The Girl Next Door

~42~

" I am not a word... I am not a line..."

Onika Maraj

10:20 a.m.

I wake to the sound of heavy coughing and the bed shaking simultaneously. Shooting open my eyes, I turn and see Robyn having a coughing fit, I try to see her face but her hair is covering it.

"Robyn. You okay?"

She shakes her head, more coughs following. Rushing into action, I get out of bed and rush into the bathroom. I grab some cough suppressant and a mouth rinse cup. I fill the cup with cold water and walk back to the bed.

Robyn's coughs have simmered down some so I hand her the water. She takes it and drinks the water while I open the medicine. Once I get it open, I speak.

"Open your mouth."

She follows instructions, holding in a cough as I pour some into her mouth. Once I pull away, she closes her mouth and swallows slowly, a look of disgust coming over her face.

I laugh weakly and put the top back on the bottle, then I set it on my bed stand.

"You might be sick..." I say to her, suddenly remembering last night.

She shakes her head and coughs a couple more times.

"I ca-" she speaks but stops, realizing her voice is raspier than usual and indeed going out.

"See," I sigh, pushing my wild hair back.

My phone begins vibrating on my nightstand and I roll my eyes, heading over to it.

Once I pick it up, I see that Kehlani is calling me. Quickly pressing accept, I put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Nick. Where are you? The bus is about to leave to go to San Bernandino!"

"What?" I mutter, looking at my bedside clock. I see that the time is 10:47 a.m.

"Shit!" I exclaim, hanging up my phone.

I rush into my closet, looking for my dance clothes I set out the night before.

"Nika," I can hear Robyn faintly call out.

"Robyn. You gotta leave. Like right now. You have a game, remember?" I tell her as I shove my clothes into my duffel bag and search for some clothes to throw on.

Robyn curses in Creole and I can hear her running out of my room, barefooted.

I find a fitting shirt and some sweat and I hurriedly put them on, shaking my head.

I can't believe I'm late. I got so caught up with Robyn. Nothing good ever comes from her nowadays...

§ §

Twenty minutes later, I speed into the student parking lot. Looking in my rearview, I can see Robyn's slick black Corvette is right behind me.

I come to a stop beside the dance bus and hop out of my car, grabbing my bags in the backseat.

Checking the time on my Apple Watch as I walk to the bus, I see that I am 12 minutes late. I'm lucky that they're still here. But now I'm agitated because I was late and I barely got to do my hair. All I could do was a quick brush down. But I got everything else done. All because of Robyn...

"It's about fucking time!" Kehlani says, getting off the bus.

I shake my head at her," I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night..."