Earhart & Noonan: An "Us Club" Novel (#1)(NaNoWriMo15)

1. Pre-Game

March

Present

I've always been like this. Five steps ahead of that stupid beep. I'm already awake ten minutes before the nine o'clock alarm's timed to blare in my ear. I can see light poking through the throw blanket tent. It's too early for light. And cold. I don't want to leave the fuzzy throws.

...Why is it so cold?

Because you just woke up, Stephen.

I'm chilled from my fingers to my toes. It's hoodie and sleep shorts weather because...March, but Old Blue and his chewed-up pull strings doesn't feel like it's helping. Nothing another throw can't save me from.

Seven minutes.

My head's heavy. It doesn't feel like I slept. I had some weird dream about Halloween last night. I still feel like I'm in it.

You shouldn't have pulled that all-nighter.

I can't sleep when there's something big happening the next day.

So, you lost yourself in old thoughts about Kenzie, which gave you that weird dream.

...Hm?

Yep. Play deaf. You knew you had to get up for your academy game. Second-half opening day. And then, you have an extra shift at work.

It's not extra. I had practice yesterday. I had to switch with Kenzie.

Right.

...Too early.

Okay. Maybe it is my fault. Going to bed at three when I had to get up early probably wasn't the smartest idea. I blame my anxiousness for that. My thoughts keep me up. Games. Holidays. It used to be the same for school before I started going online. I don't even know if I fell asleep at all, thinking about...stuff.

Well, you're not the only one.

I don't remember much of last night. I think it might have something to do with the girl from my dream. Kenzie. I look to the side of me. She's...already awake, playing on her phone, the screen light dimmed. I sit up. How is she awake? Did she sleep at all? She was when I turned the light off...sometime last night.

Kenzie notices me sitting up. "Morning."

"Hey," I mumble back.

I stretch for my toes. Kenzie puts her phone down, then unmasks me like a Scooby-Doo villain, pulling my hood off. She smiles, no matter how much I look like a squinty mess. I think she could use an extra throw more than me, though. She freezes in the winter but loves when it snows because...why not?