Roaming Hallways --- an Astor Academy playlist
It’s nine in the evening and it’ll be lights out in an hour. You all should be in your respective houses, in your respective rooms. Some house hall directors are more lenient than others. But not yours-- definitely not yours. You once had to sleep in your car, punishment for missing curfew. Funny now when you look back at the incident, but definitely not then.
You all should be heading back, and yet, the hallways outside the dining hall are still filled with students. The kid with the fiery hair is holding a cup of something hot in both hands, nursing it as if it was something so precious. You can see the steam from where you stand, and you can see his lips move rapidly as he talks to the blonde girl beside him, but his eyes glued to the beverage in his palm.
“Fuck, I need a smoke,” the raven-haired girl behind you says and you turn and flash her a smile, fishing from your pocket a pack of Lucky Strikes you always carry, careful not to let anyone see. Smoking on the grounds is prohibited, after all, but the CCTV camera by the entrance to the football field never seem to catch the illegal goings-on under the bleachers.
Finally, you’re all told to go back to your dormitory rooms, and you laugh at a ridiculous comment your best friend makes about the dean of the Physical Sciences department’s new haircut. Once the amusement fades, you both curse as you remember the ten-page essay waiting for you in your respective rooms, and with a groan of resignation, you realize it’s going to be another all-nighter for you.
