[Vignette] B+

I stumbled into class five minutes before it started. My prof was at the front of the room prepping a slideshow. I took my usual seat in the fourth row from the front and plopped my bag down and then myself. My eyes ached and my head hurt. Aspirin didn't do much and my coffee hadn't hit yet. I got out my journal and pencil and click it to just the right lead length. Blinking was easy. Opening my eyes after wasn't. A boy with wind swept hair sat in the seat next to mine. He offered a wave and smile. I gave a courtesy nod. His eyes were full of life for someone up at 8:00 AM. My prof greeted us and we lazily greeted him back. He started droning on and on. Income. Profit margins. It never ended. At some point I jolted awake and saw I stopped taking notes at the third slide. Our prof announces it's pop quiz time and asks us to get our clickers out. Crap. I grabbed mine from my bag. My hands fumbled not to drop it. I didn't know if the trembling was from nerves or exhaustion. Either way, the quiz was underway. Question after question. I forced my eyes open to answer the questions, but words and answer choices bled together. My clicker slipped out of my hand and I had to go chasing it down the lecture hall. Everyone laughed at me and I kept tripping over objects. Laptops. Pencils. Red solo cups. A record player. A bass guitar. My clicker did a flip and landed in my profs podium. With a careful leap, I caught it. Then I jolted awake. Everyone was packing up. The quiz ended. My clicker was in my hand and stated I made a B+. But how? I fell asleep. I groggily slipped it back into my bag and tried to stand. I wobbled and nearly fell. A pair of strong arms caught me and I looked up to see the boy from earlier. He smiled. "Tough quiz, huh?" I chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah. I don't even remember what it was over." He slid some papers over and nodded. "Looked like you didn't get a ton of sleep. Studying doesn't help if you can't sleep on it." I reached a tentative hand to take the papers and noticed it's his own notes. Pristine, neat, but not in a creepy or overdone way. Kind of like him. His face was the same. I was starting to stare. "Well," he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder, "I'll see you around. Maybe next time you'll stay awake for the quiz." I smiled and nodded like a dummy. He chuckled and walked away. I took the notes and carefully folded them in half and stuffed them into my bag. My eyes found my clicker. B+, huh? On something I didn't even know? My gaze looked up to see a last second glimpse of his bag as he walked out and the door shut behind him. I was the last one in the classroom. My prof zipped his bag closed and I jumped. "Ah. Grace. I noticed you and Liam were the only two to make anything above a C." He beamed, his graying hair shining in the artificial lights. "Good job." He grabbed his belongings and exited through the back door. I was actually the last person, now. Liam. And Grace. B+, huh?