can't wait (don't leave me)

Making up Words

Sophie couldn't drive. She took the test and failed horribly--which was to be expected, of course. She failed most tests after the eighth grade. So Sophie, a junior in Eastview High School, boarded the bus for her first day of the second semester. 

There were two or three other juniors on the bus; the rest either hitched rides with friends or drove themselves. Sophie would have done the same, but she felt bad asking her friends to pick her up. It made her feel like a little baby. Like a kindergartener. And Sophie might not have much pride, but she had more pride than that.

Back is for the cool kids, she thought as she sat smack dab in the middle. Front is for little kids. I'm safe here. 

To make sure nobody sat next to her she plopped down her backpack on the seat. She put her arm around it as if she were about to ask if it had a date to prom and then slowly retracted her arm, feeling like a massive idiot. Did they have homework over break? If so, she didn't do it. Wait, fuck--they totally did. Sophie wracked her brain for when her English period was--two weeks off of school and she had already forgotten most important information--and then remembered. End of the day. When was study hall...?

First period, Sophie remembered. She bit her lip. Could she finish a four-page essay in first period? Probably, if she tried hard enough. Who did she sit with in first period... 

OLI-BABY!  A large grin lit up Sophie's face, right as the bus pulled away from the street curb she'd been patiently waiting on a few minutes before. Oli was great at doing homework last minute. She was so thankful for her little emo friend. She pulled a marker out of her backpack and scribbled ENGLISH ESSAY onto her palm. She could do this. Oli could probably do it. Oli wouldn't do it. She'd make Oli do it. Did she have blackmail? Probably not, Oli didn't trust her enough. 

Sophie continued to think about how she could convince Oli to do her essay for her as she rode the bus to school. 

----

On the other side of town, Emma was throwing clothes across her bedroom. 

"None of this is school-appropriate!" she huffed, turning to the laptop sitting open on her desk. "I've got to be at school in fifteen minutes. What am I supposed to do? Go naked?"

"I don't think that's school appropriate, either," Butch, her datemate, said. They were currently driving themself and Emma and Butch's girlfriend, Bunny, to school. "Just go in a sweater and jeans or something. That's what I'm wearing."

"You're wearing a sweater and jeans because you're basic," Emma snapped, leaning over her laptop. "I'm not basic."

"You're quirky," Bunny snickered. Butch smirked.

"You're making fun of me again," Emma sighed. "I'm going to break up with you guys, I swear it."

"You'd miss us," Butch said. "Well, actually, I take that back. You'd miss stealing our clothes."

"Speaking of. Is your house unlocked?"

Butch laughed, which wasn't the answer Emma was looking for. 

----

Xavier walked into the junior and sophomore hallway in Eastview High, dressed to the nines. Xe was wearing pink and white platforms, fishnets on xyr arms, a pink sweater that covered xyr hands, and had xyr hair still dyed from break. In an hour or so xe would probably be sitting in the principal's office. Right now? Xe felt like a god. 

Asher was standing by their locker when Xavier came close. They already had all of their things out of their backpack. When they noticed Xavier they grinned.