When We Fall

o n e

.01| Saige

I GROAN AS my mom barges in my room, my brain spinning as I try to take everything in as my eyes slowly open.

First, I recognize the room I'm in, it's not the same one I've been sleeping in for the past four years, but the one I grew up in for the other fourteen years of my life.

The warm beige walls greet me with the morning sunlight- well afternoon apparently. The clock next to my bed reads 2:30pm, explaining why my mom actually bothered to make sure I'm alive.

They redecorated my room before I came home, wanting to make it welcoming for me. It was a nice gesture, and everybody did really well on it, but I'm really okay. I don't need everyone walking on glass around me.

I'm fine.

"Saige! It's almost three in the afternoon! Why are you still in bed?" My mother pulls back the navy blue curtains, letting in bright rays of sunshine and immediate warmth.

I smile as the bright light hits my face, it was always cold in Wisconsin.

"I guess I was just jet lagged?" Truthfully, I may have been up last night obsessing over the organization of my new closet. But my mom doesn't need to know that, and I'll get over that part of it all too anyways.

She laughs, rolling her eyes at my pathetic response. "South Carolina is only an hour time difference from Wisconsin, think of a better excuse next time mon coeur." She calls me the stupid nickname, French for 'my heart' She's not even French, it's just the favorite country she's visited.

My parents have never stuck around for long, barely ever home for more than two weeks at a time. Maybe that was part of the issue. But anyways, it meant that the last few years they haven't been able to travel at all because of everything going on.

So now that I'm finally home, and healthy, they'll be leaving again. I'm sure they've already spoken to my friends, making sure they'll take care of me as they venture onto a 7 month long trip.

"Saige!" The high pitched voices scream from outside my door, and a total of five bodies come barreling into my bedroom, toppling onto the bed.

"I was going to warn you that they were here, and you needed to get up before they come get you up, but I guess that ship sailed." My mom snaps a picture of us all hugging, before exiting my room quietly.

"Oh my gosh! You're back! Ugh I've missed you so fucking much you have no fucking idea!" Emelia screams, tightly holding onto my neck. I laugh as I pull them in close, finally back in the arms of my friends. After these past few years, this is probably what I needed most.

Lilah and Emi sit on my bed, getting comfortable after the initial excitement dies down. They're the only two who knew what happened, and where I was. On a few occasions they flew out to visit me over break, but I realize now how much I missed.

Lilah is now dating Lucas, big shocker there. They've been in love since we were ten, and they finally came to realize it and got together. Emi was dating a boy from another school, which she had apparently not let anyone meet yet.

And then the boys, the other three of our 'gang' of six. All it took was a quick glance over to realize they had all grown up in the past four years, and gotten extremely hot.