The Red Suitcase

Chapter Six

Oatmeal of toast? Well, oatmeal tastes good. But so does toast. You can put peanut butter on toast. Well, you could put peanut butter on oatmeal too, if you sway that way.

I go back and forth like that for a while, only to decide on cereal. Breakfasts are hard. Who am I kidding, mornings in general are hard. I'm probably a vampire, for the AMs are the reason for my demise. 

I grab the milk out of the fridge. While dramatically chewing on Cinnamon Toast Crunch, (I guess toast kind of own), my mind wanders. I don't remember if I finished my homework or not. Whatever, I'm already late.

I head out of the house with my backpack in hand. Mom alredy left this morning, so she doesn't have to know I'm not on time. 

The elevator on my level is out of order (of course), so running down the steps is my only option. After a while, I try to slide down the banister. Fun? Yes. Dangerous? Absolutely. I fell off after half of a flight. 

Once I get down, I head to the bus stop and am the last one to get in.

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I get off the bus as quickly as possible, wiping feathers off my skinny jeans. That chicken guy needs to find a new place to sell his products. 

I climb up the stairs to the school only to be met by Cally (A/N: You guys finally get to meet her friends!!) She is one of my closest friends. (Did you think I didn't?) I actually have a few. Here is how you tell her apart from the others. She is the one with the turquoise problem. Her hair, her earrings, her attitude. All turquoise.

"Why are you late?" she asks.

I tell her about my oatmeal vs. toast debate, and she nods in understanding like it's normal. Which, in a way, it is. Our group is a little different. We walk to our lockers. Artemis is already there. She looks liker your everyday pretty girl, but then you see her lip ring (A/N: nothing wrong with lip rings, it just makes her more significant, and helps you tell her from everyone else :)). As for her name, she just picked it long ago, and no one questioned it. She could have picked Bunny Slippers and no one would have flinched. She's the kind of girl you don't mess with, unless you are close to her like we are.

"Hey guys, do you want to go to the mall after school? I have nothing better to do, so.." Artemis says.

We agree, since we don't have anything better to do either.

"Ok cool, but I have to ask Sara too." she adds as she walks away, probably to her locker. 

Sara is the last of our group. Not much to say about her. Average girl who needs more time in the sun and less time watching Supernatural.

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*Ring*

I slam my books and head to the door. Everyday, school is less and less appealing. At least now we get to leave. I head to the parking lot where we will meet.

Everyone else is already there. The only person that actually has a car is Artemis. No one knows where and how whe got it, and no one asks.

As we drive to the mall, they ask about my trip to Dad's and how boring it was. This goes on to the whole luggage mix up, which I tell involuntarily. No one else needed to know, but here I am, pouring everything out. Well, everything but Ashton. Or the bird part, no on needs to know that. 

They eventually start to talk to eachother about their own things, so I am off the hook. By the time they start yelling to eachother about something, I wasn't really listening, we are at the mall.

Artemis starts swearing at the other drivers because she can't find a spot, but we find one eventually. It's practically a mile away, but it's there.

We calm Artemis down by trying to change the subject.

"So, Cally starts, where should we start?" We all know this is to get Artemis' mind off being angry, but she takes the bait.

"I want to go to Hot Topic."

We all agree and hope we don't get kicked out. Again.

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"What do you mean, SOLD OUT?!" Artemis screams at the cashier. "I have been waiting FOREVER for that shirt. This is ridiculous!"

Cally, Sara, and I slump next to the wall. She has been going on like this for ten minutes. We are going to get kicked out.

Five minutes later, the manager comes out. She tries to speak calmly to Artemis, but you can tell she couldn't care less about the sold out shirt.

Eventually, Sara and Cally just grab Artemis by the armpits and drags her away. I go up and apologize about our screaming friend, who is now kicking desperately to get away. So much for an innocent mall trip.

As Artemis rages on, we shove her over to a bench and sit down. Cally makes sure we have Artemis covered and goes to the smoothie kiosk near by to get one for Artemis to help her settle down. 

After what seems like forever, she comes back and hands the soothie ofer to Artemis, who takes it reluctantly.

"I think that's enough mall for one day." Sara suggests. We all agree and head to the exits

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"Thanks for the ride!" I yell to the girls as they drive away. Now for some supper. I grab some pasta out of the fridge and head upstairs.

Thirty minutes of scrolling throug Tumblr on my phone later, I actually start eating. I'm easily distracted.

Walking over to my desk, I see something strange on the screen of my computer. Underwear. Boys underwear. Ashton's underwear. 

Nice, I mutter to myself bitterly. I grab one ofmy shoes and use it to flick the underwear off the computer. I whip it onto the floor, where it will probably stay for a while.

I can't really concentrate on my computer screen. I just keep thinking about Ashton. Ever since I saw his underwear (I know, I'm a hopeless romantic, what can I say?) I can't think of anything else.

Against my better judgement, and before I can question my thoughts, I whip out my phone. All I need is to send one text.

Me: Ur underwear is still in my room

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Heyyyyy, sorry I haven't updated for a while, I had a vacation and homework sucks man. It just sucks. So here's an "I'm sorry I screwed up so here's a lil chapta fo ya" kind of chapter. I promise I won't make you wait that long again. 

Plus, this chapter is dedicated to alletsarnott. Love you!! Your book is da best!