Chapter 3

Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire.

That’s the first thing I heard when I woke up. My parents always woke up early and they love to play music every morning. It’s like our everyday family tradition. My family has a deep passion for music.

I did my morning routine before going downstairs to have some breakfast. I can smell the freshly cooked food and it made my stomach growl even more. As usual, dad made a bacon and eggs sandwich, mom cooked her special sausage with soup-her own recipe. And as for me, I’ll eat cookie crisps cereal.

“Good morning, Amby!” My father greeted me before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Morning,” I mumbled, still a bit sleepy. I planted a quick kiss on my father’s forehead and on my mom’s who’s sitting beside him.

“You’re still sleepy,” My mom said.

I snickered, pouring the milk on my cereal. “I am always, mom,”

“Now, what should I cook for Lexi?” My mom asked.

Lexi always joins us for breakfast, cause her parents needed to go to work around 5 am and we usually get up around 6. Lexi is part of our family, and my parents treated her as their child.

“I don’t know? She always eats different food everyday,” I shrugged.

“Lexi should make a list or text us what she’d like for breakfast so we can prepare it early,” My dad butted in.

The doorbell rang 5 times, meaning its Lexi who’s out the door.

“How many times do I have to tell that kid that 2 rings are enough?”

Me and my mom laughed at him. He always tells Lex to not push the bell a lot, cause it might break… Which she already did twice.

I pulled myself away from the chair and reached the doorknob, twisting it to see a messy Lexi. Wearing the same pants she wore last night, though her shirt was different.

“You look like shit!” I said surprised. She was wearing sunglasses, even if there’s no sun yet. “Are you still drunk?”

“My head is pounding,” She grunted.

“Why are you even wearing sunglasses?”

“It’s so bright,”

“Dude, the sun hasn’t even come out yet!”

“Must be hard for the sun. I came out in 7th grade,” She joked.

“You’re hungry and sleepy.” I stated. She can look like she’s drunk when she’s hungry or sleepy. I know its odd, but she’s like that.

“Mom Anna, I want 2 pancakes, scrambled eggs, and coffee, please?” Lexi requested, giving my parents a hug.

“You look like a mess, honey,” Mom said, removing Lexi’s sunglasses.

“Going for the messy look, you know what I mean?” My best friend joked.

“Well then, you’re rocking it!” Dad chuckled.

“Thanks, dad Channing!” She gave dad a wide grin.

Mom placed the food in front of Lex and she started digging in.

“So girls, how’s school yesterday?”

“Tiring,” Lex raised her hand while she cut a piece of her pancake.

“Had a conversation with Kayla’s best friend,” I said, recalling last night. Mom thought we were at Kayla’s house studying, but we weren’t.

Lexi chocked on her food as she found out about it.

“You talked to Lucy?!” She said through her full mouth.

“Yeah…”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” She said causing some bits of food to spill out of her mouth.

“Please chew first,” I wrinkled my nose.

“You didn’t say anything about talking to Lucy,”

“Maybe because, hmmm I don’t know… Oh right, you were drunk.” I whispered the last word so my parents wouldn’t hear it.

“I ain’t now!” Looking interested, I decided to tell her what happened and how we ended up talking in her room.

I thought I could get some peace last night, but Lucy came and the peace was gone. Albeit, I did somehow enjoy our conversation. Minus the flirting part. In school, she seemed like this bitchy person- which she is; but when I got a chance to bond and talk to her last night, she seemed nice and sweet.

“She has the hots for you!” She squealed, slapping me on the arm. It hurt, let me tell you.

“What?!”

Lucy? Interested in me?  Yeah I don’t think so.

“Seriously!”

“I don’t think so,”

“Wanna bet? Forty dollars!”

“Forty do- forty dollars?! Are you insane?”

“… A bit. But dude, as a gay lady and Lucy is also gay, I can totally tell that she’s interested,”

“Forty dollars? Who would bet forty dollars?” I ignored the last thing she said.

“Okay how bout thirty-five dollars?” She negotiated.

“I won’t even bet!” I said, frustrated.

“Thirty?”

“No,”

“Twenty-five?”

“No,”

“twenty?”

“No,”

“Fifty then?”

“N- what happened to fifteen?!“

“Fifteen then?”

“Not even ten!”

“How about five, girls?” My dad joined our conversation.

“Five?” Lexi pushed.

“Not even a dollar,”

“Why?” She asked.

I simply said, “I’m broke.”

“So if you had money, you’ll take the bet?” She grinned.

“I’m gonna repeat myself again… No,”

“What about you start the bet?”

“Is Kayla going to pick you up or are you gonna use your car?” I changed the topic.

“We are gonna use your car. She has cheerleading practice at 6,” She started cleaning her plate and utensils along with my cereal bowl.

“I got to go, we still have a meeting at 9. Bye honey, by kids!” Dad gave us each a kiss on the top of our head before going out of the house to go to his work.

He worked at the business company of his cousin and he’s an assistant vice president. He wanted to work a little harder cause there’s a promotion that he’s been waiting for.

My mom was a residential architect. She actually designed our home and renovates it every year or if the house needed it.

Me and Lexi got a part-time job at this beautiful small cafe that’s near our school. We’ve been working there since we were 16. It’s actually funny, cause some employees don’t like us due to one of us being the employee of the month. Good thing the owner who’s also the manager loves us and gave us a raise when we did a good job.

“I’ll be going. Make sure to lock all the doors alright, kiddos?” My mom ordered.

We both nodded and hugged mom and said goodbye.

I went up to my room again to take a shower while Lexi used the guest room’s bathroom. I picked out a white hoodie and an oversized black sweater with the design of the movie Pulp Fiction, a pair of black cargo pants, and a pair of black sneakers that matched my outfit.

I don’t understand why some people see black as a sad and depressing color. It’s actually classy and a happy color for me. It’s my number one favorite since I was 8. I used to love white, but as I grew up, I started hating it and saw how boring the color was.

“Thank God my headache is gone!” Lexi exclaimed, drying her hair with her towel.

“Water helps,” I smiled.

“It’s good that you don’t drink. The hangover is so bad,” She sat on my bed.

“That’s why I don’t drink. Also I never liked the taste. Coffee is enough,” I replied, putting the sweater on before grabbing my hairbrush.

“Do you have a hairpin?” She questioned, spinning around to see if she could find some. I pointed at the drawer of my side table and she thanked me.

“Hey Lexi?” I asked.

“Hmm?”

I lied down on my bed, “Since you’ve hung out with Lucy, what can you say about her?”

“Aha! You’re so interested!” She yelled, smirking.

“I’m not,” I denied.

“Then what?” She eyed me for a second then she crossed her arms, and raised her eyebrow.

“I just know the rumors about her and since I’ve talked to her and saw a different person, I wanted to hear your opinions about her,” I stared up the ceiling, fumbling with my hands.

“I’m not that close to her since she’s scary and intimidating, but I’ve hung out with her and Kayla a couple times and she’s actually not that bad. She can be mean and rude, but she’s also nice. I guess she just lets specific people see that part of her.”

I pondered about what she said and didn’t reply back, I’m starting to think that maybe she’s fun to hang with. But I don’t want any attention when I decide to talk to Lucy again. In fact, I wasn’t even interested in being friends with her. I was just curious to hear her opinion.

“Where is Kayla? We’re gonna be late,” I spoke.

“What do you mean where is she? We’re gonna use your car, remember?”

My eyes widened and I shot up from the bed, checking the time as I got my feet on the ground.

8:15 am.

And it takes us 20 minutes to get to school.

“Shit!” I cursed under my breath.

“Amber, oh my gosh! Why did you forget?!” Lexi panicked, picking up her bag from my bed racing down the stairs with me.

I tripped on the last step, and so did Lexi. My ankle was in pain, especially my back where she landed. We dashed out towards my car and drove off.

“Mrs. Headey will kill me! She’ll probably give me another detention slip,” Beads of sweat fall down on my face as I bit on my nails in fear.

She snickered. “Poor you. Mr. Lucas would probably let me off again if I told him I needed to take care of my imaginary dog, Cupcake.”