nefelibata (n.) | ✔️

fourteen.

Present. October 1st, 2018.

I practically fly down the stairs in the morning, my knee-high boots being shoved along as I make my way to the kitchen, my morning hunger becoming unbearable.

Unfortunately, my mother is standing behind the counter, her coffee, and book in hand. "Hello, Lena. I see the horrific makeup is back?" I roll my eyes and absentmindedly flip her off. Thankfully, she doesn't notice which saves me another lecture.

"I'm late, Mom. I don't have time for this." I reply, my distaste clear in my voice. I rush into my cabinets and look for something suitable to eat. I settle on a blueberry pop tart and ignore whatever it was my mother said before making my way to my car. Clearly, my mother's usual attitude has returned.

Waking up late is never fun, and it's typically your first sign of an immensely terrible day. The thing is, there was no way I wasn't starting a Monday morning off without my coffee.

As I practically speed my way to Lenny's, my anxiety slowly rises with each passing minute. As much as I'd love to skip school, being late is never fun, especially walking into a class of seated students. I parked quickly and hastily ordered my coffee without engaging in any lengthy conversation with Roselyn.

I thank her for the coffee and shout my goodbyes as I rush back to my car. When my car refuses to start, grumbling at me each time I turn the key, again and again, refusing to believe that after a great time it's been having that it's giving up on me now. I swear, this is the curse of waking up late. I smash my hands against the wheel in frustration and choke back my profanities.

I contemplate just walking to school, but I know that I wouldn't get there for at least 20 minutes. At that point, they'd hassle me for a letter from home explaining my late entrance. My father is probably already out the door, taking the last car my family owns with him.

Asking Lenny for a ride was out of the question and with my mother and father already at work, I'm either hitchhiking or attempting to fix my sorry excuse for a car. I throw my head in my hands and sigh heavily, rubbing my forehead with aggression that can only be explained by my hatred for school. 

Just as I am about to bail on even going to school completely, there is a soft knock at my window coming from a well known curly haired boy.

Why the hell is he even here? Shouldn't he be on his way to school already?

I hop out of my shitty car and turn to Carson with a hopeful look on my face. "Not that I really want to go to school in the first place, but please please please could you give me a ride? I'm drowning over here."

Carson just chuckles at my rambling and nods his head. "Yeah, I'll drive you. I can have Lenny take a look at it while we're at school, he used to fix my car all the time when he came to visit back home." It dawns on me that this boy has really come to my rescue. I could literally hug him in relief, but I decide against it.

"Thank you so much! I thought I was utterly screwed for a second. Why are you still here anyway?" I ask, curiosity evident in my features.

He gestures his head, probably saying as though that's where his car is. "My Pop asked me to come in early to help with a couple things. He saw your car stalling out his window and told me to check up on you."

"And you did? Why? You could've been in school by now." I shrug.

"Because I'm your friend, Lena," he says, glancing at me with kind eyes. "And friends help each other."

The idea of him being my friend and doing simple things like driving me to school doesn't seem to scare me anymore. Although I may not know too much about this guy, and he may not know too much about me, but I still have grown to enjoy his company over the past couple of weeks.