Rock Chick [On Hold]

Chapter 2

The next morning I awoke with a pounding headache. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, trying to deny the information that I already knew to be true. Sleep hadn’t brought a respite from the agonizing knowledge that Derrick was leaving.

            When I’d finally pulled myself together enough to get home, I had slipped in and headed straight for my room, passing my mother in her office on way upstairs. She didn’t hear me, or if she did, she didn’t acknowledge my presence. But that was normal. I was left in peace upstairs to cry myself sick. Even I was surprised by the amount of tears I was able to shed in an odd, detached way. I ended up crying myself to sleep. Even unconcious I was unable to escape, pursuing Derrick endlessly through a maze where I tried to follow his voice, but could never catch him as he ran away from me.

            But this morning I had no tears left. I was all cried out.

            Reluctantly I opened my eyes, squinting in the bright light. It looked a lot brighter than normal for my 6 AM alarm.

            “Shit!” I shouted and rocketed up in bed. I scrambled wildly, trying to get out of bed, only managing to tangle myself hoplessly in the sheets. Finally I managed to get a hand free to grab my phone from off of the bedside table.

            “Shit!” I moaned again as I read the time. 11:37. School was half over, and Derrick….would he be gone yet? I’d regained enough composure now to think through the whole disaster logically. Okay, so Derrick was moving back down to L.A. That was only, like….nine hours. We could do it. I’d borrow Mom’s car and drive down on some weekends, or at the very least we could see each other on school breaks. He was being irrational. There was absolutely no reason for us to break up over this move. There were other options.

I struggled out of bed and vaulted to my feet, wildly looking around my room for some clothes. I pulled on the same jeans I’d been wearing yesterday that had been abandoned on my floor in my abject self-pity and a tank top was draped over the back of my desk chair. Pulling that over my hair I darted out my room, sliding into the bathroom.

I winced as I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. My face was still red and blotchy, I’d probably been crying until the small hours of the morning. I splashed cold water on my face, trying to get rid of the swelling around my eyes, so that they looked all folded and weird. I always looked like this after I’d been really crying. This was why I couldn’t pull off the charming damsel in distress thing, not that I’d ever really wanted to try, crying always made me look like some cross between a toad and an allergy patient.

I dried my face hastily on a towel and pulled my hair up into a sloppy pony-tail, there was no time to even try to tackle those knots. I was downstairs and out the door about three minutes after I’d woken up. And I looked it too.

I slammed the car in reverse and backed out my driveway, taking off for the Finton’s house. Normally it took about ten minutes to get there, I broke every law I could and made it there in under five. The moving van was still in front of the house, but their cars were gone. I parked hastily and threw myself up the walk and through the open door…and into someone’s back.

I fell backwards with an “Oomf!”.

“Watch out!” I heard Mr. Finton cry and then a crash, “Derrick, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” my heart stopped as I heard his voice, he was still here! “Geez Dad, keep a better hold on it. Or at least warn me when your gonna drop your side.” I could hear Derrick lower his side of whatever they were carrying to the ground.

He came around to stand beside his father and they both stared down at me, still lying on the ground. “Um, Taylor?” Mr. Finton questioned, “Shouldn’t you be at school right now?”