When We Were 16...

Chapter 1

Miley's POV

"Psst... psst... Nat... Natalie... Natalie sleepyhead Evlyn!!!" I whisper yelled.

"What!" she moaned into her arms a little too loudly. A few heads turned in our direction. Damn! she's hopeless! I gave the others an apologetic look and gestured them to continue with their exams.

Yes, we were seated for our mid-term exams.

I turned around to see Stacie examining her pen like her life depended on it. People might think she was in deep thoughts about her exam but I know her. She would be imagining her must-have-a-straight-nose Prince Charming.

Melissa's brows were scrunched together in concentration. "FIVE MORE MINUTES" the invigilator's voice boomed. Now Melissa's sculpted handwriting must be turning into an alien language. Stephanie adjusted her nerd glasses and the space between her nose tip and her answer sheet was getting smaller by the minute.

Natalie....nothing fazed this girl.

"Time's up" the stern voice of the invigilator made everybody tense in their seats. I stood up and gave in my paper. I went out and waited for my four friends.

Stephanie came out first with a sick expression "I...I..." she started.

I held up my hand and said, "You have lost half a mark". Her face became more sour if that was even possible.

Stacie came out next with a blank face. She started singing a random song, stressing the rap part. Trying to tune her out, I walked to the door and looked in to see who were still inside.

Melissa was scribbling furiously. The invigilator came and took her paper abruptly. She gave the invigilator an irritated look and came out whining "My handwriting sucks!" So typical.

"Guys", I called. No reaction. "GUYS! DO.NOT.MISS.THIS."

Natalie was lying on her table face-first on her paper. All the four of us peeked inside the classroom. 'BAM!' the invigilator banged on Natalie's desk and she woke up with a start. The look on her face was priceless. She stood up and gave the teacher a sheepy smile, after taking in her surroundings.

She gave her papers and came out with a slightly flushed face. The moment she came out of the exam hall we all bursted out laughing. She gave us a blank look.

"Morning sunshine" I teased. She ignored my comment and said, "So...What's up?"

"What? We can stay within school boundaries but no classes for the day! Isn't it great! I could use the library" said Stephanie. Natalie raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie looked around cluelessly.

"We can sneak out" Stacie said. "To the mall!" Melissa announced.

Stephanie shook her head. "Please tell me that we are not sneaking out of the school". All the four of us smiled at her.

After about twenty minutes of persuading Stephanie (which is a tough job) and helping the no-gym type Melissa climb the back wall, Stacie held up her hand dramatically, saying "We ride in style or we never" (Please don't imagine us in a convertible car)

I took my roller skates. Natalie and Stacie raced each other in their skateboards. Stephanie came behind pushing her scooter with a worried face. Melissa sang her favourite boy band's song while cycling.

We reached the mall and were greeted by weird looks. Expected. We were all in our school uniforms. Go figure.

I actually kinda like our school uniform. We wore a white blouse with our school logo and name "Seaview High" printed in small size on our left side. We also wore a pleated navy-blue skirt and a matching tie. Simple and cute.