"Helaina! Why aren't you awake yet? It's almost time for you to leave for school!"
My eyes shoot open, and I sit straight up. My mom is standing in the doorway, staring at me. I turn to look at my phone on my bedside table and press the home button. The screen lights up, and I look at the time. It's 7:05. I have to leave to get Julia in ten minutes.
"Shit!" I yell, jumping up out of bed.
"Watch your language! I don't want Ava repeating anything she hears at home when she's at school. She's already gotten in trouble twice in the last month; I can't have it become three." Mom lectures me. I ignore her, rushing over to my closet and pulling out the first thing I lay my eyes on.
I jump out of my sleeping shorts and step into a pair of black leggings. I pull my sleeping shirt over my head and quickly put on a bra. I grab an olive green cropped halter top and throw it on over my head. I toss on a light jean jacket and slip my feet into a pair of black combat boots. When I rush over to my phone, I see only five minutes have passed. I still have another five minutes to leave for Julia. I grab my phone and charger, shoving them into my pocket in my book bag and sling it over my shoulder. I grab my makeup bag before leaving my room and rush down the stairs. I run into the kitchen and grab a water bottle.
"Bye Mom! Love you!" I exclaim, throwing open the side door and shutting it behind me. I walk over to my Jeep and unlock the door, sliding into the drivers seat. I toss my bag onto the back seat and shut the door, putting the key into the ignition and pulling out of the driveway.
I sigh in relief, looking over at the time on the radio and seeing that I'm right on time. I don't know how I managed to get ready so quickly, but I'm just thankful that I did. I turn the volume up on the radio, singing along to the songs until I reach Julia's house. When I pull up front, I don't even have to beep because the second I pull up, she's out the front door and heading for my car.
"Hey," she says.
"Oh my God, you would not believe the morning I just had." I say as I begin to pull away.
"What happened?" she asks.
"All of a sudden my mom comes in my room and is yelling at me to get up. I look at my phone and it was already five after seven. I guess my alarm never went off for some reason, and I somehow got dressed in five minutes. I didn't have time to do my makeup though, but I have gym first so I just brought my makeup bag with me to do it in the locker room." I explain.
"Really? I've never seen you without makeup before, but I never would've guessed you don't have any on. You're so lucky; you're one of those people who looks flawless without any on." Julia compliments me, and I blush. "I, on the other hand, look like a crack addict if I don't put any on." she jokes, and we both burst out laughing.
"Don't say that. You're the prettiest person I know." I assure her, and she beams.
"Thanks." she says, looking at her reflection in the mirror. She pulls out a tube of liquid lipstick and quickly touches up her lips before turning to me. "I was talking to Carson last night and he said he heard there's a lot of people going tonight."
"Really? Does he know how many?" I ask. The light in front of me turns from orange to red, and I slow the car down before coming to a stop.
"I don't know, he just said it's going to be packed so we should probably get there about half an hour after it starts. This way, we won't be too early but we won't miss anything either. Plus, it'll give everyone a chance to see how good we look." Julia says with a little smirk. The light turns green, and we start moving again.
"Why do you care what anyone else thinks if you have Carson?" I ask. "It's not like you have anyone else to impress besides him."
She shrugs.
"I like everyone else to know what they're missing. It keeps the boys and their girlfriends on their toes." Julia explains, and I nod. "It also gives Carson a little incentive. It reminds him of what he'll lose if he disrespects me and I dump him."
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" I ask, and she shrugs again.
"I guess, but he deserves it. He cheated on his last girlfriend, and I want to make sure that he knows he'll be ruined if he ever does that to me." Julia says, her tone changing. I know she's always had a fear that Carson would cheat on her because of his past.
"Don't worry, he never would. You have him wrapped around your finger." I ensure her as I pull into the school parking lot. I park in our usual spot and turn off the car. I pull out the key and reach around, grabbing my bag off the back seat. "Let's go. The bell is going to go off soon, and I can't get marked as late again."
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The day moves dreadfully slow. With only four classes a day, each an hour and twenty minutes long, each class feels longer than the next. By the time the bell rings for lunch, I feel as though I've aged twenty years and can hardly remember a time when I wasn't entrapped in this hellhole of a school.
I stop by my locker for the first time all day, dropping off my makeup bag and putting away books for classes that I don't have homework for. When I shut my locker, I turn to see Carson and Julia walking towards me. His right arm is draped around her, holding tightly onto her shoulder as they walk. Julia waves to me, and I wave back, walking over to them. We begin walking in the opposite direction, heading outside to the lunch tables that Juniors and Senior get the lunch privilege of eating at.
"Hey Carson," I say.
"Hey Helaina, you're coming tonight right?" he asks me, and I nod.
"Yup, I'm going with Julia." I say. We push open the double doors and step outside into the warm seventy-degree air. My whole body immediately warms up, and I embrace the warmth of the late-April sunlight. We head in the direction of our table, and I see our usual group of friends are already there.
"Hey guys." I say, sliding onto the seat next to our friend Charlotte. Julia sits opposite of me, with Carson at her side. Next to Carson are our friends Ethan and Mason, and next to Charlotte are Kennedy and Ben.
"Hey Helaina." a few of them chime back.
"Is everyone going tonight to Carsons?" Kennedy asks, and the table nods.
"Woah, you're actually going to a party for once Helaina?" Mason teases, and I laugh and nod.
"I know right, crazy isn't it?" I joke back.
"Babe, who's going tonight that you know of?" Julia asks Carson, looking up at him. I try and stop myself from cringing at what she just called him; I've never been a fan of pet names.
"The eight of us, Tyson, Evelyn, Oliver. Um, Nicole and Derrick. I don't know, there's a lot of people going." Carson replies, taking a sip out of his water bottle. "If I said everyone, we could be here for a while."
"Derrick and Nicole are going? Great." Charlotte groans beside me. "Carson, can't you just tell them they can't come?"
"You've been broken up with Derrick for seven months now, Char. You need to get over him already." Kennedy tells her, taking a bite out of an apple.
"Yeah seriously. You can't just expect Carson to tell his friend he can't come because he has a new girlfriend." Julia says
"I know, it just sucks. Nicole is such a bitch. The whole time Derrick and I were dating, she would constantly flirt with him right in front of me, but he would always says she's 'just a friend'. God, doesn't she have any self-respect?" Charlotte groans.
"People like her don't have any self-confidence. That's why they feel the need to go after someone who's already taken." I say in attempt to comfort her. Across from me, I see Julia shift uncomfortably under Carson's arm. He leans in to kiss her, and she doesn't turn away from him, but she pulls away quickly. He didn't hear what I just said, but it's obvious that Julia did.
The rest of lunch, Julia remains quiet. Despite all of the talk about the party, which would normally excite her and have her eagerly engaging in the conversation, she remains quiet and just takes small bites of her food and looks down at her phone. Even when Carson attempts to ask her what's wrong, she just shrugs him off.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asks, leaning in so only she can hear. He isn't quite enough though, because I can still make out what's being said.
"Nothing." she replies, still looking down at her phone.
"Are you sure?" Carson asks, not looking satisfied with her response.
"Yeah, I'm just tired." Julia says.
"Okay." he says and leans in to kiss her again. This time, she moves her head so that he misses her lips and instead kisses her cheek.
"Carson, I said I'm tired." she repeats. I watch as his facial expression changes from concerned to annoyed. His jaw tightens up and he leans away from her, pulling away his arm so that it's no longer around her.
"Yeah, whatever." he says and looks away.
The bell rings a few minutes later, and Julia gets up immediately, walking away without bothering to wait for anyone else. A few people share looks, but no one says anything until Carson looks over at me.
"Helaina, what's Julia's problem? Why is she being so bitchy?" he asks, and I can hear the anger in his voice. My heart drops, and I begin to chew on my bottom lip out of nervousness.
"I don't know, I don't think she got a lot of sleep last night. We took a test yesterday in physics, and we get our grades back today so I think she's just stressed out about that. She didn't seem happy with how she did yesterday after class." I lie, changing what happened to me and making it so that Carson and Julia don't fight even more. His expression changes, and his face softens a little.
"Why wouldn't she just tell me that? Now she's going to be pissed at me for acting like an ass..." he says as we step inside in the building.
"No!" I yell a little too loudly and quickly. He looks at me in confusion, and I clear my throat. "No, don't worry. I'll talk to her and straighten everything out. She's not going to be mad, she's just stressed about her grades. She'll be fine tonight at the party, I promise." I assure him, and he nods.
"Okay, thanks Helaina. See you tonight." he says.
"Bye Carson." I say, and walk down the hallway in the direction of the science wing. I step inside the classroom and immediately make my way over to Julia's desk. She looks up at me but doesn't say a word.
"Julia, I'm so sorry if what I said to Charlotte upset you. I was just trying to make her feel better, and I forgot about the whole situation with you and Carson, and how cheating is a touchy subject. I spoke to Carson and told him you were just stressed out about the physics test from yesterday, which obviously wasn't true, but he bought it. He felt bad for yelling at you, but I told him it's fine and that everything is going to be alright between you two." I ramble. When I finally inhale, I gasp for air and try to catch my breath.
"Helaina, it's fine. I know you didn't say that to intentionally hurt me, it just caught me off guard and I got upset. I'm fine now. Thanks for helping with Carson, too." Julia says with a smile. I smile back and nod. Before I have the chance to say anything else, the bell rings and cuts me off.
"Helaina, please find your way to your seat." Mrs. Hernandez says. I nod and walk to my desk, putting my bag down on the ground and sliding onto the chair. "I'm going to pass back your tests from yesterday, and along with that I will be giving out the papers for today's lab." A few people groan. "Glad to hear such enthusiasm about your education." Mrs. Hernandez begins to walk around, handing back tests. Every time she passes me, my heart stops. "After your tests are given back, I'm going to announce the pairs you'll be working in today. No you may not switch partners, so don't interrupt me to ask when I'm talking."
My nerves grow, knowing she won't place me with Julia. Every time we work together for a lab, something either breaks or we both goof off and end up failing the lab because we run out of time to finish it. When Mrs. Hernandez walks up to me and puts my test down, my heart practically stops. I flip it over to see the grade written on the top in red ink, circled. 56 is written, and my heart sinks in my chest. I glance across the room and see Julia looking down at her own test, smiling to herself.
"At least one of us did well." I think to myself.
"Okay, time for partners. I'm going to write them on the board, along with what lab table you're assigned to." Mrs. Hernandez announces. After a minute of writing, I look up to the board and read her messy handwriting.
Frank and Rylie- Table 4
Olivia and Thomas- Table 1
Liam and Julia- Table 9
I look over to Julia, and she catches my eye. We both frown, but neither of us are surprised. We both saw this coming.
Kyle and Madison- Table 3
James and Isabelle- Table 2
I keep reading, but don't see my name. I keep scanning the board until I reach the bottom two rows.
Clara and Brianna- Table 6
Helaina and Shawn- Table 5.