Be With Me

Chapter One

Rey opened her eyes. The sunlight tickled her nose and she turned over to look at her sounding alarm clock. It was 6:45 a.m., making Rey roll her eyes and throw the blanket off her and towards her feet. She slowly rolled out of bed and sat at the edge of her bed for a moment, looking out the window. After taking a deep breath she stood up and began to get ready for school. Backpack, pink cat-ear hoodie, and iPhone in hand she ran down the steps. Her adoptive father, Unkar Plott, was sitting on the couch, coffee mug in one hand and remote control in the other.

"Morning!" Rey said walking towards the kitchen.

"Mmh," he replied. Rey sighed and made herself two slices of toast with butter. She began to eat one when she heard a honk. It was Rose waiting outside in her yellow buggy. Rey grabbed her breakfast and headed out the door.

"I have practice today, so I'll be home later," she called to Unkar who just nodded and continued watching TV.

"Morning!" Rose grinned cheerfully. She was leaning out of her yellow convertible with her head resting on her perched-up arm.

"Good morning," Rey smiled back, "ready for the quiz?"

"Oh, yeah! My dad helped me all day yesterday. You?"

Rey thought about what it would be like to have a father that actually paid attention to her. She immediately discarded the thought and regret grew in her stomach. She was grateful for Unkar taking her in and providing for her. "Mh. Not really. But it'll be fine, I'm sure." She replied, walking around the car, putting her bag in the back, and sliding into the passenger seat.

"Exactly, you always manage to get like a B or something. Ready?"

"Yeah," she nodded and took out her phone to check her messages while she finished her slices of toast. A few people from school commented on her latest Instagram post to which she responded. After doing the same on TikTok she looked up to see Finn waiting at the curb in front of his house. Rose slowed down and he jumped in the backseat. He wrapped his arms around both of them and pulled them in for a hug.

"Buenos dias, mis amigas! Y'all ready for today?"

Rey smiled and knew he hadn't studied one bit. Finn was always overly cheerful when he tried covering that up. Rose gave her a knowing look, put the car in drive, and took off.

"We are," Rose said, "And by the sound of it, so are you."

"Aaah, y'know, I studied with Poe yesterday."

"And by that you mean you and Dameron FaceTimed for an hour and of that hour you guys spoke about history for not even five minutes," Rose smirked at him through the rear-view mirror.

"Ugh... yeah... pretty much." He leaned back and rested his arms over the seat. "You know me too damn well."

When they reached the school's parking lot, Poe and Kaydell were leaning on Poe's orange Jeep Wrangler 4xe already waiting for them. Rose parked in the lot next to them and the five friends greeted each other.

"So, you study as much as Finn yesterday?" Rey teased Poe. Poe gave Finn a confused look and then looked back at Rey.

"Ugh, probably equally as much, yeah." He understood.