"Marnie! Wake up! Quick! Dad's just logged onto skype!!" Those simple words were enough to get me out of bed at 6:00 am on a Saturday morning. With a smile on my face, I quickly darted down the stairs where I awaited a skype call from my Dad who I haven't heard from in weeks. Now before you start thinking who would be excited about a skype call with a Dad who hardly contacts you, it's not like that at all, in fact, far from it.
My Dad works for the British Army as a Bomb Disposal Engineer. God you can already hear the burst of pride I have for him just in my voice, but yeah I like to boast about this because I am one incredibly proud daughter. However, there are many disadvantages of having a Dad who works for the Army, one of them being that I haven't seen him in 5 months now, and it's just becoming more and more unbearable of not being able to hug him, and tell him how my day was. There's always this sense of anxiety I get at the pit of my stomach as well when we've not heard from him in a while, and the need to constantly know whether he is okay or not is exhausting. But hey that's life, and there's nothing more I want to do right now than to see his goofy face on that screen.
"DAADDD!!!" I practically cheered when I came into view of the screen. My face must've been a picture since I pretty much shoved my face onto the camera not realising that the first view he got was of my brilliant nostrils. Note the sarcasm.
He just chuckled "Hello princess how are you?"
"I'm really good thanks, I've got soooo much to tell you about last season's The Walking Dead! But first of all I want to ask when are you coming home?"
I watched how my Dad's smile faltered a little after I asked him that simple question. He scratched the back of his neck and then replied "ermm I'm not too sure hunny, hopefully soon"
I felt my mum tense up beside me as if she already knew the answer to that.
"But you always say that, soon always feels like a lifetime away with you" I whispered in a voice that did not sound like my usual happy self.
I briefly looked away from the screen as I couldn't bare the thought of my Dad seeing the sadness in my eyes which were clearly evident at this moment of time.
"Just tell her David" my mum said abruptly.
"Tell me what?"
I looked at my mum then quickly back to the screen where my Dad was staring straight back at me. He sighed, then said "They reckon I won't be back till after Christmas sweetheart"
I felt the tears start to well up in my eyes. C'mon Marnie suck it up don't let him see you cry. "Oh" was all I could mumble. The truth was that this hurt a lot. A Christmas without my Dad would hardly be a Christmas at all. How would my little sister Lexi even react when she finds out that Dad won't even be there in the morning to show him all the presents she got from Santa?
"Is there not any way..."
"No Marnie" my Dad regretfully cut in to save me from saying things that wouldn't have changed the situation.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment, took a deep breath, and cheerfully attempted to say "... well I guess we could celebrate a mini Christmas when you get back! Right mum?"
I looked at my mum who smiled and nodded, then I looked back at my Dad who was smiling at us. "I'd like that."
I forcefully put on the biggest smile that I could possibly manage so that I could assure him that it will all be fine, and that everything will be okay. You know what they say right, smile even though the heart is still frowning.
"Then it's settled then! I consider myself lucky as I now get to have two Christmas's!" Jesus Marnie could you sound anymore patronising!
I felt my mum squeeze my hand beside me as she knew that this was just as hard for me as it was for her. I just hoped that my Dad couldn't see past this happy facade I put up like my mum could.
After talking to my Dad for another twenty minutes about how my summer's been and the talk of a new student coming to Weatherfield's High in the new term. I quickly woke Lexi up so that she could have a talk with Dad. They mostly discussed the Victorious show that she's always been obsessed with, and how Cat is her favourite character (mine is Robbie, and yes don't judge me because I watch the show...it's highly addictive). After that it was time for us to say our goodbyes and let my Dad sign off and get back to whatever thrilling work he had lined up for him. Not going to lie it was hard to say goodbye knowing that it will probably be another few weeks until our next skype call, but there's not a lot I can do than to just keep positive for my mum and Lexi.
Around 9:00 am I get a text from Levi my best friend telling me to and I quote "get my lazy fat ass out of bed" Little did he know that I was already well and truly awake, so I text him back straight away.
M: "I'm up! So what's the plan for today?"
L: "OH MY GOD YOUR AWAKE!
WHY ARE YOU AWAKE???
YOU USUALLY TAKE YEARRSSS TO REPLY
ARE WE ALL GOING TO DIE OR SOMETHING??
ANSWER MEEEEEE"
If you can't already tell, Levi is probably the most impatient, over dramatic person I know, and yes I do usually have a bit of a bad habit of staying in bed on the weekends and not waking up till probably 10 or 11...but who wakes up early on a Saturday morning anyway? I rolled my eyes and then text back,
M: "No one is dying! Unless you want me to strangle you until you stop being overdramatic!"
L: "BITCHH PLEASE YOU WOULDN'T STRANGLE ME!!
IM QUEENNNN
And well I was wondering if you wanted to go down to Oxford Street and do some shopping??
I need a bold outfit for our first day back at school... something that says that I SLAYYY and bitches wanna be me"
Typical Levi, I thought to myself.
M: "I have a witch fancy dress costume if you want to borrow that, I'm sure people will get that vibe if you wear it??'
L: "HA HA. Very funny -.-
Seriously though do you want to meet?"
Why he even had to ask me that question when he already knew the answer was beyond me, maybe it was to just boost his serious ego?
M: "Of course I do!!! What time do you want to meet?"
L: "Let's say 10 shall we???'
M: "WHAT?! But I haven't even showered yet!! And you know I like to give myself time to get ready!"
L: "Bitch I'll febreeze you if you stink! Just hurry up! I'll be round yours at 10"
I rolled my eyes smiling as I knew full well that he would be here on time. I quickly put on my ripped skinny denim jeans and rolling stones t shirt which hung loosely off my shoulder, as well as my black leather Chelsea boots. My long thick brown hair was tied up into a messy bun since I didn't have time to wash it, and I quickly applied some bb cream to hide my blemishes and mascara onto my dark brown eyes. Mum hates it when I apply too much makeup, as she says that I have a lovely tanned complexion, so I decided to go for a more natural look today.
When I came downstairs I saw Lexi dancing in the living room, shaking her short curly brown hair and twirling around until she got so dizzy to one of the Victorious songs, Give it up.
Smiling, I came up behind her and lifted her so high into the air. She squealed with delight and then we both started dancing and singing together until the song was over.
Me and Lexi have always had a tight bond. Especially since my mum works nights as a Hotel Manager in London, so it's my job to pick Lexi up from primary school, and look after her in the evenings on weekdays.
"Where are you going Marnie?" Lexi asked when she realised that I was fully dressed.
"I'm meeting Levi, and were going shopping" I replied.
"Is that the boy with the funny pink hair?"
I chuckled. "Yep that's him, although I think he's dyed his hair blue now!"
Levi has a thing with changing his hair colour frequently, and I've always been rather jealous of how he could literally rock any colour. Believe me this boy could have the colours of the rainbow and he'd still look stylish!
As on que Levi walked into the room and shouted "The one and only has arrived!!! Did you miss me? Actually, don't answer that, I already know the answer, I'd miss me to!" I just laughed and gave him a massive hug.
"Is charlotte not coming today?" I asked. Charlotte is my other best friend who I've been friends with since primary school. She's the only girl I can trust and who I can tell all my problems to without her even judging me for a second.
"No, she said it's her uncle's Birthday so she's up in Kent for the day, but don't worry my fabulous company is priceless anyway"
"Hey Marnie I thought you told me Levi's hair was blue? It's clearly green!" Lexi said form beside me.
Levi just groaned "It was blue, but every time I wash it the colour starts to fade out and now it looks green!"
"I like it green!" Lexi said cheerfully.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a lot nicer than your sister Lexi?" Levi said, giving Lexi a high five.
"Ompf! Hey! What did you do that for?" Levi whined, as I chucked a pillow straight at his head.
"Stop being mean!" I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
"Anyway isn't it time to go now, you said 10 O'clock and its now ten past so we better get moving if we don't want to get caught in this so called 'rush hour' which you seemed to have invented at this time of day"
"I only said it to get your lazy ass out of bed"
"I was already awake!"
"Oh yeah you were, why were you up early for once? Did you have a nightmare about the time you were at Nicola's Halloween party and you nearly sha- "
"NO! I'll tell you later!" I said as I practically threw myself onto him to stop him from saying another word about that almost extremely embarrassing night. Levi just laughed, said bye to Lexi, then walked out the door like he owned the place. Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with him.
I gave Lexi a quick kiss on the cheek and said bye to my mum as I shortly followed Levi out of the house and made our way towards the tube station.
"Wait, how did you even get into my house in the first place?" I asked when we finally sat down on the tube.
"Liz let me in duh." He replied, as if it was the dumbest question in the world.
"Since when did you call my mum by first name basis"
"Since your mum adores me and wants to adopt me as her third child, but obviously I would be her number one child, shortly followed by Lexi, then you"
"God you're really on a role with the sarcasm today" I said to Levi. Something was bothering him I'm sure of it.
"Well I'm practising my fluent sarcasm skills on you to prepare myself for school on Monday"
"Ahhh" I said.
Maybe there wasn't anything wrong with him after all. Whenever we're at school Levi decides to go full on sassy bitch mode, and to be honest I love it. Especially when people like Jessie, Taylor and Samantha constantly try to bring me down. This one time when I was with Levi and Charlotte. Jessie thought it would be funny to 'accidently' throw her food over me during lunch, and then had the nerve to tell me that her lunch probably helped my outfit. You want to know what Levi said? He said and I quote "I would slap you right now but I don't want to make your face look any better"
You should've seen her face, it was a picture that I will forever treasure in my memories, and ever since then she won't come up to me whenever Levi's around. Levi even told me a few weeks later Jessie and her two other wannabe friends came up to him and asked if they could hang out sometime and his reply to that was "If I throw a stick, will you leave?" And that pretty much sums up why I love him so much, because although he is overdramatic, he has always had my back and is probably one of the most loyal people I know.
"So have you heard about the new student who will be joining our sixth form?" I asked Levi.
"Yeah! And apparently he's drop dead gorgeous! I would make my mark on him but I would probably scare him off"
I ignored that last part and said "He? I heard the new student was a girl?"
"Nope he's definitely a guy, apparently he's an exchange student as well but no one knows where he's from"
"Ohh okay, I guess will just have to wait and see who it is on Monday then!'
"Five pound bet it's a guy!" Levi said sticking his hand out to shake on it.
"Alright then deal!" I said confidently, shaking his hand like the goofy idiot I am.
"Maybe we should introduce her to our little group? She's bound to get lost on her first day and it's always nice to have someone you know to help you"
"Or maybe we should just leave HIM alone? Remember Marnie we don't go to people, people come to us!"
"You make it sound like we're royalty" I snorted.
*The next stop will be Oxford Circus*
"Oh we are babes, and I'm the queen, which is why people always want to befriend me. And speaking of friends Selfridges is about five minutes away from us now and I can already hear it calling my name, now c'mon!" and with that said, Levi practically dragged me out of the tube station and towards Oxford Street.