Marching Band: The Journey [EDITING]

21 - Pathways

5:00 AM

Why oh why does school have to start so early? I slap the top of my alarm and groan in annoyance. Stupid school board. I roll out of bed and trudge my way downstairs. If I'm correct she should be... And my suspicions were correct.

Em was passed out on my couch, my camouflage blanket covering her. We established this routine for some days when either of us needed to get out of the house. One of us would wake up super early and drive to the other's using spare keys to get in and sleep on the couch. It was usually Em driving to my place. I gently nudged her at first. When that didn't work, I full on pushed her. She jolted awake and stared at me wide-eyed before her face morphed into annoyance.

"Morning to you, too. It's your turn to make breakfast though." I inform her with a sickly sweet smile before skipping my way upstairs. For some reason, ruining people's days wakes me up. As I closed the door to my room, I heard her groan in frustration.

I always take a shower at night, and I was feeling extra last night so I braided my hair. When I took it out, it fell around my shoulders in tights waves. Happy with my early start to my appearance, I swing open my closet door. It's a mess, I know that, with shoes piled up against the back wall. Ignoring the piling mess, I pushed aside my whole entire wardrobe to one side so I can go through the whole thing. The front part is sweaters, skirts, and dresses. Possibility. After that is the dress pants for concerts and job interviews. Not to mention college interviews coming up. My dress shirts are all black and white, then you get to my colorful array of fancy shirts. Biting my lip in concentration, I move to my dresser. Then an idea comes to mind.

I go back to my closet and pull out my black skater skirt and my gray sweater. After throwing those on my bed, I go pull a white tank-top out of my dresser along with a black lace bra. What? Got to look nice and tease Tony. I quickly pulled on my outfit along with some black ankle boots. Most of my make-up is stashed downstairs because I usually do it when I wait for Tony or Em. I may have my own car, but I like getting free rides.

Downstairs is even deader than how I left it. Em has slipped into an outfit similar to mine. She has on a black skater skirt, a loose white tank-top with cat whiskers printed on, a black leather jacket, panda stockings, tall black boots, and a black beanie that has cat ears sewed on. Overall, it's a cute yet rugged look. Her glasses are covering her simple make-up of mascara, leaving her tinted chap-stick covered lips out in the open. They looked fuller than usual, but probably because she's pouting at the food in front of her.

She had a failed attempt of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her. I laughed at her while I went into the bathroom with my make-up bag. As I applied my beautiful artwork of concentration, I shouted out to her as she cleaned.

"If we leave early, we can stop by Starbucks." I suggested, knowing what her reaction would be.

From the kitchen, she scoffed. DING DING DING! And we have a winner! "I am not a basic white girl."

"No one said you were, Em, but you can't cook breakfast. Plus, you look like you could use some coffee. Want to talk about it?" I ask, popping my head out of the kitchen for a minute. She shook her head. "If you say so. I'm gonna get a hot chocolate and lemon cake. You?"

With my make-up finished, I exited the bathroom as she answered. "Frappuccino with ten shots. Possibly a muffin."

I chuckled at my weird friend before grabbing my bag and her keys. We both knew she was in no state to drive. Plus, I loved her car. Bluetooth music to lighten up the morning.

-

Em did end up getting a muffin, chocolate chip to be exact. And she devoured it in five seconds flat. Understandable since she can down a soft taco from Taco Bell in two bites, one if she tried hard enough. Since my hands were busy driving, my lemon cake was left alone, taunting me from the bag in the center console. But half of my hot chocolate was gone.