~°~Chapter Thirty-eight~°~

"Baby, hurry up!" My mom's voice floats up the stairs. "I have somewhere to be this morning."

I blink at this, what the… "Mom, it's too early!" I yell back, groggily dressing up. 

It was horrible enough that she crashed into my room before the sun was up to wake me up, taking me this early to school was just pushing it. "Why can't Dale or Virgil pick me up?" I whine.

"I can't reach them." She tosses back. "And I don't want you going to school all by yourself."

I just throw my brush on my dressing table and place a hand on my waist, pushing a hand through my brushed hair - I really need to learn how to drive. 

I don't say anything else, it's not like I'd be able to find my way there all by myself anyway. I'm horrible with directions and walking wasn't even an option so going ridiculously early to school it was.

"That's it!" I pout to my mom after we get into the car. "I'm taking driving lessons after this!"

She just gives me a look. "Darling, you're still seventeen and your tiny legs won't get to the brakes."

I just collapse against the backrest, I was going to have to survive for at least an hour all by myself before my friends would show up.

School started by nine and ended at three pm. It was barely thirty minutes past seven and we were already leaving the house.

"Where are you going anyway?" I turn to her.

She sighs deeply. "I have a couple of errands to run and I don't want to have to spend the night away."

I just hum, she was probably going to Cone, another small town North of the City, and located all the way across Reef City. "Do you have to always get our toiletries from Cone?" I ask absently.

It wasn't the first time we were having this conversation, for some reason she preferred to do the monthly shopping for toiletries there.

"Nowhere else have butterscotch flavored candles." She says seriously.

I just yank on a lock of my hair, already assigned to my fate of having a slightly loco mother. "Why the hell do your candles have to be flavored? It's not like you eat them! Why do you need to even buy toiletries with flavors?"

"Come on, run off to school, and don't bother me." She tsks, stopping the car in front of Pine Creek High.

I step out and cringe at the flashy banner hanging in front of the school depicting the PCH Spring Dance in horrible shades of pink and puke blue, I just sigh forlornly and trudge through the deserted doors.

Vaguely I wonder who opens up the school, it has to be the janitor. I don't see Principal Hughes coming in so early every morning just to open up the school.

I walk solemnly to my locker, it's easier to see my surroundings when there are no people, I hear soft voices in the distance, apparently, I'm not the only unnatural person to be at school so early in the morning.

 Exams would begin tomorrow and I wasn't looking forward to them at all but I also couldn't wait for them to be over.

Funny that without even thinking about it I had unconsciously made a decision, or maybe I'm too sheltered to think that far yet. I wasn't thinking about college, not that I had anything against it.

I actually didn't mind but I wasn't overeager to go, maybe I'd wait a year or two. College would definitely be hell for me, High school was bad enough and it was in a small town where I'm surrounded by kids I practically grew up with, no to mention that I'll be all alone.

My future career didn't even involve anything grand, maybe getting a small antique store, where no one ever comes in and I spend most of the day lounging on a sofa, drinking chocolate and reading paperbacks.

Not that I needed to even work but I'd like to do something too by myself, I don't know how my mom can stand it.

I put most of my books inside my locker, today would basically be a free day as most of the teachers were putting up the finishing touches to the exam preparation.

After exams we'll have a free week, then the Spring Dance to mark the end of the semester, then summer break.

I'm looking forward to my final year because honestly, who isn't?

Shana wants to be a nurse and Virgil's dad wants him to get a business degree, I sigh, maybe I'm not made for this world after all.

I close up my locker and debate if I want to find a quiet class to stay in and wait for school to begin proper or I want to go up to the roof.

It's a difficult decision but I know there's a possibility that I'll get lost in thought on the roof and forget to come back down again, plus my friends might not figure that I'm on the roof.

So I start for class, hopefully, it's empty and I won't have to break my legs getting to my seat of someone else is in the class with me.

Unwittingly, Dale and Virgil intrude in my thoughts, I still haven't seen or spoken to Virgil ever since the date with Dale. Absently, I peek into my phone and see no new messages, odd. Shana and Dale are usually arguing on the group chat, maybe they're busy.

I can't seem to think about Dale without getting a telltale blush… all over! Facing him would be nothing but pure torture, which will be ten times worse when Virgil and Shana are there.

Maybe I should just skip school, I'll need the memories anyway, I've never skipped school before unless I was ill or something, that's depressing.

I hike my backpack higher on my shoulders as I walk down the deserted hallway, for the first time in a long time, I can breathe freely in school.

My phone vibrates and I fumble for it while walking into class.

Curiously I start to unlock my phone to check out the new text I'd just gotten but I reflexively look up because I don't want to whack my legs on desks or chairs and if I'm lucky, both. Turns out it was a huge mistake because I look up to get a face full of the Ice Queen herself and her hench girls.

My heart falls to my spine and suddenly my airway feels tighter - it would figure that even air chooses not to exist beside someone like Elise.

I bow my head immediately and start for my seat by the window side, forgetting the text I was so eager to see a moment ago and praying that Elise somehow doesn't see me - I mean, I'm tiny enough - or at least she ignores me.

I feel their eyes on me as I stumble and crash to my seat - so much for trying to stay unnoticeable - but in my defense, that many cold eyes on you are enough to make you trip on thin air.

I quickly sit down when I finally get to my seat, like it's a safe house and I convince myself that Elise won't be able to get to me when I'm on my seat.

When I finally take a breath in, I panic, I should have just turned around and gone back out but as soon as I saw them my brain shut down and could only follow previous decisions, unable to make new ones.

And now, I'd rather lick an earthworm than get back up and walk out even though every moment I spend in here drives me crazy.

Quickly and quietly, I take out a random book which hopefully turned out to be my jotter, and started to doodle to keep my sanity intact.

Why the hell was Elise in school? It was barely 8 am for heaven's sake! Not just her too, but her hench girls are here too. Of all the horrible lucks I've could have had, why didn't I just decide to go up to the roof.

I keep my head bowed and pray for the time to pass as quickly as possible, I peek at my phone's screen, two minutes since I walked in!!

I let out a silent sound of pain, someone should please save me!

Faint footsteps alert me from my mental breakdown and I stiffen, going cold all over.

"Hi, Hayden." Elise's quiet voice comes over and I peek up to see her leaning against a desk directly in front of me.

I risk a quick glance to the side to see that her hench girls are nowhere to be found, huh? When did that happen??

"H-Hi." I stutter in a quieter voice, red alarms blaring in my head, I'm supposed to watch out for Elise, and right now I'm scared she'll pull out a rusty knife and stab me, that is definitely one way I don't want to die in.

"I don't think we've met." She stretches out a slender hand that had blue-tipped nails and a couple rings and charm bracelets adorning it. "I'm Elise, Virgil's girlfriend."