Wake Me Up

"I HATE YOU!" My eyes fly open at the sound of a plate crashing against a wall. Groaning, I hold my head to stop an oncoming headache and try to calm my heart. Ah, nothing like a nice adrenaline rush to start your day am I right? Of course I am. It's the best way to wake up. Listening to the screamfest, mostly by my mom this time, I turn my head and look at my digital Hello Kitty clock. 6 o'clock on the dock. They never fail to impress me. Every day for the past 2 months, they've been arguing loud enough to wake me up at exactly 6 am. It's crazy. On the bright side, they wake me up as soon as I'm about to die in my nightmares, so. This time, I was almost snatched by this weird shadow thing that had empty sockets and a terrifying hole for a mouth. I do not want to know what that mouth do. It was a good reprieve from my usual nightmares though. So another bright side. Ms. Patricia and Ms. Flemming would be so proud of me. I'm doing good in looking at the bright side now. Getting that good morning stretch, I wonder what they're fighting about now. I throw my princess pink comforter off me and slip my feet in my fuzzy pink slippers. Before I continue to describe my room, I do not want to hear any kind of judgement. I like pink. Don't hate because your life is colorless. Grabbing my phone with a pastel pink and purple unicorn shaped case, I take it off the charger and see an incoming call. Oh, how interesting. "Morning Princess!" I wince and cover my ear as my best friend Andrea, Andy for short, screams all the bats away. "First, ow. Second, morning Red. Third, what I tell you bout screaming at me before I've had my morning tea?" I tell her, getting annoyed already. I walk to my wooden dresser painted white with pink clouds on them and diamond knobs. I love this dresser. "It's a good way to wake ya up! Get that adrenaline going!" She says in her cute french accent. That's one reason she's so popular. People here loooove the French. "I already had my fill of adrenaline today, so what you did was pointless." "No, not completely. I got a laugh out of it!" Her terrible humor's another one of em. "Oh ha ha, let's see who'll be laughing after I shove---" "Language Elizabeth!" I heard her older sister, Avaline, say with a lighter accent. She's been in the U.S. longer, so her accent's almost gone, sadly. But why she yelling, I didn't even say anything yet! "My love for you in your heart so you'll never forget that we're besties forever. Hey Ava! How you been? Pregnancy still giving you trouble?" I can just picture her glaring at the phone with a smirk, rolling her eyes. "No, I've been good lately. Oh, you're still coming to the shower right?" "Of course, of course. I wouldn't miss it even if you cancelled because you thought that maybe it's self centered to throw a party for yourself just to receive gifts when it isn't even your birthday," I say sweetly. I totally don't wanna goooo, we're just giving her gifts, fawning over her and her baby, who we don't even know is a boy or girl because she want to reveal it later, and then talking about how her husband is so rich and caring, and rich, and is the best father, and rich. "Well, why would I do that when the spread will be from Olive Garden?" "So did you say it was for 4 or 5pm?" Do. Not. Judge. Olive Garden is my s**t. And if you can't tell, my parents and I don't necessarily go out and eat like a happy family. I hear Avaline and Andy laughing. I glare at my hands, imagining it's them as I go through my underwear to see which ones to wear today. Oh I'mma get you both. Just you wait. I hear Ava say, "5, our place, this Saturday. Do you need me to pick you up?" As I was going to respond, I heard a deep, raspy voice say, "Nah, I got her." I jumped to the sound of Justin. I looked at the screen and saw it was a conference call. "Justin, what the hell?! Why you didn't say anything before?" "Lizzie!" Scolded Ava. "That's not a curse word, it's in the bible!" I say, using my favorite excuse. She can't say anything, it is a biblical word. "Well," Justin said, his voice sounding shaky now. Oh, you laughing too? They seem to forget who they dealing with here. "I was focusing on getting ready so I can come pick you up." I arched a brow. "For what? Actually, what are you two doing up so early? Y'all don't wake up till 7:15." "We'll tell you when we get there! And Ice Man, hurry up! I've been ready for 15 minutes now and I'm starvinnnggg!" Andy whined. They live close to each other so they usually ride to school which is 30 minutes for them. Also 40 minutes to my house. Meanwhile, I live an hour away, so I go by myself in my hand-me-down car. I'm not complaining, it's a beautiful grey Toyota. I just want another one. For traumatic reasons. And for it to be pink. "Yeah yeah, hold up. Let me find my keys--" "Justin! Come and help me with these boxes!" I heard his mom scream in the background. She must be back from her "business trip" with her co-worker, Mr. Jackson. We all know they're really dating, she just doesn't want to tell Justin because she's worried he'll reject it. She's not really wrong, but it's annoying she's hiding it so poorly. But I wonder what she brought back this time. I forgot where she went. Hearing him sigh, he says, "Be right back," and I hear the phone get dropped. "Well, we'll be there by 6:30, so hurry up and get ready. And if you didn't do your homework, you have no time to do it now!" Andy said. I rolled my eyes at that. "Unlike someone, I do my homework the day I get it because I have nothing but time. Did you do--" I'm interrupted by her loud, obviously fake laughter. "Anywho, I'll let you get to it, don't forget to get my book that I'm sure you're done by now. Au revoir Belle!" And then a click. I click my tongue and set my phone down on my dresser. I told her to stop calling me that too! Even though Beauty and the Beast are one of my favorite princess movies, the live action in particular, I do not relate to Belle. Yes, we're both bookworms, but that's it. I'm not an only child- oh wait, I guess I am- I don't have a loving, wacky and creative father. My mom's alive and still throwing stuff and yelling downstairs, I'm not envied by girls for having the attention of this popular guy, and I am definitely not beautiful. I'm pudgy as hell, my arms are squishy, my thighs and ass are huge but my boobs are tiny. Essentially, my body is so disproportionate that I look like a doll with all the stuffing just shoved in there. My cheeks are chubby but don't match with my slanted eyes. You would think I'd have doe eyes, matching the innocent look. At least I have a good complexion, no acne. I'm white, so y'all don't get confused or anything. My best features are my curly, coal black hair and bright silver eyes. I really feel like God played the match game with me, got them all wrong, and said good enough. And while 2019 embraces all things unique, unfortunately, no one seems to think I'm pretty enough to approach with the possibility of not being a fake, two-faced snake. A private school full of spoiled, rich, unknown of the real world around them kids will act like that. It's like if you gathered all the stereotypical popular kids, Karens, and Chads and nurture their behavior all their life, you get Xyrus Private High School where everyone will follow whatever the Peach has to say and place their full trust in the government. But as soon as a Black Lives Matter protest go on, they'll be the first to tweet about it and how unfair everyone's being treated. Even the black-- oops, sorry, might be some snowflakes reading-- African American kids there act the same. Most of them were born in the rich and spoilt environment too, so can't really expect much. I'm just so happy Justin isn't like that. He grew up from the ground like me, luckily making it to the top. Courtesy of our parents, who suck right now. Oh shoot, I need to get ready! I look at the time as it reads 6:12. Shiiiitzu. Hey, not a curse word. It's a dog. But dammit, I need to get a move on. I'm pretty sure Ice Man's gonna turn that 40 minute drive to 20 and I take awhile to get ready. Guess I'm skipping breakfast. As I look through my underwear again, I think of how I want to go about this. Maybe I should go with a theme. Been awhile since I did that. Hello Kitty, Bratz, Barbie. I'm feeling those. Hm, hm, what to do….I'll do Hello Kitty. I grab some frilly Hello Kitty panties with a bow in the middle. I grab a matching bra, matching socks, and my pressed uniform. I grab my phone and head in my joint bathroom, also beautifully pink. The tiles are a pale pink with matching shower curtains that have white roses raining down. I put on my shower playlist and turn on the water. As the intro to Star Vs The Forces of Evil start, I smile and bob my head, singing along. I love that song. As I hear 'little weird, little wild', a sudden memory flash in my mind. My dream. I was running away from the black thing. It's so blurry, but I remember it screaming my name. My heart speeds up as I remember it came so close in catching me. I could still feel the sensation of claws grazing my skin. Its horrible, shrieking voice calling out to me. I shudder. Most of my dreams are pretty scary, but they all kill me in a certain way. They never chase me, and they never looked as grotesque as this one. As I wonder what would have happened if it caught me, I hunched over, heaving up air. Calm down Lizzie. Calm down. With a shaky breath, I stand up and turn around, opening my mirror. I take out my pill bottle and open it with shaky hands. I pop one in and swallow, calming my breathing. Breathing out, I put the bottle back in and turn to the shower. Frowning at the low stream, I look at the water streaming from my shower head, seeing how it slows down. I look towards my bow shaped number clock on the wall. The hands are slowing down. What's happening? I look in the mirror, seeing if maybe my reflection would look slow, and screamed. Next thing I know, I was stumbling in the tub and getting damp from the water, ripping the curtain with me. My heartbeat quickened as I stay under it. I'm too afraid to look up. I think I'm still too tired, might still be dreaming. The meds should be working by now. They always work immediately. How the hell am I seeing that monster? No, it was brief. And in the mirror! Another clear sign it was in my head, nothing was behind me. I'm just imagining things again because of stress. Yeah, I was scaring myself with my imagination. My weird brain loves to play tricks on me and I don't necessarily have the most stable mindset, as you can probably tell. Okay, you know what? f**k this. What I look like getting scared of my own imagination? A crazy b***h. And that might be what I am, but it also makes me a p***y. And that's what I'm not. Feeling better, I snatch the curtain off my head. I look around and see nothing there. I feel the water rain down as it's supposed to and soak my baby blue nightgown. Dang it, I wanted to rewear it tonight. Maybe it'll dry out. I get up, feeling better by the second. Speaking of seconds, I look at the clock and see the hands are moving normally. I knew it was just in my head. I step out of the tub and close my mirror. I look at my reflection, seeing if anything is out of place. Bags under my eyes are still there. My hair is still unruly and everywhere, like wind just whipped it about. My eyes are still freakishly silver. Something about not having enough melanin in them. You'd think that'd be awesome! But not if you had the worst of the worst self esteem. Even if I'm constantly told that I'm pretty, unique, I'll find someone, that doesn't make me feel better. If the majority of those who I meet think I look ugly, then I'm going to think the same. I've been trying to work on it, don't think I'm a really depressed person or anything. Because I'm just normal depressed. And traumatized. And hungry. I'll get more into my self pity later, I need to eat. I hope they get me some breakfast. I payed last time. As I head back in my room, I fix my blazer and knee high Hello Kitty socks. I look in the mirror and brush my hair, wondering how I'm going to style it. Yesterday was a low ponytail with some hair covering my eyes. I liked that look. I grab a pink scrunchie with white polka dots on it and tie my hair behind my head. Feeling that something's missing I grab two small matching polka dot bows and clip them to the top of my hair that's hanging out. I twist and check if my uniform is on right. I say it's pretty cute, a grey blacker with a blue stripe on the sleeves and a knee length checkered black and blue skirt. We're required to wear black, grey, or white closed toe shoes. Of course, everyone worked around that rule, wearing school inappropriate shoes, but no one cares at this point. Especially the senior class that I have the misfortune of being apart of. We can wear whatever shirt underneath so you can already guess what it is. I've hinted at it way too much to say it again. I slip on my black church girl shoes and smile at my reflection. I look cute today. I knew Hello Kitty was the right choice. It's always better to go with a theme. It'll lift ya mood, no doubt. I check the time on my phone and see it's 6:25. I'm making good time. While I'm ahead of schedule, I fix my bed and grab my art book and supplies from my desk, cramming them in my gold backpack. I know, I know. Atrocious. How dare I sport a gold backpack when my signature is pink right? Well Andy insisted, the mean girl she is. She says she's tired of seeing pink all the time. The audacity! As if I have too much! She's lucky I don't dye my hair pink and look like Rose Quartz just to spite her. I put my backpack on and lean against my door to hear if they're still arguing. After a minute, I think it's clear until I hear a sob running up the stairs. I flinch and back away. As a door slams and something else breaks downstairs, I decide to just go down the window. That's my favorite way anyway, and I don't feel like passing through broken glass and upturned furniture right now. It'll ruin my happy. I walk towards my window, grabbing my purse with my wallet and phone. Parting my blackout curtains, I push them back as I climb through the window. Stepping out on the roof, I close it and hang on the edge of the roof, letting go and landing softly on the driveway. I turn around and walk towards my car, sitting on my hood. I look at my phone again. 6:30. They should be close then. Well, well, speak of the devil. I answer the call with a grin. "You guys close?" I can practically hear Andy vibrate with energy. "Yes, come outside!" "Already out Madame. Dépêchez-vous (Hurry up), I'm hungry over here and I want breakfast," I say, glad my French lessons are coming along nicely. I hear her smile as she claps. "Bon travail! (Good job!) I see you're getting better. Your accent even sounds better." "Well how could it not when my best friend is a badass french speaker? If I couldn't perfect it, I would being such dishonour to you," I say with a straight face. A second later, we're both laughing. I love Mulan. "Anyway, I see yooouuuu! Turn around!" I look behind me and see Justin's light grey convertible come go around the circle thingy and ride up to our driveway. Smiling, I hang up and speed walk to the car, tossing my bag in the back and hop in, not bothering to open the door. Yush, I love it when he drops the hood down! I hug Andy, squeezing her shoulders before hugging Justin and kissing his cheek. "Hey! You guys are late, it's 6:36!" I point to my phone screen showing a picture of all of us at the beach. That was a fun day. We should do that again. "Oh, well if you want to go to school by yourself and hungry, go head. Drea and I can go to iHop ourselves," Justin says cooly, leaning back against his seat, turning the radio. I gasp and look at him in horror. "How dare you try to eat at my favorite place without me?! On to iHop! You two are paying!" "Yeah, yeah. I'm covering for us. Put your seatbelt on Mulan," he chuckled and roll his eyes. "See, he knows I'm more tomboyish than beautiful," I say to Andy who's been stiflng her laughter. As soon as I say that though, she looks at me sternly. Dang it, that came out wrong. I mean, it's true, but I really don't feel like arguing about this again. Justin glares at me through the rearview mirror but says nothing, pulling out of the circle things and heading out the neighborhood. I try to stifle my sigh, knowing I killed the mood. C'mon Elizabeth, first time you guys hang out in awhile and you're already blowing it. Wait a second. I lean on Andy's seat with my puppy dog eyes, beseeching her. "Know what I noticed? This is the first time we all hung out together after midterms. That's crazy huh?" I try for a topic change. Please, please accept this topic change. I see Andy's eyes soften, her cute, adorable doe caramel eyes. Her red hair, natural might I add, is hung in waves today held back by a cute, glittery gold headband. Her freckles on her nose look lighter, probably put some light foundation on today. She has the complete innocent girl look, something I envy of her. I just wanna squish her cute chubby cheeks. Unlike me, she has a nice set of boobs, like triple C, she's curvy and don't have huge ass thighs like me. Like seriously, my thighs can probably snap a guy's neck. And while that might be a good feature on "other" girls, I'm not an exception. I can barely squeeze through the desks lined up in the classes, getting mooed at each time it happens. That's why I sit at the front. Ugh, no self pitying right now. I still need to eat. But her looks are another reason she's so popular. And no one can call her otherwise, she has such basically every unique trait a person could have, and make it work. She takes my hand and hold it against her cheek, an odd action I'm long used to. She said her and her family always did it as a sign of comfort. After awhile, she got Justin and I to do it too. She looks at me with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I know you've been trying too, but it's mostly my fault for being so busy lately with Ava's shower and--" I cut her off with a stern look. "Hey, chill. It's not like it's that big of a deal. We still hang at school and I still hang with you. It's just nice to all be together for once. We've all been busy, it's not something to be sorry about. And we can take the time at iHop to plan our next hangout! Well, the one after the baby shower. Ice Man, you definitely coming right?" I turn to Justin who's rapping along with Tupac. "Huh? Oh, uh, my mom wanted me for something so I'mma pass." Andy snorts and roll her eyes. "You're full of bull this early Justy? I thought your mom said it was perfectly okay 3 weeks ago?" Justin glares at her sideways as he turns a corner and stop at at stop sign. But hold up, that's odd "'Justy'? What happened to Ice Man?" I ask Andy, tilting my head. Her smile wavers and she glanced at Justin before shrugging. "I don't know, I just thought I'd give you guys some new nicknames." "Oh, what's mine then?" I ask, perking up, not buying a single thing she's saying but would love a new nickname. I don't get why she has to lie though. "You know I don't like my current ones. I don't have the qualities of a princess." I flinch at her glare and quickly add, "Because, you know, I'm not graceful, I can't speak to animals, I'm not a fighter of any kind, and there's no ball to go to meet any prince," I finish lamely. She still glares at me as she nuzzles my hand she's still holding captive. "Tu es notre princesse, Belle. (You're our princess, Belle.) I frown at her, confused on what she said and upset she's still calling me Belle. "I don't even like yellow like that, the least you could've done is call me Aurora. Right, Justy'?" I turn to him, saying his new nickname in a sickly sweet tone. He flips me off and start driving on the main road. I smile, seeing that we're going on the main road by the cliff. I stare at the rising sun, enjoying the wind gently blowing my hair as he obeys the speed limit for once. I don't ride with him a lot, but when I do, it's like he's trying to practice being in Fast and Furious. Andy flicks my forehead. I look at her, annoyed, holding her finger tight. "Ow ow! You barely sleep so I'd hardly call you Sleeping Beauty. You're more of a misunderstood bookworm like Belle. Stop trying to escape your destiny," she says dramatically, moving her hands like Spongebob in that one meme with the rainbow. I sigh and let go of her hand, leaning my cheek on the back of her seat and looking out at the sun again. I never get the chance to really enjoy the view. As a responsible driver, I sneak glimpses and keep on going. This is nice. I close my eyes, listening to Eminem singing Real Slim Shady and Justin matching him word for word. For a dude with a usual cold demeanor, he looks so cute and boyish when he's doing something he's passionate about. I stare at him with a smirk as he raps like he's on a music video. His thin, silver chains dangle from his blazer, clinking together. On one, there's a Hello Kitty and gold bow charm on it, representing us two. The other has black and white diamond rings representing his parents. Andy a d I had gotten them for his birthday in freshman, thinking he could do with something sentimental and not the standard best friend ring or necklace you buy at Hot Topic. I got a matching silver anklet that has the letter J in baby blue diamonds, a gold bow and a treehouse charm. Andy has a K-pop earring that has a similar J on the stud in one and a pink diamond in the other. It shimmers in the sunlight as she angles her head, also making her headband shimmer. The gold reflects on Justin's cocoa powder cheek. Luke seriously, you hold a spoon full of cocoa powder against his skin, you can't tell any difference. His face is masculine, but not so much that he looks like a roman God. His eyes are a dark chocolate, his hair a mix of light brown and dark brown bouncy curls that stop just above his ear. We call him Ice Man because of his cold demeanor towards other people and the way he glares at us. But once he smiles genuinely, ha, he looks like the sun, so adorable and attractive. But before you ship us, no, I don't like him that way. We've been together way too long, seen too much if each other for me to like him romantically. He's more like the brother I've always wanted and the best friend I'd never trade. When I need it, he has my back and has shown loyalty to me time and time again. Plus, I think those books with the best friends getting together after years of seeing their worth are so cliche and dumb. Speaking of. "Oh, Red, your book." I dig in my backpack and pull out her book, 'I Found You'. It is so damn cheesy. She takes it from me, turning around to face me with a bright, blinding smile. "How'd you like it? It was good yeah?" "Ehhh, it didn't change my mind on best friends being the best romance plots. In fact, this made it worse." She furrow her non-existent eyebrows, her smile faltering. She cut them off for a dare by one Justin last year and surprisingly liked the look. "Why? They both met by the middle friend who even encouraged the relationship which I thought was the best part. Well, next to the dates," she giggled at that. I rolled my eyes. "You might think it's a happily ever after, but what happened to the middle friend after chapter 20 when the main leads had a heart to heart? I didn't hear anything about them until the end of the chapters. Like, did they also have a lover? Were they with their other friends? And then, they were all best friends. Imagine Ice Man- oh, sorry, Justy- and I started dating and left you behind. After everything we've been through over the years, we completely forget about you. Wouldn't that be too hard to handle?" I ask her, a pained expression on my face. I can't even fathom being broken up from these two. It's just unthinkable. She squirms in her seat as she thinks about it, looking at Justin who's quiet now. Oh, the music stopped too. Eavesdropper. I narrow my eyes at him before turning back to Andy. "Well," she says," I get where you're coming from. But it's not like you two will be together all the time. I'll still be with you guys, teasing your relationship. And I wouldn't be super lonely, I have other friends in school. So I could always hang with them, like before, when I can't hang with you guys. I'm pretty sure that's what the middle friend was doing in the book too," she says with a smile. Huh. You know, that does make sense. "But still, won't you feel sort of left out? I mean, two of your best friends are dating each other. Something was going behind your back and you knew nothing about it." She fidgets again, and I start to get a little worried. Why is she so nervous about a book? Before she can reply, I catch sight of iHop ahead of us and I squeal. She turns forward and stays silent the rest of the time. I tilt my head at her, worried. I poke her shoulder. "Why are you so hung about it anyway? You know you'll never change my mind, so I wouldn't get too upset about it. You know it saddens me when my little rose wilts," I say, poking her cheek. She bats my hand and give me a half smile before leaning on her armrest, checking her phone. I feel a little panicked and hurt by her reaction and sit back. I look at my hands on my lap. Am I in the wrong here? Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh. I probably was too mean. But I was just telling her my opinion, an opinion that hasn't changed since 6th grade ever since I first read a cheesy best friend romance book. I grit my teeth. How am I messing up the atmosphere so much today? Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the book. But she asked my opinion on it. I don't really think I said anything wrong though. When I look up again, we're parking in front of a window of the restaurant. I feel a little better as I grab my backpack and cross strapped purse, never too far from my art supplies or taser in case something happens. I hop out the car and walk beside Justin, Andy already by the glass door. I look up at him, annoyed he grew so much in the last year. I used to be the tallest at 5'7, now he takes that title at 6'2.