another side

chapter seven

My alarm shrieked incessantly until I finally silenced it. I glanced at the time. 6.30. I turned over onto my side and prepared to get a bit of extra sleep before school, but my eyes were met by a patchwork blanket that usually stayed folded at the bottom. I clutched it in my fist and suddenly the memories rushed back. I sat up swiftly as if from a nightmare and pulled my duvet around me. Oh God. What had happened the night before? I was sure Carmen had been there when I had fallen asleep. Where was she now? Shit.

I started to think that maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought, then I noticed I had only managed to put the bottom half of my pyjamas  back on and that my top half was clothed only in my bra. When I tried to remember the specifics of the night it was all blurry. The only things I knew for sure was that she had been there and we had been kissing, but despite my lack of recollection I knew inside that it hadn't ended there.

I knew that Levi would have woken up already since his grandma kept the house running on a strict time schedule every morning, so I unearthed my phone to call him. I wasn't intending on telling him anything, but I just needed to talk to him about anything. He was probably the only one with any hope of soothing or distracting me.

"Hello?" he said, his voice groggy as though it was the first thing he had said since awakening.

"Hi." I uttered. I sounded like a wreck too.

"You okay Syl?" he questioned. "You don't usually wake up this early."

"I'm fine." I lied. If he was worried he would only go digging for information. And he would figure it out like he always did when something was up with me. I just had to postpone that for as long as possible.

"Okay..." he already sounded suspicious. "Well, did you need something?"

"Not really, I just..." My nerves rattled more violently. I decided that dizzying feeling was as good a reason as any to just not bother facing my problems for the day. "I don't think I'm coming into school today. I'm sick."

"Aw, shit man." Levi groaned. I could hear the sound of something hitting the floor as though he had thrown it in annoyance. "Wait... You aren't just doing this because of you and Nate, right?"

"No. Course not." It wasn't a complete lie. Nate was only part of the reason I didn't want to go to school.

"Okay. Good." I could hear the faint sound of Levi's grandma yelling at him and him yelling back. "I gotta go. Nan's having a cow. See you tomorrow then?"

"Sure." I wasn't sure if I'd ever go back to school again, but I supposed I'd have to. I hadn't even told my mum I wasn't going yet, but she would have had to drag me by my hair if she wanted me to.

There were more things I had wanted to ask Levi, but it would have only made him curious. I decided to call June instead and ask her. June never looked too deeply into things, so hopefully I could sneak a few things I was wondering by her without her picking up on my situation.

"Hey Syl." She chirped when I answered.

"Hey," I greeted, "how are you?"

"Great actually." She answered. "I have a date with Jordan tonight."

"Jordan?" I laughed. I had never even heard of him before. But this was even better. She would be too wrapped up in her new relationship to question me anyway. "So, I have a question."

"Alright. Shoot."

"When two people who are dating go 'on a break', what counts as cheating?" I tried to sound nonchalant. If it hadn't worked, she didn't mention it.