Katie pumped one fist in the air, dropping the last exam booklet onto the 'done' pile. She saved the spreadsheet where she'd been recording the students' grades, and emailed it to the professor she TA-ed for, with a note that she'd drop off the exams in the morning. The timing would be a bit tight – she still hadn't packed, and she needed to at least round up the trash before leaving for the airport – but right now, she didn't care. She was definitely, definitely, done.
Instead of shutting down the laptop, she scrolled quickly through her music files. Let the Christmas holiday begin, she thought. Finding what she was looking for, she turned the volume up as high as it would go and clicked on the song she wanted. As the first notes sounded, she leapt to her feet and danced a little jig across the floor, singing along.
It was only when she heard the aggressive pounding on her floor – her neighbour's ceiling – that she thought to look at the clock. She lunged at the computer, banging her shin painfully on the corner of the coffee table in her frantic attempt to shut off the music.
Even if it is the perfect 'the grading is finished and I'm going home!' song, 3:07 a.m. probably isn't the best time to be blaring the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, she thought sheepishly.
