Free Falling

Chapter 22 | Y'all Are Such A Dysfunctional Family

~
"We were born to be real
not to be perfect."
~

*Trigger Warning: The nature of what's going to be talked about is related to suicide.*

Jake's POV

"Rise and shine!" A voice says, bursting into my room.

I groan and turn over, trying to block out the voice.

"Babe come on." Kara's voice says, and I sigh before turning over to look at my beautiful girl.

Last night, Kara stayed over since her parents were, once again, absent from her life. She didn't feel like spending the night alone, so my parents agreed to let her stay over as long as we all made it to school today.

Which right now is proving to be difficult.

"No. Leave me alone." I mumble, pulling my duvet over my head.

I feel her get into my bed, and climb over to where I'm laying under the blanket.

She pulls the blanket down so that she can see my face and I'm met with her smirk.

"If you get up now, I'll join you in the shower." She says suggestively, and suddenly I'm wide awake.

"Meet you there?" I say, getting up.

"Nah, I just said that to get you up. Emma is leaving now and I told her I'd go with her." She says, laughing at my annoyed expression.

"I hate you." I say.

"Love you too. Now get up." She says, giving me a kiss and skipping out of my room.

I fall back into bed with a frustrated sigh. Letting out one more groan, I stand up and grab some clothes before walking to the bathroom.

Caleb is on his way as well and the second we make eye contact, we start running. Of course, I win and make sure to flip him off before closing the door.

"Hate you!" He yells.

"Love you too, brother dearest!" I yell back.

'~'

I was late for school. It was only by like five minutes, so I should be fine. I left the same time Caleb did, so it's not like I'm the only one.

"Mr. Richardson." My English teacher says as I walk into the class.

I just nod my head in acknowledgement, taking my seat in front of Dwight.

I see Emma give me a side glance from where she's sitting, but I ignore it. She's probably gonna give me hell later for being late again.

But I do notice that she's looking better today. A year ago today, I was worried that I would never see her again, so seeing her sit there with a teasing smile on her face is all I can ask for.

It's been about two weeks since I accidentally revealed her secret to the gang. I still feel like absolute shit for that because that should have been on her terms. I get that she was technically the one to say it, but I egged it on. 

I've been on high alert these past two weeks though, making sure she's okay. She's still playing her fake smile bit, but I've also noticed how sometimes it's real. We're making progress and that's all I can ask for. 

As the teacher drones on about who knows what, I take my phone out and respond to Kara asking if I made it on time.

For the remainder of the class, Dwight and I text jokes about the teacher and I spend the entire class trying not to laugh.