The soft pattering of rain and the comfort it brought were nearly drowned out by the tick-tocking of that annoying clock that her roommate insisted on putting above their pantry door. Looking at the clock, she sighed. On any other night like this, she would have been in bed with her cat, either reading or dead asleep. But, no. Instead, she was awake at her tiny kitchen table at 3 a.m., finishing some stupidly long assignment that her jerk of a professor had 'forgotten' to post till the day before it was due. Taking one last sip from her mug, she glanced at the empty coffee pot. "Would it really be THAT bad if I made another pot?" she thought to herself. "There's been no evidence found that drinking more than the recommended amount of coffee leads to an early grave." Sighing again, she placed her head in her hands, resting her elbows on the table. She was no stranger to all-nighters, especially ones that were filled with assignments, but this one was particularly frustrating. She had been severely sick the day her professor had announced this assignment to her class. She would have joined the class over Zoom like she did her other classes during that time if it weren't for that particular professor's aversion to technology. So now she was doing the amount of work that was supposed to span over a month in one night. Her professor usually posted assignments two days after giving them, and he himself has said on many occasions that the only reason anything was posted was due to the help of his teenage son. She was praying that he would accept her request for an extension, or else she'd be screwed. Letting out a yawn, she willed her eyes to stay open. She had to stay awake.

~~~~

The sharp sound of a door slamming against a wall had her head snapping off the table. Looking around grogily, she noticed the sunlight filtering through the small window above the sink. "No," she cried out, "I fell asleep!" Hurriedly looking at the clock, she saw it read 6:50. She had class in a little over an hour. Quickly standing up, she made her way to her room, nearly running into her roommate in the process. "Whoa," Liz exclaimed, "You look awful, Bea! Did you pull another all-nighter?" Scowling at her, Bea replies, "Gee, thanks. And technically, no, I fell asleep around 3."

"Beatrix, that still counts!"

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she walked around Liz. "Don't you even start, Liz. You've pulled plenty of all-nighters yourself."

"Well, at least I know my limits and only do one once a month, not four. You have got to start taking better care of yourself, Bea." Said Liz, with a concerned look on her face. Beatrix had been friends with Liz since their freshman year of high school, and for as long as their friendship had lasted, she had always encouraged Bea to step out of her comfort zone and take proper care of herself. It had always been a back-and-forth kind of thing; Liz would bring it up and ask a bunch of questions. Like, have you been drinking enough water, have you been sleeping, have you been brushing your hair, etc., etc. And Bea would always assure her enough that she would drop it, but ever since they had moved in together for college, it had become a non-stop topic.

Sighing again before running her hands through her messy brown hair, "I know, I know," started Bea, "I just really needed to get at least most of that assignment done, so even if my professor only gives me a small extension, I can get it done. But I'll stop with the all-nighters for a while. I promise."

"Ok." She didn't sound very convinced, and Bea couldn't really blame her. She really had been pushing herself more than she should have, leading to her being exhausted nearly all the time.

"I'm going to take a quick shower before class." She stated before turning towards the bathroom door, not waiting for a reply from Liz. Undressing quickly, she turned the shower on and stepped into it before waiting for the water to warm up. Standing under the stream of too-cold water, she sighed and pressed her forehead against the tiles lining the shower wall.

"It'll all be fine," she told herself, "you've just got to keep going for two more months, and then you can take a break."

With her eyes closed, she can almost pretend that she's standing in the rain, the way she had been all those months ago. Only this time, she can't pretend that the water streaming down her face was the cause of the taste of salt in her mouth.