Room 206 - Luke Hemmings

six

"So the guy from science asked me on a date," Eileen said as she sat down with us at breakfast excitedly.

"Just now?" Eleanor asked, and Eileen nodded, smiling.

"He wants to go get lunch on Saturday!" She said as she took a bite of her oatmeal.

I was happy for Eileen, but I was still a bit bummed out from my argument with Alex on Saturday. We hadn't said anything to each other since, and it was now Monday morning and he was still sitting at the table with his friends and hadn't even looked at me.

I sighed and ate my own oatmeal, not bothering to look in his direction anymore.

"He'll get over it," Eleanor said to me, rubbing my shoulder as she ate her oatmeal.

As if on cue, I felt a large warm hand on my shoulder and I turned to see it was none other than Alex himself looking down at me.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

I stood from my oatmeal and followed him a little bit away from the table and he let go over my shoulder and turned to face me.

"I'm really sorry about Saturday," he said. "I was being a total dick the way I was talking to you, and I was being extremely insensitive to your feelings."

"I'm sorry too," I said. "I snapped at you and got really defensive for no reason and you didn't deserve that."

"Let's both be more sensitive to each other?" he said.

I nodded. He pulled me in for a hug, and I relaxed in his warm embrace.

I told myself to also be a little less harsh on Professor Hemmings, but my mouth seemed to have a mind of its own once I got into English and once again ended up with detention.

"I am really getting sick of your attitude, Miss Williams," he said to me after class. I crossed my arms and titled my head down.

"Pouting is not going to get you anywhere," he said. "I suggest you start showing me respect or this will become a regular thing."

"Yes sir," I mumbled, humiliated.

He walked back to his desk and I started on my homework that I had. He left me alone, and I trudged back to my room when I was done, still pouting.

"Look who's finally back!" Eleanor giggled, throwing her arm around me as I walked in the door. I sighed and sat down on my bed. All of the girls were way too wound up for me at that moment.

"How was detention?" Eileen teased, winking at me.

"It was awful, like always." I kept it short and laid on my bed, closing my eyes maybe in hopes to take a nap but also maybe in hopes to make them leave me alone.

"You know what I think?" Eleanor whispered. "I think she's secretly in there fucking Professor Hemmings and not telling anyone about it." All of the girls giggled at her comment.

"How could you say that?!" I snapped at her, sitting up and facing her.

"Whoa, Daisy calm down," Eleanor said. "I was only kidding."

"Well it wasn't funny!" I stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, deciding to let myself steam by taking a shower.

I was in way longer than I intended because I'd been thinking about everything way too much. I stepped out into the bedroom to see that none of the girls were there. Looking at the time, I realized this was because I was already 10 minutes late to dinner.

I hurriedly dried my hair enough so I wasn't cold and got dressed, rushing down to the dining hall and accidentally running right into someone in the foyer.

I stumbled and fell on the ground, looking up to see it was Alex, who was looking down at me in concern.

"Daisy, are you okay?" he asked me, holding his hand out to help me up but I stayed on the ground as I burst into tears.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" he asked, crouching down on the floor next to me and wrapping his arms around me while I cried.

"I just snapped at the girls because they made a joke and now I feel like shit because of it," I cried. "I got way too defensive and I wanted to apologize but they're probably mad at me now."

"Hey, it's okay," he said. "It's not that big of a deal. You've all been friends for years, I'm sure it's nothing."

I sniffed and wiped my tears away with my sleeve. Why was I even crying anyways?

"I think I'm supposed to get my period soon," I cried even more, dreading the fact that I now had that to look forward to.

Alex laughed a little, taking my hands to pull me to my feet and wrapped his arms around me in a real hug.

"Why don't you sit with the boys and I for dinner tonight to let them cool off if they're angry?" he offered. "And you can talk to them when you go back to your room."

I nodded and wiped my tears away again, following him into the dining hall to the table he usually sat at with his friends.

I didn't enjoy myself during dinner at all because they all talked about sports and maths and I ate my food quietly, Alex's hand resting on my thigh for a bit of the dinner.

He walked me back to my room after dinner, giving me a kiss goodnight and telling me it was going to be just fine before I went into the room to see the girls.

"There you are!" Eleanor said, sitting up from where she was laying on her bed. "We didn't know where you were during dinner!"

"I was eating with Alex and his friends," I said. "I'm sorry for snapping at you guys. It was only a joke and I got way too defensive over it."

"We're sorry too," Eileen said. "We shouldn't have made that comment. It was crossing the line a little too much."

"Do you forgive me?" I asked them.

"Of course we do!" Eleanor and the other two came over and all gave me a group hug.

"I really just want to sleep now," I said, entering the bathroom to brush my teeth. "I want the day to be over."

I passed out almost as soon as I was in bed.