A War of Guns and Roses

Chapter 17

The alarm clock blared as I groaned. Ugh! Today was Monday. The day of hell to all teenagers. I sat up and ran a hand through my messy bed hair, trying to tame it down. Just then, I happened to glance at the alarm clock. I nearly screamed as I realized I was late. Really really late. And no one had even bothered to wake me up.

Standing up, I winced at the slight sting of my leg. Ignoring it, I ran into the bathroom and got dressed in a frenzy. Rushing downstairs, I asked the housemaid where the twins and Rebecca were.

"They have not come out of their rooms yet, Miss," she replied frowning. "I went to wake them up but they said they weren't feeling well today and not to bother to wake you up either."

"Okay. Thank you, Ella. I'll go check up on them," I smiled kindly at her. She nodded and went back to her work. 

"Not well, my foot!" I muttered as I ran up the stairs again and barged into the room where the twins were sleeping.

"Get up!" I screamed in Eva's ears as she woke up in a fright.

"Elaine!" she whined when she realized it was just me.

"Get dressed, now!" I ordered, throwing her an outfit from the closet.

"Ivanova Louise Mathews!" I yelled. "Get your bottom off the bed, right this instance."

"I'm telling you, Elaine. People are going to fear the day you become a mother, if you continue this," Ivan muttered, rubbing his abused ears and reluctantly making his way to the washroom.

I followed the same procedure with Rebecca and had to threaten her that I would send a picture of how she looked right now to Blake if she didn't wake up. She got up pretty fast after that.

Once all of us were ready, we made our way to school, honking and zig-zagging through the traffic. That's when I realized that I hadn't seen Jake for quite a while. I wondered where he was. Deciding that I would ring him later, I took a deep breath and entered my first class of the day. Chemistry.

The only good thing about having this subject the first thing in the morning? Xavier. I could admire his face all I wanted until the period ended.

Yay to me. I had gone crazy.

Smiling at Xavier, I made my way to the seat next to him. As usual, he didn't smile back at me, but he did give me a nod, acknowledging my presence. And that would do for now.

I could tell that Xavier was getting very frustrated and couldn't understand much of what Trunchbull was teaching. Heck, even I was having trouble keeping tabs with her.

Slowly, without Trunchbull looking, my hand crept its way on top of Xavier's and gave it a light squeeze, promising that I would teach him this later. He relaxed the slightest bit after I had withdrawn my hand but didn't look at me.

After the long and difficult period had ended, we tiredly made our way to our second class of the day. I hoped the day would get better because my brain already felt exhausted after being stressed so much in the first period.

I was walking with a slight limp as my leg still stung. I could tell that Xavier noticed because, for the first time, he walked me to my locker, making sure I didn't stumble and fall.

"Thanks," I muttered quietly and he nodded. I was amazed with myself for understanding his silent language. I had no idea that I had adopted that skill from him.

Taking my books out for the next period, I turned around only to see that he had disappeared. Sighing, I hurried as I hoped to get through the day unscathed. As usual, I received a detention in Calculus. Once again, the teacher decided to have a surprise test. He never did learn from his mistakes.