Saturday morning dawned crisp and cool. A soft breeze played across campus, carrying a promise of impending rain and the inevitable tears of UK students struggling to study for the looming onset of midterms.
I woke in a state of blind panic.
Midterms. The bane of every college student in existence, and they were now only three weeks away.
How on earth could I have forgotten?
I threw myself out of bed in a most undignified manner and somehow managed to land on my feet despite having practically mummified myself in my sheets while I was sleeping.
From the bed beside me, Arthur stirred and cracked an eye open.
"Wassgoinonn?" he croaked, his voice still thick with sleep.
"I have to get to the library!" I shouted, as I struggled out of the blanket cocoon and began clumsily stuffing my feet into the pair of jeans I'd cast aside last night.
"Why?" Arthur lifted his head and peered blearily at his alarm clock on the bedside table. "Ethan... it's seven o'clock a.m. on a Saturday."
"Exactly! I should've started studying last night! How could I be so stupid?!"
I yanked a sweatshirt over my head and my hair stood on end.
"You do realize that the library doesn't open until eleven on Saturdays, right?" mumbled Arthur.
I fumbled with the strap on my backpack as Arthur's words sunk in.
"You're right," I said. I swung the bag over my shoulder, narrowly missing my desk lamp, and seized my Medieval History textbook from the nightstand. "I'll go to Ovid's instead."
I turned and dashed out into the hallway, leaving Arthur gaping after me. The door swung shut with a hollow click.
The wind was just starting to pick up as I left the dorm. I pulled my sweatshirt hood up to cover my bedhead and crossed Woodland Avenue in the direction of Willy T. I tripped twice on my untied shoelaces but didn't faceplant.
When I was through the library doors I peeled off the hood and inhaled the sweet scent of maple syrup and vanilla lattes wafting in from the café. My stomach rumbled loudly, reminding me that I hadn't eaten any breakfast yet.
There were a few other early risers here, most seated at tables with laptops and books open in front of them. A couple members of the diving team were lounging together in a booth, hair still wet from their early morning practice and wolfing down omelettes. I placed my regular order of French toast and coffee at the counter and then meandered around the corner, where I found a small table settled in an alcove off the wall. I set up my laptop and was just opening a new word document when my order arrived.
Arthur found me there over an hour later, working on the midterm essay for my Medieval History class. I was so absorbed in my paper that I didn't realize at first that someone was standing in front of my table, trying to capture my attention.
"Ethan. Hello. Ethan!"
I jumped and looked up. Arthur was waving his hand in front of my face, looking grumpy. His hair was damp and his jacket was splattered with raindrops.
"Arthur!" I exclaimed in shock. "Wow- You're up early...." I paused to double check my watch. It was now almost ten o'clock. But that was still early for Arthur.
"I couldn't fall back to sleep," Arthur said.
"Oh," I said sheepishly. "Did you already order breakfast?"
YOU ARE READING
The Institution
FantasySocially awkward Ethan Montgomery never expected his freshman year of college to be easy, but he has to admit that even by his low expectations things are getting quite out of hand. Because that’s the way things tend to go when you’re juggling newf...
