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Only suck-ups and troublemakers got stuck with cleaning duty. Everyone knew this. And neither of these applied to Shepherd. Besides, there was no way a fancier college such as this didn't have their own cleaning crew.
'So why th' hell am I stuck here?'
"You have missed a spot, Mr Morgan."
'Oh right. This professor fuckin' hates us.'
Very deliberately, Shepherd turned and swept the broom over the indicated spot. A single fleck of paper skittered up into the dustpan.
"Good. Empty that out, and then I will return your notes."
Clamping his lips shut to cut off the snarky comment bubbling up, Shepherd instead marched over to the garbage, upending the dust pan's measly contents before setting both the broom and pan back where he retrieved them.
"Your notes are... acceptable. But I am afraid I may have spilt something on them. Most of it is still legible."
'...one... two... three... four... five...'
Taking a deep breath, Shepherd forced a tight smile.
"I can rewrite the messy parts. M'buddy takes real good notes I can refer to."
"Mmm. He does take good notes, if a little... blocky. I am assuming he left so quickly because..."
"Religious reasons. Ya understand." He was 100% lying, and had deliberately lagged behind to draw attention to himself; one could only stand to watch a friend being picked on by faculty for so long before intervening.
A sour look crossed the professor's face, and he practically threw the notes across the desk.
"You may leave, Mr Morgan."
"...Thank ya, Professor White."
He barely caught himself before he slammed the door, closing it softly behind him instead. A quick march down the hall had him turning a corner, gazing around the empty halls, before letting out a string of expletives that lasted for a good long while. Eventually, his anger faded down to a smolder.
Scrubbing at his face, he kept walking, searching for a familiar form. No way was Sarnax gonna just ditch him. He had to be around... somewhere. But where the hell was he? It hadn't been that long...
It was several moments of looking before Shepherd noticed an odd shape tucked away in a corner, the same colour as Sarnax's hoodie. As he walked closer, he squinted, catching a glimpse of a familiar face tucked away inside a hood.
"... 'Nax? Buddy, ya ok?"
No answer. Frowning, he knelt down and shook his friend's shoulder, worry tinging his voice.
"'Nax! 'Nax, open your eyes!"
A jolt coursed through Sarnax as he opened his eyes suddenly, unfocused for a moment before they blearily settled on the worried Shepherd.
"...oh. Are you... finished?"
"...Yeah. What the hell happened to ya? Are ya ok?"
There was a confused look on Sarnax's face as he uncurled from the vaguely egg-shaped position he was in, stretching. His legs emerged from where they had been tucked away inside his hoodie, and he stood, yawning. "I am... perfectly fine? I was waiting for you, and decided to take a rest. This is a very quiet hallway at this time of day."
Gears were turning inside Shepherd's mind as he slowly stood. When it finally clicked, his eyes widened. "Wait, you were asleep? I was only gone for like... ten, fifteen minutes! What the hell? Ya fell asleep that quickly?"
Scooping up his bag, Sarnax finally stepped out from the little alcove. He raised an eyebrow at the almost indignant-sounding Shepherd. "I was asleep almost as soon as I became comfortable. Have... you never noticed how often I sleep during quiet periods throughout the day?"
"I... no, fuckin.... Gods dammit, that ain't fuckin' fair!"
Throwing up his arms, Shepherd turned to stomp down the hallway, followed by a bemused Sarnax.
"I cannot control our sleeping patterns, Shepherd! You cannot be upset at me purely because I have no problems sleeping!"
"I ain't pissed at ya, I'm pissed at the fuckin' universe for bein' unfair an' I'm gonna go punch a god!"
Sarnax decided it would be wiser to keep his opinions on god-punching to himself and just let his friend rant all the way to next class.
After all, one must make sacrifices to keep the peace.