The connection

Chapter one - In my head

Alex

I lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling counting the paint swirls and tiny imperfections to distract my brain from the pounding on my bedroom door. If I ignored it maybe it would go away, and I could go back to my blissful sleep. Soon the thundering pounds were followed by the high pitch shrill that I knew better than to ignore.

"Alexandra Elizabeth Morgan, if I have to bang on this door one more time you will be in serious trouble. Now get out of bed, you'll be late for school!"

My mother's voice sounded higher strung than usual, and she only used my full name when she was seriously pissed. I threw back my bed covers and dragged myself out of bed, I guess I probably had overslept just a little.

"Okay Okay, I'm up!" I called back. I knew she was leaving for her business trip this morning and she was probably stressing about Al the things she had to do without having to worry about me being late for school. I let out a yawn as I walked into my bathroom whilst wiping the sleep from my eyes. I needed to wake up.

I jumped in the shower and proceeded to wash my long brunette trestles, only time for a quick shampoo this morning thanks to my extra half an hour in bed, my hair was going to be a nightmare to tame today without a decent conditioner but I'd just stick it up in my signature messy bun and be done with it. Once I was out of the shower, I towelled myself dry as quickly as possible, it was 7.04 and I had preciously 6 minutes until I had to leave for school. I threw on some underwear and my favourite yellow sundress. We were in the middle of April and it usually rains for most of the month but we were experiencing some sort of heatwave over the past week which showed no signs of giving up so I was making the most of my summer wardrobe. Besides, if my hair looked like shit at least my outfit would make up for it. I grabbed my tan wedged sandals and fastened the buckles whilst admiring my freshly painted red toenails. I was glad I opted for a little nail pamper session yesterday! I brushed out my damp hair and spun it up into a messy bun and fastened it on top of my head, a few slicks of mascara and some cherry lip balm was all I had time for today. I took one last glance at myself in the mirror and then at the clock, 7.10 time to go...I guess that'll do I thought to myself as I grabbed my school bag from the chair in my room and headed downstairs.

My mum was busy in the kitchen running around like a crazy person, I debated just sneaking out without saying anything but thought better of that decision and stepped into the war zone that had become our kitchen.

"Mum I'm leaving for school" I tried to sound casual, like I hadn't caused any extra stress by sleeping in. I waited for her to acknowledge what I had said but she kept on running between her briefcase and a stack of papers she had piled over the breakfast bar.

"MUM, I'm leaving" I called a bit louder this time, her eyes immediately looked up from the stack of papers she was focused on before.

"Alex! Nice to see you finally joined the land of the living" she started to move towards the counter top where she had a bagel prepared for me "here take this with you for the walk to school, can't have you starving yourself can I"

I took the bagel, which was oozing with a cream cheese filling, it was still warm and smelt delicious.

"Thanks mum" I immediately took a bite and turned to leave

"Alex don't forget I'm leaving for my business trip this morning, I will be back Friday evening, I'll call you when I'm on the road back. There's plenty of food in the fridge and I've left you some money on the coffee table in case your fancy pizza or something" she rambled on and I glanced down at my watch. Shit! I was definitely going to be late, at this rate I would have to run to school.

"Mum chill out, I can cope for 3 days without you. I'm 17 years old and perfectly capable of looking after myself," even if I did seem to lack the ability to get myself out of bed in the morning. She glared at me as I took another mouthful of my bagel and just rolled her eyes.