Divide by A

Amy in English

The alarm clock on my phone vibrated under my pillow to wake me up at five in the morning for school, like it always does. I shut it off in a daze, pulled myself up, and walked across my dorm room to the bathroom at the other end of my dorm. Being a senior meant I got a single room with a bathroom and a small kitchen all to myself. My parents probably chipped in a little to make sure of it, but I wasn’t complaining.

The light from the bathroom blinded me for a moment before I could clearly see myself in the mirror. I looked like hell. My hair was piled in a rat’s nest above my head, my eyes looked like I hadn’t slept in weeks, and the bits of make-up I missed when hurriedly cleaning my face enhanced the overall hell.

I started brushing my hair out with a thick brush, ignoring all the hair that fell out, and then I heard a groan. I froze for a moment in the silence, and then I heard it again. I looked around hastily to see what weapon I could grab to hit the intruder with. Then it hit me. Conner.

I rolled my eyes at myself, peeking out at the bathroom door to my bed to find him lying there, sprawled out on the bed like he owns the place. The blankets had slid down so I could see his chest and abs, very cinematic. He groaned again, causing me to panic a little as I shut the door and tried to do my make-up and hair as fast as I could. He couldn’t see me like this.

It took all of thirty minutes to be presentable for the world and I still had an hour until school started. When I walked out of the bathroom Conner was half awake, sitting up and looking around my room confused until he saw me. I was still wearing his shirt from the night before, something I threw on since it got too cold in my room during the night. It smelled like booze and Axe, but it covered the necessary areas, for the most part.

“Good morning, sexy.” His smirk made me grin; as he looked me up and down I could practically hear the memories of last night playing through his head.

I walked over to him using the most seductive walk I could and sat down next to him. “We have an hour till classes start,” I whispered, biting my lip innocently.

His hand brushed my thigh as we both looked at each other knowingly. We leaned in for a kiss and made the most of that remaining hour…

Despite even my seemly perfect plan of timing, I still manage to be late for my first class of the day; English. Even though this school is full of rich kids that can get their parents to sue the school if a teacher even thinks of writing them up, this godforsaken still makes a huge deal of any kind of infraction, especially lateness.

The moment I stepped a heeled toe through the mahogany door, Mrs. Harold, my grumpy, old, and muttering English teacher, spoke in her raspy voice without even looking up from the Smart board, “Well, Miss Richards, how nice of you to join us.”

A part of me winced at the thought of being in trouble, but that part wasn’t in control anymore, so I did something stupid. “You’re so welcome, Mrs. H! I thought this class could use a little bit of light.”

Her eyes narrowed at mine, “There are plenty of windows in this room, Miss Richards, plenty of light.”

She took the bait. Everyone in the class was sitting on the edge of their chairs, waiting for my words. Before I could think, they escaped my mouth, “I’m talking about the light you’re sucking out of all of us.”

Dead silence. We glared at each other for a while, our eyes having a secret conversation. She should kick me out of class, to the Dean’s office to be expelled. My parents gave so much money to this place when I enrolled, it would be financial suicide to get rid of me. She dropped her gaze first, letting me win as she always does. A sigh escaped the room as I walked to my chair in the back of the room, my heels echoing on the floor as my short skirt swished behind me.  

Mrs. Harold continued with the lesson, like it never happened. The smart kids were rolling their eyes at each other and me for causing a pointless disturbance. The cool girls were grinning and whispering “Good one, Amy.” Their boyfriends were checking out my legs and chest that were on display.

I was supposed to feel on top of the world, not like I was sinking below it, but I guess I can’t change everything about me.