The Scene Queen

Chapter 6

Early the next morning, I was awakened by my dad calling my name from the bottom of my stairs.

“Delaynee! Wake up; I need to talk to you!”

I groaned and sat up slowly, muttering angrily to myself. I grabbed my iPod from the floor next to my bed and saw it was 4:00 in the morning! I scrunched my nose and tossed my iPod onto my bed, then headed down the stairs. I saw him standing a bit impatiently, checking the time on his phone. “What do you need to talk about Dad?”

“I’m leaving for another business trip right now; I have to catch an early plane to California. I’m not sure when I’m going to be back, but I’ll keep in touch. Don’t do anything big without asking me first ok? But if you want to have a friend stay over that’s fine,” he said briskly. His phone beeped, signaling a new text and he said, “Crap, gotta go. Love you.”

I hugged him and said, “Love you too, Dad. I’ll keep my phone near me in case you call.”

“Sounds good, bye Layn,” he yelled as he ran down the stairs, probably to a waiting taxi.

I sighed and walked back up to my room, thinking of what to do with my extra time. I definitely wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. . . .

I wondered into my “Music Room” and looked around, my acoustic guitar was hanging on the wall above its case, my electric guitar was on a stand near it, and my keyboard was set up in the corner. I definitely needed to add to this and make it more musical, and more me. I shrugged and continued into my closet, trying to find what to wear today. I pulled out a black and white loose shirt with a tiger on it, and denim shorts; I threw them on and walked downstairs, grabbing my phone on the way.

I headed into the kitchen and scavenged for food, I definitely needed to go grocery shopping ASAP, or I would probably starve. I settled on a banana and texted Maci while I was eating, just in case she was up. It was now 4:50, so I figured it was worth a shot.

~Hey Maci~

I slid my phone back into my pocket and threw my banana peel away. I glanced out the window and saw it was still pretty dark, so I decided to walk to the beach and watch the sun rise. I trotted out the front door, barefoot, and was on my way.

Within minutes, my feet were sinking into the soft cool sand. I strolled further out onto the beach, and was unsurprised to see it was completely empty. I continued walking until the tide barely washed over my feet, and then I just stopped. I just stood there staring at the waves, no thoughts running through my head, when my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and saw a new text from Maci.

~Hey, what’s going on?~

~My dad had to leave for a business trip, so he woke me up to say bye~

~Oh, wanna hang out before school? I’ll text Mace and see if he can give us a ride?~

~Ya, we can all hang at my place until school, but you should probably pick up food on your way over here, I need to go grocery shopping soon~

~kk I’ll tell you what he says~

I headed back to my house - phone still in hand in case someone called me. Just as I was stepping onto my porch, my phone started playing a random ringtone – which I definitely needed to change soon. I glanced at the screen before answering, “Hey Mason.”

“Hey Laynee, Maci just called me, you sure it’s fine if we come over?”

“Yeah, my dad said I can have friends over while he’s gone, just please bring food.”

“Ok, we’ll go get Maci right now. I’ll text you when we’re pulling up.”

I hung up and jogged up to my room and into my bathroom. I did my usual morning routine, except instead of straightening and teasing my hair I just pulled it into pigtails. I finished in about 5 minutes, and then proceeded to make my bed and open the blinds to my window. The sun was almost up now, and let a bit of light into my previously dim room.

I sat down on the floor in an especially bright spot, and waited for them to text me. I remembered that we hadn’t invited Xavier. I texted Maci, since I didn’t have his number.

~Hey wanna text Xavier and see if he wants to hang out too?~

~Ya, of course!~

I set my phone down next to me and leaned back, closing my eyes. After I-don’t-know-how-many minutes, I got a text from Grey.

~We’re here~

~Ok, just come in. The door is unlocked~

In a few minutes I heard the door open and footsteps downstairs. There were a few voices, then they started up the stairs. I stood up and brushed off my clothes, walking over to my stairs, waiting at the top for them.

I smiled as they walked up the stairs, “Morning everyone! Is Xavier coming?”

Maci nodded, “He’ll probably be here in 10 minutes.”

I nodded, “So. . . . .did you guys bring food?”

Grey and Mason laughed and Grey replied, “Yes, don’t worry. We got Mickey D’s.”

“YAY! Thank you guys!” I said excitedly before running downstairs and into my kitchen, where I saw the bags of food.

Maci was giggling as they all followed me down, “Wow, you act like you’re starving or something.”

I rolled my eyes and didn’t respond as I dug through the bags until I found hash browns. I took a bite out of one and checked the time. It was almost 6. I looked back at my friends and said, “So, what’s new?”

They shrugged and Grey said, “Since I dropped you off from school yesterday? Oh well I moved out, met this awesome girl, got married, had a baby boy, got a job, retired, and went to my son’s graduation. He was valedictorian.”

I smiled at him and said sarcastically, “We are all so proud.”

Mason nodded and said, “Full ride scholarship too, kid’s amazing.”

I laughed and said, “Anyways, why are you all up so early?”

Maci responded, “Well my mom leaves for work at 5, and to make sure I don’t sleep in during school she wakes me up when she leaves.”

Mason added, “Grey and I have to get up pretty early to get everyone ready for school and make breakfast for them and stuff.”

Grey nodded, “Yeah it takes a while.”

I heard a knock and said, “Oh! Xavier is here.” I opened the front door, “Hey, come in, we got McDonald’s!”

We all hung out and ate until 7:30, when we left for school. We got there just a couple minutes before the bell rang, so I headed to the math wing, bag and books in tote.

1st and 2nd period seemed to be going so slowly as I waited for PE to talk to Justin. Finally though, I was changed and headed into the gym. I saw him doing jumping jacks by the bleachers and jogged over. “Hey Justin,” I said, smiling at him.

He looked up and smiled, “Oh, hey Laynee.”

“So how was the rest of your day yesterday?”

“It was fine, I mostly spent it stopping Kacee from terrorizing people at lunch,” he said annoyed.

“Aw that sounds pretty boring,” I said. “You should sit with me and my friends today at lunch, they’ll be totally nice I promise.”

He looked and me sadly and said, “I’m sorry Laynee I really want to, but Kacee would get so mad. I don’t want to start a big fight with you guys like that.”

I nodded and said, “Ok, I understand. . .”

At lunchtime, I got my food and shamefully walked over to where Xavier, Mason, Grey, and Maci were all already sitting down. I set my food down but stayed standing. “Well, Justin said he doesn’t want to start a fight between us and Kacee.”

Xavier started laughing and Grey and Mason high-fived. Maci and I glanced at each other before glaring at them.

“Ok so tomorrow then?” Xavier asked teasingly.

“You’re really gonna make us pretend to be dating?” Maci asked.

“Of course,” Mason responded evilly.

“You guys are mean,” I grumbled as I sat down and started eating. Tomorrow was going be a very interesting day.