mine [t.z]

Chapter 3

I woke up to the chiming of my alarm clock at 6am, and that's when I knew summer was really over. I thrashed around my bed to cut off the obnoxious ringing and grab my phone. I decided to pass a little bit of time scrolling through Twitter before hopping out of bed and heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I did my usual natural makeup routine for school and grabbed my curling iron from under the sink. I quickly curled my dark hair and decided to wear it up for the day, and went back into my room. I picked out my outfit and jewelry, settling on a short sleeved white shirt and jean shorts. Before I went downstairs for breakfast, I had to take a selfie on my balcony.

Downstairs, my mom had made waffles for breakfast: a Beecher family tradition. Every single year on the first day of school, my mom makes waffles for us with whipped cream. I kissed her on the cheek as I walked by to grab a plate, and my brother was already downstairs. Johnny was definitely not the morning person of the twins, and his head was down on the table while he waited for the waffles to be finished. I took my seat at the table, but couldn't resist smacking the back of his head.

"Jesus Christ, Care. Why?" He yelled at me, covering his head with his arms in self defense.

"Rise and shine, Johnny Boy." I joked, sticking my tongue out at him while Natasha brought over our morning treat. Food was enough to wake him up though as he ate his waffles like an animal. We posed for sibling pictures out on the front porch and loaded up into the truck. I snatched the aux cord out of his hand as soon as I sat down, connecting my phone to the wire.

"I have better music. Shut up." I stated simply and he just put his hands up in surrender, because deep down he knew I was right. I scrolled through my playlists and settled on Taylor Swift, and he didn't protest. "New Romantics" blared through the speakers and we danced the entire way to school, which made the drive this early in the morning go by a lot quicker. We parked in our usual spot and waited for any of our friends to arrive. My eyes scanned the parking lot for Elena, but I knew we would be waiting on her for a while. She was the biggest morning hater I had ever met, she would sleep until 2pm every single day if you would let her.

"Place your bet on Lains, I'm saying $5 she pulls in one minute before the bell. And no cheating, don't check her location to see where she is." Johnny said to me, and I contemplated.

"Hmmm, I'm gonna say five minutes before the bell. It's the first day, she might pull it off." I said confidently, putting my faith in the hands of Elena's alarm clock and her mom screaming at her to get out of the house.

"Whoever's closer?"

"You're on."

We shook on it, and our conversation was interrupted by a knock on the window, Jack and Luke. I rolled down the window, thrilled to see both Hughes boys but particularly the youngest one.

"Dukes! How we doin' how we livin'?" I exclaimed, squeezing his cheeks through the window. He grimaced but accepted it, he knew he was everyone's baby brother.

"Hi Care, Beecher." He greeted us both, rubbing his freshly pinched cheeks.

"You are so grown up Luke, this is not allowed. You cannot be a sophomore. Nope." I laughed.

"Hey, I am not a kid anymore, Caroline. I'm getting my license and everything." He said defensively, making all of us laugh.

"Hi guys, remember me? Jack?" He said like a petulant toddler, his arms crossed as nobody had greeted him.

"Hi Rowdy." My brother said from the driver's seat with a quick salute. "Ready to get in there and see how your pranks are doing?"

"Thank you. Yes, I am." He said proudly, nodding his head before scanning the parking lot. A few of our other friends had pulled into the lot: Alex, Cole, Case, Dom, Boldy and Trevor. They were all heading over towards our cars, laughing and being absolutely obnoxious per usual. "Wait, where's Elena?" Jack asked, realizing he had parked next to her empty spot. Luke laughed under his breath as soon as his older brother asked the question, which earned him an elbow to the ribs.