Turn N' Burn

Chapter 3

A sharp nudge on her shoulder woke her. Amber's vision cleared quickly. She had fallen asleep in class. A quick look at the board told her she was in Math. She looked to her left, where the nudge came from. It was Emily, always making sure I'm not getting in trouble, too much. She rubbed her eyes and smiled at her. "Thanks for waking me up." Emily shook her head in a mix of humor and disapproval.
"Mr. Henderson was getting suspicious, too. Are you still going to the barn until, like midnight?"
"Maybe."
"I thought you said you were gonna start getting decent sleep! I can't keep waking you up every class period, you know."
"I know, but I want to go to the barn and do what I want to! Better than being here." Amber's last sentence was thick with annoyance. "Jeez, calm down! Just saying that you need to get more sleep, ok?" Emily finished.
A harsher voice called from across the room. "Emily! Amber! Be quiet and pay attention!" Mr. Henderson yelled. "Sorry." She mumbled to Emily.
"It's fine." She mumbled back, and they returned to their work. Thankfully, she slept through the majority of class, and the bell rang quickly. Ugh, thank god.

Lunch break. The only time of the day when Amber gets to actually sit down and talk to her friends and enjoy herself. She always packs her lunch so she doesn't have to wait to eat. She always had a bit of a temper when it came to food. In fact, she had a pretty short fuse all around. But, what girl doesn't? Amber sat down at the table with her friends and unpacked a peanut butter sandwich. "How's everyone's day so far?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Everyone is going to say horrible. Jillian was the first to respond, "Okay, for it being high school."
"So, torture?" She finishes with a laugh.
"Haha, yeah."
Emily and Sara answered at the same time. "It sucks." They glare at each other, with a playful, mean squint. Half a second later, Emily reaches out a harsh hand and lightly smacks Sara. Sara slams her hands on the table and squeaks, "Hey!", a little too loud, but we don't care, we are the loudest in the school and are proud of it. Amber rolls her eyes and looks at Lexi. (Who is a different person than Alexis) "Do you see what I have to deal with on a regular basis?" I ask, smirking. She was entranced in her book, so I returned to the conversation with the other three. Emily spoke up, "I had to wake up Amber in class today. AGAIN." She turned to shove me lightly. Sara looked at me with that, I'm-gonna-lecture-you-and-you-aren't-gonna-listen stare. I took a deep breath in, and put my hands under my chin to rest my head. Before she could speak, she said, "I'm thinking about fully going after my career as of next semester. Like, I'm dropping out of school."