Simone leaned back in her chair, contemplating if she should go to the staff room and get herself a cup of coffee or head to the cafeteria and get herself a buttered bagel.
She had completely neglected to eat something before leaving her apartment and now that the sexual thoughts were under control, it gave way to her hunger.
Her stomach growled, unsatisfied by the bottle of water she'd chugged. Simone thought about the last time she ate and realized it had been lunch time yesterday. After she'd gone home, she'd had prolonged sex with the stranger and fallen deeply asleep. Then woke up only to realize he was gone and promptly fell asleep again.
This was the longest she had gone without food in years. Normally her depression kept her munching nonstop.
But fasting is a good thing, she told herself. I should put it into practice.
In the next second, her stomach gave another growl and she felt her temple throb with an encroaching headache.
She promptly stood up and went to the staff room. She may need to lose weight but she was not about to trade away the headaches she got from sleep deprivation with one born out of food deprivation.
As she walked down the hall, she heard the increase in student voices as first period was about to start.
The bell rang.
Stepping into the staff room, she winced slightly at the loud thud of the door behind her. When was it going to be fixed? And why did it slam so loudly?
The room had two other teachers who were both too engrossed in their phones to pay her any notice.
Simone nose twitched at the smell of freshly brewed coffee and what appeared to be a basket of croissants. She quickly filled a cup, adding in way too much sugar before snatching two croissants. Leaving the room, she scarfed them both down, noticing just how hungry she truly was. The croissants were still a bit warm and melted in her mouth. As she drank the coffee, she felt more awake.
The warmth and sweetness of the coffee was such that she kept drinking even as she tried to rush back to the library at a fast pace. She was the sole librarian right now and couldn't leave it unsupervised for too long.
She knew she hadn't been gone for more than maybe 6 minutes, yet still felt the need to hurry. As a result, she ended up swallowing her coffee wrong and choking on it. She coughed hard as the cup fell from her grip, shattering on the floor and spilling its remaining contents.
"Damn it," she muttered, wiping her chin before looking around. She couldn't leave it like this, but she had nothing to clean it up.
And she had to get to the library.
She contemplated for a moment before stepping away from her mess and running the rest of the way to the library.
Once inside, she saw one of the teachers standing near the front desk with two students in tow. It was Mrs.Peterson; another tenured staff member who had been teaching grade 5 at the school for decades. She was looking around before she spotted Simone.
"Ah, Ms.Goyette. I need new science textbooks for my students." She gestured to the two standing behind her.
"Right away," Simone responded, stepping forward. "Have you been waiting long?"
"No, just arrived shortly before you did." She frowned slightly as she looked at her students. "Apparently they both lost their textbooks while playing laser tag yesterday. I'm certain they're lying, but they refuse to elaborate. In any case, they need replacements."
The students kept their heads down. Both were young boys and they appeared very intimidated by Mrs.Peterson.
Simone briefly glanced at the top of their heads before sitting behind the desk and pulling herself closer to the monitor. Clicking the mouse, she opened the file for the required material. The system revealed they only had one extra.
Standing up, she went into the back room and moved between two rows, skimming her hands and stretching on her toes as she searched for the reference number. Finding it, she pulled out the textbook and double checked to see if there was another to spare that had been missed from the inventory.
Sadly, there wasn't. Both she and Mrs. Veela were very strict about keeping every single book catalogued.
Walking back out, she placed the book on the desktop. "I'm sorry we only have one to spare. I can place an order, but it won't arrive until the following month."
Mrs.Peterson frowned as she turned to speak to her students. "So which one of you is willing to wait?"
One of the boys spoke up in a trembling voice. "I can wait."
Simone felt a bit bad for him. She recalled how sensitive she was when she was their age. Hell, who was she kidding? She was still that sensitive. If Mrs.Peterson ever got upset with her she would probably be trying not to cry too.
Running the scanner over the barcode, she handed it over to the student and watched as both of them left with their homeroom teacher.
Picking up the phone, she was about to place the order when she suddenly recalled her mess in the hallway. Looking at the clock, she knew she still had 35 minutes to wait till Mrs.Veela returned.
The library was empty and there were no scheduled visits, so it shouldn't matter if she slipped away and cleaned up her mess. Simone knew she could just call a custodian, but she hated being a hassle.
Grabbing the small brush and dustpan they kept under the counter, as well as a roll of paper towel, she left the library.
When she got to her mess, she saw that there was a wet floor sign. So somebody saw and may have informed one of the janitors.
"Well, I'm already here so I might as well."
Squatting down, she tore of layers of paper towel and let it soak up the moisture. She was careful as she swept up the broken shards from the mug. Knowing her luck, she could still end up cutting herself.
The floor was sticky, but debris free when she stood back up. All the janitor would have to do is run a mop over it a few times.
Walking to the staff room, she tossed away her trash, washed her hands and headed back to the library.