Sleep can make a change

Mark groaned. As much as he was hoping it wasn’t going to be true, another Monday had come. The worst day of the week had come too soon again, and he knew he couldn’t afford to be absent for the third Monday because he knew his pay was going to be cut if he were absent again. When he had sat up, the amount of effort it took to get up just made him fall back on his bed.

He blinked his eyes open and looked around. Eren had already pulled the curtains next to his bed, and the sunlight poured right into his eyes. He looked to his right. 

“Oi, Mark! You up? Good morning, friend! What a glorious morning it is today!” Eren greeted him and helped him get on his feet. 

Mark was too woozy to even hear what Eren said. He just looked up and nodded with a slight smile. At least, tried to. His eyes gave away his situation to Eren. 

“You were up late again, hmm?”, Eren’s brown eyes seemed to sparkle the same way whenever something embarrassing happened to Mark. Mark looked up and noticed it right away.

“It’s fiiiiine. I’m fiiiine, you don’t need to worry about meeeee.” Mark said, trying to act as energetic as his roommate. Eren sighed. 

“You know you can’t lie to me, right?”, Eren replied. “C’mon, watch your face. I’ll make your morning tea.” He helped Mark sit up as though he was an old man. “Ah, I’ve also ordered some breakfast from that fast food shop close here. Better get ready or you’ll go empty-bellied to college!”. Eren acted enthusiastically, but this was impossible for Mark. He had slept late again, this time at 3:00 AM. It wasn’t as late as he usually slept on weekends, because he knew it was a workday tomorrow. And this was the result of waking up on three hours of sleep.

“Agh!” Mark cried. His head was throbbing painfully, and he couldn’t concentrate. But he knew he couldn’t trouble Eren by depending on him to get ready for college. He quickly washed his face, brushed his teeth and sat on the one table their dorm had, waiting for his lunch.

“Mornin’. Here’s your tea.” Eren came in and offered him a cup. Mark looked at him longingly. “What are you staring at? I added two teaspoons of sugar.”

“N-no, it’s just, I feel bad for depending on you to freshen up,” Mark muttered. Eren shrugged and sat down. For a moment, they sat drinking their tea quietly. 

Knock knock.

Mark looked at the door. “I’ll get it.” 

He went up and saw the guard standing outside. “Delivery”, he grunted.

Mark opened the door and accepted the plastic bag which held their food. He thanked the guard and closed the door. Turning around, he saw that Eren was looking at him intently. “I got our lunch.”

They quickly finished their lunch and got ready and both of them soon left for their class. Mark felt weak and dizzy all day, and at one point, even fell asleep in his geography class. The entire day he went lagging around. His lethargy was palpable. And worst of all, Mark knew what he was doing, and he couldn’t do anything for it. He wasted his precious sleep last night staying up late. 

‘Why am I like this?’ was the thought going through his head the entire time. After the entire day, he could only remember lessons from the last few classes. He missed everything else. 

"Agh, this is so frustrating!" Mark was angry when he came back to his dorm. He had never let his awkward sleep schedule interrupt his academics, having even pulled off all-nighters within semesters. But now that even that line had been crossed, Mark knew he had to do something.

As he lay on his bed, ignorant of his homework, Eren walked in on him. He looked tired. "Yoo, Mark! Had a good day?". He glanced towards the clock. "Wow. It's 6o'clock already? Looks like I'll be getting ready for bed quicker tonight." He stretched and went into the bathroom.

It was so weird to Mark. Eren had a completely opposite schedule to his, and it was as cramped as his own semester. How did Eren manage to stay energetic all day and catch up on studies, sometimes even barely so, and still have enough of his free time?

Then suddenly it hit him. Why didn't he ever ask Eren about this, and why did he never decide to go by his own schedule once? He had to do something, now that the only thing keeping him in the college is being affected due to his recklessness on his own health as well as studies.

As Mark lay in thought, Eren soon came back outside, in his pyjamas. Mark knew what was next. He always did his homework before going to sleep, then woke up at 3/4 in the morning to do his own stuff. Since either of them was asleep while one was awake, they never had a privacy issue and could do anything they liked. Unconsciously, Mark had the nighttime duty and Eren had the daytime duty.

He sat up. "Oy, Eren." Without glancing back, he said, "Yeah?"

"How about we switch?"

"What?"

Now Eren looked back. "What do you mean?"

"I'll go asleep early tonight, and you try being awake."

Eren looked puzzled.

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Sorry! I can't write this any further. Even if it doesn't win, I'm really enthusiastic about writing stories, so if you can, please send me notes on what is bad about this story (this is actually way worse than my usual stories because it's rushed and still not completed) and notes on how I could improve my literacy. Thanks a lot! I appreciate everything you made on this website for us young writers.