One By One

One by One Chapter 10

“Wake up. Come on, Anna, wake up!” a faraway voice hissed at me. I dismissed the person calling me. “Mmmm….” I groaned, hinting the person to shut up.

“ANNA. WAKE UP.” the person shook me harshly. I groaned again, but this time I listened. I look up to see who was interrupting my beauty sleep. Of, course it was Austin.

“Ugh what do you…” I started whispering, but then felt someone staring at me. I slowly turned my head, to see that our French teacher, Mme. Seguin was glaring at me.

 “Je t’excuserai ton dormer en classe, seulement parce que ta situation, mais ce sera la seule fois” (“I’ll excuse your sleeping in class, only because of your situation, but it will be the only time”) she told me. I smiled apologetically. Did I mention I had barely gotten any sleep last night, so I was so exhausted that my head almost instantly hit the desk as soon as I got in class. I rubbed my eyes. “Oui madame, ce ne va pas passer encore” (“Yes miss, it will not happen again”) I responded, fluently. She nodded, and continued back with whatever she was previously doing.

She droned on about a verb tense that she had previously explained, but obviously, I hadn’t been paying attention, so it wouldn’t make sense to start now. Instead I doodled in my copybook (yes, I had to stop doing that) until the next 20 minutes of the hour long class finished.

Finally, we all jumped from our seats as the final bell rang, indicating it was time to go home. But we didn’t leave before hearing her call out the 5 pages of our workbook we had to do for tomorrow. The class groaned.

Wow, 1 week missed and I had the same amount of homework that they’d assign right before the end of the term! It was crazy! I’d gotten homework in every subject: and not a little bit; a lot. In History we were assigned a project (Austin and I were obviously partners), an essay on the main things we did this summer in English, 2 textbook pages for Math, pre- lab questions for Science, and now French?! I sighed and shook my head. I still had to catch up with last week’s homework on top of that, but that’s life. Oh, well, I’d just have to start right away.

After making a quick stop to our locker to grab our stuff to go home, Austin and I headed to my car. He’d come after school with me until soccer tryouts started next month.

“So.” I said casually as I shut the passenger side door of my car. “Later, can I co-” I started. “Yes you may copy my notes from French. And the other classes you slept through” he smirked. I smiled sheepishly. He really could read me like a book!

“But Anna, look, babe, I know times are hard, but you have to stop doing this to yourself. It’s not healthy to stay awake all night. You need to sleep, or you’re gonna get sick” he stated, honestly. I sighed. He was right.

“I know. It’s just, it’s hard you know? Knowing that you’ll never see him again-it can really have a huge impact on you, and it’s hard to get through my brain” I trailed off. I hated thinking of what some sick psycho did to him.

“It must be hard for you. But I worried about your-”. A loud ringing cut him off. Austin pulled over to the side of the road. He pulled out his cell phone to check his messages. He read it, and reread it for a while, before shoving it back in his pocket.

“Was it the police department? Did they find out anything?” I asked, noticing how long it took him to read the message. Ever since the incident happened, we’ve been waiting for phone calls and texts from the police. The guy must’ve been good, as the police still hadn’t been able to track him down or find his identity yet.

“No.” He replied simply. He changed the gear to drive and he continued when we stopped at the nearby traffic light. “It was just my mom saying that she had to go out with my dad and your mom, so we have the houses to ourselves tonight. They left us money to order pizza” he answered finally.

It was probably had to do with my dad’s financial accounts or something with the government, I thought to myself. I sighed and shrunk back into my seat. Oh, well. With time, they’d find him.

Sorry it’s so short! Is it too boring? Tell me if you think so! Or if you like it! I couldn’t make anything big happen here, ‘cuz, well, it needs time, I can’t put all the big events in one shot! I tried to make it as interesting as possible! And do you believe Austin that it was his mom telling them that they were going out?

Austin’s POV

I plugged in my seatbelt after jumping into the driver’s side. “So,” Anna started casually. “Later, can I co-...” I cut her off, knowingly. “Yes you may copy my notes from French. And the other classes you slept through” I smirked at her. Man it was so hard to wake her up in French. She looked so adorable, innocent and relaxed. But her lost expression after I woke her up was just as, if not, even more adorable than her sleepy expression. “But Anna, look, babe, I know times are hard, but you have to stop doing this to yourself. It’s not healthy to stay awake all night. You need to sleep, or your gonna get sick” I fathered her (if that’s even a word).

 “I know. It’s just, it’s hard you know? Knowing that you’ll never see him again-it can really have a huge impact on you, and it’s hard to get through my brain” she trailed off, her eyes watering, as she turned away.

“It must be hard for you. But I worried about your-”. A loud ringing cut me off. It was my text messages. I sighed and pulled over to the side of the road. After turning off the car -Anna is very environmentally friendly, I mean, she has a green hybrid for goodness sake! I stared down at the text from the unknown number, but I instantly knew exactly who it was nonetheless.

“u didn’t tell the police who I am, did u?” the text said. I reread the text until I was dizzy. I shoved the phone back in my pocket and started driving again.

“Was it the police department? Did they find out anything?” she asked, probably noticing how long it took me to read the message.

I was silent for a bit before responding. “No.” I lied vaguely. “It was just my mom saying that she had to go out with my dad and your mom, so we have the houses to ourselves tonight. They left us money to order pizza” I finished.

Man, I hate lying to her! Her innocent face seems so sure that I’m being honest, it kills me. I was going to have to tell her soon, because my conscience was eating away at me.

Next Chappie: Jason's first POV!!