1 Chapter 1: All Nighter

I feel my eyes burn from staring at the computer for hours, my fingers numb from typing, and my back hurts like hell. Thanks to my group mates, I have to work on our project alone. I took a sip of my coffee to keep me awake, so far I've finished three mugs in a span of two hours.

Freeloaders are gonna be the death of me.

I stretched my body, leaning back as I yawned like there's no tomorrow, ironically it is already tomorrow. I looked at the clock to see how long I've been up, but at this point that probably doesn't matter anymore. "2:00 a.m." I stared at it until it changed to "2:01 a.m."

"Ah shoot, that's a minute I cannot get back... I have to concentrate..."

A few moments later, I get an unexpected call from an unkown number. I declined the call and carried on with my work, but the number kept calling me for about five times now. I blocked the number and continued with my work with the hopes of not getting distracted.

3:00 a.m

-ping-

I got a text from my friend, Clementine. Why is she up this late?

"LOL why are u still online? Shouldn't you be sleeping by now??"

Tsk, she's one to talk.

"How about you? Why are YOU online?? You should be sleeping too you know." I replied.

A few minutes have passed before she could reply.

"Fair point, lol, im jus finishing the group project, I'm assigned to edit stuff. Hope ur ok, cuz I've seen u active at these hours for 2 days now. Sorry for the late reply, my bro took my phone hehe!! You know how he is.. ;p"

I blankly stared at her message for a few seconds before I started typing my reply.

"It's alright, I was also working on the project. Hehe, you caught me again.. my groups mates aren't rlly the best to work with. But I'm surprised that you're up this late. You're group mates are nice, aren't they?"

I felt a bit anxious sending that, I don't like my friends knowing that I'm not ok.

-ping-

She replied quicker than earlier.

"Yeah, im the one who procrastinated this time ;pp"

Ohh, typical Clementine.

-ping-

"On another note, you can be more open with us, me, Max and Kennedy. You can tell us anything, we're your friends, and we don't want you to keep all the burden to yourself.

You're gonna end up burning yourself out if you keep doing this :<<"

-ping-

"I guess all im saying is that we love you, and we care for you, and ur so talented and amazing omggggg we stan!! XD but yea,, take care!! I'm almost done so I'll sleep in a few minutes, at least take a nap later, ok? See ya later!!"

A smile plastered on my face with a few tears running down.

Ok, maybe it was more than just a few tears, but I will admit that this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.

"Thanks, Clementine! I'll see you later, sleep well"

5:00 a.m.

I ended up not napping because I got hyped after reading Clementine's message and I might have drank more coffee than an average teen should have. In other words, I finished our 'group' project around 4:30 a.m., and submitted it online at 4:50 a.m.; waiting for it to post took longer than I expected.

It's not even a group project, they didn't contribute anything!! So, to treat myself, I did the most satisfying thing anyone in my position will do, I didn't put thier names on the file.

I can't wait to see the look on faces when they find out that their names aren't there.

I should know, the simplest things can create the largest impact on others.

I drank my sixth mug of coffee and prepared myself mentally for school. I took a shower and dried my hair while brushing my teeth. Getting dressed up is easier because our school uniform is simple, a beige button down short-sleeved polo with a plain maroon tie tucked into plain maroon slacks, matched with a pair of plain white socks and brown leather shoes.

I personally like wearing uniforms to school.

I don't have to worry about what to wear in the morning because everyone is wearing the same thing— except for girls, they wear skirts...at least most of them. I wouldn't mind wearing a skirt either because it's not like those short anime girl thigh-high skirts. Although, I've seen some girls pull their skirts up as high as how you see them in anime, even if they get scolded for it.

I got out of my house and waited for the bus. I could probably take a quick nap in the bus going to school, but I might not be able to rest well enough with the other students watching me sleep. Ah, forget it, it's not like they'll take a picture of me sleeping for blackmail.

I hope that at least one of my friends took the bus with me. Life would've been easier.

A honk buzzed through my ears as a big yellow bus hovered at the side of the road. The door opened and I got in the bus, all of the seats in front are already taken by the popular kids as usual.

I feel them stare at me as I pass by. I can hear the whispers, the giggles, and the lies they spread. I could feel my chest tighten everytime I hear someone say my name. I continued walking further until a familiar voice called my name, it felt different from the others. "Journee!! Over here!!"

I look up to see who it was.

"Clementine?"

My mood shifted from anxious to relief. I was so glad I could sit with someone I know! I went to sit beside Clementine at the middle portion of the bus.

"Wow, hey, since when do you take the bus to school?" I asked, and she gave me a mysterious smile.

"What are you talking about? I always took the bus"

We both laughed.

"Hey, I was calling you last night!! Why didn't you pick up?!"

I looked at her clueless, "What? We texted each other, but I don't remeber you calling me."

There was a brief moment of silence as I watched her think about something. I've never seen her think about something this hard before, it must be important.

"Ahhh!! I forgot to tell you that I changed my number!!"

Wait a minute, so was she the unkown number who kept calling me last night??? I took my phone out and showed her my call logs from last night.

"Is this your number??? It kept calling me last night, but I didn't know who it was so I blocked it"

She checked my phone and confirmed that it was her number.

"HAHA!! Sorry!! You were probably busy when I was calling you, but hey what we talked about last night, I- no.. we really meant it. We wanted to say those things to you through call, but hehe, that didn't work out. So we just sent you those messages."

I stared at her for a good 5 seconds, and hugged her tightly.

"I know you guys meant it, and I can't thank you enough for caring for me, surprisingly, more than how my parents did."

After that, we just talked about random things on the ride to school, and met up with everyone else when we arrived.

Even if I had no sleep, I somehow feel fully energized.