Beep! Beep! Leah groaned, sleepy reaching over and slapped the button on her clock to silence the alarm. She was about to doze off again when Nala jumped on her. "Really Nala?" she complained opening her eyes to glare at the orange tabby kitten. Nala just nudged her hand with her nose and the blonde teenager's face softened. "Oh I can't stay mad at you", she said, sitting up and scooping the kitten into her arms. She stroked Nala's fluffy coat, making her purr.
Leah gently deposited her back onto the pink bedspread before very reluctantly getting out of bed. It was the one thing she didn't like about school days. Getting up early. Especially after the 'accident' since she hadn't quite fully recovered yet. She grabbed some clean clothes from her drawer and went into the bathroom for a quick shower. Once she was dressed in a pair of denim shorts and white t-shirt, Leah strapped up her wrist with the removable support the hospital had given her.
The blonde then headed downstairs, slowly though as her back was still a little tender. Nala followed after her, taking one step at a time. "Morning sweetheart", Sarah greeted as she entered the kitchen "how are you feeling?"
"I'm ok I guess", Leah answered "still achy in places but that'll be better once I take my painkillers". She got them out of the cupboard and got herself a glass of water before taking the pills. She then made herself some cereal, making sure to give her baby sister a kiss as she passed by to grab some milk from the fridge. After she'd eaten, she put some food into Nala's bowl and headed back upstairs to brush her teeth.
Sarah in the meantime finished feeding Annabelle and then washed up her eldest's bowl. She picked up Annabelle from her highchair, walked to the office and settled down into the chair in front of the desk. She was waiting for a video call from her husband who was currently in Qatar, starting his 5 month tour. A smile appeared on her face when Captain William Lennox appeared on the screen.
"Ahahaha! My ladies!" he said happily.
"Hey honey", Sarah greeted and Annabelle made some noises as if she was greeting her father as well. She heard the distant sounds of her eldest coming back downstairs and going into the kitchen.
"She's getting so big", Will remarked looking at his infant daughter "Look at those cheeks. I just wanna chew on them. Baby, we made a good-looking kid. I know that people say that all the time, but…wow, we made one good-looking kid, again. So where's my other Princess?" he asked wanting to see his eldest.
"She's in the kitchen getting ready for school", Sarah replied. She glanced over her shoulder and called "Leah! Your father's on!"
There was a set of running footsteps and Leah ran in "Dad!" she cried happy to see him, doing her best to hide how much she was still hurting despite taking her painkillers.
"Hey princess", Will greeted, a big smile on his face "how are you doing?" he asked. It had pained him when he learned about her accident as he had been out of the country and couldn't be there for his baby girl when she needed him.
"I'm fine, dad", the teenager assured him "oh, mom have you told him what Annabelle did the other day?" Leah asked, quickly changing the subject.
"No", Sarah replied "I thought you'd like to tell him". She didn't blame her for wanting to change the subject, the accident was still a very sensitive topic for her daughter.
"Tell me what?" Will questioned.
"Annabelle laughed, for the first time", Leah said proud of her baby sister.
"She la-" Will began "You sure she didn't just fart?" he asked earning a disgusted look from the 16 year old.
"Ew, gross!" she exclaimed.
"Of course she didn't", Sarah said shaking her head "she's a lady". Leah checked her watch.
"Oh I've gotta go. Don't want to be late. Love you dad", she said blowing a kiss at the screen.
"Love you too honey", Will said.
Leah then kissed her mother on the cheek and Annabelle on the top of her head before rushing back off into the kitchen. She grabbed her backpack from the counter and her father's old army jacket from the coat hook in the hallway. "No you can't come with me", she said to Nala, who plonked herself by the teen's feet, giving her a rather expectant look. The tabby kitten pawed her leg, making her laugh. "Its still a no, Nala", she insisted, stroking her "I swear you're more of a dog than a cat", she remarked to the little feline before she headed out of the house though she made doubly sure that the kitten didn't follow her out.
The blonde crossed the road to her friend Sam Witwicky's house as his dad was giving her a lift as her bike was currently being repaired after the collision with Trent's stupid truck. "Morning Judy", Leah said politely as the woman opened the door after she'd rung the bell.
"Morning Leah. Sam should be ready to go soon", Judy said stepping aside to let Leah into the house. "Sam! Leah's here!" the woman shouted up the stairs.
"Morning Leah", Ron greeted "you're right on time".
"Well I didn't want to be late considering you're giving me a lift", Leah said. A moment later Sam ran down the stairs carrying his backpack "Hiya Sammy!" Leah said when he reached the bottom.
Sam responded with "Hey Leah". The two teens then followed Ron Witwicky out to his green car.
"Good luck on your Genealogy report", Ron said as he pulled up near the school "remember, you've got to get that A". Leah knew the reason Sam had to get an A today. He and his dad made a deal that if he could get 3 A's and $2,000 dollars, Ron would buy him his first car. Sam had already secured the money and two A's, he just needed to get this third one.
"I know Dad", the brunette said getting out of the car.
"Don't worry Sammy, you'll get that A", Leah assured him as they walked towards the school.
"I really hope I do", Sam muttered "I wanna get a car".
"I know, why do you think I helped you research and prep for this report?" Leah asked. She had literally spent ages with Sam gathering research on his great-great grandfather, the subject of his report, and making sure he'd got all his facts straight for the presentation. There were some things that she found during the research which was pretty interesting.
"I know, I know", Sam said "thanks again for that Leah".
"That's what friends are for", the blonde said slinging her arm around her best friend. That was when she noticed Trent with a couple of his friends. "Hold this for a second", she said giving her backpack to Sam. Before he could say anything, she was storming over to the jock. "Hey Trent!" Leah shouted catching his attention.
"Hey Leah, glad to see-" Trent was abruptly cut off when the 16 year old punched him across the face with her unstrapped hand.
"That was for my baby your jerk!" she snapped and walked off, back to Sam who'd been watching the exchange with a smile on his face.
"Feel better?" Sam asked holding out her backpack.
"Slightly", Leah replied slinging her backpack over her shoulder "actually I'd feel a whole lot better if I could do something to his precious truck". Sam grabbed her arm as she started walking off to something to Trent's truck.
"I don't think that's a good idea", he said leading her away.
"Why not?" Leah asked "he hurt my baby, I should do the same to his".
"Because you've already embarrassed him by punching him in the face, in front of his friends", Sam pointed out "besides you don't want to get into even more trouble that you're already in".
"Sammy, I'm not in trouble" Leah assured him "Trent isn't going to tell the nurse that a girl punched him in the face. And his 'friends' aren't going to come after me either. Not when they saw what I can do with just one hit to the face".
It was safe to say that Leah was absolutely right. She wasn't in trouble at all. And Trent's friend's didn't go anywhere near her. They just sent her looks from a safe distance. As she settled into her chair, Leah couldn't help but notice how slightly swollen Trent's nose was. Serves him right for harming my baby she thought turning her attention to the front where Sam was preparing to give his report.
"Sorry, I got a lot of stuff", Sam said apologetically as he tipped out the contents of his backpack onto the desk.
"Watch this", Leah heard Trent whisper. She glanced back and gave him a look when she saw the rubber band in his hand. Eyeing her warily, Trent put the rubber band away. Leah gave him a smile and turned back to the front. Mikaela, who was sitting next to Trent, wondered if Leah was the reason he went to the nurse's office earlier. She didn't really buy into the whole 'I tripped over my shoelace' story. Mikaela knew it had to be something else, he wouldn't come up with a lame excuse like that unless he was embarrassed at how he got hurt. And nothing would embarrass him more than being hit by a girl.
"Oh-kay. For my family genealogy report, I decided to do it on my great-great-grandfather, who was a famous man, Captain Archibald Witwicky", Sam said beginning his presentation "Very famous explorer. In fact, he was one of the first... to explore... the Arctic Circle, which is a big deal" Sam showed them an old map of the Arctic Circle "In 1897, he took 41 brave sailors straight into the Arctic Shelf. So that's the story, right? And here we have some of the basic instruments and tools used by nineteenth century seamen"
Everyone except a few laughed at that. Ugh so immature Leah thought rolling her eyes. Sam held up a leather bound object "This here is the quadrant, which you can get for 80 bucks. It's all for sale, by the way…" Leah stared at her friend in disbelief. Was he seriously trying to pawn off his ancestor's stuff? "Like the…uh…the sextant here…" Sam said picking up another object. That got more laughter from the students. Except Leah. "Fifty dollars for this, which is a bargain" Sam then held up a pair of glasses "These are pretty cool. These are my grandfather's glasses. I haven't quite gotten them appraised yet, but they've seen many cool things…"
"Are you going to sell me his liver?" Mr Hosney cut in "Mr. Witwicky, this isn't show and sell. It's the eleventh grade" he reminded the teen "I don't think your grandfather would be particularly proud of what you're doing"
Damn straight he wouldn't Leah mentally agreed. "Get back to your report Sam", she called.
"Uh right… sorry. Um, unfortunately, my great-great-grandfather, the genius that he was…" Sam held up an aged newspaper in one hand and a folded up piece of paper in his other "…wound up going blind and crazy in a psycho ward, drawing these strange symbols and babbling on about some, uh, giant ice man that he thought he'd discovered…"
Oh that's bloody brilliant Leah grumbled as the school bell rang just as Sam was getting to the good bits way to go Sammy, you'll be lucky if you get an A for this one she thought gathering up her things.
"Where's Sam?" Ron asked when Leah joined him by the car.
"He'll be out any minute. He's just getting his grade", Leah replied putting her stuff into the back of the car. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later Sam joined them at the car with a big smile on his face "what did you get?" Leah asked.
"An A minus", he replied "but it's still an A though", he added quickly.
"Yep that's an A", Ron confirmed looking at the paper.
"So I'm good?" Sam asked hopeful.
"You're good", Ron agreed and got into the driver's seat of the car.