Red String of Fate

Late Start

Vrrrrrrrr-vrrrrrrrr-! Vrrrrrrrr-vrrrrrrrr-!

The strange vibrating noise nudged Henry gently out of his dreams, despite his best efforts to ignore it. Just as he was about to open his eyes to investigate, the noise stopped. What the heck made that stupid noise? he wondered sleepily. His reluctantly forced his eyelids to open, revealing a sleepy pair of emerald green eyes. He stared at his bedside table, uncomprehending for a moment, before realizing that his phone screen had been lit up for the last few seconds. Confused as to why someone would be texting him so early in the morning, he reached out his hand and pulled his phone towards him. He swiped the screen to reveal the message that had so rudely woken him up. To his surprise, it was the most recent message out of a string of texts from his friend Ryan.

Turkey-on-Ry, 7:00:03 A.M.: R u here yet?
Turkey-on-Ry, 7:07:39 A.M.: R u still asleep?
Turkey-on-Ry, 7:10:14 A.M.: Wakey-wakey, sleeping beauty! )
Turkey-on-Ry, 7:13:57 A.M.: Srsly, dude, where r u?
Turkey-on-Ry, 7:36:32 A.M.: Either u 4got abt sectionals, or u overslept. :/ Erik was not happy.
Turkey-on-Ry, 7:47:12 A.M.: R u sick or sumthin? Ur gonna b l8 4 class if u don't get up man!

Henry glanced at his alarm clock, panic rising in his throat. The red numbers flashing mockingly at him read 12:07 A.M. in the morning. They must have had a power outage during the night that reset his clock, and his only alarm. With a panicked curse he leapt out of bed and frantically began searching for his school uniform, tossing his phone to the side in the process. He hopped frantically around the room as he tried to put one leg into his pants while simultaneously attempting to button his shirt. He managed to get dressed in one piece, located both shoes and slip them on the correct feet, and find his backpack within a few minutes.

He burst out of his room and tore down the hallway into the kitchen, where he immediately embarked on a hasty search for something quick to eat while he ran to school. He settled on a piece of bread (if he'd had any time at all he probably would have spread peanut butter on it or something) and a bottle of water, which he cracked open as he snatched a pen from the counter and wrote a hasty message on a blank sticky note. He shoved a bite of bread into his mouth as he finished his note and smacked it onto the refrigerator door. Raking a hand through his tousled brown hair, he gave it a cursory glance to see if he'd gotten the essentials written down.

Dad-
Overslept. Power outage, alarm didn't go off. Got food, will take trash out after school. See you later.
-Henry

"Hopefully he sees that," Henry muttered as he turned on his heel and bolted out the front door, not caring that he hadn't tied the laces on his shoes yet. He thanked his lucky stars and whatever deity that was looking out for him that his dad's house was so close to his high school. He'd be incredibly winded by the time he got there if he ran the whole time, but hopefully he'd still be able to make it. He tore off another bite of his bread slice and dug in his pocket for his phone to see how much time he still had left. When his fingers met with nothing other than the fabric of his uniform, he came to the painful realization that he must have left his phone somewhere in his room. He cursed again and ran faster, shoving the rest of the bread into his mouth. With no way to tell how much time he actually had until the bell rang, he didn't dare to slow down.

Hope no one needs me for anything important before lunch, he thought to himself, pulling out the water bottle he'd grabbed and guzzling the contents. He choked and coughed, the painful burning in his lungs that followed inhalation of a liquid making him temporarily breathless. "Come on!" he choked out, forcing himself to move faster. "Don't have time for this!" The thought crossed his mind that he must look kind of stupid like this, running at breakneck speed with his backpack bouncing up and down on his back. Everyone looks stupid when they're late for something.

As he approached, he concluded that the side door would probably be the quickest way to get inside from where he was at. It was farther away from his first class, but it would have to do. He could at least say that he was in the building when the bell rang if his teacher gave him crap for his tardiness. He yanked open the door and pelted down the hallway, noting with fear that the hallways were emptying fairly quickly. But he was so close now, he knew it. He rounded a corner at lightning speed and promptly ran directly into someone's very firm chest.

"I'm sorry!" he gasped hastily, pushing past the lone wanderer as his cheeks turned red in embarrassment. He could barely hear his victim call after him, but he was in too much of a hurry to slow down and give a proper explanation for his actions. He pulled open the door to his classroom and bolted inside, sliding into his seat just as the final bell rang. Henry let out a breathless cheer of triumph, raising both arms in the air in celebration. "Made it!" he cheered, though it came out more as a strangled squeak due to his lack of oxygen. "I actually made it!"

Henry's teacher, a bespectacled man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, applauded slowly. "Well done, Mister McCrae," he said dryly, though a small smile flickered across his face, "I think you might have broke the sound barrier on your way in." Henry flushed a little, but shrugged innocently. He knew that Doctor Reeves was just messing around, so there was no need to get worked up about it. Doctor Reeves quickly went over the attendance before starting on the day's history notes, which gave Henry some more time to catch his breath.

Ryan, who was sitting to Henry's right, leaned over with an expression of mixed concern and annoyance to talk to him. "Where were you?" he hissed quietly. "There were only three of us for sectionals today-Erik was pissed." Henry winced a little. As much as he liked and respected Erik Triste, the school's choir teacher, he had to admit that the man could be very intimidating at times. Especially when he was mad. "And why aren't you answering any of your texts?" Ryan huffed. "Did your phone die, or did you oversleep?"

"We had a power outage last night or something," Henry whispered to him, "so my alarm clock reset." Ryan's mouth formed an 'oh' shape that Erik would have been proud of, and he nodded in understanding. "So yeah, I overslept. Oh, and, on top of that," Henry went on, "I tossed my phone somewhere while I was getting ready. It's somewhere in my room right now."

"Yipes," Ryan hissed, wincing theatrically. "Sounds like a pretty rough morning. Sorry for jumpin' down your throat about it." Henry shrugged to show him he wasn't too bugged by it, and Ryan quickly turned his attention back to the front as Doctor Reeves turned away from the whiteboard to face his students. "Em said she sent you something too," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Henry, "but you never responded. When she texted me it sounded important, but you know how she is. She'll probably ask you about it at lunch today."

Henry nodded to show that he understood, jotting down the notes that Doctor Reeves had written on the board in his tidy cursive. He'd worry about whatever it was Em wanted of him later. For now he was more worried about copying the notes, trying to remember if he finished his homework for his second hour math class, and wondering how he was going to face Erik's wrath when he went to Chamber Choir in his third hour. He held back a groan-today was certainly going to be an interesting day.