Okay, this whole waiting a week to upload thing just ain't gonna work. I'm too impatient ;) And I've got a crying 1 year old who wants a "baba" (bottle) and that just is not something that's fun to ignore. So enjoy!
For someone who didn’t get home until 3 am, Courtney rolled out of bed quite well. I, on the other hand, needed a bit of forceful persuasion.
“Upsie daisies!” Courtney sang into my ear. “Rise and shine!”
My eyes squeezed further shut and I tried to block out all surrounding disturbances except for my soft bed. No such luck. A mass dropped forcefully onto my stomach, and my breath rushed out of me. For such a skinny frame, Courtney packed a lot of weight. Or maybe it just felt like that when it was all suddenly on top of you.
“No. Gettoff,” I moaned.
“What’s that?” Courtney asked sweetly. “You’re excited for school? That’s great!” she cheered with excessive enthusiasm. “I was worried there for a sec. Thought you might want to do something stupid like, oh, I don’t know, sleep maybe.” Her mocking tone just begged for a good beating, but I was way too tired to move.
She groaned when I didn’t respond and then grabbed my shoulders. “Auden, get your butt up!” She shook me hard, until I opened one eye to glare at her. The sun only streamed lightly into the room, having barely risen above the horizon. It couldn’t have even been 6:30.
“You. Suck,” I told her, lacing my sleepy words with as much venom as I could muster.
Courtney, still on top of me, just shrugged. “I get that a lot.”
“Course you do,” I muttered. “Can you get off of me?” Her knee was pressing into my leg, and it was beginning to border into painful.
“Sure,” she submitted easily. “But you’re getting up with me.”
I made a face, but allowed her to pull me up and out of bed. An alarm clock on the nightstand between our beds displayed the time with large red numbers. Six in the morning. Lovely.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I grudgingly asked, “Why in God’s name am I up at the hour?” I barely ever got up before nine. Eight was pushing it, but six was unheard of.
Courtney rolled her eyes, and I realized with a start that she wore none of the thick makeup from yesterday. Since she was still in her pajamas, I figured she’d just woken up as well, but it was still odd to see her void of all the black. Her skin was less washed out, and she looked more vibrant; full of life instead of a corpse.
“Silly girl,” she said. “You don’t think I’m letting you show up to school without some prepping do you?”
I gave her a disbelieving look. Even if she currently wasn’t decked out in her black garb, I had no doubt that within half an hour she would be back in all her gothic glory. “Yeah, sure. You’re the last person I need giving me fashion tips.” Probably not the nicest thing to say, but she could deal, especially after waking me up so early. “Besides, I’m not going to school.”
Courtney cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah, you are. Why in the world wouldn’t you be?”
Did she completely miss my escape last night? Was she just completely delusional? “Because,” I explained, “even though they weren’t last night, there will be plenty of buses out of this place today.” Did she really think I was going to stay?
YOU ARE READING
Running From Them, Running To You
Teen FictionAt 16, Amber Jameson takes off, leaving her family and friends with only guesses to why she left. When found by the authorities, she gives a new name, Auden James, and is sent to a foster home. There she meets her roommate, Courtney, and sweet, ki...
