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There I sat in the back corner, pastel pink booth. Nibbling on chips and drinking coffee like it was water. Doing my homework and studying. Just a regular Friday afternoon. When the bell to the diner door dinged and someone I knew walked in.

I have been coming to this diner since I was 13. It was my special place because no one, I repeat no one I knew came in here. In the 4 years I've been coming here I have never once seen anyone I knew from outside this diner let alone someone from school.

It was that boy. Come on you know the one. The one that wears the dark clothes. Sits at the back of the class and alone at lunch. The one that always looks moody and has headphones in. The one that wears beanies and a big jacket and hides the fact that they're actually extremely attractive. That boy that everyone ignores but that's actually the way he likes it. Well, the person that just walked in was ours. Summersets very own loner. Alexander Ross.

What is Alexander Ross doing here? Here of all places. Sal's diner, it was a 15-minute drive from school and not anywhere that you would just drive past. So why was he here? How did he even know this place existed.

He walks up to the counter and orders something. He glances in my direction catching my eye. His eyes dance over the school books sprawled across the table and then he looks away.

I panic, I decide to abandon ship and head home, packing up my books and my computer shoving them in my two different tote bags, then I practically sprint out the door. But not before turning around to see him sitting at the counter.

I get in my car and I drive home my mind racing 100 miles an hour. Hopefully, that was a one-off thing. I think to myself as I drive. Maybe oddly enough he was in the neighbourhood and was hungry. I doubt he'll ever go there again.

I get home dad is in the kitchen the smell of whatever he's cooking makes my mouth water.

"Hello, sweetheart. You're home early. You usually don't get home till just before 7. Sunny skies?" Dad says as I walk into the kitchen. He gives me a kiss on the forehead as I dip my finger in the pasta sauce he's making, tasting it.

"Mmhmm, that's good. Yeah, I didn't have as much homework to do today so I went straight to study and then came home. Yes, sunny skies." I lie about my study.

"Well, that's good sweetheart, now your home in time to watch cook-off. Instead of us recording it. I can get an extra early night." He says. 

"Awesome I'm gonna go grab a shower and then I'll be down" I yell as I run up the stairs.

Upstairs I flop onto my bed and take a deep breath. For some reason, I feel like I've been holding my breath since I left the diner. What was he doing there?

~

"Dad this pasta is awesome," I say with a mouth full of food as we sit watching cookoff.

"I'm glad you like it, Phie." He says shaking his head laughing at my manners. Or lack thereof.

It's a family tradition in our house. We pick a semi-trashy reality tv show and we watch it every night while we eat dinner. Currently, our favourite show is cookoff. Before that, it was renovators. And before that it's was The voice Uk.

I look at my dad as we sit and eat dinner and then I think about Alexander. I wonder how his life has been. I wonder if that has anything to do with his introverted personality. Then I look at me and my dad and realise how lucky I am to have the dad that I do.

~

I wake up to my soft alarm. I don't need a loud blaring alarm as I actually enjoy waking up. My phone says it's 5 am. I go downstairs to make my tea. As the kettle boils I think about my dad and I and our morning routines. We love routine in this house.

Dad's up 5:30 am to be showered, dressed and at work by 6:30 am. My dad's a surgeon he's then at work till 4:30 pm. He comes home has a shower and a nap and then begins making dinner at 6 pm. Then we sit down and eat at 7 finished by 7:30 and watching cookoff for half an hour. Then dad's straight to bed.

I wake up at 5 am every morning I make my tea and toast and sit in my bay window to watch the sunrise while I eat and drink. Then showered, dressed and makeup done by 6 am when I go downstairs and talk to dad until we leave at 6:30 am. Then to Sal's on the way to school for coffee and study. Then school from 8 to 3. To Starbucks for a gossip with the girls from 3-4 then back to sal's from 4-7 then home eating dinner, watching cookoff then showered and reading or watching tv until 9 pm then bed.

I always loved this time of morning so quiet the world is so calm. Still half asleep. I sit in my bay window watching the sunrise. The beautiful orangey, pink tones painting their way through the sky as the sun makes its way to the top. Once I'm done I begin getting ready.

~

I walk out of my cupboard feeling pretty happy with my outfit and ready for the day

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I walk out of my cupboard feeling pretty happy with my outfit and ready for the day. I head downstairs and sit on the kitchen bench while dad packs the lunch I pour myself a coffee and sit down. Dad doesn't like help while doing this. He says I just get in his way.

"So Phie, hows school going? Still hanging out with that... interesting group of girls?" He asks. It's not hard to notice that dad disproves of those girls and their life choices, but I only hang out with them, I'm nothing like them.

"Schools going great, yeah I still hang out with them but there is nothing to worry about dad, once school ends I will probably never speak to them again." I sip my coffee.

"I don't get you Phie, why bother with these girls you don't even genuinely like, why not put that time into making friends that will last you a lifetime."

People rarely get me I think to myself "Because dad, high schools not worth it, people there care more about what they're wearing to formal than the algebra test we have today. It's easier to blend in and ride it out and then make genuine friends in college where people are smart and accepting" I explain.

"But you had time for people before..."

"Yeah I did before I realised nothing last forever so whats the point in trying"

"Sunny skies?"

"Partly cloudy, anyway we gotta go, dad," I say and he hands me my lunch box. We walk out to our cars and I head for sals.

A/n: Hi everyone, Annie here. I'm back and ready to rock.

Any questions/suggestions/just feel like chatting. Feel free to comment or private message me. I'm always around for a chat. I love you all 💛

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⏰ Last updated: Aug 17, 2018 ⏰

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