Serendipity

Chapter 1

Satan must be working today, I think to myself as my phone's insistent ringing rips me from my happy place.

Sleep. It ripped me from sleep.

I feel irritation flood my system as I roll to my right, my eyes stinging as I grab my alarm clock. I rup the blurriness away, blinking, trying to see the clock.

7:22AM.

I moan loudly.

Who is awake at this hour?

Annoyed, I peer at my cell phone.

Mom

She better have a good reason for waking me up.

"Car, you have half of a fucking millisecond to shut that phone up." Delaney hisses from the dorm bed beneath me.

I snatch my phone up and violently rip the charging cord out of it, sliding the green telephone icon on the screen to answer it.

"Hello?" I grunt, shifting in bed.

"Good morning Carmen. Did I wake you up?"

No, I was in the middle of running a marathon at seven in the morning.

"No, I've been up for hours." I mutter.

"Well," she takes a deep breath. "I hope you have a dress picked out for today."

"What are you talking about?" I mumble, speaking quietly.

If I'm loud, I might as well be asking for Delaney and Ariella to murder me.

She sighs sharply.

"Carmen, I've been telling you for two months that your brother graduates today!"

Shit.

"Oh, yeah, that. Yeah, I've got everything picked out."

I don't. I completely forgot about it.

"I expect to see you." She says.

"You will."

Dad says something in the background, and I hear Mom hush him.

I grit my teeth, feigning happiness as I say, "Yeah, don't worry Mom. I'll be there. Nine, right? Nine tonight?"

There's a short pause.

"I've been telling you it's at seven thirty, Carmen."

I take a deep breath.

"Yes, Yes, seven. Okay, don't worry, I'll be there. Hey, I gotta go, somebody's at the door."

"Okay. Seven thirty, Carmen, at Citi Field."

"Okay. Bye Mom, love you."

"Love you too."

She hangs up.

I sigh, burying my face in my pillow.

I've got hours. I'm going to sleep.

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I feel something cold being poured on my face.

I sit up quickly.

Delaney stands there, her head level with my mattress, because I'm on the top dorm bunk, her hands on her hips.

She's wearing her bra and underwear, and her blonde hair is messy, but falls to the middle of her chest.

"It's noon." She says.

"If you're late to your thingy today, your Mom is going to toss you in an oven." Ariella says behind her.