Snippet #1653203

Stephen was on a roll this morning. Had he been up the previous night as he planned to do before, there would have been a conflict of interest. On the one hand, it would have been a great time over at the club. But on the other hand, it would have been his last night at the club because he would then have failed his math course and promptly flunked right out of college and all the way back to the 'burbs, where a great future as either a patty-flipper or lawn-care specialist would have awaited him. So he'd turned down the offered prize of a night at the club and instead gone out to study his maths all night.

It didn't seem to have paid off.

Stephen beat a hasty path across the quad to his first class, arriving just behind Serena. He eased himself into the seat next to her, put on a concerned face, and intoned, "You look like hell. Rough night?"

Not that Stephen looked much better. He had purple bags under both eyes so deep and dark they may as well have been black eyes, his hair was unkempt, his t-shirt wrinkly and his hat was on too far back on his head, and he hadn't even bothered to correct it yet. He chuckled. "We're so fucked," he said to himself, turning back towards his desk and smiling a demented smile for no real reason other than it was what his brain put on there.