Elegance with Expense

2. Romano's Café

I woke up with my arm draped on the floor in an uncomfortable position. I sat up and wondered how I had slept like that all night. I then looked to my right to see Izzy sprawled over the bed with a trickle of drool escaping her mouth. 

I checked my phone quickly to see that it was nearly 5am. I hopped out of bed and into the shower, the cold water immediately waking me up and making my body tense rapidly, I soon managed to relax and washed my body and hair. 

After I had drawn the shower curtain back, I stepped out with my towel wrapped securely around my body. I saw Izzy sitting crouched at the edge of the mattress attempting to rub the sleepiness from her eyes, the yawn that soon followed told me that she was failing. I told her to go next door and get ready, and after she had left I began to get ready for the day, this consisted of me packing my school bag, putting on my uniform, brushing my teeth and putting on a layer of subtle makeup to hide any bruises or cuts on my face. 

It was early when I had finished, so I scrolled through Instagram for a little while. I am close with everyone at school, and in my neighbourhood, so I post pictures of mainly my friends and I, weather it be just a casual selfie or a cute photo taken on one of our messy nights out, I don't post often as there is never any time, but I try to be as active on social media as much as possible to communicate with people who may not live near me, or who I may not see everyday. 

I hear a knock on my door, I find it quite unusual as Izzy, Ang and Leo would all normally enter without warning. I grab my knife that I keep under my pillow and hide it behind my back, safety precautions, I then move leisurely towards the door staying careful and cautious. 

I then swing the door back gently, ready to face the expected danger, I visibly relax when I see it was only Trey, Trey is the younger brother of Jamal, Another friend who lives here. Trey is only 7 years old which causes me to question why he is here so early. Jamal is 18, and looks after his brother, the only thing that is going through my head right now is if Jamal is hurt. 

Trey is a smart young boy as he must have seen the panic in my eyes, he quickly reassured me that everything is ok and Jamal just had to make a quick deal. I was now to take Trey to school along with the other 3 kids. It would normally be Jamal and our friend Jordan taking them, but they were currently unavailable according to young Trey. 

I agreed and told him that I would be out in a couple of minutes. Checking the time again I saw that I still had enough time to get the kids to school and be on time for my first class.

I was picking up my school bag when I heard my door being roughly opened, I immediately knew who it was, and what was said next made me even more confident about my assumption.

'Good morning.' My best friend shamelessly walked in and threw herself onto my mattress.

'Good morning.' 

My door is opened again, the same way, and slammed shut, quite loudly may I add. I lift my hand up towards the door in frustration because I cannot be bothered to scold them this early in the morning. I am very surprised that fragile door is still on it's hinges. 

Angelo and Leo walk in and throw their bags into the corner of the room into a heap on the floor. I truly don't know why they are acting like we will be staying for a bit longer, we need to leave right now. It is only then when I realise that they don't know about our little detour that we are taking today.

'Guys we need to drop Trey and some others to school, Jamal and Jordan can't go today. If we leave now, we can still get to our first class in time.' 

'Yeah that's fine, your right we should probably leave now.'

Angelo and Leo reclaimed their bags and were the first out of the door. I quickly grabbed mine and we followed after them. I closed the door and found Trey waiting there looking through a yellow school book. Leo towered over him and put a hand on his shoulder to grab his attention.