The Foster

part 53

It was hard to wake up the next morning after sleeping in all the days before. I got up, got dressed, even washed my face and put on some deodorant. Then I walked out to the kitchen where Ross and Rachel were eating cereal.

"Morning, sunshine." Ross joked. "You almost ready?"

"I'm ready. Not hungry." I told him.

"What grade are you in?" Ross asked Rachel.

"I'm a freshman." Rachel said. "So is this like... a public school?" I laughed.

"Just about as public as it gets. Everyone around goes to this school." I told her. She rolled her eyes.

"We better get going." Ross said. The three of us walked to his truck, I sat in the middle.

It was an awkward, quiet ride to school. We offered to show Rachel to the office but she declined.

"Wow, isn't she something." I smiled at Ross.

"Preppy I guess." Ross said. We went into homeroom and sat in our regular seats.

"Hey Camille! You excited for christmas?" Becca asked as I sat down.

"Uh, yeah a little." I forgot all about christmas. I have to buy her a present, and Ross! How could I have forgotten about presents?

"A little? It's christmas! The best holiday." Becca said. My phone buzzed so I took it out.

from jake: wanna hang out tonight? are you free?

to jake: yeah i'm free! instead of hanging out at the house, wanna go to the mall? i have a few things i need to pick up

to anna: can i hang out with jake tonight? he can pick me up from school. we will be home before dark

from anna: sure, have fun and let ross know you're going.

from jake: okay, mall sounds good. i'll text you when i'm there

I put my phone away.

"Who was that?" Becca asked. Ross looked at me.

"Just Anna." I made up an excuse.

Lunch was such a blur. Everyone was talking about all the fun things they did over break. The people who weren't talking about that were talking about how excited they were for christmas. I just ate my food and occasionally nodded.

During study hall, my friends wanted to make plans to hang out. It was me, Becca, Thomas, Ross, and Tyler.

"We should go skinny dipping." Thomas suggested.

"That was fun a month ago but now it's freezing. Way too cold for that. Hell, it was too cold for that when we did it a month ago." Becca told them.

"Not if you're drunk enough." Tyler laughed.

"What about that dude Jake that I saw at the party? He said he was there with you guys. We should invite him, he seems cool." Thomas said. Ross tensed up.

"Yes! He was super cute." Becca agreed.

"Well... I could talk to him about it." I said to them. I'm sure he's gonna say yes.

"Do we want to go bowling? Maybe roller skating. Or... I don't know. There isn't much to do around here." Tyler said.

"Roller skating! It's always really fun. Plus you're able to bring in your own drinks so you know what that means!" Becca exclaimed.

"That's good, i'm in." I told them. I got a text from Jake saying he's outside.

"Okay so what day? Today is Monday... Wednesday is our last day... Friday? It gives us a little break between." Thomas said.