Attractive Idiot [NaNoWriMo]

12

Alexia’s POV

“Ze-Zhu! Wake up, you’re going to be late for school!” 

There was a heaving pounding, and it wasn’t in my head. I blinked open my eyes, immediately wanting to shut them again. I forced them to stay open as I peeled my stiff body from the desk, my muscles cramped from being in such an awkward position for so long. 

I blinked, squinting as I tried to make out the numbers on my clock. I think it read 6:57? I shrugged, the numbers meaning nothing to me.

Then something clicked into place, and I panicked. 

“It’s already 6:57?!” I cried out, running to my door to find my mom huffing angrily at me. 

“You’re cutting it close,” she grumbled, her mood showing she was still angry from last night. 

“I’m sorry,” I told her before slipping past her and downstairs. I grabbed a couple granola bars, before running back upstairs. 

I was tripping and stumbling as I tried to pull my pants on, munching on the granola bars. 

I had just thrown my shirt on when I ran back downstairs, grabbing my bag and quickly slipping my shoes on. Then I caught a glimpse of a kitchen clock, and thought, I might make it. It was a ten minute drive, and school started at 7:15am. It was 7:04.

Then I felt dread course through me as I looked at the counter my keys were usually on. 

They weren’t there. 

I checked the floor beneath the counter, thinking they might have fell. No sign of them. 

“Where are my keys?” I muttered, searching the entire area. I hadn’t driven anywhere since last Friday, and my meticulous ways would only allow me to leave my keys on the counter. I had never misplaced them, not once. Just then, my dad entered the kitchen. “Dad, do you know where my keys are?”

“Your driving privileges have been revoked.” My mother’s voice came from behind him, and my dad quickly moved to sit down so my mother could face me.

“What? Why? I need them to get to school on time!” I protested angrily, before quickly clamping my mouth shut. I had never spoken to my parents in that tone of voice, and immediately felt regret and guilt for doing so. They “I’m sorry, I’ll walk,” I said, moving to leave. The air had become even thicker, and it was suffocating. I was glad to get out of that room. 

Until I saw that it was pouring outside, water dripping off the trees and soaking the already wet ground. Tiny little streams were running down the roads, pooling in little pits. 

I would have to walk for an hour in that? 

A thought crossed my mind, but fear was battling against it. Walk in the rain or face my parent’s wrath for trying to get my car back on account of the rain? 

I decided that I might as well ask. Maybe they’ll be sympathetic and let me use the car for just this one day, I thought with hope. 

Walking back into the kitchen, I called tentatively, “Mother? Father?” 

Both looked up at me, my mother’s eyes still narrowed, her jaw set. 

“It’s raining out..” I began, still really hesitant. “So may I please use the car—“

“Don’t forget an umbrella,” my mother replied, cutting me off. Then she went back to cooking her breakfast; it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to use the car. 

It was probably best for me not to try and argue, so I walked to back to the front door, looking for any umbrellas. I didn’t see any, but I was too scared and ashamed to ask my parents where they were. My mother was angry enough as it was.