Interlochen February, Day 17: Just Keep Drilling 'Til You Hit Rock

DAY 17
February 18
Prompt: "The incredible pain in the ass that was the fire drills."

Submitted for your consideration:

FIRE DRILL SCENARIO #1: February/January-ish. (Can't remember, just know there was snow in the ground.) Junior year. Fire alarm goes off after I'm already in bed. I am wearing this tiny blue peasant-dress-style nightgown that comes barely to my knees, with open, loose sleeves and a very low-cut top, and only have time to shove my feet into crocs and wrap a throw around myself before I have to run out into the knee-deep snow. I almost freeze to death, whilst giving the guys on the first floor a good peep show.

FIRE DRILL SCENARIO #2: Early May, also junior year. Once again, the fire alarm goes off after I have changed into my pajamas. I am wearing fleece short-shorts and an Interlochen sweatshirt. Once again, I barely have time to get shoes and wind up wearing flip-flops. (I should explain that our dorm rooms were HOT, to the point where even in February we'd keep the windows open at night, hence my sleepwear, or lack thereof.) My friend notices me shivering and hands me a strip of paper napkin to "keep me warm"--this actually worked, because I was laughing too hard to feel cold.

FIRE DRILL SCENARIO #3: End of junior year, DeRoy cook-out. The outdoor grill stops working, so we go inside to finish cooking the food. Guess what happens? If you'd guess the fire alarm went off, you'd be right. To my knowledge, there was no fire, just a bit of smoke. But since it wasn't an official fire drill, the fire department actually showed up. We were the talk of the campus the next day--"What idiot over at DeRoy set the damn fire alarm off?" We're not supposed to tell what happened. We do anyway.

FIRE DRILL SCENARIO #4: Senior year, we're all supposed to line up in order of name, AND we are supposed to do this SILENTLY. However, we are unable to do this silently, because there was ALWAYS someone missing and so their roommates and friends are frantically whispering, "Where's Liz? Where's Gabby? WHERE THE HELL IS CARINA?" because if ANYONE was missing who wasn't already known to be off-campus, we weren't allowed to go back inside, so we'd all stand there shivering, feeling resentful of whoever was late or missing, until they showed up and we were allowed back inside.