CHAPTER FIFTEEN. ☆ RETURN TO NEVERLAND— THE WARNER LOT
"Alyson!"
A very loud snort emits from the girl, followed by a short scream as she falls out of her chair. And of course, she faceplants on the ground. "Alyson! Are you all right?" Softly groaning, the seventeen-year-old lifts up her head, a bit disoriented. She's not sure if it's because of the fall, or the fact that she just woke up. "Alyson?"
Ally makes a loud hum of acknowledgment, running her hand over her face before realizing—
Uh oh.
All at once, she gasps, springing to life. "Mrs. Parker!" She accidentally misses the chair, once again tumbling down with a yelp. A hand sprouts up, cautiously tapping the keyboard to turn the microphone on. She latches her hand onto the desk, hauling herself up. "Mrs. Parker I am so sorry, I was just—"
"Sleeping through my class again?" The middle-aged woman finished with an expectant look, eyebrow arched. Ally inhales deeply. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She leans into her palm. Mrs. Parker's brows dip down a bit. "Alyson, is everything okay? This is the ninth time this has happened." She states.
Ally nods with a small hum. "Mm-hm, yeah, I've just been having trouble sleeping recently." She technically isn't lying, sleep didn't seem to be an option recently. Mrs. Parker folds her hands together. "I understand, I really do. This year's been..." She drifts off for a moment. "Difficult to say the least." She temporizes.
"So if you ever need or want to talk then my door is always open," she pauses. "Or my meeting room is." Ally chuckles breathlessly. "Thank you, Mrs. Parker. Have a good day." She places her hand on the mouse. "You too." With that, she leaves.
Ally puffs out a breath of air, allowing herself to collapse in her chair. "Tomorrow's another day." She breathes out, pushing herself up. As she goes to retreat to her bed, however, her phone lights up with a small buzz from the nightstand.
Mona Lisa:
Who's ready for graduation?!
Graduation— a word Ally found herself avoiding as much as she could. It was when she got her acceptance letter back from Yale that she realized something. Everything was about to change. Mona had reassured her countless times that it would be all right, but no matter what, Ally couldn't shake the fear and anxiety.
It was all happening so fast. Too fast. One minute she's preparing for a math test, the next she's preparing for adulthood. But she can't be an adult! She's not ready yet. Her life is perfectly fine now, why can't it stay that way?
Why can't time just stop?
Ally releases a slightly disgruntled sigh, hovering her fingers over the keyboard, pondering on what to type. Eventually, she just ended up turning her phone off and setting it back down. She'd text her back later when she figured out what to write.
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Yawning, Ally lazily began to make her way down the stairs. Hearing her daughter's footsteps, Mila glances up from her crossword puzzle. She gasps dramatically. "It's alive! Alive!" The woman theatrically drew out.
As Ally goes to retort, she yelps, misstepping, and tumbles down the rest of the stairs. It wasn't much though, but it still definitely hurt. "Owie." It's times like these she wishes she were back to being a cartoon.
