english ✱ muke

七

"shit," i groan, running my fingers through my hair and getting all the knots out.

"what?" trang asks, her perfectly done eyebrow raised to give me a perfectly practiced bitch stare.

"i have to hand in my essay today but the internet's down so i can't email it to my professor. can you drive me down to campus so i can hand it in personally?" i beg my best friend, quickly opening my laptop to print my paper.

"drive yourself," trang groans, massaging her temples.

"my license has been suspended, remember?" i roll my eyes, my hands resting firmly on my hips.

"that's your own fault, try not to break the law so many times next time." trang laughs her typical hyena laugh.

"i'm going to piss on you," i threaten.

"michael," trang whines.

"i'm unzipping my pants now," i taunt, pretending to fumble with the buttons of my clothing.

"no! fine, i'll drive you. stop being such a nasty old shit." trang complains, stomping her foot and getting off the couch. "i'll be waiting in the car."

"okay," i reply, turning my head to glance at my printer which buzzes loudly.

i watch as the printer slowly and neatly prints out each individual line with jet black ink. it's mesmerizing almost. when it's done, i quickly yank the warm paper out and run out the door to meet trang who's sitting in the car as promised.

"you're a douche," she says sweetly as i frantically buckle myself in.

"right back at you," i grin, my voice equally as sugarcoated.

i'm not sure why we're best friends. it's probably because no one else likes us so we just have to settle for each other. or, it's just because we hate people in general which helps the two of us bond. nether less, the thought captivates my mind the whole hour long drive. along side that, i also think about luke. two days have passed and no form of communication happened between us. i only have two days left to tell him myself before trang exposes me.

"be quick," trang huffs as she parks outside the university.

"i'll try." i respond briefly.

she's pissed, i can tell. she hates driving me to university and every time i ask her to do so, it puts her in a bad mood. i recently started taking online courses so i don't have to drive the long distance every single day.

"sorry, excuse me! sorry," i mumble, apologizing dozens of times as i bump into random kids strolling around campus.

i desperately search for my english professor's office but considering that it's been two or three months since i've last walked the halls of the university, my directions are a little rusty. i do find the little office with his name tag on the outside of the door after a while of panicked running.

there are voices inside the room but they stop once my knocking interrupts them.

"open up," i hear my professor call out.

i push down the handle with my hand and bump the door with my hip to open up the door. my eyes are fixated on my paper as i re-read it for what feels like
the millionth time.

"hey, sorry professor hemmings. my printer broke so i came to hand my-"

"michael!" i hear a familiar voice call out, sounding genuinely surprised.