Dania {18+}

Chapter 13

This morning went smoother than the last. Sylv seemed to have recovered from his grievances over Reyn's treatment of him. He didn't bother asking me to make him coffee, either. I suppose calling Reyn had set him straight.

It was funny how someone so skilled in self-defense was so scared of someone like Reyn. Sylv could probably overpower him if he wanted to.

He dropped me off with a mocking, "have fun at school, sweetie," and went on his merry way to work. The sound of him humming 'Eye of the Tiger' was cut off when I shut the car door and headed into the building.

I'm sure I resembled a zombie aimlessly ambling into the lecture hall. I grasped onto the chairs as I passed them, careful to keep my balance. I collapsed into the chair beside my best friend. Tess nodded at me in greeting before having to do a double-take. Her hand came up to cover her mouth before reaching out towards me.

"You just love to keep me guessing, don't you? What in the world happened?" She asked, shocked.

I tried my best to hide my dark circles with concealer and lined my eyes to take attention away from their puffiness. I supposed my expression gave everything away. My eyes couldn't focus on anything and my face felt like it was slightly swollen. My entire body felt weak.

"Dani, did you forget to comb your hair?!" Tess fussed while standing up from her seat and trying to pat my hair down.

I slumped into the chair with a sigh as she grabbed a comb out of her purse. She hurriedly parted my hair and untangled it as best she could given half my hair was squashed under my face. I barely registered what was happening. People glanced over at me in sympathy but I couldn't bring myself to care about the unwanted attention like I usually would.

"Sit up; let me get the other side," she urged. I shook my head and closed my eyes for a few minutes. I was too tired to be bothered by anything. She looked at me full of pity and patted my head with soft strokes. She gently turned my head to the other side and began combing the side that was previously hidden. Her fingers gently ran through my waist-length strands. It made me miss the days when my mom would sit me down to comb my hair. But then I remembered how much we'd argue as she pulled my hair and later insisted that she didn't even pull that hard. Maybe that's why I had such a high tolerance for being poked and prodded now.

"It was the snores, wasn't it? I swear he sounds like a freight train."

I nodded, my eyes fluttered closed.

"Good morning, class," the professor greeted, waving cheerily to us.

My head shot up and I looked forward, forcing the sleep away. I needed all my focus for my hand to keep up with his words. Otherwise, I'd be lost and need to ask Tess for her notes since mine were too disorganized. Her handwriting was barely legible. So that was a pain I was desperate to avoid.

As the professor droned on and on, all I could feel was a throbbing pain in my head. I heard the words he was saying but couldn't register them as I wrote them down. I would have to read my notes and learn the information later.

I willed my way through class and the rest of the day. I needed to take notes. Otherwise, it would just be more work to catch up if I missed a day.

In the middle of the class, I felt my phone vibrate. I sighed and grabbed it out of my bag.

Rylan: Hey, it's Rylan, you wanna hang out sometime this week?

For sure, maybe sometime this weekend?

Rylan: Sounds perfect, we can figure out what to do later!

Reyn was coming back tonight and I didn't want to make any plans that would prevent me from spending some much-needed time with him. I smiled to myself when I pictured him forcing me to take a nap as soon as he saw me. Some of the fatigue melted away at the excitement of tonight.