SHATTERED

Chapter 5

I got up after I had hit the snooze button. Again. For the third time. I was half asleep when I woke up but my sleep vaporized when I saw my clock. It read 6:36 am. "Shit!" I murmured under my breath and flung myself towards my bathroom.

I got dressed in a haze. Threw on clothes which were already lying on the floor.(Did I mention my room always looked like a hurricane had just gone through it?)

I went downstairs at 6:50, hoping to catch a ride with mom but was too late as she had already left, so had my brother. The only one left was dad, but he was taking a shower right now. Guess I had to run to school again.

I grabbed some money from the careless jar and ran out the door. My school was 4 blocks away but if I kept a constant speed I might reach it by 7:30. So I started to run.

I mean really run. Not likes those girly runs you see in movies. I ran like I was in a marathon. I had almost crossed 3 blocks when I heard a faint school bell. I increased my speed as I hated to be late.

When I was safely behind the school gates, only then did I stopped. I sat down in the middle of the corridor (which was basically empty). The final bell rang indicating the starting of the first period.

My legs hurt from all the running so I kept sitting. I heard the door behind me open, but did have the strength to turn and look. Tiny steps echoed the empty corridor. They stopped right beside me.

"Are you okay? Do you need some help?" A bird-like voice asked and I instantly recognized it. "Well, thank you for being so considerate but no thank you." I aimed the reply sarcastically at her.

I got up on my own,brushed the dust off my jeans and looked Sally in the eye. I hoped she would say something so that I could show her how pissed I was. I knew I had no right being mad at her, but I couldn't help it.

"Where's the bunking spot?" She asked in her bird-like voice but with a little more confidence. "Its your second day here and you're already blowing of classes, that too the first period" I stated.

"What's the difference? Let's just pretend I have a headache and I'm going to the nurse. I have a feeling that you also won't be going to class" She was right. I could see that she wasn't a shy, timid girls like I had thought. "Ahhh.." I cried out. "What's wrong?" An expression of genuine concern on her face. "My head hurts so bad, lets go to the nurse." We both let out a hearty laugh and walked to the football ground.

We made ourselves comfortable in a small corner of the field. It was my favourite spot, as the spot almost hid you. We both didn't talk about yesterday but instead made light conversation.

The light conversation revealed that we had common interests so, it turned into a highly motivated debate to pure fanisum. Sally turned out to be a really cool person. She wrote as well as sang songs, she loved football, she could eat 8 hotdogs at one and still look like a chopstick.

She had thin, curly hair which she wore in a ponytail. She had a real fragile looking physique, with arms and legs like chopsticks. Her lips looked like she was always pouting. Her looked conveyed her to be a small, innocent and a sweet girl.

Boy, did her look mislead me. She was feisty, stubborn, witty and had a great sense of humor(mostly). She was fun to be around. The bell rang announcing the of first period. We both stood up and walked to class together.

She had american history and I had psychology. As we were about to part, she said "Let's hang after school. Wait for me by the school gate." ."Sure, but don't ditch me this time." I wanted to sound as if I was kidding but I came off as aggressive. "No, not this time. I promise and I never break my promises" she smiled and I reciprocated. We went our separate ways.

This time, I didn't feel anxious to reach the end of school. I felt happy. Contended. Like she was a friend already with whom I was gonna hang out.

The day went away smoothly with all the usual. My psychology teacher appreciating me, Actually studying in math class and snarky looks and comments from Marcy and Mia during world history.

The last period was of biology. I remembered Sally was also in it. I went to my usual seat beside Andy Ullie. "Hey" He greeted me with indifference. I hit it on his head. "What the...?" He turned towards me, his face a mixture of irritation and confusion. "That was for you not following the rules." I replied to his unfinished sentence. "Uuugghh..., you know I should never have placed that bet with you." He said while setting his hair back in place.

"Nothing you can do about it now." I gave him an evil smirk. About a week ago, me and Andy went to get frozen yogurts after school. On our way home we saw a swing set in the park, and suddenly we bet each other that who ever threw up when he was on the monkey bar would do as the other said for a whole month.

I told him he would totally lose but he didn't listen and now here he is doing what I say. He's supposed to greet me with his head bowed and pull out my chair for me when I entered the class or I'll hit him on the head.

Sally passed me a smile when she entered and I smiled back. "So, are you like buddies now?" He had definitely seen the smile exchange between me and Sally. "Not yet, but I guess we'll be soon." I replied. He shrugged and got out his book. I also took out my book and opened it to the topic we'll be studying today.

"A bunch of us are going to Burger King after school. You in?" He asked. I knew it would be our regular group, Andrew, Isabel, Alli, Andy, Daisy and me. " Can't. I'm hanging out with Sally after." He raised an eyebrow but I refused to elaborate.

Even though we were friends I knew how rumors start in my school and I really didn't wanna be in it tomorrow. Ms. Stinson entered and started with her lecture.

The class ended and I gather my stuff to leave when Ms. Stinson called me. "Miranda, I would really like to see your investigatory project in the next class, before I summit it for our inter-school research competition." I assured her I would bring it in tomorrow and hand it over first thing in the morning.

I collected my stuff from locker and walked to the school gate. I saw Sally waiting at the gate. " Hey! So where to?" I asked her. "Is there a really good café here? I would love an ice tea." We walked to the cafe only two blocks from school.

We entered The Bistro café ,ordered our drinks and found a place to sit. We both circled about the topic we really wanted to talk about, Why she ditched me yesterday? As soon as our drinks were served we got to the point.

"What happened to you yesterday?" I asked bluntly not able to hold it in anymore. " I was coming to meet you but then this girl, Marcy, stopped and told me that she was sorry about what happened and wanted to treat me as a gesture of an apology. I told her I was meeting you, she said you had already left. So, I went with her and her group." She took a deep breath before continuing.

"When we reached there, they made so much fun of me, they insulted me, picked in me and even tried to make me have an accidental wardrobe malfunction but I didn't stay long enough for that. They also told me they had lied to me about you and I felt so bad. I wanted to apologise but I didn't have your number. So here it goes, I'm sorry." She took a sip of her drink and looked at me.

I waited for her to continue but when she didn't I realised that she was finished. "That's it? That's the great apology?" I asked. "Dude, I just ditched you not stole from you. That's as good as it gets." She replied. I laughed and she joined in.

After a while I asked "What did you wanted to tell me yesterday?". "Its just this move here. Its been so stressful. And my family issues just keeps on growing and growing." I held her hand and squeezed it. "It'll be alright" I tried to assure her. "On top of all this, I miss my dad so much." ."Is your dad on a business tour or something?" I asked.
She shook her head. "He's in jail"