Better Than Milkshakes, Better Than Boys (girlxgirl)

[10]

5am is far too early to be waking up. I wouldn't voluntarily wake up at 5am even if I knew that was the exact time that Alycia Debnam Carey was being dropped off at my doorstep, naked and giftwrapped for me. Okay, maybe I would if it involved a celebrity.

I wouldn't any other time, I can guarantee that. I would never put myself through the pain that comes with lack of sleep, and I certainly wouldn't pick 5am as a wake up time for kids supposedly going on a school trip unless I was a sadist.

Turns out my coach is a sadist.

I groan as my alarm blares for the fourth time since I snoozed it. I'm supposed to be on the bus in an hour, I'd given myself just under two hours to get ready, but now that I've snoozed my alarm so many times I'm not going to have time to get ready like I wanted to.

Looks like today is going to be a makeup free, casual day.

I scramble to get ready, washing my face and brushing my teeth at lightning speed. I swear under my breath when I see I now have half an hour to get to school and my car isn't fixed, and I'm not even dressed yet.

"Fvck fvck fvck fvck fvck." I groan angrily as I pull on an arsenal shirt and a pair of jeans, looking out of the window and seeing that the sun isn't even out yet. I grab my soccer team hoodie and my sports bag which I packed last night thank god and stumble down the stairs towards the kitchen.

My mom and dad are both gone.

I find a bag full of food on the counter, a note from my mom telling me to have a good day at the college practice and to "learn some skills". I smirk at her phrasing and grab an apple from the bag as breakfast before slotting my lunch into the front pocket of my sports bag.

I know that my mom and dad would be around more if they could be. They used to be around all the time when Will and I were growing up. We spent every second of every day together doing something fun or exciting. My dad was the one who got me into soccer. He was trying to encourage Will to play, but he was more interested in throwing a football about. We were all in the back garden and dad just gave me the ball and told me to see what I could do. I was only six but I ran with the ball like I'd been born with it at my feet.

He then got me into the little leagues and I started playing games and going to training, and soon enough dad and I were breathing the sport. We even went up to the Fox and Hounds bar during pre season and watched the Arsenal vs Colorado rapids game.

Dad said I cried when Hector Bellerín turned up, but there are no tears in the photographs so I think he lied.

I'm pulling my trainers onto my feet when I hear a knock at my door. I scrunch my face up in confusion. Who the hell is at my house at half past five in the morning?

I grab a bat my dad keeps in the umbrella stand and spin it in my hands, fully prepared to hit someone. It's better to be way overprepared and maybe scare a child, than open the door and get whacked by an older person wanting to rob me. I creep closer, fully aware of the fact I'm in my house by myself, and that I'm really not going to be a match against a fully grown group of adults with a bat that's starting to make my arms ache. I hold my breath when the shadow of whoever is knocking walks by the glass panel next to the door and I sigh in relief when I realise who it is.

"Mackenzie, why are you at my house?" I pull open the door and make her jump, her eyes widenening at the sight of a bat in my hand. "I thought I was being robbed!"

"Why would I knock if I was robbing you?" Confusion is evident in her voice. "Wouldn't the whole point be to make sure you were unaware of me being here to rob you?"

"I don't understand robber logic!" I raise my arms as I let her in. "Maybe you're the distraction for whoever is actually breaking into my house and stealing stuff."