Secret of The Night

Morning light filtered in through the curtains and I gracefully stretched my arms as I got out of bed.

No. No fairy tale story beginning. This is reality.

6:12 A.M.

My alarm clock went off like the world was on fire. Groaning, I rolled over in bed and pulled the covers over my head, which exposed my feet. That felt cold, so I tucked myself into a little round ball of Vivi and groaned again. Ugh. Wednesdays were always awful, in my opinion. Smack dab in the middle of the week. Thursdays and Fridays you can look forward to the weekend. Mondays and Tuesdays you can still feel the weekend. But Wednesday there’s nothing to look forward to, and absolutely no hope whatsoever in your life. Excuse me for that little detour into the mind of the one and only Vivi Emilia Reilly.

My older brother Liam banged on my door, telling me impatiently to quote unquote get your ass in the bathroom and make it quick. He’s my ride to school, so sadly I can’t piss him off in the mornings.

I threw a fuzzy green pillow at the door and silent-shouted insults at it.

Quiet. Liam must’ve left to get his morning bacon and eggs.

Then I stuffed my face back into my sky blue duvet and sighed, breathing in the smell of blissful sleep. Bliss that ended way too soon.

Liam banged one more time on my door, impatient and angry as always. I guess he didn’t really leave. I wrinkled my nose, sighed, and threw the covers off me with a majestic sweep of my hand and sniffed. I somehow always got my memory of the previous days back by sniffing. Another queer Farrell trait, I suppose. It just..... i don’t know how exactly, happens.

I swung my short underdeveloped legs off the high 4-foot mattress and frame and stuffed my feet into fluffy bunny slippers awaiting me faithfully beside my bed. Standing up took a while, with my disoriented sense of the world upon waking. Eyes still half closed, I stumbled into the bathroom zombie-style and completed my usual morning clean-up: brush teeth, gurgle, wash face, lotion, then pee. I walked out of the small area feeling refreshed and ready to face anything.

Well, anything but an angry Liam glaring down at me.

“What took you so long, girl? Peeing does NOT take that long!!” He puffed up his cheeks and stretched up to his height of 5′9", obviously towering over my frame of 5′3". Yes, that’s it. Yes, I’m short.

I meekly mumbled an excuse that I took a shower, an obvious lie, but he was either too hungry to care or too drowsy to doubt me.

He continued glaring at me until I disappeared into my room to change into school clothes for the day. Red frilly top and some skinny jeans. I gave myself a quick once-over in the mirror, then reconsidered and exchanged the top for a light blue button-down shirt, then put on a necklace strung with gold and pearly white beads.

I nodded formally at my reflection, then threw my bag over one shoulder, grabbed my violin case, and stuck my phone between my teeth to hold onto it. Stomping down the stairs, I finally reached the bottom of the staircase and tossed my stuff onto one of the black Barcelona chairs my dad likes so much none too gently. But he isn’t awake, so who cares?

I walked into the kitchen, grabbed an apple perched weirdly on the toaster, and then joined my scowling brother at the table.

After we finished our breakfast of a single fried egg and a toasted piece of bread, we each grabbed our stuff from a Barcelona chair (See, Dad? It’s not just me) and walked down the steps to the front door. Liam got out first, unlocking and pushing open the door then going out without a word or glance behind him. I whispered a small “We’ll be leaving now,” to the eerily quiet house so as to not wake my parents.

Liam was already waiting in the car, so I joined him in the passenger seat and waited for him to get the engine started then back out of the driveway. He sped a little on the interstate, but it was 6 am and I didn’t really mind too much since all windows were up.

When we finally got to school, I glanced at my schedule. Ugh. Math. Why do school superintendents or whoever decides the classes feel it necessary to put Math as a first-period class? Come on! I mean, it’s Wednesday, and you give me math? The cruelty of the world stings my heart.

I entered the classroom. No surprise, I was fifth there. Only the really dorky guys came in so early on a Monday morning. They all had on matching shiny silver shoes, no doubt thinking that made them look “cool” and all. Well, whatever. I try not to judge.

“Hey Danny! And Jack and Richard, too,” I waved at the boys and sat down at my seat. The desks were all arranged in neat columns; my seat was the third one in the fourth column.

“I’m Darren, by the way,” the fourth boy whose name I forgot to mention piped up.

“Oh. Sorry about that,” I gave him a sheepish smile. All four of them stared at me in adoration. Um, I thought, turning around in silence. Weirdos. I stared down at my desk, my neck burning from the stares of the four guys. Then the 8:00 bell rang and the rest of my classmates poured in. Late, as usual the teacher casually strolled in at around 8:10, bringing our attention to the front of the room.

“Alright, class, as you well know, today you have a small test. All ready?” The teacher nodded to himself as he surveyed the room. “Ok then. Let’s get started. You guys know the drill. Keep the test face down on your desk until given further instructions. Got it?” Without waiting for an answer, he passed out 5 test papers to every person in each column for them to pass down through that group of students eagerly (NOT) awaiting the test. Or quiz. Or quest or whatever they’re calling it now. Some strange name I can never remember.

I stared at my test. I studied for this, so why weren’t any answers coming to mind? I couldn’t fail the test, considering I always tell Mari to get her head out of the clouds and study more with such a pompous attitude. I’d be such a hypocrite then. No, I decided. I didn’t want that. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I put pen to paper and started the test.

40 minutes later, I looked up from my work. The test was completed and the teacher was busying himself collecting the papers. I gave my test a last one-over before handing it to the person in front of me, who had their hand outstretched behind their back.

The bell had rung, and the teacher dismissed us from math, apologizing for making us a little late to our next class. I looked at my schedule again. Next is.... I ran my finger down the column until I found the right class. World History. Oh, joy. Now i have to try and not fall asleep. This class had one of the most boring teachers ever, an elderly lady in her 70s. She could drone on and on for hours on the same topic. Ugh. Good luck to me.

The rest of the morning continued as such. Boring, and utterly un-fascinating. I wanted something to happen. You know, a miracle or something. Big. Not life-threatening. I wasn’t stupid, no matter how much I wanted some excitement. At least I got a momentary relief from the uselessness of class during lunchtime. The group and I always ate together, in the cafeteria on a table surrounded by other people chattering about. Yvonne and Rhiannon were chatting up a storm on one side of the white table, no doubt talking about their newfound boyfriends. Mari sat quietly besides them, and from the look on her face, I don’t think she was all too pleased to see me. Erica started talking the second she sat down next to me, and i started to tune her out, my mind focused on inner thoughts. Then the bell rang again, signifying the return of classes. Moaning spread like wildfire throughout the student body, every person depressed at the thought of returning to classes. Yvonne and Erica grin at me when we said our goodbyes and stood to throw out our lunch trays. The entire student body began to shuffle out of the cafeteria in small groups back; Rhia and I walked out together.

The rest of the day was boring. But there’s nothing new about that. When i finished my classes, I went down to the student lobby and met up with Rhia, Erica, and Yvonne. The 4 of us shouldered our bags, and with a brief girl-chat, walked out the huge double doors of Mica High. We split up at the train station, each going our own separate ways. Yvonne, the lucky duck, lived right next to the school so she got to wake up at 7 and gets home at 2:40, right on time. Rhia and Erica used Train 5 to get back home, and Mari and I took Train 7. We said our goodbyes, gave each other a quick hug, then Rhia and Erica went left and Mari and I went right.

We walked in somewhat awkward silence for a bit before Mari burst out with, “Hey, Vivi?”

“Mmmm?” I took my phone out from my back pocket and scrolled through my notifications before facing her.

“Do you” she paused without ever finishing her sentence. “Are you going to see him in that?” She stared daggers at my clothing choice.

“What? I think it looks fine.” As usual, if I was put on the spot, my cheeks flamed instantly. Thanks a lot, easily affected blood vessels!

She looked at me dubiously. “Whatever. This is your big shot and you want to blow it in the first two seconds. That’s so like you.”

Ok, girl. Back up. That one stung. Bros before hoes, come on what happened to that? And Yoru is hardly a hoe, I mean, she met with him twice. Twice.

But I didn’t say any of that. I plastered a “LOL” face on me and giggled. Unlike her, I didn’t want to lose such a carefully crafted friendship over a guy. Who I didn’t know and who didn’t know me. Even if this guy is the perfect yin to my yang.

I got off a stop earlier than usual to meet Yoru. I was already late, it being like 3:30 by the time I got to the cafe where I saw him with his ancient friend. The pink-cheeked manager was walking around and there were a few waiters lounging on the chairs meant for customers. They were empty today. I walked in and found a random seat then promptly got up again and walked over to the manager. “Do you know where Yoru Tomorokoshi is?” She shook her head and I walked back to my chair, resigned to wait for however long as this guy was planning on standing me up. Because, no matter what, I was not, like Marigold said, going to blow it. If this date was destined to blow up, I wasn’t about to let that happen because of me. Because I wasn’t here when he showed. Because-