"Gia, psst, Gia," I heard right in my ear. I opened my eyes and rolled over to find Harlow hovering over me.
"What the eff are you doing?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes. "And what time is it?" I asked rolling over to grab my phone.
"I don't know, like nine, but that's not important, what's important is that I broke the toaster and I need your help fixing it," She said in hush tones.
"Shit, Harlow, I'm late for school," I said pushing myself up.
"Don't go. Ditch and we can go do something," She said. I thought about it then I realized I don't need to think about it. I'm no stranger to ditching.
"Okay, I'm down, let's go fix this damn toaster before Ashley finds out," I said. She ran out of my room and I got out of bed. I stood up stretched. I shuffled to my closet and pulled out some random clothes. I don't really care about matching right now. I changed and I ran my fingers through my short, messy hair. I didn't bother with make up. I grabbed my phone and put on a pair of shoes before walking downstairs.
Harlow was standing at the counter trying to shove a piece of toast in the toaster.
"How did you break the--" Apparently I was talking too loud for her liking because she ran over to me and covered my mouth.
"Shhhh," She hissed. I pulled her hand off of my face and asked her to explain herself again, this time quieter. "I don't know, it just won't work," she said shurgging her shoulders. I walked over to the counter and checked it out. I tried pushing the lever down but it wouldn't stay down. I turned the toaster over and sighed.
"Harlow," I said. I grabbed the cord of the toaster and plugged it into an outlet. Her mouth formed an 'O' and she ran over to the toaster to make toast. She pushed the lever down but I grabbed her hand and dragged her out the door. "We need to leave before Ashley gets up and notices I'm not in school," I said.
"But my toast!" She said and I unplugged the toaster.
"We'll go get you toast." I said pushing her towards the car. "You're driving," I said throwing her the keys, which she swatted down. I sighed and got in the car as she picked the keys up and got in.
"Where do you wanna go?" She asked.
"I don't know...the mall?" I said.
"I like the mall," she said as she made a sharp right. I clutched the seat and prayed that I make it out alive.
Finally we made it to the mall. Harlow parked the car and I hurried up and got out.
"What? My driving isn't that bad," she muttered. We walked into the mall and Harlow went right to the Chinese food.
"It's like nine in the morning, why are you eating Chinese food?" I asked as she paid for her food.
"Chinese food is for anytime of the day," she said as I sat across from her at a table in a nearly empty food court. I decided arguing with her this early in the morning wasn't worth it.
It was about noon now and we were still at the mall running out of things to do.
"What do you wanna do?" I asked.
"Let's go back to hot topic, I think I saw a cool pair of earrings," Harlow said. I followed her into hot topic. Harlow went right to the earrings display. I leaned up against the wall and watched as Harlow shopped.
"I still don't know where Harlow went. I woke up and she wasn't there," I knew that voice. That was the voice of Nikki misery. I looked towards the entrance and my heart fell into my stomach. I dropped to the floor behind the earrings display.
"What are you doing?" Harlow asked. I frantically pointed to the group but she didn't understand.
"Harlow. Get. Down," I said and I yanked at her shirt.
"What is wrong with yo--" she was cutoff by Nikki.
"Harlow?" He asked as he came closer. At that point she knew why I was flipping out.
"Nikki," she said nervously rubbing the back of her neck. As they talked I made a break for it. I started crawling towards clothes rack. I was almost there when I was met by a pair of legs. I looked up to apologize but I was met by the person I was hoping I didn't see. Ashley.
"Hello, wonderful, caring, forgiving, sister," I said nervously trying to crawl away. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.
"And why aren't you in school?" She asked. I scanned the room trying to catch the eyes of Harlow. She should be the one explaining for me after all this is her fault.
"My alarm didn't go off! Harlow was asking me to fix the toaster. Did you know she broke the toaster? Yeah, you should punish Harlow instead of me," I said nervously as she started pulling me out of the store. We walked past the group and my eyes met Jake's. The color drained out of my face and my cheeks got hot. He smiled lightly to comfort me but I looked down at my feet. This is so embarrassing. I just embarrassed myself in front of the man that makes my day better. The man that makes me happy. The man that doesn't know I love him.
