Friday the 14th

Part 6: Rumors

Water rushed over me and I jerked awake. My eyes were gritty and my mouth tasted salty and and I was freezing and everything hurt. And when I opened my eyes, I was given the greatest shock of all--I was staring up at a cloudy morning January sky, a seagull flying overhead on a gust of chilly ocean wind.

I sat up suddenly as the waves washed over me again and screamed. The tide had come in. And I had slept on a freaking BEACH.

"Chill, Daisy." Jake.

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that my memories from last night were just nightmares. But nope, Jake was there, and I had totally just fallen asleep next to him. On the BEACH. Fan-freaking-tastic. "No, no, no," I mumbled, standing up and frantically searching my clothes for my phone. Fortunately, it was in my bra and had stayed totally dry. I fished it out and checked the time. "NO, NO, NO."

It was eight thirty in the morning. School had started half an hour ago. On the bright side, this meant I had gotten seven hours of sleep, which was much better than I was used to.

"Seriously. You're already tardy so you can calm down." I joined Jake by the volleyball net. He held out a plate. "Pancake?"

"You got more?"

"Duh."

I took five and began shoving them in my mouth one by one, checking my reflection in my phone screen. I was covered in sand, had serious dark circles under my eyes, my clothes were rumpled--in other words, I was a mess. I swallowed the last pancake and ran for the restaurant nearby.

"Where are you going now?" Jake called after me.

"GOTTA EXFOLIATE."

I ran to the door and yanked at the handle. Fortunately, it swung open. I guess Mom had never gone home either, last night, which made me a bit sick to my stomach. I ran to the bathroom I checked myself in the mirror again. Yes, I definitely looked like a not very hot mess who had gone to sleep on a beach at one in the morning. I quickly rinsed some of the sand off my face (which actually served as a decent exfoliator) and ran out of the bathroom.

Jake caught my arm as I was rushing past. "Mia, Mia, honey. I think you should calm down for a minute so you can see that this is a blessing in disguise."

"Yeah, I really good disguise, because I can't see it," I snapped, tugging my arm out of his grasp and running into Mi Casa's kitchen. He trailed after me.

"Seriously, you're acting like a crazy person. You've already missed half of first period, what's the harm in skipping a little more?"

I stared at him over the fridge door. "Are you insane? I can't cut school!"

"Suit yourself, Little Miss Perfect."

I growled and grabbed for the first openly edible-looking thing I saw--a mini tub of ice cream, AKA breakfast--and headed out again, nearly crashing into a disheveled, sweaty, and exhausted Mom on the way. She rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn. "Mia? What--"

"No time, see you later!"

I could lecture Mom about her parenting skills after school, after she'd come to her senses and realized she'd spent the night in a loft above a Mexican restaurant and had also never taken her daughter home on a FRIKKIN SCHOOL NIGHT. And she could be the one to have a chat with the principal about why I had missed first period.

"What the heck is exfoliating?" Jake called after me as I sprinted up the sunny neighborhood street towards my house, ignoring his completely ignorant questions.

I dove into the car and checked my phone. If I ate the ice cream in the car and skipped changing, showering, and basically all personal hygiene routines I had constructed for myself, I could catch the end of first period and show up to second period on time. Was it worth the cost of my personal hygiene?