Maddie burst into the classroom like a tornado with no warning and way too much energy for 8 a.m.
She was late—again—and that meant Mrs. Cauco would have a field day about it. As soon as the door made a sound, every pair of eyes in the classroom turned toward her.
Maddie smiled awkwardly, feeling like a star for an awkward reality show.
"Maddie Rivers," Mrs. Cauco's voice sliced through the air with the precision of a chainsaw. "So kind of you to grace us with your presence."
She froze halfway through the door, her bag one shoulder, and her face flushed a deep shade of red.
She thought miserably, "Of course, I'm the main character." Good Lord, someone save me from this misery.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," Maddie muttered, shuffling toward the back of the room as she prayed in her heart for an invisibility ability.
But Mrs. Cauco refused to let her off that easy. "Sorry doesn't cut it, Ms. Rivers. Perhaps you'd like to stand for the remainder of class? After all, you seem to prefer arriving fashionably late."
Maddie's face burned hotter. "No, ma'am, that's really—"
"Oh, I insist," Mrs. Cauco said with a thin smile. "Since it seems like sitting down is a privilege you haven't quite earned today."
Maddie took a deep breath, knowing she wouldn't get out of her punishment. She set her bag by her usual seat and stood awkwardly beside it. She begged Mother Nature to open up a hole under her as the class snickered.
Awesome! Can't wait to be a meme by lunch. She rolled her eyes internally and thought this might just get her famous... and maybe get her somewhat near Ethan's level.
Ethan. Fuck him. She cursed in her mind. She envisioned slinging cow shit on him. After that stunt he did last night, she swore to God that she was going to be his worst enemy.
Also, she raised a middle finger at Mrs. Cauco secretly. Mrs. Cauco conveniently developed a habit of going out of her way to embarrass her. Maddie swore the woman had it out for her. What did she even do to earn her professor's ire?
Did she steal her parking spot one time? Maddie didn't even have a car. Eat her favorite muffin at the coffee shop? Well, that was only one time, and it wasn't a muffin but a donut. She thought Lila bought it. Mrs. Cauco doesn't eat donuts AT ALL. She seemed committed to making her life miserable.
To make matters worse, Maddie needed to turn in her project for Mrs. Cauco's subject on humanities today. She dug it out of her bag and approached her teacher.
"Here's my project, ma'am," Maddie said as politely as possible, handing over the binder.
Mrs. Cauco didn't even glance at it. She crossed her arms, looking Maddie up and down with her usual disapproving scowl. "I'm not accepting late submissions."
Maddie flinched; it felt like a blow to her gut. "Late? But the deadline's today, and I—"
"You arrived late to class, didn't you?" Mrs. Cauco cut her off, her voice as sharp as ever. "So you're late, and so is your project."
Oh, come on! Maddie resisted the urge to scream. This was absurd. She had been late, sure, but only by like ten minutes. It wasn't like she'd missed the whole class. Heck, half the class didn't even pay attention, but she was the one taking the brunt?
"Ma'am, that's not fair," Maddie protested weakly. "I stayed up all night working on this."
Mrs. Cauco raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps if you spent more time on punctuality and less on excuses, you wouldn't be in this situation, Ms. Rivers."
Maddie bit her tongue, knowing more backtalk would get her in more trouble. She then spent the next 2 hours and 30 minutes standing because, apparently, sitting down was for people that got their lives together.
---
After the nightmare that was Mrs. Cauco's class, Maddie headed to the library to find Nina. She wanted to meet Lila, too, but Lila texted her that she had a class for the whole day. So, Nina, it was. Maddie needed to vent, and vent hard.
The library was quiet as it was meant to be, only the hum of whispers and flipping of pages filling the space. Maddie spotted Nina at the table, near the back, buried under a mountain of books.
Nina had her head down, and the only sign of life was the occasional pages turning. Maddie slid into the seat across from her, eyeing the stack of textbooks.
"Nina, are you an architecture student or studying law? Because this is giving law school finals energy."
Nina barely looked up, her face pale and tired. "Neither. I'm a death-by-homework student."
Maddie chuckled softly, though the exhaustion on Nina's face was real. She reached over and grabbed Nina's hand, giving it a little shake. "Okay, so listen. My day? Absolute dumpster fire. And it's all Ethan's fault. He's my bad luck."
Nina's eyes lifted slightly, but she still looked half dead. "What else is new? Last night was batshit crazy."
Maddie leaned in, whispering so the stern librarian wouldn't hear. "No, seriously. I got home super late after that Velocity stint because someone thought it would be a fun idea to chase my soul out of my body by driving his bike at like, a hundred miles an hour. I swear, I left the earth for a solid ten minutes."
Nina's lips twitched, looking like life steamrolled her. Maddie continued her rant, more animated now. "And then this morning, I overslept, so I show up late to Mrs. Cauco's class, and she made me stand the whole time. Like, what am I? A Victorian child being punished for stealing bread?"
The librarian shot Maddie a glare from across the room, and she gave her an apologetic smile, lowering her voice further. "Anyway, I tried to turn in my project, and guess what? She refused it. Said I was late, so my project was late too. What kind of power trip is that?"
Nina finally looked up, her eyes unfocused but at least somewhat conscious. "Sounds… rough."
Maddie frowned, shaking Nina's hand more firmly. "Nina. Hello. I'm spilling my tragic life story here. I need sympathy."
Nina blinked slowly, like a zombie rising from the grave, and blurted out, "George is going to be the death of me."
Maddie paused, her rant forgotten for a second. "Oh, damn, I just remembered. He took you back last night. What did he do? What's going on with you two?"
Nina groaned, pulling at her hair in frustration. "Don't ask. Just… stop. I can't. I don't even want to think about it. I don't want to even say his name. Nor remember his face."
Maddie raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who brought him up. What did he do?"
Nina mumbled something under her breath that Maddie didn't quite hear everything. "What bed?"
Nina shot her a look—a mix of exhaustion and something unreadable. "Just... don't, okay? I'm begging you. Let's not talk about George."
Maddie held up her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. But seriously, what's going on? Ethan mentioned there's something between you and George—"
Before Maddie could finish her thought, a head popped up from behind a nearby bookshelf, scaring the absolute life out of both of them.
"WHAT DID GEORGE DO?"
Maddie and Nina nearly jumped out of their seats, both clapping their hands over their mouths to stop themselves from screaming. The librarian glared at them from her desk again, her eyes narrowing like she was ready to pounce.
Maddie clutched her chest, breathing hard. "Aileen! What the hell?! You can't just pop up like that!"
Aileen, wide-eyed and looking a little unhinged, stared at them with an accusatory expression. There were dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in days, and her hair was a total mess. "You guys are heartless! How could you not even ask how I'm doing? What I went through last night?"
Nina covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle a laugh. Maddie, still recovering from the jump scare, gave Aileen an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry…"
Aileen's eyes practically bulged out of her head. "Are you kidding me?! Sorry? You two just left me! Do you even know that I suffered?"
Maddie and Nina exchanged guilty glances. "Uh…"
Aileen crossed her arms, her expression fierce. "Heartless, both of you. Absolutely heartless."
Before Maddie or Nina could answer, the librarian marched over, scowling. "If you three don't keep it down, I will personally escort you out of this library."
They mumbled quick apologies, but as soon as the librarian walked away, Aileen leaned in, her voice low but still full of indignation. "I wish I was dead. That bastard did a number on me! How dare he do that to me?"
Maddie groaned, rubbing the back of her neck. "Aileen, you gotta stop speaking in code. You have to tell us what happened and who did it. Come on, it probably wasn't as bad as what Ethan—"
"Oh, really?" Aileen's eyes narrowed as if she was ready to tear someone a new hole. "Wanna bet?"