Think Like A Criminal

Chapter 2

Running as fast as her tiny legs could, Cara rushed towards the entrance of the college that still seemed quite far from where she was. Her dark brown ponytail whipped from side to side as she tried to manage her bag and books in her hand. Her earphones dangling from her phone – which were in her pocket – had a hard time staying still and were slipping. She managed to hold on to them. Her legs took steps awkwardly far from each other because she could not tie her laces. In short, Cara was a mess.

She let out a deep sigh of relief when she saw her friends standing near the college gate and kicked hard on the ground to reach them. Getting closer, she opened her mouth to call them only to step on her untied shoelace. She stumbled as she tried to hold everything including herself from falling but in vain. She continuously tripped over herself before finally falling a few feet away from her friends. She thanked God for not landing in a puddle. Her clothes did get a little drenched though, but they would not take too long to dry. Jane and Hannah sighed when they witnessed their friend kissing the ground, her stuff spread out in a clutter. They would have rushed to help her up but having witness this sight countless time, they had stopped bothering. They casually walked towards the poor figure that was kneeling and gathering her stuff. Jane bent down to take her stuffs from her hands and picked the rest of the fallen items while Hannah crouched down to help her tie her shoelaces.

"Jesus, Cara," Hannah sighed as she made bunny ears of her laces and taught her how to tie her shoes again, "You really need to learn how to tie your shoes. It's not that hard. This is the easiest way I could teach you."

Cara gave her a sheepish smile before taking her things from Jane and standing up. She balanced them in one hand and tried to get rid of the dirt from her jeans and shirt. After finishing, she looked up at her two friends before smiling. Jane and Hannah raised their eyebrows and Cara already knew what their question will be.

"What's your excuse this time?" Jane asked as she adjusted the straps of her bag.

"Sorry I'm late guys," she apologised again before explaining herself, "A black cat crossed my path... so I had to go... the long way?"

All three of them knew neither believed her like the rest of the excuses she made in the past one and a half week. Cara sighed, giving up, before muttering about how she woke up late.

"Again?" Jane exclaimed, "You've been up all night watching movies as usual."

Cara widened her eyes, "What? No! How can you accuse me of such an act! I want proof."

She tried to fold her hand to look intimidating. Jane cracked a triumphed smile before answering, "The excuse you just made, I told you about it few weeks ago. It was from an anime I used to watch as a kid."

"Whatever," she huffed defeated. Both of them further started arguing about Cara's laziness when Hannah interrupted.

"We're already late, guys. Do you want Mr. Woods to not let us in the class again?"

That snapped their mouth shut. They all adjusted their bags before rushing through the college gates towards their classes.

***

The time went by slowly as Mr Woods kept going on with his never ending lecture. Cara sat lazily, as always, as she doodled on her notebook. Half of the class, including Jane, had fallen asleep where as Hannah kept on taking notes and nodding to whatever the teacher spilled from his mouth. Suddenly stopping from his boring speech, Mr. Woods narrowed his eyes and stared hardly at the middle row of seats; more specifically at Cara and Jane. He raised his chalk, silently aimed it at Jane before throwing it at her. The light tap on the forehead from the chalk was enough to wake Jane. She immediately scrambled to look as if she was listening to her teacher.