The lecture hall was filled with the monotonous sound of clicking keyboards as everyone tried to type up what our professor was talking about. My fingers worked as fast as they could, acting like little warriors getting ready for battle as I frantically paraphrased what was being spoken at the front of the room. I needed to copy down as much as I could. There was no room for error right now. Our mid-term exam for this class was on Friday of next week, and I desperately needed the notes. My eyes watched the screen of my laptop as I typed, glossing over all the spelling errors I was making. I could always go back and fix those errors, however, if I missed copying something down from this lecture, I may never get that opportunity again.
It was then that I realized just how terrible at typing I truly was. I never had the patience to learn how to properly type, and that lack of patience was now biting me in the butt. During my earlier years of schooling, we had classes on how to properly type and use a keyboard. However, I never paid particular attention to what was being taught in those classes. Now I was paying the price for that. There were a multitude of spelling errors on the screen, and this was just one paragraph of many. I mentally ridiculed myself because of this, cursing how much work I would have to put in this evening to decipher my notes.
Regardless, I continued to type what words were uttered from the mouth of my professor. Despite my lack of confidence in my note-taking skills, I thought my notes were coming along excellently. Sure, it may take hours to decipher what I had written, though the quantity and quality of what I had taken from this lecture would be enough. It would be enough to ensure that I passed this mid-term.
It was a midterm for my veterinarian class. I had always loved animals when I was younger, and I wanted to take care of them and nurture them. When I saw I could major in veterinary medicine, I could not pass up the opportunity. It was a hard class, though I knew that all of this effort would be worth it in the end.
The lecture slowly came to a close at long last, with the professor putting emphasis on the last few sentences as he finished speaking. I saved my word document and closed my laptop. My right hand grabbed the laptop, holding the side of it that was facing away from me firmly within its grasp. I lifted the laptop from my desk and slid it into the laptop bag that was on my right.
"So how much were you able to get out of Mr. Salazar's lecture?" The woman to my right said plainly to me, her voice startling me at first. Most people would expect for her to have a light, bubbly voice, though that was not the case. Her voice instead sounded typical to that of a tomboy's. It was far different from what one might think at first glance of her.
"Uh, I got out enough...I hope." I replied to her. "What about you, Riley?"
"Oh, you know me..." Riley began, "...I typed up what he put emphasis on. Whenever he gives these lectures, you can tell what is important by the change in his tone. He goes from a joyful tone to an ecstatic one and he also speaks louder."
Riley was talking as if she thought it was obvious how he hinted at what was important. Maybe it was obvious, though I had not noticed these signs. And her tone of voice did not help any. I did not know if she meant to, but she always seemed to have that annoying tone of superiority in her voice when she was talking about it. I hated that tone, and it irked me every day, though there wasn't much I could do about it. What good would complaining to my subconscious do me?
She had been this way ever since our group project. We were working in duos and I was assigned to take notes and get as much information as possible. My work wasn't adequate enough for Riley and she has never allowed me to live that down. So what if we lost fifteen points? We still made the best project out of all the groups, and we had the most informative presentation.
I turned to my right, my eyes falling upon Riley as she copied d. own the last few words that our instructor spoke. She was quite a beautiful woman. She stood at a tiny 5'1, and it was comical to see her standing beside one of the college's football players. Her blonde hair typically fell down to her shoulders, though today she had tied it up into a messy bun at the back of her head. Small, thin strands of blonde hair poked out from the bun, falling down the back of her neck as she looked down towards the notepad in her hands. Her brilliant blue eyes were absolutely amazing, they were complimented by black eyeshadow which curved upwards at the edges of her eyes, almost like wings. Upon her eyes sat a pair of eyeglasses, their glossy brown frame highlighting her cheekbones. Then there were her small lips, adorned by scarlet red lipstick. These features worked in tandem and made her pale face absolutely striking.
Not to mention her outfit.
A tight, light purple sweater covered her upper half. The sweater was small on her, which led to some of her smooth pale stomach peeking out below her sweater. The fabric of her sweater hugged her chest, subtly displaying her average-sized bust clearly. A pleated, knee-length white skirt covered her lower half. Below that was the long expanse of her luxurious moon-white legs, which looked absolutely stunning. However, they were not visible to the naked eye. They were hidden by a pair of purple leggings which clung to her legs like paint on skin. Her feet were adorned by a simple pair of black and white sneakers, which was a little jarring from the rest of her outfit.
I had to admit, Riley was stunning. Though she was a pain in the ass as well.
"Is that supposed to be obvious?" I asked her plainly as I stood up, grabbing my laptop bag and slinging the strap over my right shoulder so that it hung on my left side. She stood up with me, putting away her own laptop and notepad as the both of us walked down from the top of the lecture hall to the ground floor. "Because I don't notice a change in his voice at all."
"Yes. I mean, how can you not tell? It's so obvious, I thought you could tell," Riley responded cooly to my question, the annoyed edge in her voice igniting a flame in me. She was nice for the most part, though her tone was something that definitely needed to be worked on without a doubt.
"Well, sorry for not noticing then. Sheesh, you can be quite annoying..." As soon as I said those words, I instantly regretted it. I was stopped in place as she turned around on the spot, staring daggers at me. "And I mean, on the project, I was the one who did all the mathematical calculations, and I made the graphs. When you tried to do them, there was not nearly enough detail for us to get full marks."
