I glance across the table, expecting to see a familiar face, and instead, see an empty chair. The teacher is still talking in the background, but I find it hard to focus on the assignment with the chair mocking me, making his absence painfully obvious.
“And what was the author’s intention, Kate?”
Jolted back to the present moment, I respond with some semblance of a correct answer, just close enough to what she wanted for her to move on to the next student.
When she does, I look back at the chair. Still empty.
Not that I was expecting anything different… just hoping.