Welcome to Reality [UPDATES FRIDAY]

2. Adela

A new dawn, a new day. I should probably get out of bed, but I've been lying here for half an hour already, and it doesn't feel like my legs are going to shift any time soon. I run my timetable through my head. English. Math. A break before Geography, and then lunch. I groan, hiding under the duvet. I seriously don't want to make the trip in today. Mom's already left for work. I could easily just stay here, in my warm little cave, and spend the day snoozing. I peep out from under the duvet. The camera in the corner of my room is watching me. But a few feeble coughs, a fake sneeze, a convincing groan and I'll pass as sick if I try. I've done it before. Besides. I'm sure whoever's watching behind those cameras has bigger concerns than a girl playing hooky.

I'm fully prepared to lie in bed all day. Then I hear Lydia's footsteps on the stairs, and I remember why I regret giving her a spare key.

'Are you still in bed? You better not still be in bed, Adela...'

I stay motionless under the duvet and hope she won't notice the Adela shaped lump in the bed. Her hands dig into the material, yanking it off me. I battle to keep the duvet on me for a minute, but the damage is already done. She's let the cold air seep under the covers, and now I'm too awake to ignore the impending threat of school.

'Adela! You can't flunk today. You promised me you'd help with the prom committee meeting today.'

'I know, but bed...'

'Adela!'

'What? All you need me for is to keep everyone else in line while you dole out the orders.'

'So? What's your point?'

'My point is, it's pointless because everyone listens to you anyway. You don't need me there.'

'So? What if I want you there?'

'You don't. Not with the mood I'm in today.'

Lydia grabs my legs and hauls me out of the bed. I laugh, wriggling my bare toes in her face to gross her out. She winces, but she doesn't stop pulling until my back hits the floor with a thud. We wrestle on the floor, giggling.

'Cheered up a bit?' Lydia says with a wry smile. I roll my eyes.

'Alright, alright.'

'So you'll come?'

'If I must.'

Lydia helps me to my feet and I head over to the wardrobe. I stare at the clothes, my tired mind unable to figure out what clothes go with what. Lydia gently pushes past me and picks out an outfit for me. She shakes her head.

'You want me to dress you too?'

I grin, flopping down on the bed and raising my legs. 'Pants please.'

'Get dressed, you lazy sod.'

I pull on the outfit Lydia picked for me and grab my school bag. No time for breakfast. Lydia tosses me her pack of chewing gum.

'Think fast.'

I catch it smoothly. Nothing Lydia does can surprise me much. She slips an arm through mine while I stick the gum in my mouth. Locking the door behind us, I turn to see the camera drone at the end of my pathway. Lydia sticks her tongue out at it as she does every morning. It trundles along beside us as we begin our walk, and as usual, we pretend not to notice it.

'I can't believe we're both up for prom queen,' she sighs happily. 'There's literally a fifty percent chance I'll be happy with the result this year.'

'Try a hundred percent. Everyone knows you're going win.'

Lydia shrugs. 'I might. But you might too.'