Out of Time

Chapter One - Welcome Back

I honked the horn for the fifth time in front of my best friend Ella's house. It was the first day of school and obviously, she was running late.

"Can we just like, leave her?" Annabelle said from the passenger seat as she looked at me. I shook my head as I looked at her.

"Ann, she would literally kill us," I said with a sigh as I laid on the horn again.

Finally, I saw her front door open as she waved and took her sweet time getting to the car. Ella never has cared about being on time, especially on the first day. As she got into the car Annabelle sighed loudly.

"About fucking time." She said as she looked back at Ella. I laughed as I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.

"Seriously Ella, we still have to pick up Jake and he is not gonna be happy," I said to her as I put the car in drive and started down the road.

"Well, I'm sorry that I enjoy my sleep in the morning. I didn't even get to make my coffee." She said as she leaned in between the front two seats. "You know how I get without my coffee."

"Yes, we do. Maybe that's something you can work on. Or, crazy idea, wake up earlier and you can have your coffee." Annabelle said as she jokingly pushed Ella's head back.

"Can we just stop at Dunkin Briella?" Ella whined from the backseat.

"No, we can't Ella," I said with a chuckle as I pulled up in front of Jake's house, who was already waiting at the end of the driveway.

"Ok who was it?" He said as soon as he got in the car causing Annabelle and me to laugh. "God Ella, again?"

"Did you bring my coffee though?" She asked him as he sighed.

"If I say yes will you be on time for the next week?" He asked her.

"Yes, oh my gosh, please say you brought it." She begged him. I saw him take a thermos out of his backpack and hand it to her. Ella did a little happy dance as she thanked him.

Annabelle, Ella, Jake, and I have been best friends since preschool. We did literally everything together and we have such a strong bond that nothing could break. I trust them with my life, which is rare for me to say. I just don't trust them with my secrets. Not that they would tell anyone, it's just too scary to say out loud.

Anyway, every year we sign up for the same classes and every year we are put in the same classes. When we got to our first class of the day I heard my teacher sigh.

"I've got the group in this class I see." Mr. Lith said as we took a seat at the back table.

"All year long, just like last year," Annabelle said causing Mr. Lith to laugh. No, we didn't all fail, we just decided to take the AP level of his class.

"Great. I am just so thrilled." He said as he walked back out into the hallway.

One last student started to make their way into the classroom as Mr. Lith started to close the door.

"And you sir are?" He asked the new student.

"Axel Conner, sir." He said in his deep deep voice. I looked up at his face. He has black hair and bright green eyes. I felt Ella smack my arm as he turned and looked at us.

"Holy shit look at him." She whispered to me. I tried to hold in my laugh but of course, I did a deep breath out of my nose, like a snort.

Mr. Lith turned and looked at us.

"Is something funny Miss Hilm?" He said causing me to snap my attention to him.

"What?" I said as I looked over at Annabelle. "That wasn't me, it was Annabelle."

"What the fu-" She started to say as I looked at her with a smile. "Right sorry, Jake here made a great joke."

Jake stared at us with the most confused expression, his mouth was slightly opened and his eyebrows furrowed together.

"I- I didn't even say anything," Jake said as he continued to look at us.

"Right right, it wasn't that you made the joke, it's more like we're laughing with you, not at you," Ella said as leaned forward to look at him.

"But I'm not laughing," Jake said as he visibly became more confused.

"Hey Jake, just shut up," I said as he nodded and we looked back at Mr. Lith. "Proceed."

"Right so Axel, you see that empty seat with what I call the group? That's your seat. Good luck." He said as Axel made his way over to us.

He rolled his eyes at us as he sat down and the teacher started on his orientation. It only took about 30 minutes so he gave us time to talk amongst ourselves.

"I'm Ella." She said as she smiled at Axel. "That's Briella and Annabelle. Jakes at the end." She said as she pointed at all of us. "But I'm Ella."

"You're lucky she had her coffee this morning," Annabelle said to Axel.

"Do y'all just think you're so cool?" Axel said as he chuckled. I glared at him when he said this.

"Why do you have a problem with it?" I asked him.

"I kinda do actually. You're kinda obnoxious." He said as I raised my eyebrows, I heard Annabelle chuckle next to me.

"That's cute, honestly." She said as she shook her head and leaned back against her seat. "You don't have to be so big and tough."

"I'm just saying what everyone's thinking. Especially you." He said as he pointed at me.

"She doesn't even talk that much," Jake said coming to my defense. What Jake said was true, I was the least talkative in the group.

"You don't even know us," I said as I glared at Axel again.

"I don't have to, you seem like a stuck-up bitch." He said as my jaw dropped.

"You've known me for what 45 minutes? I think you're a dick." I said back as I rolled my eyes and pulled my attention to my phone.

-

The school day was flying by as we finally got to lunch. We made our way to our usual table and everyone took out their lunches I just sat there.

"Briella, come on don't do this again," Jake said as he tossed me an apple.

"Thanks, but I'm seriously not hungry," I said as I tossed the apple back to him.

"That's what you said all summer when we asked you to go get food with us," Annabelle said back as she looked at me.

"You always asked me after lunch hours. I had a big breakfast this morning." I said back, but really deep down I knew that I had been skipping meals all summer. I was slowly falling back into my pattern.

"I'm swinging by the coffee shop to work a shift during my free periods after this. I'll grab a little something then." I said to them.

"How long do you work tonight?" Ella asked me as I looked at her.

"One to close," I said back as I took a sip of my water. "My parents decided to go on a date so I'm running it by myself."

"I'll swing by after school," Ella said to me. "And I'll bring you dinner."

"Thank you Ella but I'm good," I said back to her as I grabbed my bag anticipating the bell.

When it finally rang I walked right to my car as I flexed my last two classes and I drove to the coffee shop.

My mom and dad decided to buy a coffee shop when I entered my 5th-grade year. When I turned 15 I started working and helping out and now they trust me enough to close the store and run it by myself. I honestly don't know why but they do.

It never gets super busy, just the regular customers stopping in on their way home. Of course, it allowed me to do my school work, and think. It gave me plenty of time to think.