Ruby

My room was pitch black, thick curtains blocking the only source of light and eveloping me with just darkness. I lifted my heavily lids with a sense of grogginess and drank at the lone artificial light that illuminated the dark room.

6:30AM, and school started sharply at 8AM.

I hoarsely groaned and shuffled the blankets off before I sank deeper into the comforting pits of warmth. The stinging chill snapped at my bare skin, but I paid no attention to it. Yang wouldn't have it if I refused to go to school just to lay underneath my blankets.

Out of all the days, she had to come to school early.

I slowly made my way, and passed through the living room after dealing with my morning routine. Like a consistent habit, I briefly glanced at the dusty, old frames sitting on top of the wooden bookshelves.

I could partially make out most of the pictures even with the lack of light. Every frame either had my mom and I, or my mom with a man with dark spiky hair and slight stubble tracing his jawlines. Their eyes crinkled at the corner from their apparent smiles and their arms wrapped lovingly around each other.

I turned away from the frames and finally walked out the door. As expected, Yang waited patiently for me on her motorbike parked to the side of the curb.

"Morning Rubes!" She hollered at me after I closed and locked my front door.

She started up her vehicle's engine and paid careful attention not to thunderously roar it in my neighborhood. Last time she did that, the neighbors were not happy.

"Morning Yang." I yawned and held her waist as I sat behind her.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

There was a weird clunking noise when Yang sped off — cruised, actually — down the road. She always drove slow to school so the blowing wind wouldn't drown out our conversations. I could feel the vibration of the clunk, and the sound produced by it was off putting.

I tapped my cousin's shoulder, worried about the unusual noise.

"Yang… Is your motorcycle okay?"

"You hear it too right?"

I could hear a frown from just the tone of her voice. "Yeah I do and I think it's getting louder."

"Okay, hold on. Let me try something." Yang shifted her gears, revved her engine, and sped a little more. The clunking got louder and she pulled over to the side. "Yeaaah… Nope, not going to do that anymore."

She got off her bike and I followed her example.

"So… What now?" I asked. She scratched her head as she squat down to her bike level to diagnose the problem. "Should we call your dad?"

"You crazy?" Yang looked at me with a flabbergasted, perplexed expression. "Have you seen him try to repair things?"

One time Uncle Tai tried repairing the bathroom toilet. Needless to say, the house was completely flooded, and thank god Yang and I knew better not to go swimming in there. Who knows what brown surprise we could've found lurking in the waters.

Then there was another time where Uncle Tai tried repairing her bike before. He used a boat load of duct tape. The number of wraps he did hid the motorcycle's original color to the point that all we could see was duct tape. The handle had duct tape. The seat had duct tape. For some reason, even the wheels had duct tape. Whatever was not damaged had duct tape.

"Yeah… Good point," I chuckled.

"I'm going to make a call to get it tolled and fixed." Yang unbent her knees as she stood up.

"Wait what about your meeting with your friend?" I cocked my head at her.

"I'll probably have to reschedule." Her shoulders slumped down and she heavily sighed. "You can head to school without me. Let our teachers know that I'm coming late."

"Are you sure? I could always wait with you," I asked with a bit of hope in my eyes.

"So you can have an excuse to ditch class?" She scoffed with a smile and rolled her eyes. "Go to school."

Her remark had no bite and I simply huffed, unconsciously pouting my lower lips when she gave me a light shove.

"Aww fine. I'll see you later then."

I waved at her before I turned around to head off. It's been awhile since I last walked to school. From where we stopped at, it wasn't a far walk, so I wasn't complaining.

As I continued on the path, the sidewalk was getting slightly crowded. More students appeared from different intersections, but even so, I could distinguish a platinum ponytail swaying side to side. She was further up ahead, but the distance and the number of people between us didn't discourage me.

Instead, I smiled a toothy grin and quickened my leisurely pace.