"Your papers will be due at the end of the month and they're worth 30% of your grade." A loud chiming indicated the end of class. "I want outlines by Monday!" The teacher yelled over the sound of students shuffling out of the classroom, eager to begin their weekend.
Haruka groaned and slouched in her seat. She heard a giggle next to her and looked up frowning at the aqua haired girl standing next to her.
"It's not funny!" Haruka whined, gathering her books and standing up. "30% is way too much."
"Oh Haruka you only say that because you hate Modern Japanese." Michiru followed the blonde out of the class to their lockers.
"I don't understand how you don't? It's so boring!" the blonde gripped closing her locker and throwing her book bag over her shoulder. She watched Michiru do the same and fell in line with her as they walked out, towards Haruka's car.
"I don't think it's overly riveting Haruka, but we need it in order to graduate." She noted pointedly at the blonde, giving her a severe look. "And you are toeing the line of passing. You need to do well on this paper to pass. Besides the teacher was very generous, giving us almost a month to complete it."
"Ugh that just means more time to freak out over it." Haruka started the car and began driving in the direction of her apartment.
"Haruka where are we going?" Michiru asked in an overly sweet voice, causing the blonde to eye her suspiciously?
"Umm to my place. Like we do every Friday. I figured we could rent a movie tonight, or do other things…" She trailed off while placing a hand on Michiru's thigh. She frowned when the other girl removed her hand and dropped it back into her own lap.
"Tenoh Haruka, you need to work on your paper." Michiru stated in a matter of fact tone. "You're too busy during the week with track and racing so you'll need to start your paper now. You my love don't have time for other things."
"Michiru come on! We have soooo much time. I promise I will get it done."
"I know you Haruka. You'll procrastinate and leave it to the last minute and then it'll be sloppily prepared and then you're going to fail modern Japanese and get left behind a year. I for one don't want to be alone in all my classes next year."
"Ok ok." Haruka conceded. She knew Michiru was right. If anyone could procrastinate it was Haruka. She just had a knack for it. She could tell though that Michiru was serious and was only looking out for her best interest. Still she had no intent on starting that paper tonight. "Look let's make a deal." Haruka saw an aqua eyebrow go up from the corner of her eye. She took this as a sign that Michiru was listening. "We continue with our plans tonight, whatever they may be, and I will start the paper tomorrow. I need to finish the outline by Monday so I need to right?" She could hear the voices fighting in Michiru's head as she waited.
"Ok fine, but if you mess up this paper Haruka you will be in big trouble. I mean it." She crossed her arms in front of her in an effort to show the racer how serious she was. Haruka chuckled and nodded her head, continuing the drive to her apartment.
MONDAY
"Well?" Michiru leaned against the locker next to Haruka's, eyeing the blonde expectantly. She smiled when the blonde held up a paper triumphantly.
"I told you I'd get it done." She couldn't help but feel a little cocky. She had proved herself right. Michiru worried too much.
"You did." She kissed the blonde on the cheek and turned on her heels to head to class. "But that's just one small victory Tenoh Haruka." She called over her shoulder. Haruka laughed and ran to catch up to her girlfriend.
TWO WEEKS BEFORE DEADLINE: FRIDAY
Haruka rocked back and forth in her desk chair, idly spinning it in circles. The living room whipped around her leaving her slightly dizzy when she finally came to a stop. She centred herself at her desk and gave a determined look to her laptop. Cracking her knuckles, and flexing her fingers she then turned on the device.
"Ok! Time to get some work done on this stupid paper." She opened word and a new document and stared at the blinking cursor. "Yup, just going to bang this out and then Michiru won't have any excuse not to hang out with me." The blonde continued staring. "Yup, just going to get this over with." She tapped her fingers on the desk. "OK well maybe I'll just play a game first, relax a little then I can really get started." Haruka nodded to herself in agreement with her plan and relocated to the couch, grabbing her ps4 controller.
"Fuck!" Haruka cursed as her character was once again killed. She sighed and turned off the game looking at her watch. "Shit!" She muttered realising it was almost one in the morning. "I should get some sleep before my race tomorrow." She eyed her laptop as she moved towards her bedroom. "Tomorrow night I'll get started."
ONE WEEK BEFORE DEADLINE
Haruka and Michiru were sitting under a tree in the courtyard of the school enjoying a particularly fine spring afternoon. Haruka was lying on her back, eyes closed, close to drifting off, while Michiru sat beside her reading a book. As she finished the last page of her novel, she closed it and turned to the blonde softly snoring beside her. She smiled devilishly and poked the ribs of her companion.
Haruka woke with a start, throwing her hand over her injured side. "Ow Michi! What the hell was that for?" The aqua haired girl laughed behind her hand.
"Sorry you were just too good of a target to pass up." She smiled and then soothingly ran her hand through Haruka's blonde locks, calming the agitated woman. Haruka grunted before lying back down, this time her head in Michiru's lap. "So, how's the paper coming?" One green eye opened, looking up into blue ones.
"Great." Haruka replied, closing her eyes and hoping she could get away with that one word. She could not.
"Great hmm? So I assume you're almost finished? You should send it to me so I can proof read it for you." Haruka sat up at this.
"Oh no really, you don't have to Michi. That's almost cheating, really." She laughed, but from the skeptical look she received, she could tell Michiru was not buying it.
"Haruka…"
"It's 50% done I swear!" Haruka hated lying to Michiru, but there was no way around it this time. She would be in deep trouble if the violinist had any idea she still hadn't written a single word. Every time she sat down to write something she would get distracted. She was sure though that she would get it done in time. She was always better under pressure.
"Ok Haruka. I trust you. Come on, we should head back to class." Haruka said a prayer under her breath and vowed to start that paper that night.
NIGHT BEFORE DEADLINE
"There!" Haruka announced with a flourish of her hands. "That looks pretty good to me!" She stared at the screen which only revealed a title. A title which of course looked amazing thanks to the many fonts Haruka had cycled through trying to find the right one, but that was all. The rest of the page was blank. The blondes head fell with a smack onto the desk. "I am so screwed!" She muttered into the white surface. Lifting her head she brushed away the paper stuck to her forehead and took a deep breath.
"Ok Tenoh you can do this. It's just a stupid paper. There's a lot riding on this so don't screw it up." With determination she started writing, her fingers flying over the keyboard. After five minutes she let her hands fall beside her and stared at the screen which had line after line of expletives. "Yup. That about sums it up." Sighing again she looked at her watch. "Ok I'll go grab some food and then I'll finish.. er start this paper. I just can't concentrate when I'm hungry."
Haruka grabbed her keys and headed to the crown arcade and parlour. When she got there she ordered her food and was standing, waiting for it to be ready when a familiar voice called out to her.
"Haruka-san!" She turned to the side and saw Usagi and her friends, and to her surprise Michiru all seated at a table.
"Hey there!" Haruka greeted, walking over to them.
"Haruka-san what are you doing here? Michiru-san said you had practice tonight." The bubbly blonde asked.
"Oh yeah, that ended up getting canceled so I figured I would just go home and, um… put the final touches on my paper."
"Are you all done then?" Michiru asked.
"Yep! Completely. It's safely in my bag waiting to be handed in tomorrow." She mentally cursed herself. "I figured I would treat myself with some dinner." As she said that she heard her order called and went to grab it, returning to her group of friends. "Well I guess I'll be off then."
"Nonsense Ruka, you've worked hard. Come sit down and eat your food and relax a little." Michiru pulled Haruka into a seat next to her.
"Yeah, ok. I can stay for a bit." Haruka nodded sitting down opening her food. Great job idiot now you're really screwed. You'll never get that paper done! Her mind screamed at her as she smiled and nodded at what her friends were saying.
When Haruka finally got home it was almost eleven. She had tried to leave of course, but Minako and Usagi insisted they play their favourite racing game and try to beat Haruka. They never did, but after so many attempts Ami had finally convinced everyone that it was getting late and they should really be heading home. Haruka said a mental thank you to Ami. She however could not allow Michiru to walk home alone, what kind of girlfriend would she be? So she had driven Michiru home they had chatted a bit, until Michiru had realized how late it had become. Now here Haruka was with only 9 hours until her paper was due, and she had nothing to show for it except a fancy script title.
"This is it. I won't let Michiru down!" Determination overcame the blonde and this time her typing yielded coherent sentences, remarkably about the intended subject.
Blurry eyes blinked and a tired smile formed on lips. "Done." Haruka whispered to herself, for no reason other than it was now 4:37 in the morning. She hit print and heard the printer come to life. "I can still catch a bit of sleep." The blonde mumbled, tiredly stumbling to her bedroom. Once there she collapsed face first onto the bed and was out in seconds.
"Ruka… Ruka wake up." Haruka grunted and turned over. Michiru sighed at her girlfriends antics. She was trying to be nice in waking up Haruka, but sometimes that didn't always work. "Ruka wake up we're going to be late." She tried again, gently shaking a shoulder. "Alright then." Michiru grabbed one of the protruding feet and tugged yard, the body attached to the foot following and tumbling onto the floor.
"What? What happened? What's wrong?" Haruka sat up confused, rubbing her head that had bounced off the floor. "Michiru? What are…" Realisation hit Haruka like a ton of bricks. "Shit!" She hopped off the floor, gathering her uniform and running into the bathroom to get ready.
"When you didn't show up to pick me up this morning I tried calling but got no answer. I was worried and came over to make sure you were alright." Michiru explained taking a seat on the bed. "I used the spare key you gave me and well, here we are." Haruka burst out of the bathroom, toothbrush hanging from her mouth, grabbed her tie and retreated back into the bathroom.
"I am so sorry Michiru; I didn't sleep well last night." Haruka called over the sound of running water.
"That's ok love just hurry up or we'll be late." Michiru walked out of the bedroom to go wait by the door.
Minutes late Haruka ran out, bag in hand looking slightly less disheveled then she did falling out of the bed. She grabbed her car keys and motioned for Michiru that they could leave.
They arrived with no time to spare, the bell chiming as they sat down in their seats. Haruka breathed a sigh of relief, especially after speeding the entire way there and not getting pulled over.
"Alright class hand in your papers." Haruka grabbed her bag, looking inside and was horrified when she didn't find her paper.
"Oh no…" He mind flashed back to having not grabbed it off the printer last night, nor in her rush to leave this morning. She let her head fall in defeat on her desk.
"Looking for this?" Haruka looked up to Michiru and saw her paper with the fancy script in Michiru's hand, Michiru having grabbed it after noticing it on the printer as she walked by earlier.
"Oh my God you are a lifesaver Michiru!" Haruka grabbed her paper and took both hers and Michiru's up to the teacher's desk, smiling in triumph as she sat down.
"Safely in your bag is it?" Michiru asked in a knowing voice.
Haruka's eyes widened and her smile fell. Before she could say anything, class had started.