Out Loud

Six

-Eli-

I woke up sprawled out on my bed with pillows and blankets everywhere. I sat up and looked around my room feeling extremely dizzy. The sun was slowly breaking into my room through my navy blue curtains. I always found that annoying, I spent countless mornings lying awake because the sun woke me up.

I slid off the side of my bed and trudged my way down the hall to my bathroom. I've always loved taking cold showers, even when I was little I took them cold. Sure it sucks while you're in the shower, but afterwards I feel so good and energized. After I had rinsed off a bit I went back into my room to pick out an outfit for the day. Perks of living alone: can do whatever you want, can have anyone you want over, can have parties whenever you want, can walk around completely naked whenever you want.

After spending about five minutes digging through my dresser, I settled on an outfit. I picked out some black athletic pants, a grey t-shirt and a hoodie with our high school's name and mascot on it. Wellington High School, home of one of the best football teams in the district. The Wildcats.

I grabbed my bag off the living room couch and snatched a protein bar from the pantry before heading down into my complex's parking garage. It was always a hassle to find my car in the morning, I swear everyone has the same car here. Another five minutes passed and I had finally gotten to my car. I pulled out of the parking spot and headed off to Elle's house.

We always got the prettiest mornings here, the clouds where never out and the sun just made everything light up and look amazing. There was an unusual amount of people out and about this morning, I might run into traffic on the way to school. That'd be a first. Everything was currently stuck in that weird hybrid season between Winter and Spring, it was still cold enough at night to frost over but by afternoon everything melted. The frost from last night sparkled in the trees and the grass as I drove by them.

Elle was waiting for me when I pulled up in front of her house. Looks like she was also following the new trend of miniskirts, crop tops, and leather jackets. Miranda and her crew had set that trend last week when they all showed up in coordinated outfits. After that, all of the girls started showing up wearing the exact same thing and Elle was no exception. I could tell that she was trying to put her own twist on it though. Instead of a leather jacket she wore a black sweater thing, I think I heard her call it a cardigan once. Her miniskirt was a navy blue and matched her grey top.

"You look like someone I know,"

I laughed as she climbed into my passenger seat.

"Hey! Just because Miranda wore this, and just because everyone else is wearing this doesn't mean I can't find it cute," she protested.

"Should I start calling you, Your Grace, now?" I chuckled as I drove off to the nearest Starbucks.

"Might need to save that for Miranda," Elliot giggled.

We blasted some music as we drove down the street, some cars honked and others just gave us weird looks. I pulled up in front of the Starbucks and Elliot and I walked inside together. I could hear Elle suck in a huge breath when we saw Miranda and someone else standing at the barista counter. Elle and I went to stand in line and I paid no attention to them, Elle on the other hand...

"There she is," she said quietly, "and she's with Grayson Callihan, who's basically her manservant."

"What do you mean?" I replied.

"They're always together and they usually show up to school together," Elliot whispered, "everyone thinks they're dating but no one is quite sure because he won't talk to anyone. I've just assumed that they are, which makes him her manservant rather than a boyfriend."

I sneaked a peek over at Miranda and her friend. He stood there with a smile on his face as she talked to him, he appeared to be laughing at something. His smile was beautiful, his teeth looked like they came straight from a dental add, he was tall but a little shorter than I was, he was a little muscly but not too muscly. And his hair, and his eyes. His hair looked messy, but good and his eyes were the most amazing blue I had ever seen. It was obvious he had a great sense of style, skinny jeans with tears in them, I think Elle called them "distressed jeans", and a grey flannel. It looked so simple but so hot! I'm sure Miranda picked it for him.

"Eli, Eli!" Elle said to me as she poked me. "Oh sorry, yeah?"

I said as I looked back at her.

"Let's order."

Elliot and I sat in a corner of the Starbucks, Miranda and Grayson sat at the other end.

"How long was I staring?" I whispered to her.

"Like two seconds," she replied, "why?"

"No reason, just didn't want to be a creep," I laughed.

"We'd better head out so we're not late to school."

"I'll go warm up the car."