his driver's license.

After the midday break, I had three more hours of school, then took the bus back home. Once I arrived, I changed into my pajamas, as usual, and made myself a hot chocolate to motivate myself to study. Around 6:30 p.m., my dad came into my room to tell me it was time for dinner. I was exhausted, and after a cozy meal with my family, I took a shower and went to bed as fast as possible.

Lying in bed, I replayed my interaction with the new guy in my head. Honestly, when I looked at him to ask for the pencil, I thought he was quite cute. I told myself not to get carried away or overthink it. As I was telling myself that, I fell asleep.