CHAPTER 7: Interruptions

S-C-A-N-D- TO THE "A", TO THE "L", O-U-S …

I CAN'T HANDLE IT …

CAN'T HANDLE IT…

I awoke with a start and my eyes popped open.

Ugh! Time to wake up already? I let my eyes close, still wanting to sleep. I rolled over on my side and stretched my arm over my bedside table. My fingers roamed over the small table, trying to find the snooze button on my alarm clock.

Here's the truth:

You're kinda hot

"Oh my gosh! Shut that thing off!" Rose half-heartedly groaned. She squeezed her pillow closer to her and buried her face in it, trying to block out the music.

But when you open up to talk

I can feel them going soft

Uh, oh

Uh, oh

Where'd the snooze button go? And why did I have to put the volume up so loud?

My eyes half-open, I located and pressed the snooze button—shutting off Cobra Starship.

I positioned myself in a sitting position at the edge of my bed, my legs hanging off the side.

I looked through my half-open eyes to see Rose curled up in a ball on her bed. I stretched my arms over my head, knowing that I'd better get ready.

I slipped my feet into my pink house slippers—avoiding the cold hardwood floor—and trudged over to my window.

I pulled open the purple curtains, to be greeted by the red and orange colors of the sun, rising over the stillness of the campus. The light outside the window flowed through our room, causing the darkness of the room grow a few shades lighter. The campus looked like a still-life painting. Its brick buildings, tall pine trees located off to the sides of the campus, and the dining hall towards the right. I can faintly see the town's shopping areas past Elysian's black iron gates. And no Elysian Academy students roaming the campus—still in their dorm rooms, either sleeping or starting to get ready for breakfast.

I turned away from the square window, to see Rose walking—real slowly—to the bathroom.

I wonder what the weather is for today.

I booted up my black Dell laptop, and heard running water from the bathroom.

While the laptop booted up, I made my way into the bathroom to see Rose finish brushing her teeth and starting to brush out her hair.

Our bathroom has a counter with two sinks. And both of us have our own mirror cabinet attached to the sides of the wall; which contained our make up, deodorant, and bathroom necessities.

I rinsed my face with cold water, waking myself up, and brushed my teeth and hair.

I called to Rose, "I turned on my computer. Can you check the weather?", as she made her way out of the bathroom.

"Sure."

"It's…98 degrees." Rose moaned as I walked out the bathroom.

98 degrees?! I made a disgusted face which made Rose laugh. "Ew…that's so hot!"

"No. That's cold!" Rose said, rolling her eyes with a playful smile, "But what do you expect? It's September."

"Yeah, and it's because we're living in southern California."

We both made our way towards our closets.

What to wear? What to wear? I cocked my head to the side, observing my wardrobe. Definitely wearing shorts and sandals; and it is way too hot to wear a shirt. That limits me to the different tank-tops in my closet.

From my peripheral, Rose took out a yellow tank-top.

"That's cute." I motioned my hand to the top she was holding.

"Thanks." Rose flashed a smile, and started over to her dresser.

I looked back at my wardrobe. Should I wear my purple tank-top or my white and baby blue tank top? After a few seconds of negotiating on what to wear, I decided to wear my white and baby blue tank top with jean shorts. The outfit showed off the tan I obtained over the summer from my week in Cancun, Mexico and from playing tennis.

Luckily for me, I tan easily and rarely sunburn.

I took my clothes into the bathroom and locked the door. After changing, I unlocked and opened the door to let Rose know I was done changing.

I walked out the bathroom, giving her the bathroom so she can change into her clothes.

While I waited for her to finish changing, I checked to make sure I had my homework in my binder. Then I put my binder and purple pencil case into my tote bag.

I heard the bathroom door click open, and made my way back into the bathroom.

I brushed my dark-dark brown or black (people say that people don't have black hair, its just really dark brown) wavy, thick hair while Rose put on her make up. I don't wear make up except for lip gloss, and occasionally mascara. And because I woke up on time today, I decided I had enough time to curl my lashes and put on mascara.

My friends and I made our way to the dining hall for breakfast. While I was eating my chocolate chip waffles, a women's voice came over the intercom—interrupting the students chatter.

"Students. There will be an assembly at 8:15 in the auditorium. Students. There will be an assembly at 8:15 in the auditorium."

"What do you think the assembly's about?" Cosette asked the table, after the announcement was made.

"Probably just talking about the new school year and stuff," Valerie replied, and put a bored expression on her face.

"Boring," Rose sing-songed.

I couldn't disagree. The new school year lecture is boring; they basically tell you the same thing every year.

"But at least our classes will be shorter," Leah said with a grin, and then took a swig of her milk.

"You got a point," I agreed and finished off my waffles. Leah and I finished our breakfast, and were waiting for Rose to finish her breakfast.

"So, do you guys have a favorite class yet?" I asked curiously.

"Eh…" Rose said and shrugged, "Third period is cool."

"Because I'm in there?" I suggested with a grin.

"Um…sure?" Rose joked.

"Oh, please." I retorted.

"What about you Leah?"

"Not sure yet." Leah said with a shrug.

"Are you done yet Rose?" Leah asked impatiently.

"I'm done. I'm done." Rose insisted and stood up from her chair with her tray in hand.

Rose, Leah, and I threw out our trash, placed our trays in the pile, and made our way out the dining hall—leaving Rachel, Cosette, Janica, and Valerie behind. It's always been just Rose, Leah, and I—the clique, inside the clique as you can kind of say.

We were on our way back to our dorm room, because we had time 'till the assembly would start.

"Leah!" I saw Jacob wave towards her, who was a few yards away from us.

"Hey Jacob," Leah greeted him—making her voice a tone higher—with a hug as we approached him.

"You guys already eat?" Jacob asked the three of us; taking his attention away from Leah.

"Yup." Rose answered.

"Oh. Okay, well see you guys later." Leah pulled him into a goodbye hug before he went towards the dining hall.

After spending twenty minutes just hanging out in Leah's room, we headed out the dorm building and headed over to the auditorium.

We followed behind the students, who were entering the auditorium. We found and took our seats in the sophomore section. The auditorium somewhat resembles the auditorium in High School Musical or from Mean Girls. The seats like theater seats with red fabric, and we were able to lean back on the seats.

Soon, the principal and the vice principals introduced themselves and started their lecture about their goals for the school this year. I listened intently to their lecture but it went on and on and on….so I zoned out and looked at my friends. Leah shot me a bored look and started texting on her cell phone, Rachel was whispering something to Janica, and Rose was playing a game on her iPhone.

"…and this year we would be having a Dean of Discipline." The vice principal said.

That seemed to get my friends attention because we all looked at each other with amused expressions and tried not to laugh. We read a book series that had a Dean of Discipline at the school, and we always commented that we never even knew such a thing existed. I think the book series was the Private Series by Kate Brian. I can't remember; we've read tons of books.

Then the Dean of Discipline started talking about what his role was for this school and the school rules. My eyes wandered over to the juniors section, the section next to the sophomores. From left to right, there were the freshmen section, then the sophomores, juniors, and the seniors.

A middle-aged woman took the stage and said, "Now I would like to talk about the dress code…"

I looked over at Cosette on my left, and followed her line of sight. She was looking at the back of Michael's head with bronze colored hair, two rows in front of us. The guy sitting next to Michael was stretching his arms out, his hands clenched into fists, showing the muscles in his arms.

"Now girls, you shouldn't have to wear low cut shirts that show your cleavage or your stomach…"

Then BAM!

His right fist hit Michael in the cheek.

I gasped, then tried to suppress my laughter; a smile forming on my face. Leah, on my right, gave me a questioning look.

I could see Michael's mouth saying, "Ow." The guy looked over at Michael, making me able to see his profile though I couldn't tell who it was. He had an "Oops" expression with a sheepish smile forming on his face....

"…Just to attract the boys and…" The women put on a husky tone; which was really weird.

…. and then he burst out laughing.

A giggle escaped my lips; probably just a second after the guys' laughing outburst. And supposedly, Cosette saw the whole "punching" episode because I heard her giggle beside me.

"…Make yourself more…appealing..."

Our laughs interrupted the silence of the auditorium. The guy who punched Michael turned around to see who else was laughing. It was Zach; a curious expression on his face.

At the same time we made eye contact, the whole student body started laughing. Probably laughing at what the woman was saying—in her weird and husky voice she put on. Even though it was probably only two seconds that we locked eyes, it felt like…those two seconds were passing by real slowly, making it feel like two minutes.

Then he lifted his hand and waved towards me with a smirk, his eyes twinkling with amusement. After Zach saw me smile back, he turned back in his seat. The laughter of the students was dying down.

After twenty more minutes of the boring lectures and introductions, we were finally released from the auditorium. We had ten minutes to get our bags from our dorm and get to our first period class.

All the students were pushing one another, hurrying out the auditorium. Rose, Leah, and I weaved our way through the crowd and managed to step foot out onto the campus. But once we were outside, I lost sight of my friends.

I started searching for them, walking through the crowd of students.

"Oh, sorry." I apologized with a small smile to the guy I accidentally ran into—my eyes focused on finding my friends than the people around me.

Ten seconds later, I again bumped into somebody and again, apologized.

Luckily, I managed to dodge bumping into a few other people within a span of probably ten seconds.

Finally, I recognized the yellow top Rose was wearing today. But just then, I ran smack into something, or someone. I practically rebounded against the thing I ran into—which I saw was Zach.

"Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry," I said sincerely.

Zach scratched the back of his head, giving me a full view of the muscles on his arms, under the blue shirt he was wearing.

"It's alright," he assured me with a smile.

Then before I could think of a response, the place where he was standing right in front of me was…nothing. Stumped, I slightly turned to see him walking away and he called over to me, "See you later."

Author's Note;

I hope you like this chapter! Please take the time to review. I know I get readers, but please just quickly type up a review. Tell me what you think.