Hoooonnnnkkkk!!!
Let's pretend that this is a movie scene and that we can press the pause button. So, pause. That was the ear shattering sound of an airhorn to my ear. Resume.
Thunk! Ahh!
Pause, again. That was the sound of a startled Lara falling off of her bed at the sound of that sudden loud noise.
I groan as I try to lift my aching body from the floor. I look up to see a blurred vision of the twins, who are laughing hysterically at me. Brook is holding the airhorn that scared the crabapples out of me, and Bree is holding a megaphone.
"Rise and shine!" Bree announces through the megaphone. I groan in reply as I grab my glasses from the nightstand and put them on. Is it weird that I want to strangle them even more after seeing them perfectly.
Brook makes her way to the other end of my room and opens the blinds, causing me to jump back into bed and hide underneath the covers. "What the heck are you guys doing?" I yell from beneath the sheets.
"Get up Ara!" Brook shouts, "It's a nice, sunny morning!"
I stick my head out to glare at them and turn to my alarm clock. 6:00 a.m. "Why are you waking me up an hour before my alarm!" I shout.
"So we can do some morning yoga! Duh!" Bree exclaims.
"Here are your workout clothes!" Brook tells me as she throws a pair of yoga pants and a loose shirt to my face. "Now hurry up and go to downstairs once you're done." she orders.
"Time to get Illa." the twins say in unison. They shut my bedroom door and I hear the sound of the airhorn coming from Illa's bedroom and a thunk on the floor. I don't know what made my sisters so incredibly insane.
I slip my black yoga pants on and surf through my drawer for a sports bra. I then slip on the loose turquoise t-shirt and tie my hair up in a simple ponytail. I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, wash my face, then I do one last check to see if I look okay.
I rush down the stairs and head to the family room to see that my sisters are sitting down on their yoga mats. I unroll mine and sit down too.
The next thirty minutes consisted of Illa and I following the twins' lead and me almost breaking every bone in my body as I tried to hold the poses. I can't do yoga for life. After, I took a quick shower and changed into my school clothes.
I tie my hair up in a high bun and examine my outfit. Eh, at least I look decent. I'm wearing denim jeans and a loose, white t-shirt with a black sweater. I mean, I'm going to school to learn, not to make a fashion statement. I take a look at the alarm clock, 7:00.
I head back down to the kitchen and my grandmother is sitting at the table, watching me intently as I cut up some strawberries and put them in a container.
"Morning Lola Nora." I greet, smiling at her as she drinks a cup of herbal tea.
She smiles sweetly before gesturing excitedly for me to come closer. I place my bagel in the toaster then go over to my Lola.
"Apo, gumawa ka na ng Instagram para ma 'like' mo ang mga pinopost ko." she pleads. (Make an Instagram already so you can like my posts.)
"Lola naman, hindi po ako 'social' kagaya nino. Hindi ko nga alam kung paano gumawa ng ganyan." I tell her. (Grandma, I'm not social like you. I don't even know how to make one of those.)
"How about...Twitter na lang?" she suggests. (How about...a Twitter instead?)
"Lola!" I sigh, laughing. She's probably one of the only grandmothers that actually want their grandchildren to be on social media. Ever since she's made an account, she's been telling me to make one too! Of course, my sisters practically live on social media, which I don't understand.
Call me old school, but I think it feels much better to talk to people in real life than sharing your full day on social media. Something about it just feels so real.
"Okay, but you have to follow me if you do decide to make one." she says.
"Don't worry, I will." I tell her, chuckling.
I go back to the counter. I put the toasted bagel on a plate and spread some cream cheese on it. Yum! I open my phone and go to Pinterest. Ugh! Okay, I have zero social thingamabobs except two things: Pinterest and Wattpad. I'm sorry, it's only a matter of survival.
I am in love with Pinterest. I just love looking at cute pictures of all sorts of things and quotes especially. I first made a Wattpad account because my friend wrote a book and asked me to read it. Eventually, she got tired of it and deleted it. But I got so obsessed with other hilarious books!
I'm a sucker for cute shippable characters.
I finish my breakfast, drop my plate in the sink and kiss my Lola on the cheek as I say goodbye. I pick up my schoolbag, and lace my sneakers. I open and close the door, locking it and I make my way to school.
***
I go straight to the lockers, like usual. The only difference is, nobody is waiting here at Jasmine's locker. Where's the KJC? I pull out my phone and take a look at the time. I'm not early... I open the messenger and go to our group chat. The messages that were sent yesterday have not been replied to.
Me: Where are you guys?
Nobody replies. If anything, Jas always replies in the mornings. What's going on?
Me: I'm at the lockers.
Well, okay. Um, how about I just stand here and wait for them? They should be coming in a few minutes or so. I stare at my phone, pretending that I'm actually doing something when in reality I'm just avoiding human interaction.
Suddenly, I hear footsteps and I large figure shadows over me. I look up from my phone to see Xander staring down at me. And boy, does he look ugly. Ugly? Oh...I mean to say angry, but anger does make one look uglier.
"Thanks to you, I'm probably going to fail that project!" he whines like a little baby, pouting as well. Well, I thought he was going to hurt me...but he's acting like I'm a full time babysitter.
I shrug, "You should've thought of that before you waited till the last minute."
"Please! I'll do anything!" he begs. This is almost too funny. "I'll even let you go on a date with me!"
Conceited much?
"That's nice and all, but I would consider that more of a punishment than a gift." I reply.
His jaw drops like he's never been rejected. "I think you'd actually like me if you got to know me."
"Ehhh...well, I don't think so. Unlike a lot of people, I have these things called standards. One of which includes not being used for homework." I state.
A group of friends walk by and begin to snicker. Xander makes like a tomato and turns bright red. How amusing. He goes to open his mouth, searching for words but nothing comes. He opens his mouth again and this time he is actually able to form words. "Well, I must be way past your standards then."
"Whatever lets you sleep at night." I respond. It's a wonder that his big head hasn't exploded yet. Guys like him and James are the reason that I roll my eyes every 5 seconds or so.
"Whatever. I'll just get another nerd to do my homework." he states.
"Yay!" I exclaim. "I'm so glad that you came to your senses and realized that I was never planning to help you!" I shoot him a bright smile and he looks at me, annoyed.
I help people, really, but I help people learn, not cheat.
He turns to go back to his group, defeated. Well, did he expect me to give in to his blond hair and blue eyes? I mean we all give in to those handsome characters in the books, but that's not the point!
I glance at my phone, looking to see if the girls have responded. No new messages. Sucks. I walk around, trying to find some other people to go to and talk with. I end up seeing another group of friends, talking by my english class.
"Hey guys!" I greet, smiling brightly at Gabrielle, Dylan and Paige.
"Hey!" Gabrielle responds. "Lara you won't believe what we just saw on Instagram!"
"What is it?" I ask, trying to put some enthusiasm in my voice although I am anything but interested.
Dylan almost jumps as she says, "This is literally couples goals!" and shoves her phone to my face.
I take the phone and look at the picture. Aw...it's so cute! It's an adorable picture of a blonde haired girl and a guy walking down a busy street, holding hands. They're even wearing cute sunglasses!
Wait a second.
I look intently at the picture. Is that? Oh no, it can't be...can it? What the freak.
Kiera Elizabeth Jones! She went downtown without telling me! And with the Daniel-I don't know his middle name-Samuels too! Damn it, I don't know his middle name! No wonder the girl was too busy to answer my texts! I have to tell the others about this.
"Is this Kiera?" I ask, making sure.
"Yeah! Her and Daniel look so good together! Plus, she has the best fashion sense!" Gabrielle says.
"This one is even cuter!" Paige squeals, swiping to another picture.
Yeah how adorable. Logan is giving Jasmine a piggy-back ride. Woo hoo! Them being all smiley and laughy and...other stuff that I can't think of right now. Great, my friends just all hung out without me! Great! I swipe to see another picture with Carol and Mark. It looks like a stolen shot of them talking.
Did they all decide to become Instagram models or something? This is what I get for avoiding social media.
I return Dylan's phone and just in time, the warning bell rings. Thank God. I bid them goodbye and walk to english, hoping to get some answers from two, very knowledgeable boys. As I enter the english classroom, I stomp and create a scene.
"Logan Ford and Daniel Samuels!" I yell at the sight to them.
They turn to me, wide eyed, stand up and salute as if I were a commander and they were soldiers. "Sir, yes sir!" they shout back in unison.
I raise an eyebrow.
"Uh, um, uh...Ma'am, yes ma'am?" they correct themselves. Logan looks especially terrified. What? It's just boy training!
I step up to them and stare them down. As you already know, being intimidating is tough when you're a foot shorter than the one you are against. But none the less, they are intimidated alright.
"Where were you last evening of the 16th hour?" I interrogate.
"Lara, the clock only goes up to 12." Logan responds. Genius, I know. Daniel face palms and hits Logan on the back of the net. "Ow!"
"She means 4:00 you dumb*ss!" Daniel tells Logan, still face palming. I glare at Daniel for his choice of words.
Daniel sticks his hands up defensively. "I meant that in the best way possible."
"And you!" I yell, pointing at Logan. "It's ma'am to you!"
Logan pouts. "But I've called you Lara since the fifth grade!"
"Well too bad! Now, where were you?" I ask again.
"I was obviously sleeping. I mean, who's up at 4 in the morning?" Logan replies in a matter-of-fact tone. I'm not saying that he's brainless, but he isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier.
His remark earns him another hit on the back of his head from Daniel. "She meant 4 in the afternoon you dumba-I mean...unintelligible person.
"Ohhh" Logan says as he finally understands the question. "Easy! I was at home doing homework."
"And I was at the gym." Daniel adds on.
Lies. All lies. Logan? Homework? If they're going to lie, they've got to make it believable.
I play along, "So you guys didn't see my friends after school yesterday?"
They shake their heads calmly.
I go on. "'Cause I was texting them and they never replied. I thought you'd know where they were."
Logan bites his lip in anxiousness. Finally, he gives in. "Lara! I mean ma'am I am so sorry! We were with them and they didn't want you to know and I really didn't want to lie but they made us and please, please don't kill me I really want to live and I am still so young and I don't want to die! Have mercy!" He drops on his knees and fake cries.
Well then.
"As much as I enjoy seeing you like this, can I just ask why?" I question the boys.
Daniel shrugs. "Well Logan's pretty much an idiot and a lost cause so-"
I interrupt him. "I meant why did they not want to tell me?"
"I don't know." they say. This time, I know it's the truth.
Only my friends would be dumb enough to go on a top secret photoshoot and post it all over Instagram. I've been lied to and all, but couldn't they have tried secret-ing better?
Just one more facepalm.
Ahh!! Guys!! Happy Friday! Thank God for the week is finally over! I had a horrid week since I was coughing my lungs out. Lol. Anyways, how was your day? I just want to say that I appreciate all of you so so so so much! You all have given me the motivation to write and be a better writer! And to everyone that's been with me since the Prologue, thanks for not running away! Hope you liked the chapter and if you did give it a vote! And spam me with comments if you feel like it! Don't be a ghost reader! Let me know you're here!
Kisses! Wait nevermind I'm sick...
-Summer :)