Caffeine

It didn't take Lucy long to hear of Jess' new lover. It seemed to be all the town could talk about. Her luck seemed to be running lower by the day. Her nightmares kept coming back every other night, usually repeating ones. She didn't want to go to Luke for them. Poor guy needed a full night's sleep.

So decidedly she only goes over when it's a really bad one. The rest were spent being contemplated in her room all night until it was time to get to school. This system did negative wonders for her test scores. She'd figure out how to deal with it later. She sighed almost falling asleep on the way to her locker. She opened it and put her books away.

"Lucy." she heard. She looked to see one of her partners in history, Julie. "Hey." Lucy replied. Julie looked at her with raised brows, "Is that your explanation for missing the project we were going to work on after school yesterday?" she crossed her arms.

Lucy face-palmed herself. She completely forgot, "Sorry, Julie, that totally slipped my mind," she rubbed her forehead. Julie frowned, "You don't look so good, Lucy, have you been getting any sleep?" she asked. Lucy nodded; lying, "Of course, it's just, slow in the day." she tried to excuse herself.

"Well, then, here." she saw Julie fishing in her backpack for something before pulling out an orange container of pills from her front pocket. She handed them to her.

"What's this?" she asked softly; reading through the label. "Caffeine pills," Julie explained, "My mom bought me these because last year I would pull a lot of all-nighters for school. But since I'm a senior, I don't have as many classes to deal with. You can have them if you want, I would just be throwing them down the drain if you didn't."

Lucy looked at her before back down at the pills, "Yeah, I'll just keep them on me, if that's okay." she said. Julie nodded, "Of course." she smiled before adding, "Afterschool tomorrow. We'll work on the rest of that project okay?" she waved before leaving. Lucy nodded before opening up the bottle. She looked at the label once more.

Daily Dose: 1-2

Okay, she thought, just one to two a day. She took two out of the orange container and swallowed them. She close the cap shut before shoving the pills in her bag.

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Jess snuck in the back door of the classroom and quickly tiptoed to his seat. He sat in his seat going unnoticed before pulling out his novel of the week in his hands.

No pen, he cursed not finding one in his back pocket. He sighed; looking around before finding Lucy in front of him. He leaned over to ask for a pen but stopped when he noticed her shaking a little as well as her foot was bouncing repeatedly on the floor.

"Lucy."

She jumped in her seat a little and turned around to him. Jess was startled himself by the reaction. "Woe Tigger, might want to stay sitting in your seat there, if possible." he said sarcastically. She cleared her throat quickly, "I can't be distracted." she said before whipping her head back to facing front. Jess frowned. Lucy looked back at Jess quickly; whispering, "And besides, Tigger was a representation of ADHD, so no. He can't sit still." she looked back forwards.

Jess looked at her as if she were crazy, convinced she could be. "Class we're going to do a group reading exercise, if you could partner with one of the people around you, read the prompt and answer the questions." the teacher announced. Jess immediately grabbed his bag and placed it in front of Lucy's desk before making his way over and sitting down. Lucy sat there, slightly shaking like a chihuahua and fidgeting with her thumbs.

"Lucy, have you been getting any sleep?" he asked; thinking this might be a possibility.

"Nope." she replied innocently; picking up her pen and trying to right her name on the paper to start the assignment. It came out unsteady, making her handwriting illegible. Jess noticed this all and looked at her carefully. "Could we just work on the math homework?" she asked.

Jess blinked, "It's English." he looked at her.

Lucy looked up as if being caught. She waved her hand erratically, "Right, right, that's what I meant, I was just kidding." she shrugged it off, "No pulling the wool over your eyes." she muttered; scribbling on the paper.

Jess took her pen from her, "Lucy. What the hell is going on." he kept his tone low; not wanting to draw any attention. "Nothing, let's just work on the project please." she said getting more disoriented. She leaned her head on her hand and looked at her paper.

"..Are you taking drugs?" Jess said; his voice lower.

"God, Jess." she whined and looked at him, "No. Just. Give me my pen back." she grabbed it back from him, "Besides, you smoke. So--so you can't talk."

"How long have you been awake, Lucy."

"Stop interrogating me!" she snapped.

Everyone turned to look at her. She paused before looking down. She quickly grabbed her bag and hurried out of the classroom. Jess looked down at his feet avoiding the stares himself.

Then something caught his eye. He saw on the ground by his feet a purple backpack. Not his, but Lucy's. His eyes widened; picking it up quickly. He ran out of the class and looked around for her not seeing her down the north and south parts of the hallway.

He looked down at the backpack with a curiosity stabbing at him. He sighed; his lack of judgment getting the better of him as he dug in her bag and finding exactly what he assumed was there. Caffeine pills.

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