We managed to slip out of the building without any problems. The last of the buses were arriving and only the small clusters of smokers stood out the front of the school. I stopped when I reached the street and turned back in the direction of where we had come from. I had never actually ditched school before and although I normally would be considering turning around and heading back inside that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was just taking it all in.
"Okay, so where do you want to go?" Talia had walked ahead of me, confidently. She did this all the time, usually becaue she hadn't done her homework and she wasn't in the mood to be yelled at. She was weird like that. She tried too hard to make a good impression at school only to throw it away over a bunch of maths questions. She stood with her hand on her hip and waited for me to catch up with her.
"You're the pro, you tell me. Where do you usually go?" I asked as I walked up to her.
"Well, I don't really eat breakfast at home so I usually go to Maggie's around the corner" Talia pointed up the street as if I had forgotten where it was. How could I forget. I smiled a little bit. I used to go to Maggie's after every soccer match with my parents and it was one of my favourite places in this shitty little town. I dropped my smile quickly. I don't have a reason to be smiling about that. Maggie noticed my change in expression.
"Or there is that new little cafe a few blocks away, I heard that place is--" I put my hand up to stop her rambling.
"It's fine Talia, I like Maggie's. Let's go there."
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Maggie's wasn't very busy by the time we arrived, but then again it was only 9:15 and everyone was either at work or at school. We slid in to the first booth at the very front of the store where the morning sun was flooding in through the floor to ceiling windows. The place looked different, but I guess it was in a good way. I shook my head, shaking any memories or unpleasant thoughts out of my head and looked up at Talia. She was studying the menu intently even though she always ordered the same thing off any breakfast menu at any place we went out to eat. I quickly glanced over my menu before deciding on a milkshake and french toast.
"Do you know what you're getting, Claire?" Talia asked without looking up from the menu.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to get a milkshake and the french toast. I havn't had french toast in ages." Since mum made it I thought to myself. Shut up, brain, it is too early for flashbacks. Luckily the waitress came over, snapping me out of my inner war. Her small heels clicked on the floor before she stopped at the end of our table, her smile was wide but obviously just for show. Nobody could be that happy at this time of the day.
"Good morning, ladies. What can I get for you both?" her voice was slightly husky and I liked it. Her dark hair was curled and pinned to the top of her head, an old fashioned looking hair style but she seemed to pull it off easily.
I smiled up at her.
"Can I please have the vanilla malt milkshake and the french toast, please?" she scribbled on her little notepad and nodded before turning to Talia who had gathered both of our menus.
"Eggs benedict with extra bacon and coffee, strong, please" she asked while handing our menus back to the waitress. The waitress nodded her head again before collecting our menus and disappearing into the kitchen. I looked around Maggie's. There were three other people sitting down, two of which already had their food so we wouldn't have to wait very long. Thank god. I didn't realise I was so hungry. I had skipped Aunty B's offer of pancakes this morning because I was too nervous to be thinking about food before I left the house.
Talia fiddled with the mass of bracelets that hung around her left wrist. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen her without any of them on. Her charms clinked together making a high pitch sound that wasn't pleasant for my ears. I reached out and gave her a light smack on the hand, she didn't even flinch and the annoying charms continued to knock together.
