Christian

The morning alarm rang shrilly, but you simply brushed it aside and fell asleep again. When your eyes finally fluttered open, your gaze fell on the clock face—and everything inside you went cold. You'd overslept.

A chaotic, frantic race against time began. There was no talk of a calm beauty routine or neat hairdo: you yanked clothes off hangers on the fly, barely fitting them into sleeves, buttoned them haphazardly, and threw on the first thing that came to hand. After quickly running a comb through your hair, you rushed out of the apartment, not even checking yourself in the mirror before leaving.

Out of breath, your heart pounding, you sprinted to the bus stop at the last second and jumped into the closing doors of the right bus. You fidgeted nervously the entire way, anxiously wondering how disastrous you'd look after such a mad rush.

Finally, the bus pulled up outside the school. Rushing into the lobby, you immediately rushed to the large mirror in the hallway to assess the extent of the disaster and somehow tidy yourself up. You stood before your reflection, fussily adjusting your tousled hair and sagging collar.

At that moment, a loud laugh rang out in the hallway—a noisy group of high school students strolled past, leisurely heading to their classrooms. You hunched over, hoping to go unnoticed, but suddenly one of the boys slowed. Turning his head, he gave you a searching look, smiled, and said loudly, with a slight jab, across the hallway:

• Don't worry, beauty, you're as usual!

@Vasper_bots (author's tgk)