amberness-13
Planetoid
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2019
Brooke raced across the dewy grass on the campus mall, her gasps for air misty clouds in the near-freezing weather. It was unseasonably cold for this time of year, but the change in the weather meant only one thing to Brooke: midterms. As a freshman in her first semester of college, she found that all of her classes were a breeze compared to the high school APs and college prep courses she had put herself through, and therefore decided by week four of university that college was a joke. It wasn't until she started her month-long Geophysics intensive the week after that she realized that she had grossly underestimated the level of college courses. Never mind that it was a senior level class; it would look good on Brooke's transcript once she graduated and began applying for graduate degrees.
The course posed another problem, apart from the fact that it was an impossible course to fit into four weeks, was that the book cost well over $300 dollars. Brooke was a scholarship student; after housing, food, and the occasional shopping trip to Target, she didn't have nearly enough money to buy one chapter of the book. Thankfully, the professor had left a copy in the library for reference. Unfortunately, almost every other student in that course was just as poor as she was, and so the fight for the textbook was on. Half of the class of forty would show up at the library as soon as it opened, and race to find the textbook, the victor getting to use it for the rest of the day. And, of course, copies weren't to be made of textbooks, the stingy librarians made sure of that. It was because of all of this that Brooke nearly slammed into the glass door of the library at 6:59am, completely winded. No one else was here, as far as she could see. Thank god! A weary librarian eyed her from the other side of the glass, most likely disturbed by her disheveled appearance. The oversized green sweatshirt with faded text on the front, her auburn hair, which had partially fallen out of her messy bun, yoga pants, and dirty sneakers didn't exactly scream 'rational, well-behaved student.'
"Let me in!" Brooke banged on the glass door with her fist, eyes wide and puffy from lack of sleep, "God damn it, you will not be the reason I go below a 4.0, you frumpy-" The door opened with a click, and the librarian glared at her from behind wire-rimmed glasses as she stepped inside the heated building. "Thanks for not leaving me out there to freeze, but would it kill you to open up a few minutes earlier? Now, tell me where that stupid text book is for Professor Macon's Geophysics course, or so help me-"
"Up the stairs, last stack on the left. And if you speak to me or any of my staff that way again, I'll see to it that you never get to use that book or any other book in this library again." The librarian spoke in barely a whisper. Her name tag red "Doris, Head Librarian." Whoops.
"Yeah, sure, won't happen again," Brooke mumbled as she hoisted her backpack higher up and made her way to the next floor, and down a seemingly endless hallway made of books. Not a soul was in the library, and soon, she'd have that stupid textbook to herself. An entire Saturday cooped up in the library with Geophysics wasn't exactly what she had envisioned college to be, but if it kept her on track for valedictorian, then so be it.
After walking for what seemed like ages, Brooke finally reached the last stack. Dusty books about rocks, gems, and the Earth lined the shelves, but as she searched the ceiling-high shelves for where the textbook should be, she found an empty hole. It should be right there! Annoyance didn't begin to encapsulate the feelings swirling in her stomach, this was so much darker than annoyed. Fury swept through her as she wildly searched the stacks around her, thinking that maybe some incompetent librarian had misplaced the damn thing. As she rounded the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. Someone was sitting at a long table, hood on their hoodie up, with her textbook laying open in front of them. What the fuck?! Who got here earlier than I did, and got to it before me? They weren't even open until two minutes ago! With rage in her eyes, she stomped over to the figure, and ripped of their hood.
"I'm sorry, but what gives you the fucking right to get this textbook before the library is even open?! Don't you know everyone in Professor Macon's stupid class is trying to get this book? You can't fucking cheat to get the fucking textbook to the stupid fucking dumb course, you need to wait for the stupid library to open, like everyone else!" Her face was a mixture of pure hatred and indignation, and her hair, falling more out of her bun, gave her a crazed look of a maniac.
The course posed another problem, apart from the fact that it was an impossible course to fit into four weeks, was that the book cost well over $300 dollars. Brooke was a scholarship student; after housing, food, and the occasional shopping trip to Target, she didn't have nearly enough money to buy one chapter of the book. Thankfully, the professor had left a copy in the library for reference. Unfortunately, almost every other student in that course was just as poor as she was, and so the fight for the textbook was on. Half of the class of forty would show up at the library as soon as it opened, and race to find the textbook, the victor getting to use it for the rest of the day. And, of course, copies weren't to be made of textbooks, the stingy librarians made sure of that. It was because of all of this that Brooke nearly slammed into the glass door of the library at 6:59am, completely winded. No one else was here, as far as she could see. Thank god! A weary librarian eyed her from the other side of the glass, most likely disturbed by her disheveled appearance. The oversized green sweatshirt with faded text on the front, her auburn hair, which had partially fallen out of her messy bun, yoga pants, and dirty sneakers didn't exactly scream 'rational, well-behaved student.'
"Let me in!" Brooke banged on the glass door with her fist, eyes wide and puffy from lack of sleep, "God damn it, you will not be the reason I go below a 4.0, you frumpy-" The door opened with a click, and the librarian glared at her from behind wire-rimmed glasses as she stepped inside the heated building. "Thanks for not leaving me out there to freeze, but would it kill you to open up a few minutes earlier? Now, tell me where that stupid text book is for Professor Macon's Geophysics course, or so help me-"
"Up the stairs, last stack on the left. And if you speak to me or any of my staff that way again, I'll see to it that you never get to use that book or any other book in this library again." The librarian spoke in barely a whisper. Her name tag red "Doris, Head Librarian." Whoops.
"Yeah, sure, won't happen again," Brooke mumbled as she hoisted her backpack higher up and made her way to the next floor, and down a seemingly endless hallway made of books. Not a soul was in the library, and soon, she'd have that stupid textbook to herself. An entire Saturday cooped up in the library with Geophysics wasn't exactly what she had envisioned college to be, but if it kept her on track for valedictorian, then so be it.
After walking for what seemed like ages, Brooke finally reached the last stack. Dusty books about rocks, gems, and the Earth lined the shelves, but as she searched the ceiling-high shelves for where the textbook should be, she found an empty hole. It should be right there! Annoyance didn't begin to encapsulate the feelings swirling in her stomach, this was so much darker than annoyed. Fury swept through her as she wildly searched the stacks around her, thinking that maybe some incompetent librarian had misplaced the damn thing. As she rounded the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. Someone was sitting at a long table, hood on their hoodie up, with her textbook laying open in front of them. What the fuck?! Who got here earlier than I did, and got to it before me? They weren't even open until two minutes ago! With rage in her eyes, she stomped over to the figure, and ripped of their hood.
"I'm sorry, but what gives you the fucking right to get this textbook before the library is even open?! Don't you know everyone in Professor Macon's stupid class is trying to get this book? You can't fucking cheat to get the fucking textbook to the stupid fucking dumb course, you need to wait for the stupid library to open, like everyone else!" Her face was a mixture of pure hatred and indignation, and her hair, falling more out of her bun, gave her a crazed look of a maniac.