Love, after everything

Chapter 1. The beginning

“Elora, come down for breakfast or do you want to sleep the whole day and skip school?” Her mum said loudly.

She sluggishly sat up on her bed with her eyes still slightly closed and after a minute of her sitting, she stood up slowly and walked down to her restroom to ease herself.

She came down dragging her feet as she walked to the dining table to settle down for breakfast.

“Elora, have you brushed your teeth?” Her dad asked fixing his gaze on her.

“ No, dad,” she replied looking down.

“You know the rules princess, you know you have to brush your teeth before coming down for breakfast. Since time is running out and I have to go to the office very soon, you should just take your bath and dress up before coming down. You don’t want to make us late, off you go baby girl,” her dad said to her in a very calm tone.

Elora went back upstairs, she entered her bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, she sighed deeply and said “I look like a mess.”

With time running out, she had to quickly brush her teeth and take her bath. She came out of the bathroom after drying up and stood in front of her disorganized wardrobe wondering what she was going to wear to school. After much contemplation, she settled on the yellow floral gown her dad got her last Christmas with a pair of black leather boots. She quickly packed up her books into her bag and came downstairs to join her parents for breakfast. After eating, her mum crosschecked to make sure she was not forgetting anything at home and after she was done, Elora got into her father’s car and off they went.

Elora was an only child at the time but her parents were expecting a baby. Her mum was already 5 months pregnant.

Her dad dropped her off at school not without kissing her forehead and telling her he loved her.

She got to school just in time, she settled with her classmates and began the lesson.

During class, she kept on using her eyes to scroll through the classroom like a spy. She was looking for her crush, Christian.

Her best friend, Celine, saw her looking around and knew exactly what was happening and quickly tapped her to focus, telling her she could look for her crush later after the class.

Celine and Elora had been best friends for a very long time, they met on the very first day of junior high school and they were now in high school and immediately became drawn to each other. Celine had been a very good and supportive friend to Elora, she knew everything about her even down to the tiniest detail and Elora loved her like a sister. Celine was the first person to know if she was having a bad day, if she was feeling sick, if she needed advice on something, if she needed someone to back her up with something, Celine was always the one to go to. Their parents also knew about them and sometimes invited the girl to their respective homes for dinner.

From the very first day she started having a crush, she told Celine about it, so it was no surprise that Celine actually knew who she was looking for when she found her scrolling through the classroom.

The bell rang for the break time and with their hands locked together, they both went down to the cafeteria to eat. While walking down to the cafeteria, Celine looked at her and laughed, then she asked “ You were looking for him, right?”. Elora blushed and nodded her head.

Celine laughed again and said “ I knew it, you really like him a lot.” I can’t blame you though, he’s actually your type, she said. By now they had already gotten to the cafeteria, they collected their food and settled down in a corner to eat.

“But I wonder why he’s not in school today though, that’s very unlike him.” Celine said breaking the silence.

“I wonder why too, I was really hoping to see him too.” Elora said and sighed.

“Should we go ask his friends why he’s not in school today?” Celine asked looking at Elora

At least someone would know why he’s not in school today.

Elora nodded her head and said “Yes, but let’s finish up our food first.” She said

They quickly finished up and walked up to meet Daniel who happened to be Christian’s best friend.

“ Hi Daniel. Could we talk to you for a minute?”

The girls asked

“Sure, Why not” He replied excusing himself from his other friends.

They went to a corner and they asked why Christian was not in school that day and Daniel told them that Christian was not feeling too well that was why he had to miss school.

The girls asked Daniel if he could give them Christian’s address or take them to Christian’s house. He told them he was actually going there after school and they could tag along. He took their contact and texted them an address of where to meet and told them to meet up with him by 3pm and they agreed.

They thanked him and went back to class, had the remaining classes for the day and when the bell rang, they packed their bags and went out. On their way out of the school, Celine told Elora she could tell her parents she was going to study with her since her parents were out of town and they wouldn’t be back till later in the day and she agreed.

Elora’s dad was already waiting for her outside school so the girls hopped into the car and then Elora told her dad she would be studying at Celine’s and asked her dad if it was okay. Her dad gave her permission and told her he did not have any problem with it since it was Celine. He then asked her if he should drop them off at Celine’s and the girls said yes together.

Her dad drove to a small cafe to get them burgers and drinks so they wouldn’t get too hungry before dinner and afterwards dropped them off not without kissing her forehead and telling her he loved her.

“Call me when you’re done so I’ll come pick you up,” her dad said before finally driving off.

The girls rushed inside and settled down to eat their burgers and drank a little of their juice and got up to meet up with Daniel.

They met Daniel at the agreed time and place and they all went down to Christian’s place.

Elora’s heart was beginning to beat very fast as they approached his house because she was going to be seeing him for the first time outside the school walls and somehow started regretting why she hadn’t worn something nicer.