Sunset stood alone in a long, empty hallway. Well, not alone, but she felt awkward enough to say she was alone.
Her second period teacher, Ms. Cherilee, stood in front of her, reprimanding her for getting a 37% on her latest assignment, The Importance of Time Management. Sunset awkwardly bowed her head, not really taking in what she was saying, but also listening for stops.
Ms. Cherilee stopped talking, and Sunset looked up. Sunset blinked.
Ms. Cherilee blinked.
Sunset blinked again.
Ms. Cherilee cleared her throat. "Do I make myself clear, Sunset?"
Sunset nodded.
Sunset plopped onto her bed, her body relaxed. After the embarrassment that occurred during the school day, she had been yearning to go home, and now she was. Finally, now I can do nothing. And she did do nothing.
Until her phone rang.
She picked it up and lazily accepted the call.
"What?" she asked flatly.
"Sunset? Are you alright?" Twilight said.
"Mhm."
"Alright, well, I saw the score you got on your essay."
Crap. "Oh, did you? Why?"
"Sunset, we both know that a 37 is completely non-acceptable."
"And what am I supposed to do about it? It's already done. And that's just one essay."
"No, it's not one essay. Whenever we get more than an afternoon for an assignment, you always leave it to the last minute! And you always get horrible grades."
"I never said I was smart."
"No, I know you are. You ace every test easily, and you always find good solutions to problems. The problem is your time management."
"My time management is fine!" Sunset frowned.
"No, Sunset, it's not. You need help."
"I don't need help! You need help! When do I ever need help?"
"Right now."
"No! I could manage my time just fine if I wanted to."
"Okay, then do Mr. Doodle's homework right now."
"But I don't have that class until Thursday!"
"It's Tuesday, Sunset. And I know for a fact you can't do it tomorrow, because we have band practice."
"I can do it after practice."
"No, because then you have to work on our science fair project with me. And I don't plan to stop doing that until around nine, and it would take you about twenty minutes to get home-"
"It would not take twenty minutes! It usually takes me ten minutes to get from your house to mine."
"It's gonna rain tomorrow."
"Fine, fifteen minutes."
"One: that's really dangerous. Two: not the point. The point being, that by the time you get home, you'd have to take an additional fifteen minutes to get ready to go to bed, and then it would be 9:40, and you'd have to go to sleep."
Sunset laughed. "You" -she snorted- "you really thing I go to bed anytime before midnight?"
A face-palm was heard from the other and of the line. "Look, just meet me at the cafe near your house. Do you have a planner?"
"No..."
"Alright. Be prepared to bring one home, then. Also, bring any homework you've gotten assigned this week. Even big projects. I'll see you at three-thirty?"
"Sure."
And the call ended.
Sunset stood outside the local cafe, her backpack on her back. Like it's supposed to be.
She grabbed her phone from her pocket. 3:29. She's late. The time on her phone switched to 3:30. Sunset tapped her foot impatiently.
"Boo!"
Sunset yelped, turning around in alert. "Oh... hey Twi."
Twilight smiled. "Hi."
Sunset and Twilight went inside the cafe, then sat at a booth. "Why are we here again?" Sunset asked.
Twilight took out a white notebook. Or, at least, that's what it looked like to Sunset, although the notebook had the words 'Daily Planner' on the cover. So...
Twilight took out a white planner. "I'm going to teach you to manage your time properly."
Sunset rolled her eyes.
Twilight rolled her eyes back, although she did it with less boredom on her face.
"What's the point?" Sunset said. "I don't see why someone would need to plan their whole life out. Eventually, they would get bored with following the same routine every day and break away from it for a little while, but then never actually come back to it, causing less and less time to enjoy their lives because they're always doing something meaningless to put off doing something important, and when they're not doing that they're actually doing the thing they need to do but at the point they're done they have to do something else and never have time for themselves. Which causes them to be mad at everyone all the time, to the point that the littlest, stupidest thing someone does sends them spiraling into a fit of rage, which eventually leads to them hating themselves." Sunset's breaths were heavy, and her head was low.
Twilight stared blankly. "Are you okay, Sunset?"
Sunset grimaced. "Sorry."
Twilight frowned. She scooted closer to Sunset, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's fine."
Sunset let out a breath.
Twilight pulled the planner towards her. "We're gonna make sure that doesn't happen," she assured.
Sunset smiled. "I know."
Twilight took out a pen, and began writing in the planner. "All right, we're gonna start with homework due tomorrow. What classes do you have on Wednesdays?"
"Geography and Chem."
"Who do you have for geography?"
"I'm not sure."
"Oh boy."
"And tell me if you need help keeping up with the schedule, alright?"
Sunset nodded. "See you tomorrow, Twi."
She mounted her bike and rode off into the distance. Towards her apartment, but still not in visible from the cafe.
Getting home, Sunset felt different then any other time she arrived at the place. Instead of wanting to go lay down, she felt like pushing herself to finish all her work.
She was hungry, though.
Sunset fixed herself a cup of Ramen Noodles, ate it, then sat at her desk.
Pulling out the planner, she looked over her to-do list for the afternoon. Studying it, she realized that it seemed quite easy. She started on her homework.
After zoning out for the twentieth time in the last fifteen minutes, Sunset banged her head on her table.
"I really need help focusing."