The Mistake

Five A.M.

All I knew was that it was dark out when I heard my name called in a subdued voice. My eyes fluttered open as I grasped my surroundings. After about two seconds of snapping my groggy mind awake, I remembered there were not many people that called me Sammi. I jerked upright in my bed, my heart banging in my throat. I quickly looked at the clock. 5 am.

In a clumsy motion, I managed to get on my feet and rush to the window. Nick stood leaning next to the tree in the front yard wearing shorts and a black tee as the confusion and grogginess of the morning started fading away.

"Morning Sammi." He grinned. Nick did a once over and smirked. "You don't look like you're ready to go."

I looked down at my tank top and pajama shorts and instantly felt the blood rush to my face. "What are you doing here?" I hissed at him.

"Don't tell me you forgot already." He gave me one of his yeah-right looks and chuckled. "Now get down here."

"Shh! You'll wake my mom!" He chuckled, paying no mind to the volume of his voice. "And I didn't think you were actually serious."

"Come on, Sammi. You're not backing up on me now, are you?" He teased.

I crossed my arms, backed up a little. "I can't just stroll through the front door." I mean, I could, but I didn't want to risk my mom finding out I was out again. I was already on warning.

"Get dressed and jump to the roof. I'll help you down. You and I have something to settle."

I laughed at that one. "You're crazy."

"You are a coward."

My mouth shut at that and I crossed my arms over my chest. I backed away from the window, but not before catching the satisfied half grin on Nick's face. That jerk. I'll show him.

I made sure the window was closed so Nick wouldn't get any ideas, threw my pajama aside and replaced them with a simple light blue workout tank and black shorts. "Stupid, stupid." I kept muttering to myself as I shoved my feet into the shoes and strung up my hair into a ponytail.

Nick was still leaning against the big tree when I got back. He had one hand shoved in his pocket and the wind tugged at his messy hair, waves flying everywhere as he stared off at something through the street. He looked almost cute like that, caught off-guard, relaxing. My heart suddenly caught in my throat when I realized what I was doing. I was jumping out of my window to go with the most popular guy in school, the top boxer. He was carefree, reckless. I knew about his reputation and so did everyone else, the boys feared or respected him, or a little of both. And the girls, they seemed to be under his magic little spell. What the hell was I doing? What was he doing? I thought he hated me.

Nick's eyes cutting to me brought me out of my thought. He looked at me, clearly inviting a challenge. I'm no coward. I swung my legs over the window sill, then clutched the frame as I let myself down to the roof. "Good, now hang on to the branch."

"I'll fall!"

He rolled his eyes. "I'll catch you if you fall, alright? Now quit being a baby and do it already."

I shuffled two steps closer to the tree and sat down to grab on to the thickest branch. I took a deep breath and hung on as my legs kicked freely into the air. I looked down at the ground and let out a tiny, whispered shriek. If I fell, I could break a leg. Until I felt Nick's hands wrap around my legs. Okay, seemed like I officially had a fear of falling from not-so-high heights.