Ladies' Choice (re-uploading SOON)

CHAPTER TWO

I could rub the itch out of my eye, but not my own stupidity. The itchiness festered from lack of sleep. It warned me of a luring pounding feeling in my head that causes me to regret my poor life choices. I'm caffeine hungover for sure. That red bull at 9PM always felt like a good idea until this morning. 

Past me sucks.

Elena emerged from her house with her curls tied half up by a strawberry scrunchie to pair with her white tennis skirt. She was all curves and soft edges with romantic hearts covering the sweater, and she wore the kind of statement boots meant to tower over us mere mortals. She wore dainty gold jewelry, layers of necklaces and more rings than the number of fingers on her hand.

Her dark regrowth was showing, but somehow Elena made it look cool and on purpose. At least that was how Elena carried herself. She had gotten tanner too and her round cheeks were still pink from yesterday's sun.

Every morning, I was my friend's personal driver to school. They hated the bus as much I liked making them happy. Plus, their presence gave me more will to live than any amount of sludge coffee my father makes. 

Elena hopped into the backseat, aware of the crowd this car gathered in the morning and made eyes at the bouquet of daises on the car seat but made no comment. I watched her make a note about it inside her mind palace.

Buckled, Elena looked forward and her pink lips curled wickedly. "You still use GPS? You drive to my house every day."

"Yeah," I said, trying to come up with an excuse, so I wouldn't have to admit that I had as much direction as a goldfish with amnesia. "But like GPS, knows the better way every day and sometimes that better way changes. What about traffic? Or a slowdown? This way I can avoid it."

"Sometimes I think you prepare too much, like you've even preplanned the number of times you're going to blink a day."

I smiled. "I've got 15,000 to go... 14,999."

With the smallest smile, Elena laughed little puffs of air and we were on our way to Skipper's house next. I basically drove the way I came, but still with her address on my GPS. Skipper's house was in another suburb that looked practically identical to Elena's, but it was thirty minutes away and Skipper was never ready by the time I arrived. 

Pulling into her carport, I immediately called Skipper on the phone. Right on schedule. "Ready or not, we're leaving Skip! Let's rock and roll!"

"Okay, dad," Skipper groaned in a way where Zoey imagined she had still yet to open her eyes.

"Are you ready? I don't see you. The lights in your house aren't even on—"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, okay?" Fluent in groaning, Skipper griped and started her usual list of complaints about how she slept, the light outside, the school system, and the odd taste of her toothpaste. I just looked at Elena and we rolled our eyes in solidarity.

Eventually, she fell out of her house with a thermos of coffee as big as her head.

Skipper was all legs and long toned arms. She had long, black, tight braids that were half up today. Her dark brown skin was darker than usual now that the Spring soccer season was in full swing, and we were spending more time outside than in. She also wore an old T-shirt of mine (that she swore was hers to begin with, but she had a tell when she lied and I did not) with jeans and her vans. She was effortlessly cool.

Without me realizing it, Skipper had already climbed inside into my passenger seat. Skipper laughed at something Elena said, which I had missed and I forced out a laugh so they wouldn't notice I stopped paying attention. Driving onto the road, I went the long way to our next stop. I needed to refocus.