Special | Colby Brock

1

"Courtney! You had better get out of bed or you're gonna be late for school!" my mom yells down the stairs to my room.

I groan and roll over onto my stomach and respond with a mumbled "I'll be up in a minute" before I start searching blindly for my phone on my nightstand. *THUMP* I sigh and slowly flip back onto my back before sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed to start searching the plush carpet for my phone. Eventually I locate it just under my bed where it bounced following its little cliff dive off of my nightstand. I pick it up and check my notifications. Just a couple of app notifications and a text from my friend Anna saying something about our upcoming cross-country meet. I quickly reply then stand up and trudge to my closet to find an outfit for the day. After a minute I decide on a pair of black leggings and a pink hoodie.

I grab my bookbag and my practice clothes for today, consisting of a pair of black shorts and last years cross-country shirt, and meander my way upstairs to grab an apple for a quick breakfast. Once I reach the top of the stairs, I pull out my phone and check the time.

7:55!! Crap I'm gonna be late!

I sprint out the door while shouting a quick "Bye Mom! I love you!" before the door shut and start running down the street towards the school which happens to be 4 blocks away from my house. I slow down to a jog as I come closer to the front doors. I stop for a moment to check my snapchat then walk through the doors in the direction of my locker.

I glance at the clock on the wall while I open my locker door before hanging up my bookbag and grabbing a Dr. Pepper from the top shelf.

8:02

I have 3 minutes before the first bell rings. After the first bell, I only have 4 minutes to get to my first class which happens to be band. I gather my books for my second period class, so I don't have to make a trip back to my locker then turn to start walking to the band room.

As I'm taking my time heading to class, I hear a very familiar voice shout down the hall from behind me.

"Hey Curtney!"

I stop and sigh mentally while smiling before spinning around to see the one and only, Colby Brock heading towards me.

Colby and I have always picked on each other since he started coming to school here freshman year. With that being said, we have been putting up with one another for the last two years as we became good friends through cross country and band.

"What do you want ya dork." I ask when I come to a stop in the hallway.

As soon as I complete my sentence, I see a wad of paper being flung towards my face. I flick my finger to the left slightly and watch as the ball shifts just enough to the left to miss my face before hitting the floor and stopping.

Colby stops laughing once he realizes that he missed, then pretends to pout before shooting me the mischievous grin I come to recognize over the last couple years.

I giggle before turning round and continuing down the hall to the band room knowing that that was nowhere near the end of the days of torment from the boy who manages to get me to smile even when I don't always feel like it, and I was totally fine with it.

I enter the band room at 8:05, right as the bell rang. Since there was nobody in the room yet, I reach my right hand out and wait a couple seconds before I feel my music folder make contact with my palm from its slot across the room.

*THWAP*

What the hell?

I whip my head around to figure out what the projectile of choice was before spotting a crumpled-up ball of paper. I look up towards the door and see Colby leaning against the frame with another ball of paper in his hand, similar to the one that hit my head a few seconds ago.

"Seriously Brock? Can't you leave me alone for one day?" I ask jokingly

"I could...but that takes all of the fun out of my day." He replies as he begins walking to the back of the room to start putting his clarinet together.

I roll my eyes and walk to the back of the room and sit down in one of the designated percussionist chairs that I claimed at the beginning of the year.

After a minute of sitting in my chair reading, someone comes up and starts poking me on my spine. I swing my head around to face Colby who has come to enjoy poking me wherever he has easy access to.

"You have way too much fun doing that. I'm gonna get you for that."

"There's no such thing as too much fun Curt. Maybe you're just a kill joy."

"You think you're so funny, don't you Brock." I say as I glance at him

"I think I'm adorable!" he retorts while giving me a smirk.

I'm just about to smack him on the arm when the second bell rings and students start sitting in their seats with their instruments all put together.