𝐚𝐤𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚 [𝟏𝟖+]

Chapter 2

𝐓𝐇𝐄 tired woman scribbles notes on her paper as she looks up at the board, chin resting in her palm. Mr. Simmons occasionally looks at her, whilst dictating a new lesson for the class. She looks back at him, boredom displayed on her face and disdain emanating from her almond-brown eyes. She sighs and moves closer to her page, focusing on the topic in front of her, occasionally raising her hand and answering his questions addressed to the class. After the hour long class, she begins packing up her canvas bag when Mr. Simmons stops her.

"Ms. Winslow, I'd like to speak with you in my office." He interjected, looking down at her expectingly. She blinked, and slowly nodded as anxiety began growing in her stomach. Following behind him to the office, the office she'd grown to hate, she hesitantly walks inside and seats herself. He closes the door behind her, and gives her a serious look.

"You did it." He says, blankly. She furrows her eyebrows, "I... did it?" she questions, completely oblivious. After a few seconds of silence, her face brightens up as she realizes what he means. She excitedly stands up, "I did it?! I got the internship?!" she exclaims, grinning from ear to ear. He gives her a small smile back, nodding. Dahlia covers her mouth and lets out an excited squeal, before laughing almost maniacally. He stares down at her awkwardly, waiting for her to finish her little celebration. After realizing that it's going to take a while longer, he sits down and sips on his coffee. 

"Okay, okay. I'm okay now." Dahlia breathes out, trying to make a serious face before breaking out into yet another goofy grin. He looks at her incredulously, wondering how she has so much pent-up energy. Not giving it another thought, he looks at her calmly and begins explaining. "I know you're excited, but It's incredibly imporant that you listen to me. The job Isn't going to be easy, and you're most likely going to regret it. However, this internship opens so many opportunities that It's all going to be worth it in-", He tries to speak, but she cuts him off. She exclaims with a slightly shaky voice, "Yes, yes, I know! Thank you, I've got to go." she quickly gathers herself and speed-walks out. As she's in the doorway, she turns back to him and smiles. "Thank you, again!" She calls out as she makes her way out the door. He chuckles to himself and shakes his head.

Dahlia runs to her dorm, getting weird looks from the other students in the hall, but she couldn't care less after receiving the good news. "God, I've got to work out more." She pants and closes the door behind her, immediately rushing to her closet. Irene tilts her head at the frantic woman and sits up on her bed, "What's going on?" she hums, and watches as Dahlia forages through the piles of clothing in her closet. "Oh nothing, just that I got the internship." She tries to contain herself, telling her friend the news. Irene's jaw drops, and she hurriedly jumps out of the bed and hugs Dahlia. "Oh my God, Lia!" She squeezes the life out of her, leaving the shorter girl gasping for air and clutching her ribs. Dahlia gives her a weak smile and coughs, "Thank you, but you almost killed me.". Irene laughs loudly in response

"What says, 'I'm a super serious career-driven boss bitch who has dreamed of working for you since she found out about demonology'?" Dahlia jokes and skims through her short supply of clothing, and Irene nibbles on her glossy bottom lip as she inspects the components of the closet. Suddenly, she pulls out a black skirt and an off-white ruffled shirt. A pair of sensible black mary-jane shoes and a pair of off-white knee thigh high stockings accompany it.

"It's perfect!" Dahlia gushes, holding the outfit to her body. Irene sighs happily, with a proud look on her face, "I've done it again.". Dahlia hangs the outfit up on a metallic, sturdy hanger, and smiles in admiration.

 After successfully calming herself down, she heads out to the bathroom and begins to shower, scrubbing herself clean of the bacteria from the day before. As her muscles begin to relax from the warm water, she hears feet distantly pitter-pattering around the floors. She furrows her eyebrows and tries to listen in on their conversation. Most of the words exchanged are almost incoherent murmurs, but the words she can make out are 'Sleeping with someone else' 'What is wrong with you?', and 'Figure it out'. She shrugs her shoulders and assumes that they must be talking about someone cheating, or maybe someone being cheated on. Regardless, It's not a conversation she should be imposing on, and eavesdropping is a bad habit. After washing away the bubbles from her body, she covers herself with a towel and walks out of the shower, the only sound being her wet flip-flops squelching across the floor as the set of people presumably left beforehand.

Quickly making herself back to her dorm room, running across the hall in just her bathrobe, she makes sure the area is clear of people. Dahlia, having always felt strong hatred towards her body and appearance, always tried her hardest to hide her insecurities in every way. Insecurity to her, was a form of weakness, 'And in no way, could you ever reveal your weakness.' was what she often told herself. Perhaps it was her brain, perhaps it was her early 20s and the realization that her age is slowly creeping up to her. Regardless, concealing her feelings was always her go-to. The only person she felt she could be herself around was Irene. Irene, with her picture-perfect body, and her waist-length strawberry blonde hair, and her indubitably flawless face, would never truly understand what Dahlia felt like. However, Irene's utterly pleasant demeanor and bubbly personality made her approachable and easy to talk to.

Dahlia, being her polar opposite, with her blunt, grumpy disposition and her awful irritability. It made her mostly unattractive, however, her appearance is what led her to being approached more often than not. Though she'd never admit it to herself, or even acknowledge it, Dahlia had a certain beauty. A classic, unfiltered, and remarkably unique beauty. One almost historical. Her big brown eyes were shielded by her thick eyelashes, her caramel-colored hair was slightly curled and framed her chubby cheeks, and she always had a pair of emerald earrings dangling from her ears past her soft jawline. She'd never realized it, but she has the kind of beauty you'd find in a portrait in a museum somewhere, unlike Irene who had a more conventional attractiveness. 

At last, she makes it to her dorm and quickly slams the door behind her, hurrying to dress herself. Irene is sprawled across her bed, chewing on her lip nervously and staring up at the ceiling. After Dahlia gets dressed, she decides to call her boyfriend, Finn, and tell him the good news. She paces around the room, attempting to call him several times, but to no avail. Irene passes her an occassional glance out of the corner of her eye, until Dahlia finally sighs and throws the phone onto her bed in defeat. 

"Hey, Irene," she turns to look at her, "Finn isn't responding. You wouldn't know where he is, right?". Irene flips around and looks at Dahlia with wide, petrified eyes. "W-why would I know that? What are you saying?" She mutters, unwilling to look into her eyes for another second. Dahlia furrows her eyebrows at Irene's sudden reaction, but dismisses it and decides to go to sleep.