How today was different

Accounting class for two days a week at 8 30 A.M.
Before:
Yours truly wakes up at 7.50 and rushes about. Manages to get ready by 8.10, and sees through her window that the shuttle bus has gone. Another one will take at least 20 minutes to come, and so waiting in the room is the best option.
Alas! Another one comes along in just ten minutes…and there, she is late. By the time she reaches class, she is around 25 minutes late and doesn’t have a place to sit.

Today:
Gets up at 7 30 at the first ring of the alarm. Smiles (she has a conviction that if smiling is the first thing you do as soon as you wake up, your day’s going to be great), gets ready by 7.50 too. As is the procedure, sees a shuttle bus leave at 8. She thinks quick and decides to leave in five minutes to take the next one. All ready.
Goes out of the room. Picks up her sandals and is about to wear them. Realises floaters will be much better than the stupid sandals.

Alas, again, the bus is there. The devil of the bus is already there. She runs across the road, bag, baggage, jacket et al., exhibiting her clumsiness that she has struggled to hide in vain in front of a hundred eyes she feels are staring at her. The pure white jacket trails the road and develops a black patch in the sleeve before she notices what is happening.
For all the running, thankfully, while people from the bus stare at her too, the bus driver is kind enough to wait. She runs into the bus and murmurs thanks and gets an approving nod from the driver. She sits, the many pair of eyes still staring at the unique creature which had been running for a long time.
Looks at the clock in the bus when she is still 2 stops away from her destination. 8.29. Damn, she thinks. Late again. It would be atleast 8.40 by the time she reaches class considering the walking she has to do from the stop.
Gets down dejectedly, thinking of all the effort she had wasted in running. Walks gloomily along the lonely corridors of the building till she reaches the level where her classes go on.

Voila! The digital clock in the corridor flashed 8.29. The stupid clock in the bus was ten minutes fast. She walks briskly, to reach class at the magical stroke of 8.30. She reaches the handle of the door of the classroom and peeps out to see the time.
8.30.
She grins, and opens the door.
She goes in, and raises both her hands in a flourish typical of an athlete who’d just won a race.
Sleepy heads looked up. Of course, there is no one who would acknowledge her victory. Her race. Her race against time and clocks.