peaked in high school | karl jacobs

nine.a | 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦

2020

"Just hold on a second, Sean. I have to mute you." Penelope blurted out. She tapped her phone that was set against the screen of her laptop and turned the sound off before dragging her finger across the mousepad to unmute herself.

"Can you hear me?" She asked the several profiles on her screen, most of them filled with letters instead of faces. Some nodded while a few thumbs-up emojis pinged in the chat.

She smiled and looked down at the notebook sitting on the desk next to her computer, quickly scanning over her scribblings.

"So - uh - the median supply, um ..." She cleared her throat, trying to will herself to get the words up. "Well, it-it contradicts with the ..."

Penelope cursed herself, losing her place. Her eyes darted around the columns of screens, pairs of eyes weighing down on her. She hurriedly looked down and scanned the page to find her place again as her lungs seemed to shrink, cutting off the air flow to her brain. Her mind felt fuzzy and she felt her breath quicken as she tried to calm herself down. Her eyesight tunneled, making it impossible to see the words on the paper clearly and she felt disconnected from her body.

"It's alright, Penelope. Just turn in your worksheet and we can move on to the next person." Her head shot up to see the speaker, her teacher pitifully smiling at her onscreen.

"Sorry." Was all Penelope's brain could put out before she muted herself and cut her camera off.

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, the voice of the next student presenting far off in the back of her mind. Her face felt hot and her lungs stung a bit with every breath.

She was extremely embarrassed of herself. What a joke.

She opened her eyes and caught Sean watching her, waiting patiently on the small screen on her phone. She sighed and unmuted him before dramatically groaning and falling her head into her arms on the desk.

"I failed."

"It wasn't that bad."

"I didn't make it through my first sentence." Her voice was muffled as Sean watched the top of her head from where he was laying on his bed in his studio apartment he had gotten just a few months before getting locked in quarantine.

It had only been a month since most of the world was shut down and everyone was stuck inside - but Sean was already feeling claustrophobic in his one room space.

Penelope was stuck at her parents' house going through online school and Karl was constantly working.

"Pen."

She groaned in response.

"I miss you." She lifted her head and tiredly smiled at him.

"I miss you too. Man, this sucks."

"I'd say come move in with me but y'know ..." Sean said, smirking as she laughed as his statement.

"We could get bunk beds." She joked.

"Perfect." They laughed together before Sean frowned. "I really would, but there's barely enough room for me."

Penelope noticed the zoom call grow quiet before a chorus of goodbyes alerted her to do the same.

"Just a sec, Sean." She unmuted herself and thanked the teacher before leaving the call.

"Is that your last class for the day?" Sean asked distractedly, twirling a colored pencil between his fingers.

"Yes, thank God."

"What are you going to do for the rest of the day?"

Penelope picked at the metal rings holding her notebook together. "I'm not sure. I think Dad wants us to have a movie night or something."