Summer Before Her (Completed)

11- Sober Man's Thoughts

Kirsten's POV

I woke up to a throbbing headache, it felt like my head would explode, and all the bits and pieces of my brain would decorate my bed and the walls behind it. How did it get so bad?— I wondered, now gripping my head between my hands.

The clock read three am, ticking away in the darkness, streetlight from the window illuminated the wall, falling on the canvases decorated by my brush, I lay there admiring what I had been able to accomplish in life, I had a long run maybe this was the end– with that my world slowly got engulfed in darkness.

**

"Sweetie, Don't you have school today?" mum called out walking past my room.

I was startled awake by that, Oh, I wasn't dead yet, last night did seem like it had been the end of me.

My headache had fizzled out somewhere along the course of the night but it left me with a sore jaw from being clenched so tight.

As I stretched my limbs my eyes fell on the clock again, it now read quarter past eight. Shoot! Classes begin at eight, I was late.

In the next fifteen minutes, I had managed to take a shower, dress myself, chug down a smoothie, and drive myself to school. Yes, I am Flash.

The school grounds were hauntingly empty, my footsteps rang in the hollow hallways as I walked towards biology. The class was also unsurprisingly empty as another class was ongoing.
I made myself comfortable in my seat and began working on the project as I waited for others to arrive.

My work was interrupted by Mr.Cyr as he remarked: "Ahhh, I didn't see you there, why are you here so early?"

I jumped a little as I had been too engrossed "Oh, Good morning Mr.Cyr, I slept in" I explained myself.

"I have been meaning to talk to you Bravermen, Everything okay at home?" he inquired.

"Yes Sir, everything is well" I responded, a tad bit nervous now.

"your grades have been slipping, this past month" he announced as he slipped my answered pop on the table.

6/10

Six.
I had scored merely six, I sat there stunned, as my eyes gathered unshed tears, I had never had anything less than a perfect score.
I had been easy on myself, I had been distracted by Novak. I blamed myself, I blamed Novak, I blamed the universe.

"Come by to my office, we will talk about it then, Bravermen" Mr.Cyr remarked as rest of the students filled the room.

"Goodmorning everyone, I will be distributing your marked papers today, review your mistakes and learn from them" Mr.Cyr addressed the class.

Oh well, I had already been disappointed.
Maybe the unit was difficult, maybe no one had done well, it couldn't be just me. I eagerly waited for everyone else's result so I could compare.

"Novak, well done," Mr.Cyr remarked as handed him a sheet.

Without a single emotion flitting through his face, he folded the sheet and placed it in his book. Perhaps he didn't do as well as he expected, Mr.Cyr's bar for him was probably low. I itched to know.

"Hey, how did that go?" I enquired, consumed by curiosity.

"9.5" he responded without even looking up.

What? How could this be? Am I really slipping? — I wondered, envious.

The rest of the class went by uneventfully as I simmered in my regret of not having studied harder.

**

"Heyy cupcake, Novak give you any trouble?" Fred questioned as I exited the class. Had he been waiting for me? He was definitely Mr Overprotective.

"No, All is good" I responded dismissively.

"Hey hey, what happened?" he asked now worried.

"Nothing, I just didn't do well on this stupid pop quiz"

"Oooh, cheer up girrl! My best is your worst, I bet you didn't get a seven, it's my best mark ever"

"Yea, I did worse. I will see you later Fred"

I really needed to get it together, quit napping through the day, stop getting distracted by alll this drama.

**

I spent my lunch break pouring over the project in the library, I had to get this done by tomorrow, it was submission date, I really hope Novak has done his part.

As if on cue Novak walked in, in all his majestic glory, Ugh, I hated this guy and yet here I was admiring him.

With a half-smirk plastered to his face, he eyed my dishevelled collection of papers, my reference books that lay open, a half typed document on my computer and then my face, his smirk now turned into a full-blown one.

"Here, its colour coded," he said as he dropped a folder of organized project work.

Ah, hence the smirk. How was he so all together? How did he have everything sorted out? He showed up to class every day, was at the top of his work and apparently works out from what I see, all of this requires an immense amount of mental energy that I sorely lacked.

"Thanks" I uttered, reluctantly taking my eyes off his body.

"Don't thank me, get your part done, I don't want a bad grade because you were distracted" he snarkily replied, rubbing salt in the wound.

And then instead of leaving as per his signature style, he seated himself in the far end of the library and proceeded to read a thick short book until the bell signalled the beginning of the next class. Nerdy much?

**

I pulled my self up on the chair into a better posture and once again tried to concentrate on my history assignment, two minutes later, my eyes were fluttering shut as I slumped back into the chair.
How will I ever be able to catch up on schoolwork if I am so tired and unmotivated by all of this?— I wondered as I slowly began drifting to dreamland.

I woke up to my phone ringing incessantly, my back hurt from falling asleep on a chair, my bottom was effectively numb.

The phone continued ringing, I rubbed my eyes groggily and stretched as I glanced at the phone, it was Novak.

It was eleven at night, why was he calling me?
Nevertheless, I answered.

"Helloooooo Kirsten" he slurred.

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Hey guys,
Chapter 11 done! This is a new phase of the story, the real fun begins now.

Q: Why do you think Novak is calling her?

Thank you for reading! I hope to read your lovely comments.