Visions of Fate

CHAPTER TWENTY: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

Saturday sped by as fast as a lazy snail stuck in a quicksand, making me wonder if the universe was against me, or if I was generally delusional.

After coming back a bit speechless from school on Friday, I considered spending the rest of my day with Ethan, seeing as Mom was stuck at work, leaving me at home with the leftover pizza we'd had on our own movie night that had turned out to be a heart-to-heart reconnection for the both of us. But I reconsidered, not wanting to be derailed by anyone, including Ethan. Plus, he was too hung up with work, so that served as enough excuse.

So I spent the rest of my day studying, because as much as I wanted to dive straight down into finding my answers concerning the visions, I was also well aware that I had a promise to keep. So I started studying, assuring myself that I was a smart and mentally upright young lady with a bright future ahead of me, Mrs Sandra's words, not mine.

Approximately two hours and sixteen minutes later, yes I was shameless enough to do the math, I woke up with heavy eyes to find a pool of drool on my unturned geography page that stared at me in shame and disappointment I immediately latched onto.

Then, I opted to sleep for the rest of the day, which I did until Mom came back from work and we both shared the microwaved pizza slices. I couldn't find it in me to sleep that night and at one point, I wondered if it was as a result of my visions and not just paranoia.

But when Saturday came, I was almost certain that the universe was truly plotting against me. The the seconds sped like minutes and the minutes like hours, and I found myself almost idle throughout the day. The lesson I learnt was, never spend a day without Ethan. Even the brief text we'd shared during the afternoon wasn't enough. Physical body contact was more like it.

But all roads led to the green grass I was standing on that night. And just like my first day of school, I nervously checked, adjusted, then degraded myself in front of my full length mirror.

What if they judged and asked me why I always kept my hair in a curtain over my face? What if they thought my high-waisted dark jeans was too out-of-date, or didn't fit well with my cropped hoodie? I couldn't even imagine what they would begin to say about my pair of light converse I had shoved on.

I twisted and turned in the mirror, examining every angle if my body, just like I had done the days before. I just couldn't resist the urge to look perfect. To appear like the normal teenager I never was, and blend finely with the ones surrounding me. And the only way to achieve that goal was to look the part. But right now, I wasn't sure if I wasn't pulling it off.

My phone pinged and lighted up on my dressing table with a new notification from Instagram and my eyes exploded as I caught sight of the time. I was almost five minutes late. I was such an idiot. The time it would take me to arrive in school grounds might already carry out half of the time of the movie.

I quickly grabbed the leather jacket I had contemplated wearing from my bed and jogged down the staircase that decided to go on endlessly, all of a sudden.

"You ready?" Mom asked from the dining room, where she inspected some documents from work with a pair of reading glasses that gave her a slightly different appearance seated on the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah Mom," at least I hoped I was. "Are you dropping off me or ordering me a ride?"

Mom jingled the car key on her fingers. "I've already got my keys ready. I'll just drop you off and grab some stuff for dinner." She trailed behind me as I led us both out.

The cool nights wind whipped my straightened hair and I briefly wondered if it was the beginning of rain, seeing as summer was close by already. As we both walked to the car, I took in a breath of stale, icy air.