eternal flame - s. harrington

Chapter 2: Lunchbox Friends

I was lying down in a field of flowers, as I felt his hands gently caressing my body. I looked over my shoulder at Tom Cruise, who held me ever so lovingly in his arms. He grabbed my chin and leaned in, our faces merely inches apart when—

"GRAAAAACE!"

The combination of my alarm clock going off and my neurotic mother basically screeching at my face woke me up. "Mom! I was about to kiss Tom Cruise!", I whined. She pursed her lips as she tried not to laugh. "You can tell Tom Cruise that you have to go to school. Now get up, you're going to be late.", she chuckled.

I sat up on my bed and looked at the alarm clock. "Seven twenty-five?!", I screamed as I jumped up from my bed. I immediately rushed to my closet, quickly picking out something to wear. Once I was dressed, I sat down at my vanity, quickly applying make-up and removing the rollers from my hair. I just put on some mascara and lipgloss and ran to the bathroom door only to find the door locked.

I formed my hand into a fist and banged on the door loudly. "Stop hogging the bathroom, Jonathan!", I shouted. A few seconds later he opened the door, frowning at me with tired eyes, his toothbrush sticking out of his mouth.

"How'd you know it was me?", he asked as I barged into the bathroom, ignoring him. I quickly sprayed on some perfume and hairspray before starting to brush my teeth.

"Do you need a ride to school?", I asked Jonathan. "Can I drive?", he asked. "Do you have a license?", I replied. He rolled his eyes, "I will in a couple weeks!", he argued. I shrugged, "Okay. In a couple weeks you can drive to school.", I said before spitting out the toothpaste and rinsing my mouth.

I went into the kitchen where my mother was, once again, frantically looking for her keys.

"Where the hell are they?!", she groaned, "Seriously, it's the same. thing. every. morning!"

I shook my head and quickly made my way to the sink to grab some water, where I saw the pair of keys she was looking for. I grabbed them and shook them in my hand to get her attention. "Seriously, Mom?", I burst out laughing, "The sink?! Now, that's a new one."

My brothers also started laughing. Mom let out a relieved sigh as she walked up to me, "Oh, Grace Lilibeth Byers, where would I be without you?", she grabbed my face and placed a gentle kiss on top of my head. I shrugged, "I dunno. Most likely still searching for your keys."

Mom smiled at me. "Alright, you three, I have to go now. The store's not gonna open itself!", she announced, "I love you, I love you, I love you.", she pointed at each one of us and left.

"The sink...", Jonathan laughed as he started to prepare a sandwich. I turned to look at him, "Sorry, mister, what are you doing?", I asked. He looked at me confusedly, "I'm making lunch."

"No, you're not.", I said.
– "Wha—"
"We're going to be late."
– "Okay? I still need lunch."
"I'll give you money for lunch, let's go!"

——————————

Luckily I made it to school just in time. As Jonathan and I got out of the car, he put his hand out in front of me. I rolled my eyes and dug a five-dollar-bill for him from my pocket and slammed it on his hand. He gave me a very brotherly passive–aggressive–Jonathan smile and walked away.

As I was walking down the hallway, I walked past Steve Harrington and his friends — or, more like minions — Tommy H. and Carol Perkins.

Carol was, of course, eyeing me up-and-down in a degrading manner, while his boyfriend was eyeing me in a completely different manner— anyways, Steve didn't even look at me. He was just babbling about something to a sophomore girl, Nancy Wheeler.