Okay, so this upload took a while-sorry. The amazing thing though, is that I realized that because I do nothing and am incredibly bored in my first two blocks every other day at school...well now I can write during them. Don't know why I didn't have this amazing thought months ago, but ah well. Sooo, this chapter took a bit of a different turn than expected, I'll have to keep what I was planning for this chapter for the next one. What started as only an introduction kinda turned into an entire chapter.....whoops. But there were a couple different things that poke a little at the real plot, so I figured, what the hell, I'll post it. So here it is!
“I don’t want to get up,” I whined as Courtney tried to pull me out of bed Friday morning. The comforters created a warm cocoon around me, gently lulling me back to sleep. I closed my eyes and quickly dozed off again, Courtney still yanking my arm.
What seemed like only seconds later, a loud blaring woke me from my peaceful slumber. The alarm clock screamed in my ear, resting only inches away on my pillow. I rolled over and snatched the yellow post-it off the front of its screen.
Sleepyhead –
Ashley’s taking me to school. Couldn’t get you up, so you’re stuck with the bus.
C
I rolled my eyes. Love you too, Courtney.
Stretching, I contemplated going back to sleep, but already my drowsy state was dissipating. I yawned, then slid off the bed, landing on shaky feet.
The closet was my first destination, to fish for something of Courtney’s to wear. This would surely being an adventure, choosing something for myself for the first time. All this week, Courtney had played dress up with me, selecting exactly what I was going to wear. It was time for me to assess exactly what all my options were.
Five minutes later, I crawled out, still in nothing but pajamas. It was a nightmare in there! Even if I only had to deal with one side of her closet that held her normal clothes, there still had to be a hundred different things to choose from. I pressed my cheek into the carpet and closed my eyes. Suddenly I didn’t want to go to school. I’d gone all week, not even skipping one class. It was a miracle I was even here, but I knew one of the driving forces compelling me to stay was the party tonight, as sad as it was. After tonight, I told myself, I could leave. I’d probably be gone by morning.
I cringed at the thought, then reprimanded myself when I realized what I was doing. Of course I needed to leave; I had already way overstayed my planned visit. Why would I even want to stay?
The onslaught of answers that followed made me realize I probably shouldn’t have asked myself that question. Sure, there were a lot of reasons to stay, but the bad far outweighed the good that would come from it. Just because I couldn’t think of any bad at the moment didn’t mean it wasn’t there. School was a whole different story though. I could only think of bad things for going today, mainly me being too lazy.
It was my last day, I told myself. I should go back. But the thought of another day of school just made me want to scream. It just wasn’t going to happen.
Maybe I was better this way. I wouldn’t have to deal with hanging out today, knowing I’d never see any of them again. A clean break. Of course, I’d see everyone at the party tonight though…I just hoped I was drunk enough that I wouldn’t notice it.
Chris poked his head in the door, making my heart jump. “You scared me!” I accused, picking myself up off the carpet, only slightly embarrassed at being caught in such a position.
He took in my un-prepped appearance. “The bus is going to be here in a few minutes. You should probably get ready.”
I gave him warm smile. In truth, I hadn’t even thought of him, but now I realized Chris would instantly know I’d skipped when I wasn’t on the bus. Not that I should care what he thought, I told myself quickly.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I easily lied. “My friend is taking me to school today. They should be here soon.”
He bought it without question, shutting the door on his way out. With a small smile, I shook my head. Poor, innocent Chris. He had so much to learn.
I twirled in the sun, relishing the feel of the sun’s warm rays on my bare arms and legs. Finding my way downtown had been a hell of a lot easier during the day than my attempt a few nights ago.
Kenzington was a cute little town, something you might see in a magazine. The main street was flanked by cobblestone sidewalks and brightly painted shops. The doors were wide open, spilling air conditioning and cheerful conversations onto the street. Passing by a bakery, a delicious aroma of fresh baked bread wafted out. My stomach rumbled, reminding me of my lack of breakfast.
Fingering the twenty dollar bill in my back pocket, taken from one of Courtney’s drawers, I slowly made my way into the brightly lit store. The smell was even more potent inside. A plump man behind the counter gave me a wave as I entered. I leaned against the counter, studying the menu on the wall.
“Shouldn’t you be in school?” the man asked with a knowing smile as I decided what to get. He was middle-aged, with a deep welcoming voice. Not the person you’d usually expect to run a bakery.
Grinning, I shrugged. “What type of business would you have then?” I gestured to his few tables, the majority populated by high school students.
He laughed heartily. “Very true, little miss. That is very true. So what’ll it be today?”
In the end, I ordered a coffee piled high with whipped cream and a warm muffin that looked too good to pass up. I brought my food over to a small table beside the window and slid into the seat.
“Princess! Didn’t expect to see you here.” I glanced up just as Wade settled into the seat across from me. Wade and I had gotten on relatively well this past week, though we both shared a decent amount of bickering. He seemed not to have the capability of being serious. I didn’t have time to wonder why he was here before I had to slap his hand away as he reached for my muffin. He quickly maneuvered out of the way and snatched my coffee. I rolled my eyes as he took a sip, but couldn’t help but laugh when he dropped it quickly to the table.
“Hot, hot, hot!” He panted, fanning his tongue like a little kid.
I flicked him on the forehead. “You idiot! It’s fresh coffee, of course it’s hot.
Wade stuck his tongue out at me, which was bright red from the burn. He was so immature, that it almost felt like we were back in elementary school. I don’t think I’d had someone stick their tongue out at me since I was probably twelve.
“So what are you doing here?” I asked him, and swiftly stole my coffee back. For a second I thought he’d poke his tongue at me again, but he shrugged it off and answered me.
“Me and Will skimp out most Fridays,” he paused to gesture to the boy waiting from food at the counter. I vaguely recognized him from math, and I saw him with Wade a lot. He was dating Honor as well, and though I’d talked to her more than anyone else this week, I usually tried to dart away whenever Will came into the picture. Getting caught up in their lovey-dovey conversations and God knows what else wasn’t exactly on the top of my list. Unfortunately, that meant that Will remained a mystery to me, as he was neither as loud or outgoing as well.
He made his way over now though, balancing two cups of coffee and a small bag of food between his two hands. He set the stuff down, then pulled up a chair, nodding a greetingto me as he did.
“Hey.” I gave him a small wave. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wade reach for his coffee.
“Careful, it’s hot,” I crooned mockingly. He narrowed his eyes, but took the top off and lightly blew on the surface, creating brown ripples.
While Wade was occupied with his drink, Will startled me by striking up a conversation.
“So mystery girl,” he began, his voice a pitch lower than I’d expected. “You decided to stick around this place for a while?”
I laughed lightly, though inside, my heart jumped a little as he mentioned staying. Surprisingly, this was the first time anyone other than Courtney had even questioned whether or not I would stay. “Mystery girl?” I asked, trying to divert conversation away from his question.
“You’re the mystery,” he stated, as if that would explain everything. I nodded,
“Wow, that . . . well that’s just something there. Thank you so much for that enlightening me.” I threw my hands up in mock amazement. “The mystery girl is a mystery? Whoa.”
“Thank you Miss Sarcasm. May I finish what I was saying now?” I motioned for him to go on, a small smile tugging at my lips from his aggravated tone.
“You probably noticed, but you’re basically the talk of the school.” Actually, I hadn’t noticed. I really had no clue where that was coming from, especially since I’d only talked to probably ten people the entire week, but I figured that was beside the point. “You’re the new chick, the girl with the sketchy past. The fact that you had to be nearly dragged from the courthouse because you were bitching out the judge on his decision, well, the gets you a reputation.” I choked on the bit of muffin, and had to take a large gulp of coffee to get it down. How did they know that? Did everyone know how I ended up here? I got that Courtney knew, purely from the fact that she was at the foster home as well, but everyone? That was definitely not something I wanted. “But that’s it. That’s all we know,” he continued. “Whatever happened to get you into this situation, where you came from, why you were on your own . . . no one knows. So that’s why you’re the mystery girl. The real Auden? We don’t know who she is.”
I almost laughed at the irony of it. The real Auden. There was no such thing – even my name was a lie. No one had called my Amber in so long that Auden almost sounded natural. But maybe that’s all that I was. Just one big, fat lie.
“Dude, that was deep,” Wade slapped Will on the back. Will shoved him back,
“Shut up. I was just saying.” He didn’t seem embarrassed about it, though. It was more of an exasperated reply, as if the topic came up often. I guess compared to Wade, everyone was deep on some scale. However, Will didn’t come across as someone who’d be very profound either. Even if it wasn’t to Wade’s extent, he still gave off the typical jock vibe. Perfect hair falling just to his eyes, made up of every shade of brown, faultless features, slightly muscled body . . . the boy truly fit the jock description to a tee. A deep jock, now that wasn’t something you came across every day. But maybe I was wrong, reading too much into it. Even if he was a little quieter than everyone else, and actually seemed to have put some thought into what he told me, it could just be me, meddling into something I didn’t know anything about. But as he silently stared out the window, gray eyes glinting as he watched something invisible to me, I thought that maybe I’d just uncovered a little bit of the real Will.
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But yeah, that whole bakery scene was supposed to be like...100 words? 200 max? It was going to be just a little sidestop for Auden. It sort of hooked me though, and since I'm the writer...well I get to say, "Hey! Let's stay on this little part!". Sort of... It's more of a Auden stamping her foot and telling me she wanted to sit down in the damn bakery, so I better shut up and type, because something was going to happen. She can get bossy ;D