Morning hit hard and fast.
The alarm as usual buzzed at 4:00am. It was sharp enough to cut through sleep.
I sat up on my bed before I was fully awake, rubbing my face. Tessa was already swinging her legs off the bed, muttering about getting coffee. Beatrice moved slower, folding her blanket before standing up, humming a song quietly.
"Morning, Tess. Morning, Beatrice," I said quietly, still rubbing my eyes.
Tessa waved and swung her leg in my direction. "Morning, Mara."
"Morning to both of you," Beatrice said amidst yawning.
"Thank you for yesterday," I said, picking up my blanket to fold.
Beatrice smiled. "I'm glad I could help."
Tessa smiled too and nodded. We fell into the routine without talking much more.
We took our bath, combed and tied our hair, put our uniforms on
