She's First [gxg]

2. Reality

"Liv, LIV?"

"Tara... who the hell said you could call me Liv?"

I could see her smile even though I haven't even opened my eyes yet. "Nurse! Sylvia! She's alive!"

When I finally opened my eyes, I was staring at the ceiling, and the sudden whiteness of the wall made my eyes hurt. I groaned and twisted away from the brightness, finding it hard because of Tara's ridiculously strong grip on my hand.

"Hun, can I ask you to sit up please? My motto is to prevent concussions, not perpetuate." I recognized the sugary sweet tone of the nurse, so I did as I was told.

"Thank you. Now, I have some Advil for you here and a cup of water to drink it down with. And don't worry, I already confirmed with your mom that you could take it. After you take that, can I please ask that you all leave my office? It's been 40 minutes after school ended and I need to cook dinner at home." After the nurse said this she smiled her biggest smile with her huge pearly white.

I swear, she was so sweet I almost got a cavity just from listening to her.

When I had downed the Advil and collected my bearings, I felt a shadow descend above me. I looked up and saw my two best friends glaring at me, demanding an explanation for my behavior with their eyes. I knew they would start screaming at me so I said goodbye to the nurse and walked out of the office. When we had made it to the parking lot, I stopped and turned on my heels to face Tara and Sylvia.

"Okay, okay, I swear I can expla---"

"EXPLAIN?!" Sylvia screamed this at me then threw her hands up in the air. "You better do more than explain. I want a fucking research paper. Do you know that Tara has been here, all this time, crying her eyes out, for you?" I looked at Tara and finally saw how bloodshot her eyes were. I cringed and thought about releasing the flood of words I wanted to say.

But I couldn't tell them anything about Christina-I mean, I couldn't even admit it to myself yet.

"Well?" Sylvia's harsh tone snapped me back to reality.

"Well I fainted because I saw Christina, that girl in the hallway."

This is when Tara looked up from staring at the ground. She put both of her manicured hands on my shoulders and dug in her equally manicured nails into my flesh. "Did she do something to you? I won't stand--I mean, Sylvia and I won't stand for someone hurting our best friend."

The eyes that held the pain of worrying before now held the fire of protection.

"No, no, she gave me a shock because..." I realized by then I had to make something up completely. Although I didn't like lying to them, right now it was necessary so Christina wouldn't end up dead in a trash can by tomorrow. "...because I thought she went to a different school. I was at the Johnson High School play, and I was positive she was one of the actors. I guess she either transferred or I need glasses, haha."

That fake chuckle at the end was all it took for Tara to relax and take her arms off my shoulders.

Sylvia chuckled, obviously believing me completely. "Wow, and I thought you scared easily before!" She buckled over in laughter at her own joke.

While Sylvia died of laughter, Tara smiled gently but held me at an uneasy gaze, like she knew I wasn't telling me the whole truth. She didn't know how right she was.

Sylvia slowed her laughter for a minute in order to say goodbye. she made her way to her own car and Tara and I made our way to mine.

We would all carpool together if Sylvia didn't live all the way on the other side of the city, a rich part of Greenbureau known as The Staves. Tara and I were next-door neighbors in a small neighborhood. I know, it seems weird that we've never met, but when you have Atheists parents like hers who believe in private school and a Catholic mom like mine that believes in public school, it's kind of hard to cross paths. From what I've previously heard from Tara, she had to practically beg her parents to send her to my public high school.

"Starting the car is part of the driving process, Olive."

Tara's voice gave me a reality check. We were already in my Bice green Volvo and my key was hovering above the ignition. I can't believe how many times I've zoned out today, it's ridiculous.

"Sorry T."

As we made our way home, about a 30 minute drive, Tara tried to bring up Christina again. "Hey, so that gir---"

"OHMIGOSH THIS IS MY SONG!!" Since I was driving and Tara didn't even have a permit, I got full volume and radio rights. So, in short, I cranked the volume up loud and pretty much every song after that became "my song."

When I had parked in the driveway and both Tara and I had left the car, I immediately headed towards my house. I waved at Tara while I was still walking forward and didn't look back. As soon as I opened my front I heard Tara say bye, finally, and so instead of slamming my door, I gently pushed it very hard. So yeah, I slammed it.

"No slamming doors in this house young lady!" Sometimes my mom is so predictable, I swear.

"Sorry Mom!" I shouted from the bottom of the stairs while I was taking my shoes off. I heard her clomp downstairs and park her heels right at my head.

"So, I'm guessing God moved something in your life today?" I looked up to my mom smiling like she had just gotten Botox in her cheeks. It was a really awkward smile.

"Yeah, he finally moved those damn lunch lines faster so I could get some food without it going cold after an hour."

This received a slight frown from my mom. "I'm serious Olive."

Well, He moved Christina back into my life. But I couldn't tell her that, she didn't like Christina at all, in all the years we were friends.

"No, no mom, nothing today."

"What about that boy, Phillip? You know, the one that's been to pretty much everyone of your birthday parties, even the princess one. What about him?"

Phillip had been my friend all these years, but we had never really been close. It was actually safe to say that we weren't close at all, but I liked inviting him to all my birthday parties for appearances. It's always nice to have a boy there to, I don't know, just to be there.

This year Phillip had been weird though. As in, he's really been trying to get close to me by asking me to all the dances and inviting me to his 'basketball practices and games. Though I always decline, I can't help but think about what his motives are.

I sighed and realized I still needed to give an answer. "Phillip is Phillip." I ended further discussion by dragging my bag and myself upstairs and doing homework until my mother called for dinner. I was starving and about to promptly dig in before I got a stare from my mom that said to close my eyes and bow my head for prayer. I groaned, I was hungry and tired from passing out.

After praying then eating, I headed up to bed. As soon as I fell into my bed, I knocked out.

Tomorrow was Thursday, but damn I couldn't wait for the weekend.