Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story are mine. I am left my little fantasies of what would happen to these characters.
Author's Note: Roxy's pretty weak in this one and is set around "Lost at C". Zelda did go out with Professor Arthur Carlin but Sabrina never got that A.
She skewed the eyes her eyes under the light of the dim lamp and groaned as she looked down at the pages of her spiral notebook. She then directed them back to the oversized textbook that lay beside her notes. Under her breath, she mumbled the black marks that were printed on the polished pages of the book, not comprehending a word of it. She pounded a few keys on the third item of the desk and erased, and typed, and erasing yet again. Her lids fell for a prolonged moment. They fluttered open again and she reread the notes, looking for the symbolism she was failing to grasp. She groaned, louder this second time, forgetting the conscientiousness she was practicing while trying not to wake her roommates. The silence surrounding her and the whirring of the fridge, had become a part of the ambiance, an adaptation that had taken her three English papers to get used to.
"Roxie?" She jumped at the unfamiliar sound of a muddled voice calling her name. Her head whipped around causing strands of her hair to sting the sides of her face. She breathed a sigh of relief when she eyed Miles approaching her from the shadow of his doorway. He yawned and contagiously, so did she. "What are you doing up?" His voice was slurred and grungy but she managed to make out what he said as he pulled up a chair by her side. She propped her head in a hand, her elbow supporting it. "Fin-trying to finish my paper." He looked down at the textbook and over to her notes and shook his head. "English?" He asked her doubtfully and watched as she nodded. "You can raise your grades in the other classes, Rox. There's no use in trying with him. We both told Sabrina that when she tried and without her aunt she bombed." She shifted her head from side to the side, looking at his illuminated features. "I know that Miles, but if I don't get at least a B on this paper I might not be having any other classes." He creased his temples at her. "What do you mean?" Her arm fell from the desk and she turned her body to him. "I mean exactly what I said. Because of him, I've had to pull up As in every other class all year. I can't do it anymore Miles and I don't have the money to be here. Right now I'm averaging a B minus with his D and I need at least a B plus on this paper or I'm out."
"Well, what about bowling or some other easy class?"
"I'm only allowed to have one and I appreciate you showing me how to bowl and all, but even with the current A+ I've been sporting in that class, English is dragging my ass in the dirt." She noted the sympathetic look he shot at her and turned away from him, directing her eyes down at the books in front of her. She exhaled deeply and propped her head in her hands, crooning loudly. She let her hands fall again and shook her head at the books. "This... makes no sense. This book and these words jut don't go together."
"Exactly. Did you think that there was no logic to Carlin's C averages?" She faced him, glaring so icily he looked away from her.
"Go to bed Roxie."
"Miles, was there some little show tune playing in your head while I was explaining my situation?"
"Go to bed Rox." She yawned, only continuing to prove his point. He sighed in defeat, rolled his eyes and walked to his room when she began tapping at the laptop keys, looking back and forth at the text and the notebook.
She tapped her fingers against her desk, casually biting the inside of her lip to hide her nervousness.
"So, how'd you think you did on the paper?" She turned to Sabrina who sat at the desk beside her.
"About as good as Carlin did interpreting Walt Whitman in class yesterday." Sabrina smiled to herself. "I don't think I'll ever forget the time when someone actually gave an opinion to Professor Carlin that didn't match the one he wrote in big letters on the board."
"Hence the reason I failed the paper and will be pulling in an infamous C this semester."
"Come one Roxie, I'm sure you didn't do all that bad." Sabrina piped with her usual optimism. Roxy was about to retort when Carlin announced that the papers were being passed down. She sat up from the slouching position and eyed her paper in the hand of the person in front of her. She took the pile and looked perplexed at her paper as she passed the rest back. There was a shriek of that usual bell and Carlin's words concerning homework were muffled over voices of relief and others of groans.
"What'd you get?" Sabrina looked over at Roxy who continued with her look of confusion. "Uh..." She was cut off at the sound of Carlin saying something slightly more articulate. "Ms. King, I'd like to speak to you."
Sabrina matched her confused look and Sabrina rose from her seat, while mouthing "I'll wait for you outside," before leaving. She slowly approached the coat rack with the tie, holding up her paper. "There's no grade on my paper." He turned his back to her and gathered the papers on his desk. "I know there's no grade on your paper." In a slightly distracted tone he asked her to help clean eraser the board. She eyed him oddly at took the eraser in hand, erasing the colossal blackboard. She heard his voice sound from behind her. "Oh, could you also wash it? I like to leave it clean at the end of the day." When she would normally shoot back something, she picked up the small bucket in the corner and hauled it to the bathroom, returning with a sodden sponge and a container filled to the top. She wrung out the absorbent woven material and took it to the dark background. In the midst of ruffling papers echoing through her ears, she slammed the wet sponge down on the rim of the board, whirling around to face him. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, cleaning chalkboards?" His eyes shifted, looking up at her calmly as he took another set of papers from his desk, placing them in his briefcase. He snapped the clasps closed and stood to his full height, walking around the desk towards the blackboard.
"I'm telling you now that you didn't do that terribly. This was a B minus paper and I'm aware of your situation so I was thinking that there might be a way to raise your grade." Her eyes brightened, and her ears perked up. She spoke, exhilarated, "I'm always up for extra credit. Whatever it is I'll do it. " He smiled a smile barely visible and placed a hand on her cheek. One that gave her chills she tried to suppress. Before he could let out a sound through his open mouth, with a fist, his hand was slapped off. She stepped back and glowered frigidly at him. "I'm not going to be your little love whore that makes you feel youthful again." His voice was filled with a firm anger, opposed to the calm tone he'd held originally. "For this paper, I'd only be giving you the B+. Don't want to raise suspicion after all." He noticed her remaining indifference. "It's too late in the game to drop my class Roxie. What are your intentions... to transfer? Hold out for another full scholarship? What are they going to say when you tell them why you left here? Do you really think they'll accept you after you tell them that you couldn't handle the work?" Her frigid glare had cowered slightly and she turned from him, took the backpack that sat beside her seat and stopped at the door when his voice toned again, with its calm disposition. "It's an easy A, Roxie. You need this. Don't pass this up." She began walking out the oak-framed door and turned the corner.
"Hey," she continued walking at the sound of the familiar voice. "Hey Miles."
"So Sabrina and I are still waiting for an answer." Three of them walked instep now as they made their way down the hall. She took a breath for a second and smiled almost reluctantly at them. "I got a B plus!"