TROUBLE! ━ TASM.

two.

    A few days later, after the weekend let up, Violet was back in school, the dark circles under her eyes lazily covered up by a thin layer of concealer that just barely hid them. She gave short, mumbled greetings to the kids around her that said 'hello,' opening her locker and leaning her head against the one beside it for just a moment.

The night before she hadn't gotten much sleep, her midnight escapade a bit longer than normal due to being chased by a not-so-happy vendor for a couple of blocks, rendering her exhausted by the time she made it home alone. It had made her be out later than she usually was, and even after, she had a project to catch up on for biochemistry, keeping her up until the early hours of the morning. Now, she felt like hell, her head heavy and her body sluggish.

With a loud sigh, she moved to pull a book out of her locker, only for it to slip out of her tired fingers and make it's way towards the ground. Before she could even think about reaching out for it, a hand came out of nowhere, catching the book by the spine before holding it out towards her. When she glanced up, she caught the eyes of Peter, laughing tiredly. "Good reflexes there, ninja," she joked, grabbing the textbook daintily and holding it to her chest to make sure it didn't fall.

"Why, thank you," he replied, giving her a mocking bow before opening his own locker. "You look like hell." The comment was brisk, followed up by a glance her way with a small eyebrow raise.

Violet scoffed, shutting her locker and leaning against it. "Thank you. You really know how to get the ladies, huh?" She gave him a playful look, watching as he briskly and yet accurately pulled out his own supplies. "I was up late working on that biochem project that's due today. Way too late. School shouldn't be allowed to keep me up until the morning and then force me to come in a few hours later, really."

Peter laughed quietly, shutting his own locker and adjusting his backpack strap on his shoulder before joining her on a walk towards their next class. "You don't have to get your assignments done. I mean, third in your class is a bit of an overachiever's thing, huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Says you, Number Two. A bit mad that your girlfriend is one step ahead of you?" She questioned, alluding to his quite obvious infatuation with Gwen. Her eyes stayed on him, causing her to completely miss the fact that a person was blocking the hallway in front of her. Quickly, he grabbed her jacket to pull her out of the way without even a stumble, before continuing their steady pace like nothing had happened.

His face turned bashful as her mind reeled from the sudden moment, his cheeks darkening the smallest bit as he held out a hand in surrender at her comment. "First of all, I don't care that Gwen's set for valedictorian. I think that women are the smartest people alive, and deserve all the achievements that they work hard for, thank you very much."

She snorted. "Spoken like a true feminist."

The boy ignored her sarcastic comment, continuing. "Two, she's not my girlfriend. We barely even know each other, c'mon." He brushed it off, stepping into the doorway of his classroom.

Violet rolled her eyes, calling over her shoulder as she continued her walk. "Whatever you say, big guy!"

It was a bit before she made her way into her own class, sitting down in her seat and getting out everything she needed for notes and assignments. Violet was the type to make completely elaborate notes in her journal in a very excessive way, mostly because, in a sense, she was a perfectionist. She also shared the notes with the kids she tutored, making sure that they got everything important when they took their own notes so that they could look over them confidently when she wasn't there.

The lesson dragged on in a bore, the bright-haired girl's eyes drooping shut multiple times due to her lack of sleep the previous night and the monotone drawl of the teacher, and she was quick to get up and leave when the bell rang. She shook her head to try and shake out some of the tiredness, sighing heavily.