Band-Aids On Bruises

Fire

I awoke to my brother shaking me awake, my alarm clock beeping, the sound of rain hitting the roof, and the smell of pancakes.

"Wh-what? What's...what's going on? I'm awake. I'm awake now!" I mutter groggily yawning and rubbing my eyes. My brother gives me an annoyed look and shuts off my alarm.

"Your stupid alarm woke me up. I could hear it from my room, so I came in here to tell you to shut if off, and you were still asleep. So I woke you up." he responds casually.

"Oh, sorry then." I mumble and stand up. I had stayed up late because thoughts about Dustin had been racing around in my head, once again preventing me from sleeping. I began to slowly get my stuff in order when I felt my brother's eyes staring at me.

"What?" I ask and turn to face him.

"Don't you have school, in like, twenty five minutes? Isn't that how long you usually take to get ready?" he says while looking at my clock.

Shit. I can't get detention again! I immediately start racing around my room grabbing anything in sight that I need. I run out of my room and hear my brother laughing from behind me.

"Serves you right for waking me up early." I calls out. I groan as I gel my hair. He usually sleeps in until eight thirty. His job allows him too, and he's got no classes at his university until night. Lucky dog.

After doing everything I need to do upstairs, in a record time I might add, I make my way downstairs only to see my mum had made me pancakes for breakfast.

I had a decision. I could eat my pancakes, savour them and get to school late, or I could devour them as quickly as possible and stop at Dustin's house and talk to him like I had planned to last night. It was an easy decision.

I stuffed two pancakes in my mouth and starting running around the kitchen looking for things to have for lunch. After finishing them, I grabbed two more and ran back upstairs to grab my bag. There I realised that I was still wearing my pyjamas.

I swallow the pancakes and start changing. My brother is no where to be seen, so I assume he went back to bed. I then have to go back to the bathroom and redo my hair, since it's been messed up now.

While I'm there, I also brush my teeth quickly, then wash my hands to remove the gel and syrup from them. Shit. There's syrup in my hair now. I can't be bothered to wash it out, so I leave it.

Finally, I'm almost ready. I rush back downstairs, bag slung over my shoulder, and grab the last pancake sitting on the plate.

"Bye mum! I'm going to school now! Love you!" I yell and stuff the pancake in my mouth "Thanks for breakfast!" I add.

I hear a muffled "Love you too." as I head out the door. I speed walk down the street to Dustin's house as rain falls on my head. When I arrive and knock on the door, I have to wait a few minutes before some one answers. I try to hide my disappointment when Dustin's mother answers the door.

"Fisher! What are you doing here?" she asks surprised.

"I...uh...I'm looking for Dustin. Is he here?" I respond awkwardly.

"Oh! He left for school a while ago. He was feeling better so I sent him off."

"Uh...better?"

"Didn't he tell you? He was feeling sick, so he didn't go to school for the past couple of days."

So Dustin didn't tell his parents. Well, I sure wasn't, he had to. Besides, I wasn't even sure if I was right.

"Oh of course! Sorry, I'm just tired. My brain's a little slow." I lie.