Well, F*ck

Well, It's M*nday

"Hey short stack!"

Groaning, Emilia buries her face further into her pillow. It's too early. Monday's are always too early. It's definitely the same time she was woken up yesterday, but on Monday's it just feels different.

"Short stack, you have to get up," Nick shouts gleefully as he bangs on her bedroom door. "I'm leaving in fifteen. If you want a ride, you're going to have to move."

Ugh. Pushing herself up out of bed, Emilia drags herself to her closet. She grabs the first sweater she can find and a pair of leggings. With closed eyes, she changes clothes. When she's finished, she rakes her fingers through her hair. It's still somewhat styled from the day before when she actually took the time to curl it and it will have to do for today.

Tugging on a pair of white sneakers, she heads out the door with her backpack slung over her shoulder and her makeup bag in hand to find her brother waiting by the front door with a waffle hanging out of his mouth. It's likely that he's been up for a while. She doesn't know how, but her brother somehow always gets up at the crack of dawn for a dumb run around the neighborhood. All the while, he still manages to shower and look well put together for school. Even his fluffy hair is styled and neat.

"Ready?" Nick asks around his mouthful.

"I don't understand you," Emilia grimaces.

Pulling the waffle from his mouth, Nick laughs, "I think I'm generally pretty clear. Come on, short stack, let's go."

Semi-permanent frown printed on her lips, she follows Nick out to his car.

The drive to school is filled with loud music that has too high of a tempo for the early hours of the day. Yet, Nick sings along and tries to pull a smile out of Emilia like his life depends on it.

When they arrive, Nick almost immediately separates himself from Emilia in pursuit of finding his girlfriend before the morning bell rings. So, Emilia walks by herself up the front steps where a small crowd is gathered around one of Nick's close friends who's lounging on the brick wall that supports the small flower bed beside the steps.

Wesley Geier.

His smile speaks of mischief. His eyes glint with secrets that he'll probably never tell. The air around him swirls with an odd curiosity and likely misplaced humbleness. He appears sweet, kind even, but chaotic; deadly in every figurative sense of the word (probably, hopefully). Emilia cracks a smile at her own thoughts. Wesley's really mostly harmless; troublesome, but harmless overall. Her brother likes and trusts him after all.

"Need something?" Wesley asks from his perch. His leg swings back and forth slowly, lazily over the edge of the wall as he tilts his head. His brown hair falls in waves over his forehead; casts a shadow that darkens the blue in his eyes. Amusement bites at the corners of his mouth as he grins.

"No," Emilia frowns with the littlest hint of disdain. She tries to hide it, but then she wonders why she should even bother. Wesley is trouble, and despite the intrigue he draws, she would rather not be involved with him beyond her brother's friendship with him.

Thankfully, someone else worth mild disdain pulls Wesley's attention away a moment later. Valoreigh. As annoying as the spelling of her name, she plops herself right up on the ledge and into Wesley's space like it's where she belongs. She holds long locks of blonde hair away from her face as the wind threatens to blow it into her sticky, pink lipgloss. Her group of lackeys that generally follow her around, Daisy and Beatrice, are stationed around them. She whines something to Wesley that makes her groupees giggle, but Emilia can't hear it.

"You're still staring at him," Nick snorts from behind Emilia as he forcefully ruffles her hair. "You got a new crush or something? Want him to be your boyfriend? 'Cause I hate to break it to you, but I think there are some girls who would fight you if you even tried to make that happen."