lLfe as we know it •

#2

Emily

"Emilyyyyyy!!!!"

I fell out of bed with a start, crying out.

I looked up through what could only be described as a red cloud of anger, at a now laughing Kori, who was leaning against the door frame next to my room with a look of hilarity on her face.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up!" I told her, climbing off of the floor. It's not that she scared me that much, honestly. I fall out of bed a lot.

The little numbers on the clock suddenly became apparent to me. "Fuck, Kori, do you know how early it is?"
She stopped laughing. "It's eight-thirty."

I stared. I blinked. What day was it? "Shit!" I busied myself towards my wardrobe, sifting through clothes with faked interest. "So why are you here?"

I could almost hear her rolling her eyes. No, seriously. It was a moist noise, my skin was fucking crawling and everything.

"To drive you to school, dumbass, now get ready."

I rolled my own eyes again, feeling like the angstiest teenager alive, and went back to my wardrobe, but suddenly spun around again, another thought occurring. "Whoa, Kori, is that red nail polish?"

She looked down at her nails ashamedly. She knew how much I despised the colour red. In all its smug, cherry-coloured asshole glory. Red was the colour of blood and the colour of strawberries and strawberries were not even that good, I could definitely think of berries that tasted better. Say, blueberries.

"Sorry," She said, smiling, "I'll be downstairs, now hurry the fuck up, girl!"

Kori was the both the blackest and the palest person I'd ever met in my entire life.

I dressed as slow as I felt like. Blue clothes. Gotta match the hair. The obnoxious, bright blue hair. I was a walking paradox and a complete asshole. I loved myself.
My hair was straight on its own, but I gave it the tiniest of once overs in the mirror on my way out, almost fleetingly. Kori used to joke that I was born with the wrong hormones, my genetic make up was fucked somehow and now I had all of the characteristics of a guy. I told her that this was sexist and she hit me with her dumb Batman purse. Kori was the kind of girl who had both never seen Batman and never heard a Nirvana song and had more merch than both fandoms combined.

I didn't bother calling out to see if my brother was home, because most days now he was out with his boyfriend or working a gig. He was always home for dinner and slept in until four on Wednesdays only.

I got in the car with Kori, and we drove to school.
"Sooo...Em..."

I sighed. I knew that tone. "Whadya want?" I asked, frowning, and she grinned.

"Well, since you insist... can you come with Oliver and I to the concert tomorrow night?"

My smile dropped. "Kori..."

"Please!" She begged, obviously desperate. Obviously. I considered hurting her.

I sighed. "I'll be a third wheel on your date."

She shook her head. "No, I promise! Just please! I don't wanna be alone with him yet!"
Oliver was her pseudo-boyfriend for a very obviously made up relationship that she insisted on prancing around the school. Oliver was greasy and only dated girls of Caucasian ethnicity. Kori was a vegetarian, feminist, anti-rascist support group leader who listened to bad dubstep and pretended she could play the guitar.

I shook my head, pulling a face. What had I done to deserve this? I would have been completely okay with going through high school alone. Better yet, with a cute girl who let me put my hand in her back pocket all of the time. The daydreams ran wild and I had no regrets. "Yeah, whatever, okay."

She smiled and leant hugged me with reckless abandon, and my eyes widened.

"Jesus, Kori- road!"
she giggled and reached for the wheel again. "Whoopsies."

I shook my head in exasperation, and we pulled up at the school.

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