April 10th (Leia's Perspective)
I had school so I had to get up and get ready for the day.
"Morning sweetheart." Mommy took off the covers and I stretched.
"Morning." She smiled at me as I went down the hall to go and brush my teeth.
"Baby girl, don't forget to come back and make your bed. I'm going to leave out your clothes for school and get your breakfast ready. What do you want love?"
"Avocado toast with an egg. But not a runny egg. Fried one."
"Alright, princess. Hurry, we don't want to be late." Sometimes, I don't really like that I'm in the basement, but sometimes it's cool because I get more privacy. I brushed my teeth for two whole minutes and then put on my clothes! It was jeans and my horsey shirt. Then I made my bed and went upstairs.
"Morning Lei."
"Morning Bella." Bella's my big sister. She's always doing something. She likes to text on her phone and play with me. I love it when we play together in the backyard.
"Leia, come and eat your breakfast."
"Mom, I'm about to leave."
"Alright, Bella. Stay safe. Text me when you get to school." I ate my toast quietly and Mommy smiled at me again.
"Is it Yummy?" I nodded and finished. I felt bored. I wish I had something to do. Mommy put my plate in the dishwasher and I went to go put on my jacket.
"You're being awfully quiet Mija." Sometimes in the morning, I feel so bored that I don't even want to go to school. Mommy put on her jacket and got ready for work.
"Lei? What's wrong sweetheart?" She asked as we went to the car garage. I shook my head and looked out of the window.
"If nothing was wrong you'd be talking like normal." I played with my hands as Mommy drove and counted the cars.
"Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"I don't want to go to school today."
"Why not?!" Mommy pulled the car over and looked at me.
"Because I don't want to go to school."
"That doesn't answer my question. What is going on, why aren't your happy right now?"
"I'm bored and annoyed."
"Annoyed why?"
"Because of everything."
"What is everything?"
"Everything." She continued to drive and sighed.
"We can continue this conversation when you feel like speaking like a big girl."
"I don't want to continue this conversation ever again." We were right in front of the school and I was just annoyed to even have to go there! I wanted to go back home.
"I don't want to go Mom!"
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Trinity School, (9:15 AM) (Bella's Perspective)
Today, Jake, Hannah, Kylie, Penelope, Brayden, Axel, Hilary, Jessica, and I decided to skip class. Because, why not? You only live once. It was near the end of 2nd period and we were planning out how third would go. The girls would meet in the girls' bathroom on the second floor, and the boys would meet on the third. We were going to stay there until the late bell rung and then go hide in this hangout spot Sophia told me about.
"Alright, class you are dismissed! Pages 36-47 for homework! Answer the five questions at the bottom. Bella?" I turned around and looked at my English teacher who motioned first me to come by her desk.
"Is everything alright? You seem extra fidgety today?"
"Everything's alright. I'm just hyper, I guess."
"Alright, just making sure." I smiled and rushed off to the bathroom. What the hell?
"Just in time Bell, what happened?"
"She held me back to ask why I was so fidgety. Whatever. Um, what time is it?"
"9:37."
"Perfect. We're late."
"I'm not going to lie, this is kind of fun."
"Kind of?! This is really fun."
"Hey, guys! You know the seniors like to go out for breakfast and stuff. How about we get them to buy us something."
"How about we just go with them?!"
"That doesn't sound too great. We'd get in a bit too much trouble. Let's go meet with the boys." We split up and went to meet with them in the library in sections so it wouldn't look too suspicious. We were hiding so that we wouldn't be seen.
"Well, we have to be quiet. We can stay here for a bit, but what are we going to do after?"
"We can go to the lounge, grab a bite to eat." With my school, if you don't come late, you're allowed to go off campus for lunch. Lunch was 5th period. So we had two periods till we could leave. That is if we weren't caught skipping. What I've realized about skipping is that you don't get in much trouble the first time. So even if we were caught, I think we'd be just fine.
"Let's leave now."
"And go where?" Axel asked.
"We can just walk around for a bit, but we have to split up. I'll meet you by staircase 6."
"Okay groups."
"I wanna be with Jake," I said quietly.
"Alright, Bella, Hannah, Penelope, Jake, Axel."
"Cool." And we were off. It gave us a chance to talk together.
"It's been a while since we were grouped off like this." Axel pointed out.
"It really has."
"So guys, are we hanging out after school today?"
"Well, duh! I kind of want ice cream."
"How about we go somewhere different?" I proposed.
"Where?"
"Bella-" Was all I heard from the loudspeaker. I knew it wasn't good.
"Shit, they've realized! Okay, bathrooms, now!"
"Isn't that where they're going to freaking check first?!"
"Damn. I'm stupid. She's right."
"Lounge?"
"Library?"
"Uhhh, I don't know where we're going but the hallway is a mess right now! Let's just mix in with the crowd until we figure out what the hell we're going to do." Hannah said quietly.
"Why are you so bossy?!" Jake joked.
"It's an older sister thing. Gotta learn to take charge every once and a while." We giggled and I had an idea.
"Hey, you guys know that room behind the cafeteria? Why don't we hide there for a while?"
"That's not a bad idea."
"Tell everyone else to meet us there. This is going to be good."
"Bet."
**********
Lunch With Amanda and Kat (East 49th Street) (Olivia's Perspective)
"Oh, my word."
"What Liv?"
"I'm scrolling through my camera roll. Look at Bella. She's so precious."
"Awww!"
"This was when I knew I wanted to adopt her. She was so silly that day."
"How precious!"
"Speaking of pictures, when's the last time we've all come together to take a nice picture?"
"Who the hell even knows."
"We need to all go out some time. Kids included, and just catch up."
"How about over the summer, we all go upstate for the weekend and just hang out."
"That sounds just beautiful." I took a bite of my salad and continued to talk about numerous things. The case, our families, memories. I was really looking forward to creating more memories with everyone.
"That's weird."
"What's weird?"
"Bella hasn't texted me. She did Lala texts me this time every day."
"Maybe she forgot," Kat said, in an attempt to calm me down.
"She never forgets." My phone soon rang and something told me it wasn't good news. I answered and I couldn't believe the words coming out of the Assistant Principal's mouth.
"She what-" Amanda widened her eyes and I was just shocked.
"I will definitely deal with her after school today."
"You haven't located her? That doesn't make any sense... Okay. Alright."
"What's going on?"
"Bella's cutting class, and not just her. Her friends also. I just don't get it. They're all amazing kids, what would possess them to cut class. And not even just one, two periods of class. She's in so much trouble when she gets home today."
"That's so unlike Bella to skip class. Did she skip with Jake?"
"Jake?" I said, confused about what Amanda and Kat were talking about.
"Who's Jake?" I asked. I've never heard of this boy before, am I missing something?!
To be continued-