Pulse

Chapter One

RING RING RING...

RING RING RING...

RING RING RING...

Her hand slammed down on the other side of the bed to furiously switch her stupid alarm off.

Her mind was ringing, just as her phone, with the trials and tribulations that the day ahead would bring.

"What do you want?" She groggily answered to the person on the other end of the line.

"Good morning to you too, bitch," Replied the bittersweet voice of her beloved friend Isabelle Morgan. "I'm outside, hurry up." With that, the line went dead.

Lexie raised her carcass from her bed and stumbled into her bathroom, cleaning her teeth and washing her face, she sat on the edge of the bath and tried to gather her thoughts and not let the panic overcome her.

With a non-reassuring breath she rose and went to her wardrobe to collect her clothes for the day. A black baggy long sleeved top that displayed a British flag and LONDON across it, joined with high-waisted black jeans and solid black boots. Throwing her long blonde hair into a messy bun, she applied the bare minimum of make-up she could have: mascara, eye-shadow, and lip-balm so she wouldn't pick at her lips. Then she walked out of the room after a disapproving look in the mirror.

As she trudged down the cream staircase she saw her mother walk through the foyer towards the kitchen, barely looking up from her surgically attached iPhone.

Looking at her mother's phone her own iPhone buzzed:

Izzzyy:

Move your ass. NOW. Xx

Smiling Lexie walked into her kitchen, the smile vanishing by the sight of her little brother scoffing down a bowl of Cheerios like they were the last meal he'll ever receive.

"Good morning, Alexandra, did you sleep well?" My mother asks without looking at me, only out of politeness and not genuine curiousness.

"No actually, I slept awful." She replied, her mother knew full well that she'd never sleeps well of late.

"That's nice darling." Ignoring her daughter's reply.

As Lexie reached for the cereal box she flinched away, thinking of the extent of her anxiety levels and how they would react with the food; like a bull in a china shop.

"Good morning Moon's." Lexie's father happily exclaimed as he bustled into the room, giving the women both a kiss in turn and a ruffle of the hair for the young boy.

"Hi darling-" After the first two words Lexie's mind ran away from their conversation. She always thought the contrast of her fathers English accent and her mother's American accent was satisfying. She didn't know why, it just was. She'd moved to New York four years ago when her father had been offered the job of CEO for the company he worked for, and her mother had claimed she missed her family.

That's where she met Isabelle; she been walking through the vibrant streets of a whole new world when she bumped into a beautiful brunette. Spilling her coffee over her because she wasn't focused wasn't somehow the most embarrassing thing to occur, the worst thing was when she tried to use her own shirt to dry the intimidating girl's. A laugh and a hand to the shoulder was returned. From both their uncontrollable laughs birthed an unbreakable friendship that she was forever grateful for.

She threw her bag over her shoulder and moved to open the big oak front door when she felt a tug on her shirt, her brother Nick.

"Don't forget Mr. Giraffe! For good luck!" He said, shoving the toy giraffe into her hands.

"Of course not, thanks Nicky." She smiled, offering a hug that he very willingly accepted.

She wretched open the heavy door and felt the blazing sun hit her like a car. Grabbing her sunglasses from the coffee table by the door she pushed them onto her head and walked down the steps and through the front garden; seeing Izzy with one foot against the side of her car. A phone and a coffee in either hand; spotting Lexie she pushed herself off of the car and walked a few paces forward with an award-winning smile on her face.

As the coffee was exchanged between the two girls they gave a brief hug before both getting in the car. Before Isabelle turned on the engine she turned to Lexie, putting a reassuring hand on her thigh.

"It's going to be fine, it'll be over before you know it." She told her best friend with a believable tone but they both knew she was worried as well.

"Grazie." Lexie told her which translated to 'thank you' in Italian; they often spoke in foreign languages when something serious was being spoken about. Only the bare minimum though.

With a loving squeeze of each others hands, Isabelle started the engine and pulled off into the street. Even after all this time, Lexie still felt like an outsider to the Big Apple, she could barely tell you the street names with a struggle. She still got mesmerised driving around the city, seeing all the streets and sights before her.

"Your leg." Izzy broke the vocal silence in the car. Lexie looked at her leg which was now violently shaking, noticing this her hands copied her leg. Her breathing hitched and she tried to calm herself.

She never liked going back to school after a break, the unfamiliarity of it in her daily life. Three months she had gone without seeing that damn place.

Lexie suddenly moved to grab Isabelle's phone to change the music to try to calm her, turning on anything she knew, their music tastes were quite opposite.

After a few minutes of them both singing, quite horrendously, they saw the school within their view. As Izzy indicated into the car park, Lexie's heart raced like hell. She thought in might burst out of her chest as this rate, a few tears escaped her eyes without her knowledge. Only becoming aware by Isabelle's soft fingers wiping them away.

After calming down a little she turned to look at Izzy and smiled warily. The smile returned immediately. She pulled her hair out of the messy bun and letit fall behind her shoulders, a mask and a safety net.

"Make-up not smudged, come on baby we've got this." She winking and leaned over to give a kiss on the cheek; both the girls did a double kiss and then threw open their car doors and stepped out.