Couldn't Say No

"June!" the teacher called out. There was no reply. "June Freeman?" still no reply. The teacher frowned. "Absent again!" he muttered as he crossed June's name out on the attendance sheet. He turned back to his class and, in an irritated voice, asked them a question. "Does anybody know where June is? She has been absent for three days now and has offered no excuse!" for a moment, there was no reply, then one student finally raised a hand and answered the question in a very shy, soft voice.

"She's sick, sir," the student said. "She wanted to tell you but she's so sick that she hasn't had a chance to bring in a doctor's note. But I can bring one for her if you want," she offered. The professor's glare softened as he realized who it was that was speaking. It was Cora Stein, his favorite student. She was just so intelligent and academically driven. She was going to do very well for herself in life. What a girl like her was doing with someone as rebellious, careless and troublesome as June was totally beyond him. He could see, however, that Cora wasn't going to be giving June up any time soon so he simply exhaled slowly and spoke again, this time being far gentler because of who he was talking to.

"No, Ms. Stein," he said. "You know that only the individual is allowed to bring in notes."

"Yes sir," she replied, lowering her head and her hand.

"I do appreciate the offer," he added. Her head raised slightly and he could see the smallest of smiles on her lips. The rest of the class carried on peacefully after that, the professor trying to keep his calm for the sake of Cora, one of the only decent students at this school.

Once class ended, while all the other students flocked to the door, Cora swung by the professor's desk.

"I was going to take June's work to her," she said. The professor raised his eyebrows slightly, cursing June for hindering Cora's own growth, but he said nothing as he slid an extra copy of the assignment to the brunette.

"I hope she understands how lucky she is to have you," he said.

"She does," Cora replied easily but, for a split second, the professor thought he saw doubt in Cora's blue eyes.

The moment Cora left the classroom, she bit her lip nervously. She had just broken a big rule. She lied. June wasn't sick at all. She was skipping class just for fun. She said she didn't feel like going to class and that was the end of it. To June, it was literally that easy. To a goody-goody like Cora, though, that seemed completely insane and outrageous. She was the girl who couldn't even imagine doing something so rebellious while June was the girl who did it whenever she pleased, these past three days being an example of that. But at the same time, Cora couldn't bring herself to turn June in so, once again, she hauled an extra few papers home to bring to June. As her professor's final words echoed in her head, Cora did feel a dull flash of anger. She was sick of caring for her lazy friend to be totally honest. And yes, she just couldn't say no...

"Hey June!" Cora grunted in annoyance as she opened the door to their tiny apartment.

"Hey Cora," came the laid-back reply. The blond was currently stretched out casually on the couch, watching TV. Although Cora had expected something like this, actually seeing it really set her teeth on edge, especially since she'd been hard at work all day in school. In addition, even though Cora had brought June's homework home, she knew full well the blond wouldn't even look at it, let alone attempt it. This would, of course, force Cora to cover for her again. What hurt Cora the most, however, was how little gratitude June seemed to feel for all of Cora's sacrifices.

10 minutes later, Cora found herself sprinting down the halls with tears burning in her eyes. She and June had bickered harshly about June's irresponsible behavior before June finally delivered a devastating blow: