Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

| 16 |

Monday morning is hectic. First, Eloise wakes up after having slept a total of two hours with a new shiny red pimple in the middle of her forehead. Then, stepping into the bathroom, she goes to brush her teeth, only to discover that she's out of toothpaste. Eloise groans in annoyance before returning to her room, dressed in some loose gray sweatpants and a random t-shirt plucked from the ground. That's when she remembers; today is the start of finals week.

Eloise collapses onto her bed face-first into the pillow. Maybe if she doesn't move for a long time, the bed will absorb her and she won't have to take any finals.

But, alas, the mattress doesn't fulfill her wishes and she still has to get ready and go to school to take her finals.

Eloise only runs her fingers through her hair before throwing it up into a sloppy ponytail that's already starting to fall out as she slips out of her room and into the kitchen.

Her parents have already left for work, so it's just Eloise in the kitchen once again. The only traces of any other people living in the apartment are the distant aromas coming from the coffee maker and the cologne from her parent's bathroom. Her father tends to go overboard with the man perfume, and her mom is addicted to caffeine.

Eloise swipes some bread from the loaf and drops the slice into the toaster. She then grabs a package of M&M's because she desperately needs the sugar this morning.

Once her toast is done, she slabs some peanut butter on it and return to her room where Eloise finishes it off.

She tugs random socks on her feet without checking to see if they match before slipping on sneakers.

Eloise's walk to school is too short and, before she knows it, she's sitting in her first period class, tapping her pencil on the desk anxiously as the teacher passes out the final.

🕸

"I failed."

Eloise looks up from her lunch and smiles grimly at Lucy. "Same." She moves her bag from the seat next to her to on the floor. Lucy sits.

"No," Lucy pouts. "I mean, I actually failed. F. Zero percent. I didn't know any of the questions." Her hands move dramatically as she talks.

Eloise sighs. She hates it when Lucy gets her hopes up, especially after trying so hard, only to be disappointed in the end. It seems like everything she does is like this; her relationships, her school work, her jobs.

Lucy twirls the strands of hair that didn't pull back with the rest of Eloise's hair into her ponytail.

"I'm going to be a nobody."

Eloise frowns at her. "No you're not. Don't say that."

Lucy lets go of Eloise's hair and buries her head in her arms on the table. "I'm so done with school."

"Same here," Cliff says as he takes his seat across from Eloise. "Got a zero. The teach caught someone cheating off of me and automatically failed us. It ain't fair, I didn't even know."

"That really sucks, Cliff," Eloise sympathizes with a prominent frown. "What teacher was that?"

"Lawson."

"Ah," She says, understanding. Eloise had him last year; he's a very strict man who seems to have it out for everyone personally.

Elena and Alev walk over and sit down, too. They both look as drained and lifeless as the rest of the group already seated at their lunch table.

"And this is only the beginning of this week," Elena murmurs as she dunks her chicken nugget into ketchup. "I don't know if I can take this."

Everyone agrees in unison, "Same."