When In Doubt, Pick B

It wasn’t until hours later that Nora got home. Studying had long gone out the window in favor of watching this strange movie about a woman who had to dress as a man to be a friend’s wingman – only to end up catching the eye of the women he’d been trying to hit on.

It was a strange film and it made Nora wonder why it was in Sylvia’s ‘Recently Played’ queue on her streaming app. Or why she had favorited it.

Nora finished brushing her teeth and started getting under the bed covers, being sure to flip her alarm clock to ‘on’.

“What sort of device be this?” Sheamus picked up the clock, curious. “And why’s it flashing six in the mornin’?”

“It’s a wakeup alarm and I need to wake up early,” Nora sighed. “I have to pass tomorrow’s test, no matter what. I’ll cram when I get up and keep cramming until I get to class.”

Sheamus’s head bobbed around as he continued to look the clock over. “And how’s that worked out for ye in the past?”

“It uh, it hasn’t. But it will this time! Especially with you making sure of it.”

The clock bobbled around in Sheamus’s hands in a panic. “Ye daft bitch! I don’t know the first thing about yer government!”

“La la la can’t hear you going to bed….” Nora pulled a comforter over her head and turned off a nearby lamp.

Sheamus continued to stare at the alarm clock, then back to Nora. He didn’t know a lick of anything about her classes, but he did know the definition of insanity.

----

Nora wasn’t woken up by the sound of her alarm clock, but by her phone going off.

She fumbled around, pulling it close to her face. Why was Sylvia calling her? And why –

No. No. No.

It was seven-fifteen?!

She finally answered in a panic. “Sylvia! Oh god, I slept in.”

“I was worried about that. You must’ve forgotten to set your alarm again.”

That was impossible. She’d done it. She remembered doing it. Nora flipped the alarm clock around – and saw it had been switched to ‘off’.

“I’ll be at your place in a few minutes. We’ve got to get going the second I get there if you’re not going to be late.”

Nora thanked Sylvia for the wake-up check, hung up, and promptly started to throttle the little shit who’d been fumbling around with her clock last night. “You – fucking – asshole! Now I’ve got no time to study!”

“Ack! Calm the – feck – down!”

She had no time for this. Nora made a mad dash into the bathroom for the world’s fastest shower, in and out in three minutes time before scrambling to put something half-decent on for school.

“And as for you,” Nora growled as she was getting dressed… “Get over here.”

She pulled out a roll of duct tape and lunged at Sheamus.

----

Nora scrambled out of the front door, pulling down a tank top over her bra and holding a piece of toast by her own teeth.

It was giving Sylvia quite the show, who was wearing a t-shirt and a skirt for once. “N-Nora, are you okay?”

“Better now. Let’s mosey!” Nora grabbed Sylvia by the hand and started in a mad dash, dragging her along and not seeing the blissful blush on her face.

Nora had been in so much of a rush to get out to school that she didn’t notice that she’d failed to completely close the front door – letting a fresh breeze into the house.

Said breeze gently brushed against the stony form of Sheamus, who had a familiar talisman taped onto his forehead. The wind continued to blow into the house and slowly opened a closet door until it smacked into the statue, knocking it down.

The statue fell in such a way that the talisman clipped an end table and separated the layers of duct tape from the stony Sheamus’s brow.

Sheamus ripped what was left of the tape off, having to move to the kitchen to get scissors to separate the bits stuck to his hair.

“This woman just doesn’t get the hint, does she?”

-----

Nora’s rush to get to school kept getting worse.

The second she stepped onto the curb in front of school, she rolled her ankle. Sylvia had to help her make her way to the nurse’s office to put some ice on it and let it rest. Which meant she missed the opening bell and all of first period.

It was halfway through second period before the nurse would let her hobble down the halls to her US Government class with a nurse’s note.

Mister Owens was her teacher and not pleased at her late arrival. Years of service as a Marine drill sergeant had given him a low tolerance for bullshit. You could still tell he was a jarhead at heart, thanks to the high and tight haircut he’d kept and the impeccably pressed shirts he always wore.

He accepted the nurse’s note with a grunt and gestured for Nora to take a seat – most of the class had already finished their tests and were entertaining themselves.

No one around meant that Nora could feel everyone’s eyes on her as she looked through the test pages, number two pencil twirling in hand and scantron sheet staring her in the face.

Nora’s eyes darted to the clock hanging on the wall. Her stomach dropped when she saw there were ten minutes left. There was no time to double-check her work. Only enough time to read the question and make a snap judgement.

It was ten questions in when she had to stop and check something. She’d filled in the bubble for ‘B’ ten times in a row. That couldn’t be right.

Five minutes left. No time to question it. Time to start filling in bubbles.

Two minutes. Her name was spelled right on the sheet, right? Oh god, she was the last one still working.

One minute. Get up and move to hand it in.

Mister Owens watched her put her sheet down with the others just as the bell to dismiss class went off. “Class dismissed. Miss O’Donnell.” He gestured for her to approach. “I want you back here first thing after school. We need to talk.”

-----

Nora was stiff as a board the rest of the day. She knew she’d bombed the test. She knew she’d just screwed up her life. And all because she couldn’t remember which fucking Amendment banned soldiers from being quartered in a person’s home.

When she came back to Mister Owens’ classroom, he was already seated at his desk. “Miss O’Donnell.” He waved around a familiar looking scantron at her. “I’ve been tracking your grades this quarter. Been meaning to have this conversation one way or another, so don’t take this the wrong way.”

This was it. She was a dead woman.

Mister Owens held up the scantron in front of her, with a ‘100’ written in red ink and circled in the same. “Where’d you pull this out of?”