𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝙔𝙀𝙍'𝙎 𝙒𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙎

"Wake Me Up" by Avicii starts blasting from Kya's phone on her nightstand, and she immediately jolts awake. Kya grabs her phone, barely awake, and turns off the alarm, "Here we go again," she says. It was a Monday, which meant Kya had to get through an entire long week of this thing she called life. She had business class first that morning, and the teacher was not kind to people who were late, so she got up to get ready for the day and whatever it might bring. Kya didn't like bringing attention to herself, so she usually wore sweatpants and a hoodie with sneakers almost every day, which, as a plus-size girl, made her feel somewhat comfortable. She knew that living on campus meant she wouldn't have much time to do her hair, so she opted for braids, but, of course, she still kept it simple; no color. She put her hair up, and she was out the door, thanks to her alarm; she did have time to eat breakfast from the dining hall, but, like most days, didn't bother to get any and headed straight to class. When she got to class, it was practically a ghost town, so she sat in her usual spot, at the back of the class, and listened to music as she waited for the clock to hit eight. Even though she was listening to music, she heard the bell ring for class to start and watched as her classmates spilled into the class one by one. The teacher walked in, and Kya put away her phone and headphones and took out her books. Kya's teacher, Mr. Fern, was talking about a new assignment that had to be done in pairs. As you might imagine, Kya wasn't very thrilled about this, but she knew she had to do it to pass, so she prayed she got a partner who was easy to work with. Mr. Fern started naming the pairs, and Kya anxiously waited to see who her partner was. Just then, as if the universe was mocking her, Mr. Fern said she was paired with Cassian Baruso, and Kya was stuck and in disbelief; it was just her luck that she got the most difficult person to work with. She looked around for him, but he wasn't in class. "Typical." As she sat there, wondering what she had done to be punished like this, she accepted that it had to be done. The teacher gave out the details of the assignment, and she wrote them down. As the class was coming to an end, in walked Playboy Cassius. When he entered the class, the teacher didn't even bother saying anything to him about being late, because this was the norm. He simply said, "Find your partner, Mr. Baruso, and get to work if you want to pass this class." The bell rang, and the students rushed out, and I got up and walked towards Cassius, "I'm your partner." Cassius looks at me, confused and then smug. "Why are you telling me this? I'm not doing whatever that is," Kya takes a deep breath in and smiles falsely, "You are doing this assignment because, unlike you, I don't depend on my parents' money, and I need to make a future for myself, so I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, I'm your partner!" Cassius is taken aback; no one ever talks to him like this, and to him, though he would never admit it, it was refreshing, "Okay, I'll do the stupid assignment, calm down. "Thank you, now meet me in the library this evening, and please don't be late." Kya gathers her things and walks out of the classroom to her next class.