Hades II

ending the day

Stella

I went to work Monday morning with a bagful of corrected assignments and tests.

The first classroom. I put down the papers on my desk as the students filed in.

They sat down, ominously quiet.

"I'm not too happy with your assignments," I warned. "No A's."

"What!" a guy exclaimed.

"So, I make these assignments based on the chapter we've covered in our book, right?"

They nodded.

"Okay, then why did none of you, except two people, bother to look in their books?" The girl who'd asked had done it, I was sure.

No one answered.

"So, we'll wrap up this mini chapter we've dealt with to recap calculation rules, and you will receive a new assignment. Please, use the book!"

No one said a word as I passed the assignments around. One person was missing, and the assignment read Julius. I noted it down and finished that chapter on calculation rules, before we moved on.

All classes that day went like that, because no one had looked in their books.

"I was gone for four months, not four years!" I said, exasperated, to the last class. I rolled my shoulders back. "So listen, use the book, please!"

I handed out the corrected assignments and ran a test, before I went over some stuff that should've been known to them, but which none of them had understood.

I went home and reheated some leftovers for dinner. The flat was quiet.

I did my exercises, before I went through new material. Just to be prepared.

I texted Hector, and he popped by and watched a single episode of Hercules with me. Just, it was fun.

We hugged, before he left.

I shut the door and didn't have time to move, before Taylor and Adam could be heard on the stairs.

I opened the door for them.

"I love, seriously, love, that you're seeing Hector!" Taylor said.

"He was smiling," Adam informed me. "Sleep tight, Stells."

"Sleep tight." I muttered and locked the door after them.