Secrets of Night

Chapter 4

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My stupid alarm blasts right in my ear, shattering my peaceful sleep like a bucket of ice water. Swatting at my enemy, I silence it with a glare and reluctantly push myself out of bed with a jaw splitting yawn. Shuffling my way over to the bathroom, I take a quick five-minute shower and put on the outfit Claire set out for me on the ledge of my bathtub sometime last night. Buttoning up the red flannel, I look at myself in the mirror, not enjoying what I'm seeing. Flashy denim blue jeans, black Cami, red flannel, and midcalf height black boots greet my eyes- just her style; I wrinkle my nose up in disgust, displeased with the outfit and the fact that it probably costs more than I make in two weeks. Not what I would choose to wear especially with the whole issue of Sassy still being pissed about the Josh situation even though we've barely spoken to each other since that day, not that we spoke much to begin with, but it made that partner ride really awkward. Placing my glasses on my face, I grab my black backpack from its place next to my desk and charge downstairs, fully aware the house is deserted except for the staff. Grabbing a granola bar and banana from the white wooden pantry tucked in the elaborate kitchen that looks more like a piece of art than a place to prepare food, I run out the door and begin my morning jog to school.

Arriving at the light brown brick school with nothing more than a light sweat, I head to my locker and deposit my unneeded materials. Whirling the lock with a satisfying swish, I turn and make my way to morning study hall through the empty halls, my footsteps noiselessly padding on the title. Holding my notebooks and binder close to my chest, I nod to the teacher in charge and make my way over to my table tucker in the farthest corner of the cafeteria where study hall is held. Sliding into the freshly cleaned booth, I pull my ear buds from my pocket and connect them to my phone, arranging the buds into my ears to prevent them from falling out. Realizing I have nothing to do, I pull out my notebook and doodle for a while, mainly sketches of Shadow, the horse, not my media appointed alter ego. Ten minutes pass and an urge to sleep suddenly rises, stifling a yawn, I remove my earbuds, deciding to take a nap on the cold plastic booth. Crossing my arms on the table, I rest my head on my arms and start to drift off, my eyes closing without my permission.

Not five minutes later, a quiet pair of footsteps approach and pause beside me, waking me out of my rest. Hoping they'll keep moving, I suppress a groan, not wanting to have any human interaction this early in the morning, but of course my luck wouldn't be that good.

"Hey, Tori."

Groggy and grumpy from being woken up, I angle my eyes upward at the person without lifting my head, semi irritated that whoever it is couldn't have noticed I was attempting to take a nap and leave me in peace.

"What do you wa-oh. Hi, Josh."

Quickly lifting my head, I break off meekly, slightly embarrassed for talking to him rudely after he helped me and lost a good shirt. His brown eyes twinkle with energy as he grins down at me and gestures towards my wrist with a nod of his head. The way he treats me, I don't know what it is about him, but he just, I don't know. When he's not with a ton of people, he just makes me feel like a friend, I guess and I'm not really used to having friends.

"So, how's your arm?"

"Uh, good, good, thanks. I'm so sorry about your shirt."

His grin shifts to a full smile as he shrugs, appearing genuinely pleased to hear that I'm doing well. It's been two weeks since it got shattered, but it's healing fast, especially since I "got the cast taken off" if you catch my drift. Not going to lie, it was way harder to get that thing off than I thought it was going to be, but I'm glad it's off. Still, it is very sore if I try to do anything too extreme, like use it to climb a tree; that would be ridiculous for someone with a shattered wrist to do something like that. I definitely didn't try doing that or anything. Nope because that would definitely be stupid. The inferno rises in my belly, teasing me, but I quickly suppress it with embarrassment as I realize I haven't been paying attention to Josh.