Of Arseholes and Bitches

03 | Of Miles and Miles

HE WASN'T MY only friend.

I could feel cold smooth hands against my shoulders, shaking them; awaking me from my slumber. When I gained consciousness, I was met with dark, almost black, eyes. The girl scowled down at me, forehead scrunched up in a frown. When all I did was blink at her, she sighed and pulled the covers off my body, exposing my naked self. At that moment, all we did was stare at each other.

"Why...?" Was the only words she could manage before she just shook her head and pulled the covers back over me. And then I found myself laughing, at the fact that she just saw me naked. I could feel her cheeks burning up a tiny bit (which wasn't very apparent due to the brown complexion of her skin), and she looked away. With anyone else, I would have questioned the strange behaviour, but knowing that Kayla was bisexual, I brushed it off.

"I'm late again, aren't I Kayla?" I asked with a yawn, sitting up from the bed. It was too late to start hiding my body, so I allowed the covers to slip past my waist. She rolled her eyes at me, her hand reaching up to fluff up her thick curly afro as she averted her eyes.

"I mean, if you consider that school's starting in less than fifteen minutes, then yes, you are late honey."

"Oh shit," I whispered under my breath, hastily hopping out of the bed and into the toilet, the cold air hitting my pale skin. I didn't even need to look at Kayla to know she was shaking her head in annoyance. Before I disappeared into the toilet, I swear I heard her mutter something along the lines of 'fucking whore'. I laughed at this. Typical Kayla.

✿

"Kayla, wait!" I sprinted down the stairs and in a hurry I was out of the door. I hopped down the three steps on my porch, and sped down the pavement outside my house. At this point, I couldn't even see Kayla anymore as she had turned the corner to the bus stop a couple hundred metres away. I already knew the bus was parked there, and right about now, Kayla would be on, upstairs, at the back of the double-decker bus, sitting with Zara, Joseph and Levi. Perhaps wondering whether I'd be able to make it.

And as my legs carried me further, and the bus doors started shutting, my mind just send me one constant message.

If you don't get your ass on that motherfucking bus, you gon' die bitch.

And me missing my bus wasn't even an option. The twenty minute wait for the bus would result in a one way ticket to after school late detention, and even the five minute walk certified this.

As I ran after the bus, hoping to overtake it to the next stop, I heard thumping on the windows. Looking up, I saw Kayla, Zara, Joseph, Levi and some other people I recognized hooting at me and watching with excited faces as they saw me swerve past trees, lampposts, people and almost trip while I did so. Kayla looked down at me with a smug smile and waved, to which I replied to with a middle finger. Bitch.

They all seemed to be chanting something, their mouths moving in sync, fists banging on the windows in a repetitive beat. Soon even the people downstairs joined, and it was like they were cheering me on, a driving force leading me to my goal: the next bus stop.

And that's how it was for the next minute or so. Using my sporty nature to my advantage and panting through heaving lungs, I carried myself onwards. Looking up once again, I spotted Levi through the slight crowd of teenagers, and I couldn't have missed the wink he gave me, a little smile on his lips, the slightest bit of worry flashing in his eyes. It made my heart clench the slightest bit, and I knew that now I was fully determined. Focusing my eyes on the finish line, I used my last burst of energy and launched myself to the bus stop, just as the bus had parked itself beside me.

Finally.

All other sounds were blocked out, a thick warm flow of blood rushing to my ears, cheeks, chest and down to my fingertips. I swallowed mouthfuls of air, leaning against the bus as a stream of tears rushed down my face, both in relief and the soaring pain in my lungs. My knees buckled beneath me, and I was a mess on the floor, my head resting on concrete.

I hardly acknowledged when I was lifted and placed onto someone's back, my body relaxing onto the person. With light steps, the person carried me towards a destination I was unaware of, restlessness causing a mist to cloud over my sight, eyelids becoming heavier by the second.

"You smell like shit. So fucking sweaty," I heard a familiar voice whisper with a laugh, and that was the last thing I heard before I fell into a deep slumber.

Levi always seemed to be there when I needed him.