A Piece of Haven

8 - "It is what it is."

     Today was going to be hell.

     I was warned that it would be when my alarm broke and never went off this morning. Granted, that might have been coming to me anyway with how many other mornings I had smashed the ever-loving shit out of it. The little blue clock may or may not have had a few questionable dents on its surface, including one particularly bad 'bruise' to its side from one particularly violent morning a few months back. Still, I overlooked it.

     Then during breakfast Bailee decided it would be hilarious to make bubbles in her milk - of which Piper thought was fine to put in a glass instead of one of her sippy cups. It took me another twenty minutes to get her changed out of her freshly damp clothes. Again, I shrugged it off.

     But then I got to school. My second day parading around with a giant grin on my face. Except that didn't even get a chance to happen because I had entirely missed my first class.

     Between my alarm, Bailee, and Corvallis traffic I didn't make it to the day center until 11:40. I wanted to scream my head off at that point. When I went to Kidder to at least ask Ms. Brauer what I missed, she was no longer there and any sign of Jasmine was long gone. I had actually searched the entire building for either of them in my desperation. Nothing.

     I had a bout of luck during lunch when nothing spilled on me, but I was right back to where I started come class time.

     When I walked into that english class it didn't even occur to me how silent it was. The entire class was already present but everyone was on their phones or copying what was on the whiteboard. But no, it was the calm before the storm.

     Because within a minute of me grabbing my seat and planting my binder on the desktop, my ass was planted on the floor. Pain erupted in my backside and arms only to be sucker punched by the desktop landing on top of me.

     The desk actually collapsed.

     Giggles and gasping breaths could be heard everywhere around me. I couldn't help the warmth I felt on my cheeks. I groaned out loud and started to shimmy my way out of the wreckage. At this point I was convinced someone upstairs was bored today and I was the entertainment. My bet was on my late aunt Carla.

     And it didn't end there. Not only did my chair break, but it was the only available chair to me.

     "Ms. Dupree, we can surely find an extra desk in one of the adjacent rooms."

     I shook my head at my professor. "It is what it is."

     I was so fed up with the day at this point that I gathered my belongings and just made myself comfortable on the floor.

     "Um... Ms. Dupree, acquiring more seating is not an issue," he said slowly, giving me an odd look as I took my jacket off to use for cushioning.

     "I'm fine," I huffed out, pushed my curls out of my face and grabbed a pen.

     There was still faint laughing behind me, but I ignored it and flipped my binder open to my notes and began to copy what was on the board. Professor Tim, as he liked to be called, looked all but confused but I ignored him too. By this point I knew the rest of my day was going to be hell, so I was going to embrace it as best I could.

___

     I cannot deal with him today. That was all I could think as I made my way to the bookstore. If this morning was any indicator, my shift was going to suck.

     So imagine my surprise when I go inside and he was nowhere to be found. As I looked around and behind the counter and Keaton was still missing, a sliver of hope invaded me.