We're Not Alone

Chapter 2

My alarm wakes me up from my perfect dream, I groan and hit my phone until it shuts up, wondering who the hell decided that school needs to start at 7:30. I mean come on, It's 6 a.m. right now and I'm awake. Why? I sign and roll out of bed, hearing my mom in the kitchen so I open my door and head downstairs.

"Hi, sweetie! I'm just about to head out, your Dad's still asleep, he doesn't need to be in later, his meeting was canceled so you'll probably be gone before he wakes up.My office called me and the other 2 lawyers in early for some big case, but no court today so I should be home for dinner." She finished cutting up the strawberries in front of her and put the cutting board and knife in the dishwasher "Okay, sounds good, I hope that case goes well"

"Thank you, I hope school goes well, I can't wait to hear about it" She passes by me with a kiss on the forehead, walking backwards while she points to the kitchen island "I know you're normally not hungry this early so I made a fruit salad, and let Noah know there's waffles in the oven, there enough if you want some too."I smile back at her "Thank you, Mom, drive safe, I love you!"

 She pulls the door open, and turns around with a smile "I love you too" Then closes it, leaving me alone in the kitchen.

I pour a glass of water and slide onto one of the barstools at the counter, eating some of the fruit before heading back to my room, and doing my skin care, I decide to do a little makeup, I sit on the floor in front of my mirror, a little concealer, some cloud paint blush, a natural dewy highlight, highlight the inner corners of my eye with the smallest amount of highlight possible, curl my lashes, 1 coat of mascara and a pink milky lip gloss. I pretty much look the exact same, just a little more alive.

I check the weather and decide on a pair of mom jean shorts, a cropped plain black tank top with an oversized white button down, unbuttoned. I turn to my dresser, add some small silver earrings, and decorate my hands with plenty of rings, adjusting the 2 necklaces I'm already wearing. I never take them off so I just untangle them.

Seeing as we need to leave in 20 minutes and I haven't heard a single peep from Noah's room I go knock on the door, no answer. I crack it open and see him still asleep. I shake his shoulder, and shout his name quietly into his ear, trying to not walk up to my dad

"Shit Scarlett what do you want?" he flips over, pushing his head into his pillow "Dude we need to leave in 20 minutes, get up" he scoffs "Okay? I really don't see the issue" he flips back over to face me, "What do you mean, you were sound asleep, we leave in 20, so I woke you up... the issue is that you should've been up a while ago" he sighs, an annoyed look on his face, as if he's waiting for me to understand something

"exactly, we still have 20 minutes, that's why I set my alarm for 5 minutes from now" I laugh "15 minutes to get ready?" he signs "uh yeah exactly" I roll my eyes and head to his door "mom made waffles they're in the ov-" Before I can finish he's pulled his door back open, running past me, tripping on the stairs, making it to the kitchen in record time. "why didn't you start with the waffle part" he shouts at me, his mouth full while he speaks, I laugh and head back to my room

I quickly mess with my hair, it air dried well, into slight waves, the layers and curtain bangs helping to tame the frizz and frame my face, I slip on some Converse and spray my perfume before heading to the kitchen when I find Noah with his mouth stuffed with waffles, syrup on his chin.

I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous he looks. I grab a notepad and pen and write a note for my dad telling him there's fruit in the fridge and waffles in the oven. Then I grab both our lunches from the fridge, tossing one to Noah, to which I get an incoherent thank you, before stuffing mine into my backpack.

I grab my keys, checking my phone while Noah goes to change, heading to my car once he's ready, double checking that I locked the door before we both hop in my car and I drive us to school, he's still half asleep so we don't talk on the 10-minute drive, besides him asking me to turn my music down, until we pull in the parking lot, when he asks if I could give his friends a ride back to our house after school, I agree and then we go our separate ways.

My first class of the day is English, and I let out a sigh of relief when I see the chairs aren't grouped together, they're spread out, so I don't need to worry about finding someone to sit with.

I pick a desk next to the window near the back of the room, and I make small talk with a girl named June, We've shared some classes before so as she sits down next to me, her friend taking the other closest desk, and asks how my summer was, I give a short answer and ask the same question, knowing she doesn't actually care she's just being polite. The next 2 periods are the same, single desks spread apart, no one I know well, but make some small talk anyway.

Fourth period is the last period before lunch. On my way I see someone get shoved, I can't tell who did it but I see him hit the locker and fall, his papers scattering across the floor. I know his name is Ben, we've gone to school together for years and we sat next to each other in a class a few years ago, I don't know him well but I do know he's labeled as the school nerd, but I didn't know he got picked on.

I rush over to him and kneel down to help him pick up the papers. He looks up and gives a small smile, Once we've picked them up I hand my stack to him "Here you go" I give him and smile and he takes them from me "thank you" he smiles and I stand up, Ben still kneeling while he stuffs the papers in his bag

Right at that moment a guy comes up to the 2 of us. It's Milo, a guy I've also gone to school with for a while but haven't talked to before. The only thing I know about him is that he's in our grade, and he's best friends with Ben. "What happened?" his question is directed to ben, and when he doesn't answer immediately, Milo turns his attention to me "do you do something?"

I'm taken back for a moment, not understanding what he meant, before realizing how it looks, Ben on the ground, a mess of papers in his hand, Milo probably thinks I'm the one who shoved him."No um I was on my way to class and saw he had dropped his stuff, I was just helping him clean up" his worry fades slightly, Ben now standing up next to him. Milo glances at Ben as if to double check what I said was true. "Milo she didn't do anything, she was helping" Milo offers an apologetic smile, Ben's cheeks flushing, clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable.

Milo glances at Ben then back at me, "Sorry, my bad, thanks for helping" I smile back "Don't worry about it" and turn around to head to class, I can hear Milo asking Ben what happened, and by the way he's talking about it makes it sound like this maybe wasn't the first time it happened.

I reach my classroom door, the interaction making me slightly late to class. Luckily it's biology which I actually like, and I've had the teacher before, he's super nice, so I'm not worried about him giving me any trouble. When I walk in he's still rifling through papers,the class all chatting with friends, so I go unnoticed. I look around and realize this is like the worst possible class to be late to, since instead of desks its lab tables than fit 2 people, I scan the faces, not recognizing anyone besides Max, one of Noah's Best friends who gives a small smile and turns back to his friends

There are only 2 open spots, one next to Jules, who has turned her chair completely to the side to face her friends, PRO-she would probably ignore me CON-she's an awful human being, she thinks she's better than everyone and she's said racist and homophobic things, which makes my decision easy, I walk towards the only other open spot.

It's next to a guy I recognize, he's gone to the same school as me for a few years, his name is Leo, which I only know from the couple classes I've shared with him. I know it because it's the name the teacher has to repeat twice every day, because he's always late, like everyday, this is one of the only times I've ever seen him actually be in class on time.

He's your typically wears a leather jacket, sits by himself, yet somehow everybody likes him, doesn't do work guy. He seems like a tough guy but I've seen him on multiple occasions punch a bully, or stand up for the people getting picked on, so I know he's actually a nice guy, but I definitely don't expect him to talk to me at all, which is fine.

I pull the stool out and sit down on his right side, he's leaning on the windowsill to his left. He looks up at me, with a blank expression, except for his eyes, which I can tell are full of pain. "Hi" I offer a small smile "Hey" he says completely monotone, turning back to writing something in his notebook. I was going to tell him my name but since we've been in the same school for a while it might be weird, even if he probably had no clue who I was, but he didn't seem to be in the mood for a conversation. I sigh, this might be a very long class.