white boys (river phoenix)

28

Chapter Twenty Eight

(Friday.) Robin woke up, her hands outstretched over her bed, her fingernails raking along the floor. The sound of birds chirping could be heard in the distance, making sweet melodies as they called out to each other. Robin let out a sigh, getting a rotten whiff of her bad breath, and opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling. For a moment, she forgot what happened the day before, and welcomed the sunshine of the morning, until she remembered. Her chest got a strange suffocating twinge, like the ceiling was falling down on her.

She lay there with her eyes wide open, just gawking at the ceiling with her hands on her chest. Her body was immobile, but thoughts were still swarming through her head, each of them saying something different, in different voices and different tones. She took a deep breath, snapping herself out of it. Today was a pep rally at the school, so Dennis wouldn't be around to talk to her towards the end of the school day. She would only have to see him in Italian class, the only class they had together. She could come early so she wouldn't have to sit in a seat near him, in the back of the class like they had before.

She sighed under her breath and rubbed at her stomach, her satin textured tank top raising up over her belly button. Her fingers were chilly and made goosebumps swim through her body. She groaned and plopped over onto her side, blinking as her vision came into focus. She glanced over at her glasses that she rarely wore, since she typically had on contacts. She blinked again and her eyes sauntered towards the blinking red numbers on her alarm clock, which hadn't gone off yet.

11:28 AM.

When she realized the time, Robin's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. So many thoughts raced through her head. Why didn't my parents wake me up? How long have I been asleep? What time did I even get home last night? What period is it at school? She wondered if Dennis had told everybody about what happened since Robin fled immediately after she got sick in his bathroom. Knowing him and his malevolent intent, he probably did.

She stumbled out of bed and rushed along her daily routine, skipping a shower and just scrubbing away at her teeth with her toothbrush, desperately trying to get rid of the nasty smell of her morning breath. After washing her face, moisturizing and swiping on deodorant, she ran downstairs, hanging on fleetingly to the banister. Her hands slid along the banister as her feet tripped down the stairs, and she stumbled into the kitchen, where she saw her parents both sitting leisurely at the table.

Her father had a newspaper in hand and her mother was stirring a cup of coffee for herself, shaking in a pack of sugar. Her parents didn't even look up to see Robin, who was standing in the kitchen archway looking frazzled, her backpack just hanging on her shoulders. Robin shook her head and furrowed her brows, bewildered at her parents' lack of compassion.

"Really? How come you didn't wake me up?" Robin fretted, marching into the kitchen and scrambling through the cabinets for a granola bar.

She found an apple flavored Larabar and hurriedly unwrapped it, starting to shove it into her mouth. In one swift motion, she lunged forward and swiped the car keys from off the table, and then turned on her heel as she made for the front door.

"Robin, you're not going to school," her dad said firmly.

She stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly,

"Why not?"

"You're sick, honey," her mother frowned, using that gentle tone of her's.

"What? I'm not sick, I'm fine. I have to go to school, I have a quiz today," Robin started to ramble on, her hands moving this way and that as she tried to get her point across, oblivious to the fact that now she just looked wild.