Laws of Motion (Paranormal/Sci-Fi/Thriller) (1st draft)

Chapter 2: The Eyesore

October

"Jessica! You're going to miss your bus!"

            Jessica Lui groaned as she rolled onto her side. Even with earplugs her mother's yell was loud enough she thought she was standing right next to her. She opened her eyes to see that her sister's bed was already empty and the clock had changed from 7:14 to 7:15, giving her only thirty minutes until the bus arrives. She sprung from her bed, banging her knee against the desk that stood between her bed and that of her sisters in the process.

            "Ah fuck!" she cried out softly as she winced from the pain. 

            There was no time for her to fix her bed so she immediately ran out of her room and into the bathroom to freshen up. She brushed her teeth and washed her face. She stared at herself in the mirror for about ten seconds but then she realised that she needed to get dressed and pack her things. She ran back to her room and quickly picked out an outfit consisting of a long, grey shirt, black skinny jeans, and a blue sweater. She thought about putting makeup on but considering that she took too much time in the bathroom she decided to pack her cosmetics along with her books into a turquoise messenger bag. She took the messenger bag with her as she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

            Jessica laid her bag on the floor in the hallway leading to the kitchen. Already sitting around the kitchen table were her mother, her sister Linda, and her younger brother Nick. Jessica's father had left for work an hour ago and her older brother Eric was attending university in another city. Ever since Eric attended university Jessica was the only one out of her siblings who attending the local public, Catholic high school. Nick would eventually attend the same school once he completed senior elementary. Linda attended the prestigious St. Cecilia's Catholic Academy for the Arts in which graduates would go on to post secondary music or drama programs. Nick and Linda's schools were nearby their mom's workplace so they got rides to school nearly every day whereas Jessica had to take the bus.

            "You stay up too late playing games and chatting on the Facebook," Mrs. Lui whined as Jessica pulled out a chair and sat herself down. "We gave you laptop so you can do schoolwork."

            "I was studying for a math quiz and catching up on my English assignments," Jessica said while stuffing breakfast into her mouth. Mrs. Lui was partially right about her staying up late on her laptop. In reality she was helping a classmate with materials covered on an upcoming quiz. She also enjoyed reading the assigned novel for her English class, The Chrysalids, and she would stay up until two in the morning just to find out what happened next.

            "You study first, and then play games all you want. You don't want to get bad grades and not get into university now, do you?"

            Linda took a quick glance at Jessica and asked, "Is that my sweater you're wearing?"

            "It's my sweater, Linda. Yours is in the laundry," Jessica retorted. Not long after she said that her phone chimed with a new text message. She left the table to see who sent it as Linda complained to their mom that Jessica was taking things that were not hers. She took her phone out of her bag and opened up the message. The message read:

C U @ school?

Jessica looked at the time the message was sent and at the time displayed in the upper right corner of her phone. The message was sent a minute ago and she had exactly two minutes to make it to the bus stop. She quickly grabbed her bag, slipped on her shoes, and yelled as she was leaving, "Bye mom! Bye Linda! Bye Nick! I love you all but I have to go!"

___

Jessica had a moderate social circle which consisted mainly of people she grew up with and attended Chinese language classes. She spent her lunch hour from time to time with them but most of the time she hung out with her best friend, a Filipino guy named Chris Barcelon. Jessica and Chris have been best friends since childhood and hung out quite often as possible to the point where their friends and family started to suspect they were secretly dating. Both have claimed this to be false and whenever people ask they would say that they are close like brother and sister.