The Reclamation

15

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! 

I'm jolted awake by my alarm. I can't find the strength to open my eyes as my hand feels for my phone. I pat down my comforter in the direction of the noise until my fingers land on something cold and smooth. I grab for it, but it's too big for my hand to wrap around. I crack one eye to try to make sense of the object under my palm only to see my open laptop. I slide it closer to me and spin it around so I can see the screen. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and look down at the laptop to see a mess of pillows covered in long blond locks.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

My phone continues adamantly. I search around for the source of the noise once again. My hand finally catches the culprit and I silence the alarm. My phone reads 6:25 a.m. I sigh in aggravation at the idea of starting my day. But instead of sliding out of bed to beat Millie to the bathroom, I pull the laptop onto the pillow next to me and stare up at the screen. Mia and I fell asleep on FaceTime again. I tap on the trackpad to unmute my screen now that my alarm is off. My favorite part about FaceTiming her before bed is that she's the first thing I see when I wake up. I used to set my alarm for 6:45, but Mia sets hers for 6:30, so I started setting mine a few minutes earlier and I mute myself before I fall asleep so I don't wake her up. I love the five minutes I have in the mornings to quietly enjoy her presence.

I study the screen, making out a portion of her shirt sleeve and her ear. Her features shyly peek out from under the messy golden locks splayed all over her mauve pillowcase. My eyes fight to close and I give in, contented in her presence. I drift off for the remaining four minutes until Mia's alarm wakes both of us up.

My eyes pop open again, and I'm greeted by Mia's confused grimace. She always has the same look on her face when she wakes up, it's as if she's taking her alarm as a personal attack. She starts feeling around for her phone with her eyes closed, much like I had done five minutes prior. She finds the phone, lifts it close to her face, and turns the alarm off. Her hands fall back onto the bed as she lets out a defeated groan. Her head slowly raises and she turns to the laptop. Mia sees me, and her confused grimace softens into a groggy smile.

"Good morning," I greet her.

"Morning," she replies. She stretches her arms above her head and scrunches up her face, then releases in a sigh. Mia grabs her phone to scroll through her notifications, and I do the same. A quick scroll through Instagram yields practically nothing. Pointless selfies, depressing news, a cute dog video, a couple ads. Just when I think I'm going to be caught up though, a familiar face finds its way under my thumb.

Nick stares up at me from my phone. He is frozen in time, standing on a stage in front of a backdrop that says March For Our Lives, passionately speaking into a microphone. In his left hand is a sign that says "My life is worth more than your gun". I glance down at the caption that reads, "Thank you to March For Our Lives for making me a keynote speaker for this event. Thank you to Madison, Wisconsin for showing us love and support as we walked through your beautiful city. And most importantly, thank you to everyone that came out to help us protest gun violence. Every step, no matter how small, brings us closer to a world we can live in."

So that's where Nick has been.

He hasn't been avoiding me at school. He's been in Madison the last few days. I'm relieved. My brain had been going to the craziest places, saying that he dropped our class or switched schools to get away from me. He's just preoccupied with organizing a protest that I had no clue about.