Fall for me

Chapter one

Birds, I hear birds chirping. My eyes haven't opened yet and the only thing my body can take in, are birds chirping. I move my legs side to side trying to regain my comfortability. Still birds, but there's something else. A whooshing sound, in the background. Kind of like waves; or rushing water. My chest starts tightening as I open my eyes and look at my phone sitting on my nightstand. 5:13a.m. My alarm is going to go off in two minutes, of course. My body is programmed into waking up at this time, I don't know why I still waste my time setting the alarm. I reach over and turn off the alarm before the gut wrenching sounds echo through my head for the rest of the day.
I pull my mid length hair into a clip and hop into the shower. I close my eyes and let the steaming hot water run over my face, and the sound of the crashing water starts bouncing around my head. My breathing increases as I grip the walls trying to keep myself upright. I don't know why the sound of water just started making me freak out but it gives me chills trying to remember why. I open my eyes and stare at the water coming out of the shower head, nothing seems different, only me. I quickly wash my face and body and get out. I dress in the same thing I always dress in for school, black leggings and a slightly oversized crewneck sweatshirt. I look into my closet at my shoes as if deciding what pair to wear, when I know that I'm going to wear my grey Hey Dude's.
I take the clip out of my hair and curl the length of it and run a wide toothed comb through it. I put on tinted sunscreen, a little mascara, and a little blush. Same as everyday, but something feels different. I look around my bathroom counter but nothing seems off. Finally my eyes land on myself in the mirror and it finally clicks. I bend down by the trashcan and pick up my tinted lip oil that dropped in the middle of the night when I came to use the restroom. I glide it across my lips and toss it in my purse, along with my phone and my vape. I hardly use my vape, I just get really anxious sometimes and hitting it helps. Deep breathing and all that.
I make my way up the stairs just as my mom calls my name. "Erin, time for school." I turn the corner to the kitchen just as she finishes. "Yeah, I know mom. Can't be late again." I say with a wide smile stretched across my face. "Seriously Erin, you can't be late again. I know it's your senior year, trust me I get it. You only have a few months left." She says while pouring herself a cup of coffee in a to go cup. "I will be home late, so your dad will cover dinner okay?" Before I can get a word in, the front door slams closed and she is gone. This is how every morning goes, my dad leaves for work at around 4:45 to 5a.m. every morning and my mom rushes out the door at roughly 6a.m. everyday. Looking around at the mess around my kitchen I decide to just pour a glass of orange juice and eat a banana. By the time I'm finished, it's time to go.
I pull up to Tristan's house and she and Charli are waiting in the driveway. Tristan gets a big smile on her face as she opens the passenger door and hops in, as Charli gets in the back. Tristan immediately hooks her phone up to the aux and plays soft music until we get to school. It's kind of an unsaid rule. In the morning nobody talks, we play light music until we get to school. On the way home, we roll all the windows down and have the music up as loud as it can go. I pull up next to Court's car and everyone fizzles out. Lindsey lives two streets away from Court so she picks her up and drops her off after school. Kind of like a friend carpool. As we're all getting out of the car, Stiles and his friends pull up next to me.
Landon, Chase, and Stiles pile out of the car and Tristian jumps into Landon's arms and gives him a kiss. They've been together the longest, since freshman year. Chase lowers his head and walks to Charli and kisses her forehead, they've been together for almost 2 years now. Lindsey, Court, and I are all single. But Court has been talking to Stiles' other friend Auggie for a few months now. Tristan has been trying to get me to start talking to Stiles since like 5th grade, saying he's been in love with me since. However the only thing he ever talks to me about is homework and our parents working together. We all have our first period together so we make our way into class.
The day goes by as slowly as the trickling water that has been echoing inside my head since I woke up this morning. Always lurking in the background but always there. I get to my car before anyone else so I sit on the trunk of my car and wait for the girls to get here. Landon and Chase make their way out and they're talking about some party happening tonight, but I can only hear every other word. "What are you guys talking about over there?" I say as Tristan comes walking toward us. She slides in front of Landon as he answers, "Chase's older brother is throwing a party tonight. We were debating whether to go or not." "Oh we're most definitely going!" Tristan chimes in. "Going where?" Stiles chimes in as he makes his way up to us. "Apparently a party." I say this with a smile on my face, because everytime I talk to him he gets flustered and doesn't know how to respond. " Oh, uh. A part-" he drops all of his books and the open water bottle he was holding. The water bottle bounces off the falling books and splatters water all over the front of his pants. "Fuck!" he says under his breath while turning his back to me.
"Damn dude what happened to you?" Court says as she and Lindsey make their way to her car without stopping. "Oh, you know, I just couldn't hold it." Stiles says with sarcasm thrown in. Pointing at the ground where all the evidence is, " What does it look like happened." Court rolls her eyes and sets her books in her backseat. "So we are definitely going to this party!" Tristan says with joy in her bright blue eyes. "What? What party? Lindsey says while looking down at her phone. "Please tell me you aren't talking about Raken's party." Stiles blurts out with a big puff of air as he finishes picking up his books. "Why, what's wrong with Raken's parties?" Chase says with a bit of defense in his voice. "Nothing, I'm just saying he doesn't exactly hang with the best crowd. He also scares me." says Stiles. Everyone laughs and Stiles lowers his head. "Well, he is a few years older than us, and I heard he was abusive to his last girlfriend." Courtney says with a serious look on her face. Everyone's laughing halts as Chase speaks up, "What does that have to do with a party? That's a lie anyway, he never dates." Charli nudges him with her elbow and gives him a disgusted look.
"Well, what do you think Erin? You're the most level headed one out of all of us." Landon says with a smirk on his face. What do I think? Normally nobody ever asks me what I think about any plans. I look around my group of friends and almost everyone has a hopeful look on their face. "Well, why not I guess. I mean, we can all make our own decisions once we're there. As long as we don't do anything we don't want to, we'll be fine." I say and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in.
"Okay, that settles it then. We're going." Chase says with a victory smile on his face. I turn toward the girls who have all migrated towards our cars. "Does everyone just want to meet at my house to get ready?" I say while starting my car. They agree to meet at my house around five, and we go our separate ways.
At 4:45 everyone is already at my house. Tristan is laying across my bed, Charli is sitting in my hammock chair, and Lindsey and Court are sprawled across my floor. There's a knock at my bedroom door, as I open my mouth to speak my dad does first. "Everyone decent? I have pizza." Of course that's what my dad decided on for dinner, his favorite. I open my door and give him a big smile, " Thanks dad, I love you." I say as I grab the pizza from his hands. "I love you too pumpkin, what is your plan for tonight anyway?" I look back at the girls and smile. "Oh, we're going to go down to the river and take a few pictures to post and then we're going to crash at Tristans. Is that okay?" He looks around the room and smiles at all my friends, "Yeah of course baby. Have fun and be careful. Call me when you're on your way to Tristans so I know you made it safe, okay?" I smile and nod as my dad turns and walks away.
Once I shut my door and turn to look at my friends they all burst out laughing. "What? It was a believable excuse." I say in defense. "Yeah, totally. What pizza did he get?" Tristan says as she opens the pizza box. "Veggie" we say in unison. Lindsey groans, "Veggie again? What does your dad have against meat?" I shrug my shoulders, "Not sure. But he definitely ordered a pepperoni for himself if you want to go get some of his." I told her. Without another word she is up and leaving the room. "Okay after we eat we have to start getting ready so we can leave by 7:45. My mom will be home at 8, and she will ask way more questions than my dad did." Everyone nods in agreement.
Lindsey has been gone for over twenty minutes. I was starting to get suspicious but then the door opened and there she was. "Dude, what were you doing up there? You took forever." I say with a hint of anger in my voice. "Well, he gave me some of his pizza and I decided to sit and eat with him. He looked lonely. I asked him about how to become a veterinarian." She says while looking down at her phone.
"Who are you always talking to on your phone? Literally everyone you talk to is in this room." Tristan says from behind me. "Uh- I- I'm not talking to anyone. I've been reading." She says with a clear panic in her voice. We all burst out laughing, Lindsey reading...that's actually hilarious.
Everything was so light. None of us had any idea how the night would end. How terrible and fast things would change.