Roses

Chapter 3

When I woke up the next morning I just kept my eyes closed for a good while, the pain was still there and being very obnoxious to my dismay. Eventually I did have to face the world again though, I saw Jolene snuggled against my left side, hugging my arm like it was a teddy bear or something. When I looked to my right I saw Jane still fast asleep, just her head was visible above the fuzzy blanket and I felt my lips perk upwards in a soft smile. Then I heard calm footsteps going up the stairs and eventually the door opened, Kyle coming inside with some toasts. “Oh you’re already awake, mind waking the others? Wouldn't want the toasts to get cold.” He said simply, I could still hear the sleepiness in his voice and it was just a bit darker than normal.

I agreed and grabbed a pillow, lightly hitting Jolene and Jane in the head with it. Both groaned first, but they were awake now. “Oh you’ll pay for that!” Jolene laughed before grabbing a pillow herself and throwing it at me, thankfully I dodged it,  though Jane did not. “Why me?” She whined, still half asleep before throwing the pillow back at Jolene, who caught it and threw it over at Kyle. He had his back to us and didn’t see it coming at all, stumbling forward a step or two. “You’re all so childish, I ain’t ever bringing any of you breakfast again.” He grumbled, glaring at us, but I had the feeling he was just being playful. Jane’s eyes lit up when she heard the mention of breakfast, quickly sliding off the bed and stumbling over to Kyle to grab herself a toast with eggs. After a bite she motioned for us to come and eat too. During the breakfast we joked around a lot and discussed the plans for the day.

“I have to go home for lunch, I’ll still come for the picnic though. Where exactly should we meet up?” Kyle mentioned while leaning back against the wall. I wondered why he’d have to come back home, I knew his dad couldn’t care less and his mom wasn’t living with him anymore, but I didn’t want to be noisy so I didn’t question it. “Why don’t we meet up at the small river, it’s near the edge of the forest.” Jane suggested with a shy smile. I nodded and no one else had a better idea.

“Alright, anyone else have anything important today or are we all good?” Jolene asked while looking at each one of us as if she was investigating us. I started giggling at her pretend serious face. “A-actually I do have a doctor’s appointment today.” Jane said before checking her phone. “In 20 minutes, I should probably get going soon, I’ll just arrive when we have the picnic too.” She added before getting up and grabbing her stuff. We accompanied her to the door and waved her temporary goodbye.  Us three then decided to play some truth or dare upstairs.

After we were all settled, me and Jolene sat on beanie bags and Kyle had sat down on the window frame, Jolene spun an empty bottle to see who would go first. It landed on Kyle who stayed silent for a moment before looking at me. “Lia, truth or dare?” He asked me and of course I said dare, I'm no scaredy cat. He gave me a sly look and I slightly regretted my decision but gave him a challenging smirk. “Why don't you prank call our chemistry teacher?” He proposed, with the faintest ever grin, I felt myself starting to sweat a little. “Alright alright, just lemme set it up first.” I said before standing up to grab my hoodie and hide my phone number, then I called her.

While it was ringing I put the hoodie arm in front of my mouth, it's always a pretty good voice changer. Jolene giggled lightly, seeing me use her tactic, Kyle quickly shushed her. “Hello? Who is this?” we heard the voice come from the phone. I took a deep breath then, in my best Spanish, I just talked about nothing in particular, after all I knew she wouldn't understand a single word. I kept going until she hung up, there was a moment of silence before we all burst out laughing. We continued to play truth or dare until noon, that was the time Kyle excused himself and left.

Me and Jolene had played some video games together for some time, after she won again in mario kart I groaned. “Ughh, it's no fun if you always win!” I complained while she giggled like a maniac. She nudged me playfully before her eyes lit up. “Ya know~, we could watch something instead.” She said in a singsong voice and I innerly sighed. “Oh whatever do you have in mind?” I asked with a raised eyebrow and I saw how giddy she was, welp whatever she had in mind I wouldn't be able to stop her.