Save Us From Their Long Run

The Day Everything Went to Hell

Avery slips and falls halfway down the hall. There's no time, so she crawls haphazardly around the corner and part way down the stairs, ignoring the bruises she can feel forming on her knees. Snatching her gym shoes from the front door, Avery jogs throughout the small living space, tossing anything she might need in her bag. Things admittedly could go a little less chaotically, but the scattered mess of pencils tumbling off the table and crumpled notebook sheets she leaves are the least of her worries right now.

Being anywhere closer to the school is better than still being in her house, but even on the last day of her final senior year, she hasn't got her bad habits in check, and she's going to be late to first period again.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she whispers as her hands scramble through her pockets, catching on loose threads until finally, finally, she snags her keys.

She only has enough time to double back to check her appearance, and she can't help but cringe at the sight. Water drips all over, the wet strands of her hair making it difficult to fashion it into anything more than a soggy lopsided bun, and the red and bluish discoloration under her eyes stand out all too much. Her genes are supposed to make her tan, but they didn't seem to get the memo today, or any day Avery sleeps exactly not at all, which is all the time. Blue eyes seated in vaguely yellow sockets stare down the frazzled girl in the mirror, gauging how willing Avery is to go to school where she knows she'll be instantly judged for her poor sleeping habits and inability to be on time for anything ever. But she's out of time, and her watch beeps that wretched five minute warning, so she's got no choice but to run.

Sprinting from her front steps, backpack barely carrying a thing thumping against her with each stretch of her legs, she thinks it won't hurt to add another missed first bell to her twenty nine and counting.

She barely has time to shove her duffel in her locker and get scolded away by teachers before the one minute warning bell goes off, but she makes it, and she enters her home room with a smirk. Her teacher is shaking his head as her foot passes the threshold just as the bell trills.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Ms. Moore. You know, when I told you to be on time, I didn't mean that you should make it a personal challenge to see how close you can get to being late."

Smiling, she answers, "I forgot it was early bell, I swear."

Mr. Kahna gives her a look, because they both know this won't be the last time she cuts it close in her life, but he nods his head toward the back and lets her off because it won't matter after today.

Now that she has a chance to make her way to her seat, she feels the uncomfortable stares as they follow her down the aisle. For a moment she regrets her late night endeavors, which ended, roughly, about an hour ago. But then she sees Alex with his feet up to save her seat, and she forgets all about the assholes she can hear calling her a zombie and asking if she ever sleeps or cares to.

"Morning, sunshine," he greets, and Avery envies his ability to look at least moderately put together. She knows he rushed to get here because everyone had left her house around 6:30AM, and he stays farther north than she does. Yet here he sits, still looking like he had all the time in the world to sleep and prepare for the day ahead. She pushes his legs off the chair with her own and plops into the desk, and then Mr. Kahna is speaking. Her day starts.

The homework assignment on the board looks treacherous, as does the opener question, but she's less preoccupied with that than she is with her and Alex's discussion about their later plans. Alex keeps asking to rock climb, or get ice cream, or train, and she's two seconds from smacking him when Mr. Kahna calls from the front of the room, "Anna, can you collect the homework from last night?"