Red Hot Love

Waking Up Is Hard

"Sunny."

"Mmmrph…"

"Sunny. It's time for you to go to class. Get up."

"Only if I get a morning kiss," Sunny murmured, puckering her lips. She felt the weight next to her move and Jem walked back to the beeping microwave to retrieve her breakfast. Sunny groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Late."

Sunny frowned. "Do I have time to put on makeup?"

"No." Carefully picking up the burrito, Jem lifted it to her mouth and took a bite.

Sunny pouted and rolled over. "Then in that case I'm skipping class."

Jem turned around. "You can't skip class."

"Oh yes I can. Teacher doesn't take attendance."

Jem frowned. "You should still attend the lecture. Does she post notes?"

"Yes." Sunny shifted slightly, her face still buried in the pillow.

Jem sighed. "With actual words, or just images without any captions?"

A few moments passed. A muffled groan escaped from the pillow, then Sunny kicked her leg and sat up, scowling. "Fine. They're just pictures without captions and if I miss a single class I'm screwed. Happy?"

Jem just looked at her for a few moments, then sighed and slowly walked over. "You won't learn if you don't attend lecture."

"Well sometimes I physically can't," Sunny snapped. "Not all of us can wake up early and just sit down and absorb information. Sometimes I just get a migraine instead, which also further prevents me from focusing for the rest of the day. So excuse me if I'm not in the mood to attend lecture sometimes."

Silence.

"I…I'm sorry," Sunny murmured. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that…"

"It's fine. I'm not mad."

Sunny frowned. "I can never tell with you. You're just like a robot."

"Oh, so you finally figured it out."

"Excuse me?"

For a moment, a hint of a smile played around the corners of Jem's mouth, and she sat down on the air mattress next to Sunny, leaning closer to her face. Sunny's heart began to beat uncomfortably faster in her chest. She wondered if Jem could feel her breath. As if she had read her mind, Jem began to speak in a low, quiet voice.

"So, is today one of those days?"

"Uh…" Sunny looked down, nervously tugging on a few stray hairs. "No…"

"Well then. Better get ready quickly, understood?"

Having said that, she stood up and threw away the burrito wrapper. Slowly, deliberately, she picked up her backpack and calmly walked out the room.

Sunny frowned and rubbed her arms, trying to extricate some last semblance of warmth.

"I hate it when she does that," she murmured, to nobody in particular.