Defeated By An Oxford Dictionary (Open)

[Deleted]

What was this curious scene that so few got to witness? Why, it was a Mr. Oriel Vanguard huddled over his desk with a giant text before him, struggling to cram before he failed all his end-of-the-year exams. Somehow, school had actually become important to him. No, it was always important to him, he just always struggled with it and often gave up before he got anywhere. Then he figured out how to do the bare minimum to pass the classes that gave him the most trouble. Primarily English and History. He was behind on those and was going to have to stay at Hammel another year to complete those credits. He didn't like it, but...on the plus side, it gave him an extra year of security. He could stay on campus and live here while he worked during his days and continued to save up more and more money.

The depressing part was that he would still be living here, where he was almost always under the watchful eye of the school officials to make sure he didn't do anything fucked up again. Right, he wouldn't...but then again, if he did or was about to, at least they were there to stop him. He gleaned some small comfort from that...not much though.

But! The primary reason why Oriel was buckling down on the books was...well, he'd been toying with the idea of college for the past several months, ever since AJ planted that seed in his head, and...well, he was thinking he might just give it a go. He had no idea how he was going to do it at this late stage, and he was 99% sure he was going to fail the ACT/SATs or whatever they were, but he was going to try anyway, goddammit!

Lookie! Progress! Give the boy a cookie!

But....just because he had the drive didn't mean that any of this was any easier than it was before. Doing the bare minimum was hard enough, but...actually trying....

Oriel stared at the wall of text from his textbook. His eyes were starting to cross. None of it made any sense. He grabbed a sheet of white paper and folded it and placed it over the page, covering the portions he hadn't read yet and using it as a sort of guide. Yes, Oriel lost his place very easily, but he was always too stubborn about doing such a stupid thing just to make things easier on himself. It made his stomach twist with anxiety.

Ten minutes passed, and that twist had twisted into a knot. Fifteen minutes, and it was a tangled ball of twine. Twenty minutes later, and Oriel was about ready to rip that baby straight from his stomach...and his hair...and every other place on him that seemed to tense up to the point where he was about to rip out his arms and throw something.

No, scratch that, Oriel did throw something. The textbook itself. Straight out his open window.

Hopefully it didn't hit anyone.

[Adrien Connelly]

Of course it had to be one of the most sunniest days of the week. Of course he had to have forgotten his hoodie in his dorm and now has nothing to shield himself from the beating of the sun. Of course he felt exhausted now. Of. Fucking. Course. Why does Lady Luck hold such a grudge on him today? What did he even do? Kicked a puppy? Killed a baby? Litter?

Adrien winced as the cloud he's been walking under suddenly spread into tiny ones, making it impossible for him to hide from the direct sunlight. Dammit, of course he picked today to go outside. It would be cloudy, they said. Don't worry, they said. It's going to rain, they said.

That's the last time he's listening to his friends.

Adrien shielded his eyes using his hand, in hopes it'll lessen the blow. Nope, still sunny and still hot. Why couldn't it have actually rained though? Just a couple of clouds shielding the sunrays is enough for him. You don't even need to drop a single  

"Holy sh-" A book the size of a large pumpkin suddenly smacked Adrien right in the head, making him even dizzier than he previously was. He rubbed his forehead and grimaced at the sharp sting he felt. He looked at the offending book that dropped on him and realized that it was a textbook, but that fact still didn't make him any less pissed. Adrien looked up at an opened window, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted. "Hey! What's the big idea?! You trying to kill someone with that thing or something?"

[Deleted]

It took a total of three seconds for Oriel to regain his sanity and realize what he’d just done. Not just that he’d thrown his textbook out the window and potentially hit some poor bystander walking beneath his window…but the fact that he’d thrown his textbook out the window and he still needed that thing to study!! Priorities man, he didn’t give two fucks about people….okay, that was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that.

Oriel creeped to the window after the book and looked down just as a voice started to holler up at him. O-shit, it did hit someone. Well….guess that was another detention for him, if this kid decided to rat him out…or if anyone else happened to see and turn him in. Because hitting someone in the head with a textbook might land under the offense of assault with a deadly weapon, but Oriel would have to recheck the statutes for that. He probably wouldn’t end up in jail for this, just a week of gardening with Dr. Neville…right?

Or maybe nothing…if he apologized? Bah, there was a time in his life(less than a year ago, in fact) that Oriel would have balked at the idea of apologizing and given the finger instead. It still felt awkward for him, but…yeah…whatever, it was just a fucking word and if it made some people feel less like killing you, then he’d say it all they wanted. To a point, he wasn’t in the business of begging for forgiveness after all. Oriel definitely had more pride than that.

The long-haired senior cleared his throat and waved his hand at the victim. “Uh…sorry…?” How insincere could you get? A lot apparently. “Nah, if I wanted to kill you, I’d drop something a lot heavier than a book. Like a goddamn piano, or something.” Oriel snorted and leaned a little further out the 2nd story window. “….your head alright, or you need some emergency services?” May as well ask. Oriel was trying to be nice here.