Stepbrother: Luke Hemmings |a.u.|

No Sleep

btw.... this has been taking place over a 3 week break from school or something bc I'm a shitty writer and suck w time progression. just go with the flow XD

I groan and grab my clothes.
"I'm gonna take a nap and try to sleep this off. I'm not ready for tomorrow." I tell Luke. I forgot, tomorrow is fucking Monday. I slide my undergarments back on and walk down the hall to my room. I crawl into the bed and pull the covers over my head.

8:00

"Taylor! Taylor Dawson!" I hear my mom yell from downstairs.
"Yes, ma'am?" I half groan.
"It's 8:00 in the evening and your in the bed!" She yells. 8:00? What the hell? I didn't mean to sleep for this long. This is really stressing me the fuck out. I throw on some relaxed clothes and jog down the stairs.
"You have school tomorrow. Your sleeping schedule is going to be all out of whack." My mother scolds me.
"I'm sorry." I tell her. Luke is already at the table with his dad.
"It's time to set the table." My mother says. I pick up a bowl of prepared salad.
"Why don't Luke and Andrew ever have to set the table?" I mumble.
"Excuse me?" My mother turns around and says. I smile and escape into the other room. After setting the table, we bow our heads in grace and begin eating.
"So who's ready for school tomorrow?" Andrew asks. Luke and I both groan.
"Well, we all know who's gonna ace those finals." My mother chimes in. The finals. Shit. I've been so busy using studying as a cover up, I never got around to actually doing it.
"Yep." I mumble and stuff my mouth with lettuce. There's an awkward silence.
"I'm just ready to get back to acing all of my classes and being top of my class." Luke speaks up. We all laugh. At least the light isn't on me anymore. We keep talking about generic stuff until we all finish our food. My mom clears the table and starts washing the dishes while Andrew escapes to their room. I go upstairs to my room to cram. I scribble everything I can onto my notecards. I run downstairs to grab my hole puncher and run straight into my mom, dropping all of my cards and making them get out of order.
"Shit." I accidentally slip.
"Taylor! I've had enough of the inappropriate language!" My mother scolds again.
"I'm sorry, mom." I say as I scramble to put my cards in order. She places her hands on her hips and frowns at me.
"I am!" I say, half smiling. I can sense the awkwardness, so I go back upstairs after I grab the hole puncher. I go upstairs and cram as much as possible.

6:30 a.m.

ringgg ringgg ringgg

Holy shit.
I. Have. Gotten. No. Sleep.
I went to bed at 4:00 a.m. I think. I can't even remember. I can barely keep my eyes open. I look in the mirror and see that I slept with my makeup on. I stretch my arms out and open my room door.
"Goddamn." Luke says.
"I know, I know." I shoo him away so I can get my breakfast. I slowly walk to down the stairs and open the refrigerator. What the hell?
"Who ate my last Jimmy Dean croissant?!" I yell. I'm fucking starving.
"Oh . . . that was yours?" Andrew pipes up. I roll my eyes and go upstairs to freshen up. After showering and brushing my teeth, I can't find anything to wear. I don't care. I'm too tired and annoyed to care. I grab some of my Nike sweats and a hoodie, and I'm going to school.

At school

Luke and I get out of the car and for the first time, walk in together. We don't hold hands or anything. We walk upstairs to my locker and soon I'm almost surrounded by my friends. I stop them before they can even speak.
"Nope. Don't ask me a single question. It's too early and I'm too tired." I say while grabbing my books. I see them roll their eyes, but they comply. We all walk into class together and I take my seat.
"I would like you to clear your desks and take out a #2 pencil, please." My teacher calls out to my class. I yawn and get my supplies. My eyes start to shut, but I fight myself to keep them open. My teacher walks around the class and passes out the exam papers. I look down and the questions. God, if you're there, please, please, let me pass. I don't ask for much. I can't fail this. I think to myself. I reread the questions over and realize that there's no way I'm gonna remember anything past the first question. I resort to something I've only ever heard of, the ABCD method. I scribble the letters on my paper and put my head down. I'm so disappointed in myself. Taylor Ashley Dawson doesn't cram. She doesn't fail tests. She doesn't get stressed out. I close my eyes and start to get the rest that I need when I feel a cold hand on my shoulder.
"Ms. Dawson, we don't sleep on our exams," My teacher says as he slides my paper from under my arm.
"And we certainly don't drool on them." He says. The class erupts with snickers and out of all of them, I hear Cara's cackle over everyone.
"Oh, shut up, Cara and I wasn't drooling:" I blurt. The class gets silent.
"It's not my fault you don't get your zzz's at home. Did Luke keep you up?" Cara spits. How dare she? Not everyone knows about that yet . . . well, knew.
"Shut the hell up, Cara." I say between my teeth, almost whispering.
"And if I don't? That's your brother isn't it?" She twirls her hair. I slam my pencil down on the table.
"I said shut the hell up!" I yell. My hands fly to cover my mouth, but my teacher already heard what I said.
"To the principal, Ms. Dawson. I will be contacting your mother while you're down there." He instructs.
"Mr. Matthews, please, I'm really-"
"Now, Ms. Dawson!" He yells. I slide out of my seat to leave.
"Bye." Cara mouths at me as she snickers to herself. I leave my stuff in the class and go down the stairs to the principal's office.

I'm in a shitload of trouble.