Janine by Samantha Steiner

                     ​A.HASAN. CC



Janine


Janine shows up forty minutes late with a lipsticked mouth and a half-finished strawberry frappuccino.
    I’m so sorry, she says, smirking. My car wouldn’t start so I had to walk.
    She doesn’t wait for my answer, but plops down at a desk in the front row. 
    Forgot my notebook, she says.
    Someone coughs. The class breaks into laughter.
    In my attendance book, I mark Janine absent. 

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Janine shows up thirty minutes late with another strawberry frappuccino, but no lipstick.
    I’m so sorry, she says again, though this time her lips are stiff. I slept in.
    Instead of plopping into her usual spot, she chooses a seat in the back row. She places her notebook on her desk but doesn’t open it.
    Someone coughs. A few students laugh.
    In my attendance book, I mark Janine late.

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Janine shows up twenty minutes late with no makeup and no coffee, but a crease in her forehead.
    I’m so sorry. 
    She takes her seat in the back and opens her notebook. 
    Someone coughs.
    Someone else mutters, Shut up.
    In my attendance book, I mark Janine late again. 

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After class, I signal Janine.
    Is there something you want to talk about?  I ask.
    They’re making me talk to the freaking guidance counselor, she spits. I’m not talking to you, too.

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Janine shows up ten minutes late. The pouches under her eyes are gray and swollen.
    I’m sorry.
    She plants herself in the back, pulls out her notebook and digs through her backpack. 
    No one coughs.
    I take a pen from the cup on my desk, walk to the back of the room, and hand the pen to Janine. In my attendance book, I mark her late again.

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Janine shows up on time. She looks like she might scream.
    But she doesn’t. She takes her place at the back and pulls out her notebook and pen. She copies notes from the board. 
    In my attendance book, I mark Janine present.

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Samantha Steiner is a visual artist, Fulbright Scholar and Best of the Net nominee. Her 2019 essay “To the Current Tenant” appears in the print anthology Coffin Bell 2.2, and other works are published or forthcoming in The Emerson Review, Apple Valley Review, and The Citron Review. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @Steiner_Reads.