Blind Justice

I couldn’t shake the feeling of how horrible that piercing ring would feel at 6:50 the next morning. I snuck a glance at the clock, regretting it almost before I had: 2:30 AM; my gasp of surprise was cut short as I recalled that I had only finished my homework at 2:00. Maybe it was the shocking red of the numbers that intensified my reaction; I never understood why they made the numbers on clocks in such an evil looking red, it seemed almost like the numbers were angry at me for being up this late. I turned the clock away from my vision, promising myself not to look at it again. A promise unwittingly broken seconds later when I saw it reflecting off the mirror at me. Frustrated, I yanked a book from my shelf and shoved it in front of the clock, almost falling flat on the floor in the process. I stared down at the newly refinished hardwood floor, it had that unmistakable yet indescribable odor to it, maybe that’s why I couldn’t sleep, or perhaps it was the unbearable creak it made whenever I moved. I was wondering what would have happened if I had landed on it. If anything could break through to the living room below, it was my linebacker frame. I hadn’t the faintest idea as to how much weight it would take to break through those planks; it’s funny, after staying up until 2:00 doing homework all the time, you’d think that I’d have learned this kind of thing. I do have A’s in all my classes though, I suppose that’s what’s truly important. I would certainly  never be able to build a floor like that I decided. It got me wondering, if everyone was supposed to get A’s and go to college who was supposed to build the floors? After a few minutes of trying to fall to sleep, my thoughts wandered back to building. I pictured my brother hunched over his computer, his chin almost touching the desk, building in Minecraft with his friends. After I had finished wondering whether his towering stature would be any higher if he didn’t bend his back all the time, I pictured his face lit up, as much by excitement as the screen in front of him. He always spent about 30 minutes on homework from all 6 of his classes and then went straight to playing with his friends for the remainder of the night. Although it kind of annoyed me that he had it so easy, I soon had the unpleasant image of him at my age. He was still hunched over the computer, but now its light was all that was keeping his face bright. I could see the ominous dark bags under his ocean blue eyes as he struggled to catch up on homework late at night. With a jolt, I realized what I must look... - Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz. I was jarred out of my thoughts by the harsh sound, I guess I would have recognized it sooner, but I’m not accustomed to getting called at 2:00 in the morning. I reached over to grab my phone and turned on the screen, my eyes stung from the brightness. Even through the blur of my watery eyes I could see the unmistakable name: Brett Thatcher. I couldn’t picture him being up working at this hour, in fact I couldn’t picture him doing work at all. Ironically, he was one of the top students in the year with all A’s in mostly AP classes. More out of curiosity than anything else, I picked up the phone. “Hey Connor what's up?” he asked casually, in a voice like noon. “Do you have any idea what time it is, I was sleeping”, I lied, trying to sound as tired as possible. “Uh yeah, my bad” he responded in a voice far too loud for the hour. “If you spoke any quieter I don’t think I’d hear you”, I remarked sarcastically, but I don’t think he caught on; he raised his voice to inquire if I had completed the study questions for the AP Calc test. I said yes and he promptly responded by requesting a picture of the answers. That's how someone like Brett gets A’s in all AP classes with minimal work: by not being afraid to rely on others, to say the least. I’m not sure whether jealousy or anger prompted my bitter response, “So your waking me up in the middle of the night so that I can give you my answers?” I didn’t bother to hide the venom in my voice. “Well normally I just copy off Amelia for Calc tests, but she’s not gonna be there tomorrow,” he explained nonchalantly. I hung up the phone before the strange snickering sounds emerged from my lips, it was a sound I had never made before, an ugly sound. I felt a weight in my stomach, like I had just swallowed a stone, as I pictured Brett getting all A’s and going to a great college like Stanford.