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*Bring bring!*
*Bring bring!*
"Uhhhhggg..." Cory shuffled in his bed, ripped off his pink gel-filled sleeping-mask, and looked towards his bedside table, at his phone.
*Beep!*
"Hi... Taylor... Why are you calling me?" his voice croaking from the sudden wake-up.
"You're meant to be at school stupid! I'm not your mother, why on earth do I need to keep waking you up?!" Taylor, Cory's best friend, angrily whispered.
"Sch- School...? Wha's the time...?"
"8:18, you have seven minutes before the first bell goes, so get. Your. Butt. Here. Now! The principal's doing an attendance check-up, and if you're not here on time, and if you don't have a good reason for not being here, you're going to get suspended!" Taylor said, trying to keep her voice down.
"Wh-why me? Why would I get suspended?" Cory waited for an answer, before waking up a little more, and realising that this has happened many a time before, due to his night shift at the local kebab shop. "Oh. Yep. Okay. I'm getting up now, and fast... See you in seven minutes..." An exasperated sigh met his ear.
"Yeah... Sure, see you nerd..."
*Beep!*
Cory smiled at the nickname, before hurriedly jumping from his bed to avoid the coming strife. Throwing on some jeans and an old jumper, he ran down the stairs to get to the front door, not bothering with breakfast.
"Bye Mum! Bye Dad! Enjoy your day off!" He yelled, through another door, while grabbing his scarf from the coat rack.
"Bye Honey! I will, and make sure you stay warm today!" His Mum replied with a tone of laughter in her voice.
"I will!" He yelled, slamming the front door behind him. A shiver passed through his body as he stepped outside, forcing him to release a puff of air. "Well I'm glad I brought my scarf today..." he whispered to himself. Looking around as he walked down the stairs and onto the footpath, Cory saw frost, on the grass, on the path, and on parked cars, just not on the main road, as there had been gravel sprayed everywhere.
*Blip!*
Cory took his phone out, and saw a message from Taylor: "Youd better hurry up nerd, I dont want to b alone at school >:("
Sighing, he put the phone back in his pocket, while starting to move faster. He didn't want to make Taylor, or the principal, angry.
*BANG!*
Cory stumbled backwards with a grunt.
"What the hell?! Are you blind or something?!" Cory looked up, and saw a tall boy, a year older than him possibly, dressed in black, with floppy-punk-cut hair, dyed a deep purple at the ends, glaring at him. He looked down and saw what made the bang.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry..." Cory said, bending down to pick up the laptop and books. "I totally spaced out, I wasn't paying attention..."
"Damn right you weren't! You totally barrelled into me!" the boy sighed. "Stop picking up my stuff, I can do it myself, I don't need your help." Cory passed what he had picked up to the boy, and then stepped back, watching as he stooped down to get the rest. "Why are you still here...?" Cory looked up and, once again, saw the boy glaring at him.
"Erm... Well... Um... I thought... I should... Make sure you're okay...?" he stated, nervously.
"Oh, spit it out, no one ever "makes sure a stranger's okay" the boy mimicked.
"Well I do!"
The boy looked at him side-on, with a sneer.
"Also I may or may not be late to school, and may get suspended if I go there, so I'm trying to delay going there as much as possible... Heh..." Cory added, quietly, after looking at his watch.
"Right... Well at least now you have an excuse for being late. At the cost of nearly breaking my laptop, and ruining half my books."
"Look, I'm sorry, it really was an accident!"
"Whatever." The boy sighed again, and started to walk away.
"Wait!" Cory called out.
"What now?!" The boy replied, spinning around quickly.
"I know this is weird, but can I get your number, please? If the principal doesn't believe I was helping you, he could call you, and you could confirm what happened...?"
"... Why am I doing this? Fine. You're lucky all of my books weren't ruined." The boy ripped out a piece of paper from one of his books, pulled a pen out of his pocket, and scribbled down a number.
"Thank you so much. If you ever need something, please contact me! I want to repay you..."
"I might take you up on that. Good luck sucker." He threw the piece of paper at Cory, turned promptly, and walked away.
Cory caught the scrap, and immediately turned it over. Thank goodness, there was a number... And next to it, a name. "Alex..." Cory whispered.
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