Straight from the academy

10.

Whilst we are eating out lunch, I notice Leah struggling to stay awake a little bit.
"Leah?" I say chuckling slightly.
"Yeah?" She replies sleepily.
"Try to stay awake a little while longer, we just have to get home first and then you can sleep as much as you want."
"Alright." She says holding her head up with her hands.
"I can drive home, don't worry." Beth says.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, besides we want to make it home in one piece please. If you drive you'll probably fall asleep at the wheel." Beth and I both laugh.
"Alright, fine." Leah says laughing lightly too.

Shortly after, we gather our things and Beth drives us home. The car ride is quiet, but not awkward quiet. It was comfortably quiet. There was faint music although I could hardly hear it from the back seat. Beth focused on the road and Leah and I just looked out the window, staring at the scenes passing us as we drove.

10 minutes later we were home and we all walked ourselves inside. Nobody had much energy so we decided it would be good to just stick on a film. We did have everyone coming over, but they wouldn't be here till 7 so we had lots of time. Beth picked the film, I'd never heard of it or watched it before but she said it was good. Then we snuggled up on the sofa with blankets and pillows and started the movie. Leah didn't even last 5 minutes into the movie bridge she was sleep. Her head was leaning delicately on the edge of my shoulder and she was snoring ever so slightly. It was sweet at first, but after a while beth got annoyed. She wanted to wake her up but I didn't let her do it, Leah was too tired and she just needed to sleep. The whole day she'd been exhausted.

The movie was only a couple of hours so it finished quite quickly. But Beth and I decided it would be best if we started to get things ready as we had about 20 people coming over in a 3 or so hours. I slowly get up and reposition Leah so that she is laying down on her side, her head under a pillow. Then Beth and I tidy the house up a bit, before quickly popping to the shops to get some snacks and drinks. We buy crisps, pretzels and some dips and then some non alcoholic beers and ciders. We get home and lay the food out, and we put the drinks in a bucket of ice so people can just help themselves. After we have done all this, it is about 6 o'clock so I wake Leah up so that she has some time to get ready.
"Le?" I say gently shaking her shoulder.
"Yeah?" She says, her eyes still closed but they slowly flutter open.
"You need to get up now, everyone will be here soon."
"How long do I have?"
"About an hour."
"Okay" Leah stretches her arms and legs out before standing up and walking to her room. I do the same as I need to decide what to wear. I rummage through my draws and my wardrobe but I can't find anything. I look for about 5 minutes before I give up.
"I need help!" I shout from my bedroom.
2 seconds later, Beth and Leah both show up at my door.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know what to wear." I say flopping down on my bed. "I can't find anything."
"Don't be silly, there has to be something." Beth says walking in and looking through my clothes.
"We will find you something." Leah says scanning the clothes in my wardrobe.
"I don't know what's too formal and what's not formal enough." I say sighing and shrugging my shoulders.
"Its only the team, it just needs to be casual."
"What about these?" Leah says holding up a pair of black cargo pants.
"Yes, I love them and they're super comfy"
"Okay, that's a start. Now we just need a top." They look though the clothes for a few minutes before Beth shows me a small, strapless, white tank top.
"Does this work?"
"Yes! Thank you"
"No problem."
They leave to get ready theirselves but not long after she's gotten dressed Leah comes back into my room.
"Hey have you got a spare plug? Beth stole my only free one and I need straighten my hair."
"No but I was going to go to the bathroom since there are a couple in there."
"Okay thanks." Then Leah and I bring our straighteners into the bathroom and whilst we wait for them to heat up continue our makeup. As we are straightening our hair, out of the corner of the mirror I see Beth holding up her phone and taking a picture.
"Your so annoying" I say rolling my eyes. "But send it to me."
She just laughs before walking off and carrying on with whatever she was doing.

Then we all finish getting ready and DJ Leah gets the speaker like always. Then people slowly start to arrive.

Not long later, the whole house is bustling with lots of people and noise. Almost the whole team is here. We decide to play some games and sing some karaoke to entertain the night. Even though the music is very loud, I can just about hear the door bell go so I walk to open the door. But as soon as I do, someone picks me up.
"Luke?!" I say wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Hey, surprise!" He tightly holds me up by my waist and spins me around before putting me down but keeping his arms wrapped around my waist. I crash our lips together before leading him into the house and into the crowd of people.
"Hey Leah," I say walking over to her, my hand in Luke's. "Luke's here."
"Hey, you ok?" She says to him, giving him a quick hug.
"Yeah good thanks, not a bad party you've got here."
"What can we say?" She says smirking and shrugging her shoulders.
"Don't pretend you helped! Leah was sleep whilst Beth and I got everything set up" I say laughing.
"What?! No, this was all me" she says sarcastically, nodding her head. I then lead Luke over to the ice bucket and get him and myself a drink.