She sat at the table staring down at her phone. Her finger grazed the screen, scrolling through an endless feed of irrelevant posts. Her mind was elsewhere. Midterms were only a week away and her paper was nowhere near complete. Mayumi wore a navy and white striped skirt that fell just above the knees. Her sweater was a Jansport – it too was navy blue. Native American designs inspired the boots she wore. Stitching was visible around the base and a pattern of arrows along the top. She leaned against her arm, elbow on the table, and her long dark hair fell about her face. She brushed it away with her free hand and continued swiping.
She should be studying, she knew that, but she couldn't stop thinking about…she shook the image from her head. She pulled out her flip phone and checked it for messages - there were none. She had only one cell phone plan and couldn't afford a data package. She carried the iPhone around so she could browse the Internet and check emails. Campus had enough free Wi-Fi locations that she never had to worry. She plugged her pink headphones into her phone and started Pandora. Music would help drown out the din of the restaurant. She flipped open her binder, pulled out the Latin paper she had half written, and began to read it, checking for errors.
Leddy shoved a chili cheese french-fry into her tiny mouth. She was making a mess but she didn't care, she was five years old. She had much more important things to worry about such as refilling her soda. Her mother sat quietly across from her while her two sisters buried their noses in their phones, playing games or texting.
“Momma, momma, momma.”
Leddy’s mother walked to the trashcan with a tray full of trash.
“Momma, don’t throw the drink away.”
Leddy ran after her mother.
Jess, Maddie, and Janice sat at a cluttered table each working separately on schoolwork. Purses, pop-tarts, goldfish, coffee, and folders – a smorgasbord of study materials littered the table. They had arrived together, but the three girls were all buried in their own worlds.
Jess’s pencil flittered against the page as she shaded the image. A playful face looked up from the page at her. Jess paused as she squeezed a misshapen grey eraser in her hand. She cocked her head and gazed thoughtfully at the page before wiping the smile from the playful face.
Maddie’s hand wriggled back and forth as she put words to the page. She leaned closer to bring her written thoughts into focus. He glasses were smudged – she removed them and wiped the lenses on her blouse. Her poem was practically writing itself. Maddie considered herself a vessel through which the muses weaved their words. She would never admit something so pretentious to her classmates but she knew it was true.
Janice flipped through pages of a math exam. She studied the equations giving each one time to sink into her brain. Instinctively she chewed on the edge of her calculator. She wasn't aware she did this, even though Jess constantly pointed it out to her. She would forget and continue the habit subconsciously. She wiggled her shoulders back and forth, dancing to the beats in her headphones.
Mayumi had become distracted again. Her mother continued to text her about grad school applications. She wasn’t even finished with undergrad yet! Mayumi was tired of the constant over-parenting. She regretted not going away to school, staying local was a mistake even if she was living in student housing. She was not looking forward to going back to her room. Her roommate would be there and Mayumi didn’t want to deal with the confrontation that was sure to ensue. The paper lay on the table in front of her. She took a deep breath, released the anxiety and continued to write.
Preoccupied was written by Daniel Weinell.
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