Just Monika

Thrown Off Thursday

I woke up at the same at I regularly do. I turned off my 6:30 alarm as soon as I heard it go off. Monika was lying next to me, all dressed and ready to go with her red skirt and black long sleeve.

How does she keep waking up earlier than me?

I checked my phone and saw some messages from my mom. At 9:23, she asked me if I was gonna he staying at Keith's house. At 12:19, she said that she was sure I was at Keith's house and to call her in the morning to make sure everything was okay. I sent her a text letting her know that I was alright. It was time for school, so I gently woke up Monika.

"Hey Monika, it's time to get up."

She stretched, but it seemed like she was pretty much awake already.

"Good morning, Monika."

"Good morning, Danny."

I got out of bed and went to the restroom to brush my teeth. I then headed to Keith's room to grab some clothes. To my surprise, Keith was already awake.

"Hey, good morning Keith. What are you doing up so early?"

"Good morning Danny. I needed to talk to you about the fight you had in school."

I thought we were all past this already.

"What about it," I asked.

"Well Danny, what you did really scared Monika. Are you always this aggressive?"

I was an aggressive person with aggressive thoughts. But I didn't like to show that to those that I cared for.

"No Keith. I just wanted to protect her. You know how our school is, what if that guy had tried to do something to her?"

"I understand Danny. Monika and I already talked about it. You need to be careful with your actions, alright? Not just for Monika's sake, but your own. There's a lot of bad people at school, you already know that."

"Relax Keith, nothing's gonna happen. And if it does, I'll take care of it. Don't you worry." I took the brass knuckles and switchblade out of my pocket. "I'm ready!"

"Just be careful, Danny. Monika and I would hate it if anything happened to you."

"It'll be fine Keith. Now, I'll let you know when me and Monika are leaving. I brought my car, so I'll be taking us to school today. Unless you'd like to come along?"

He shook his head. "It's alright, I'll go in the truck. But thanks."

"Alright."

I grabbed some of my clothes from the closet and headed back downstairs. I took a shower and got dressed before heading back to the room with Monika. She was lying on the bed and using her phone once again. I guess I'd get use to that.

After I finished getting my stuff ready, I checked my hair in the mirror again before I alerted Monika.

"Hey Monika, it's time to go, you ready?"

She got up and smiled. "Yup!"

We went outside to my car. While I drove us to school, Monika tried to make conversation. I appreciated her attempt, but my conversation with Keith worried me a little. I tried to act as chill as possible, but on the inside, I was freaking out. Due to my paranoia, the conversations that Monika and I had in the car were pretty short. They'd usually just consist of short responses since my mind was more focused on the possibilities of that guy being in a gang. I didn't want Monika to worry though, so when she asked about it, I used the horrible traffic as an excuse. I told her I was "concentrating" on driving. I felt a little bad though, since she went completely silent afterwards.