THREE

Waking up is by far the worst part of crying yourself to sleep. My skull seemed to ache, dull throbs of pain assaulting me every few seconds.

I glanced blearily at my clock, my eyes struggling to adjust. It's six-thirty in the morning, and I have approximately two hours to get ready for class.

Truthfully, I'm not one to spend all of eternity dressing up. Amelia usually is. I groan heavily, trying to find the motivation to get up. I despise having baths so early in the morning.

I shuffle into the kitchen to get myself a cup of juice, expecting it to be empty. What I find instead, is Brooke primly dressed up and scribbling into her journal. Her journal for Leon. My heart pangs. She's been doing it ever since the news of his disappearance hit us.

It's cute, I decide.

"Morning Brooke, how was your night?" I ask groggily, sleep still evident in my eyes.

Brooke turns to look at me, and her eyes immediately widen.

"Oh God! You look terrible, mio teroso. Did you have those nightmares again?" She exclaims, the worry in her voice clear.

|My love|

Two months after Leon's disappearance, I went into a depression. The nightmares that accompanied it seemed to be endless, forcing me to wake up in cold sweats. At the forefront of those nightmares were vivid images of Leon's dead body, or watching him get killed and being helpless to stop it. After I got help, the nightmares drastically lessened, but never really stopped.

I roll my eyes at her. Having two friends knowing languages other than English is quite annoying.

"No, and you know that you don't have to be so blunt. At least sugarcoat it." I hiss, skirting around the table to get the orange juice. I chug it straight from the carton.

" if you try that, Ti ucciderò e ti darò da mangiare ai miei cani. " She says stopping me.

|I will kill you and feed you to my dogs|

"I really don't want to know what you just said, but for curiosities sake; what did you just say?" I ask in confusion.

"I said, I'll kill you and feed you to my dogs." she bluntly states, taking the carton from me and pouring the juice into a cup. She offers it to me.

She doesn't even have dogs.

I silently fume to myself, reluctantly drinking the juice.

"Arghh!" A high-pitched sound startles me, and I drop the full cup of juice onto Brooke. I don't realize the glare she shoots my way.

I turn around just in time to see Amelia admonishing the screamer. "Why the fuck would you scream in my ear like that? Are you trying to make me deaf, just like your grandma Rose?" She hisses, pawing at her ears.

" No bebita, you don't have irregular teeth structure." she says with extreme seriousness. I give her a weird look.

|Babe|

"Then why are you screaming this early in the morning?" Amelia questions testily. She switches her attention to me and grimaces.

" Darling, what happened to you? You look...." She swallows, not daring to complete the sentence, and instead gestures to my face.

"What is wrong with you idiots today? I just woke up, what were you expecting? A Victoria's Secret model?" I snap. I know I look like shit; it wouldn't kill them to be more polite about it. I've heard that too many times.

I turn around to go to the bathroom, but stop when I noticed that Brooke is unusually quiet. The reason for her quietness suddenly dawned on me.

I accidentally spilled juice on her.

I whipped around, catching her gaze full of rage. I knew that if I didn't run, I'd be done for. Faster than I've ever been before, I kicked myself into full gear and practically threw myself into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Brooke slammed into the closed door, and I heard her trying to curse out profanities. Emphasis on trying.

"I'll get you for this, Lorraine." She growls, her voice low and intimidating.

She only calls me that when she's serious.

Swallowing hard, I attempt to laugh it off.

"Sure thing, sweetie."

..............

Northridge university is one of the most peaceful universities I have ever seen.

There is never any drama because everyone minds their own business. Yet, I have a foreboding feeling that it's about to change very soon.

I'm currently studying Business Management. No matter how strained out relationship is now, I've always wanted to be like my father and run my own company. Leon, on the other hand, wanted to be a lawyer like our mother. As for Logan, he chose neither and decided to go his own way. He went on to study engineering, and he's been doing exceptionally well. I'm very proud of him.

I'm presently in Business 101 with my favorite teacher, Mr. Hallowell. Note my sarcasm. That man is quite possibly the most annoying person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting on this earth.

The only reason I'm still here is because I need this class more than any of my courses.

The class goes by very quickly but I don't notice. Most of the time, I zone out and just read my textbook. No one really ever gets what he says anyway.

After class, I quickly stand up and pack up my books. Before I get the chance to go out, Mr. Hallowell calls me back into the class and gives me a very fake smile. "Ms. Stuart, I hope you learned something today. Don't forget, tests are coming up."

"Yes, I do, sir." I say, trying to avoid any more conversation from him as I duck into the hall way and break into a sprint.

I'm running so fast that I don't seem to notice the wall wearing a leather jacket lumbering in my direction. It's too late by the time I finally realize, and I smack face first into it.

Hard as stone.

My books went sprawling on the floor.

"Hey there princess. You might have to watch where you're going, alright?" The wall says with his thick, British accent. He has the audacity to wink at me.

I sigh in irritation and continue to pick my books off of the floor. Stupid wall.

"I wouldn't have been in this situation if you hadn't been in my way, okay?"

"Ooh, feisty, aren't we princess?" He says, wearing an insufferable smirk.

"If you'll excuse me, some people have other places to go, and right now you're delaying me. Also, stop calling me princess." I push past him, not before hearing him say:

" Nice meeting you, princess."

------

I've always wanted to work. Ever since I turned Sixteen, and after Leon's disappearance, I left the house to search for a job. I had a stroke of luck when Carter's sister, Joanne, offered Amelia, Carter and I jobs at her restaurant, Johanne's cuisine.

Right now, it was only Carter and I coupled with three other staff that were currently present.

"Hi Macbeth, how were your classes?" I ask while he's tending to a customer.

"That is not my name." He says, gritting his teeth. The girl at the table snickers at the mention of his middle name.

"Sure, whatever floats your boat." I say sympathetically, patting his back.

Since I had a couple of minutes till my shift started, I decided to read one of my favorite books of all times: Pause!!

I'm so engrossed in what I'm reading that I fail to hear Stacy, one of my co-workers, when she informs me that my shift has begun.

I tie my apron on quickly and pull my hair into a messy bun. Closing my book, I take a deep breath and get started.

After three hours of doing my job, I've had to deal with a customer breaking a plate, a couple having an extreme and inappropriate argument about who should take the lead in bed, two sets of babies crying and disturbing the restaurant and one old lady telling me to keep those children calm as if I was the mother.

The exhaustion slowly crept up on me, and I sighed despairingly as I still had two hours left on my shift. Amelia started her shift a while ago, so we've been keeping each other entertained while we worked.

Jimmy, our supervisor, called me to take care of the order on a table. I took my notepad and left Amelia, heading towards the table.

"Good day and welcome to Joanne's cuisine, what will you like to have today?" I said with a well-practiced smile, looking down at my notepad.

I look up, wondering why the customer hadn't answered yet. I was so shocked that the only thing that came out my mouth was "You!"

"Well, hello their Princess." Mr. Wall said in surprise. His frown morphed into a mischievous smile.

Fuck my life.