TROUBLE // Jemma

Chapter 12: The Trip (Part 1)

Emma

This is it, it's Thursday.

I'm being so paranoid right now. I'm awake at five in the morning. Wait, is that still considered as paranoia? I'm supposed to get to school before seven so...

Wait, I'll just go back to sleep.

~~~~~

Beep. Beep. Beep.

There goes my freaking alarm. I roll to the side of my bed and took a glimpse at the time; it was already six-thirty.

Shoot, I overslept.

I quickly rolled off of my bed and ran to the kitchen. On my way, I accidentally hit the corner of the wall with my shoulder so I had to cope with the pain and cringe while running. On the dining table, there laid two different papers.

I picked the smaller one up. The sides of it were torn apart which made it seem like it was ripped from a notebook. The letter said:

Emma,
I left early today since I had to re-check the school trip's itinerary and make sure it's all set for today. Make sure you have breakfast before you leave, sweetie. And don't be late, you don't want to be left behind by the bus!

Dad.

I put it back in where I got it and read the other note. This note was written in a clean white paper, and its sides weren't torn, which means it wasn't just ripped out of an old notebook like Dad's letter.

Good morning, princess. I stopped by earlier today but figured that you were still sleeping, and that I didn't want to intrude. Hope you sleeped well, by the way. Oh, and in addition, I prepared a special meal for you. I know it's not here in the table right now but just say my name and it'll appear.

See you in school today. <3

I put the letter back to the wooden table and thought. Who would do something as sweet as-

"Jax," I said.

No one does this to me other than him. Even if we aren't together right now, he's just as sweet as he was when we were dating.

Poof, a plate of freshly made waffles appeared on the table, along with a cup of coffee. They were still hot, as if they were just cooked right this second.

It took me ten minutes to finish the meal so I had fifteen to twenty minutes left before the bus leaves. I quickly casted a spell to get me in my school uniform and another to pack my stuff.

Then, I tele-transported into the school's girls' bathroom, so I wouldn't be seen poofing out of nowhere, and rushed to the gym area. Luckily, I was just in time for my name to be called for attendance.

"Black, Mia and Cruz, Andrea," the teacher called.

"Here," the two answered. Andi was quite annoyed as she was called out as Andrea. However, Mia couldn't resist laughing... even just a bit.

"Novoa, Jax and Alonso, Emma," the teacher called. I ran to Jax's side at the near back of the room and answered with him, "Here."

When I answered, Jax was surprised to see me, and so was Andi & Mia. They were at the right side of the room, near the exit door.

I slipped my phone out of my pocket and opened Spotify as we walked to the bus in two lines. I'm probably going to sleep in through the whole bus ride.

As soon as we hopped on the bus, I found out that even our seating was even pre-arranged for us. Great. And once I got to our seat, I found out that Mia and Andi were seated at the third-to-the-last row, right side seats, that Jax and I sat at the second-to-the-last row, left side seats, and that the Panthers sat right behind us - at the last row.

I'd honestly prefer them to seat at the right side of our seat, than to be in the front right.

As soon as we placed our bag in the overhead bin, Jax and I suddenly stopped. "Wanna take the window seat?" he asked. I nodded.

When I sat down, I immediately I plugged in my earphones into my phone and slipped the earbuds into my ears. I leaned my head into the glass window and watched the other vehicles move along.

Oh, who am I kidding? It's traffic.

I turned my attention back to Jax who was adorably sleeping with his earphones plugged into his ears and his phone hidden under in his leather jacket.

Oh, and just because I said adorable, it doesn't mean I have a crush on him. You can call a dog adorable, but does that mean you actually have a crush on the dog? Apparently not.

I was browsing more songs on my phone until it buzzed. Andi was calling me. Wait, she's just a few seats away from me. She could have just called me in person.

"Hey, Andi," I gloomily answered over the phone.

In less than half a second, she immediately asked, "Yeah, how's life?"

By that, I knew that they actually meant, "What's it like being paired with your ex-boyfriend so far?" because she, along with Mia, expected things to be awkward or dramatical... or overly romantic.

"He's asleep," I said in a straight tone, "Which means you could have just called me in person."

"Geez, someone's sassy today." Andi remarked.

I joked, "I guess the girls behind me contaminated me with their disease."

"Didn't know that sassiness could be contagious," she joked, "If fear was contagious, I'd be calling you birdwoman later on."

She added, "Oh, and did you bring duct tape?"

"No, why?"

"Too bad. You'll need it."

"What for?"

"When you go through the birds section in the zoo later. Maybe Jax will start screaming." We laughed.

I heard Jax groan and say, "I might have been half asleep but I still heard that."

Author's Note:
The holy orange Publish button was just too tempting. It was hard not to press it. But hey, it's an advantage for both of us - the readers can read this chapter four to five days earlier than scheduled and I can stop stopping myself from pushing that orange publish button.

Oh, and also, I attached a picture to this chapter. If you didn't see it yet, it's a pic of Sophie, Katie, Maddie, Diego, Jax, Emma, Mia, and Andi in Miami Zoo - and no, it isn't real. I edited the cast picture and removed Daniel (Nick) from it. It took some time though, and it's quite obvious that it's photoshopped.

Anyways, I might start publishing some bonus chapters that will only be available to my followers. I'm still thinking about it though, and it can pop up anytime. These bonus chapters are chapters that fit in the middle of two other chapters, like a deleted/bonus scene of an episode. (Take it as an example.)

Tell me what you think of the idea!