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1. A Day In The Life Of Erika Daniels
"Mum, why didn't my alarm go off?!" Erika yelled over the banister, still dressed in her pyjamas.
Her mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs with an unimpressed look on her face. "You haven't got one, Erika, you threw it at the wall yesterday. I thought I told you last night, you need a new one."
The girl threw her arms up in despair and let out an aggravated cry, hurrying into her room again to change her clothes. Rummaging through her wardrobe she managed to settle quite comfortably with a pair of denim jeans and a sleeveless white top, pulling on a baggy plaid shirt over the top. She slipped on her black converse and stuffed the laces beside her ankles instead of tying them properly.
"Monday's suck," she muttered to herself, and headed for the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror and placed her eyeliner and hairbrush on the sink. She tied her light brown hair back into a messy bun and let the loose tendrels curl beside her face, applied eyeliner and then simply brushed her teeth. It didn't take her long to grab her backpack and skip down the stairs, meeting her mum in the kitchen. She peered at the clock on the wall and groaned inwardly.
"It's half seven, now hurry up," her mother's voice reached her impatiently and she just nodded.
"I don't think Amanda is going to show," Erika said doubtfully, catching the items her mum threw at her; an apple in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.
"I'll give you a lift," she told her, picking her car keys from the key hook by the back door. She hurried her daughter down the hallway and out of the front door quickly.
Just as they reached the car in the driveway, Erika spotted a familiar face running down the street towards her house.
"Hey!" she cried with a smile, stopping outside the driveway. "Leaving without me?"
Erika laughed at her friend. "Hop in," she said, and they both got in the car as her mother started the engine.
"Morning, Amanda," Erika's mother said happily.
"Hi, Miss Daniels," she replied cheerfully, clipping in her seatbelt.
"Seriously, how can you be happy on a Monday morning?" Erika asked in amazement, watching Amanda just shrug and smile.
"Do you think anyone else is here yet?" Amanda asked her friend. Erika nodded.
"They'll be around here somewhere," she replied, her green eyes scattering the mass of teenagers.
"Oh!" Amanda suddenly blurted out in delight. "There they are! C'mon!" She raced down the steps with a laugh to meet the other three students at the bottom. But Erika didn't move.
She studied her friends for a moment, taking a drink of her water. Amanda with her short black hair, brown eyes and slim figure. Then there was the three guys. Taylor with his shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes, a skateboard always under his arm. Joey sporting his chin length brown hair and hazel eyes with a small black heart tattoo on his left wrist. And, finally, Adrian. Erika's cousin. He had floppy black hair and grey eyes, a pale complexion and his bottom lip pierced.
They all began to walk back to her and Adrian stood before her with a concerned look on his face.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked simply, and she just nodded. "Good," he smiled, and wrapped his arms around her as she embraced him in return.
As the bell rang, groans could be heard coming from Taylor and Joey, which just made the others smirk.
"Ready to go?" Taylor asked them all as they circled around Erika.
"Yup," Joey smiled widely. "Did I ever mention I'm so happy that all five of us are - "
"In the same History class," they all finished in unison with a laugh.
"Yes, Joey," Erika said. "About a thousand times already. Don't worry, we're glad, too."
They all turned away together to begin heading up the stone steps, but someone stood in their way quite purposefully. Erika sighed inwardly, wishing that she could get through one day without a certain person getting in her way, but -
"Hi, Erika," drawled a female voice, coming from the figure stood before them.
- that just wasn't going to happen, was it.
"Clam up, Tiffany," Erika snorted, barging past the blonde girl rudely. However, she knew she wasn't going to get away that easily. They all entered the same classroom with Tiffany not far behind, and Erika placed herself at the back between Taylor and Adrian.
The blonde haired girl plonked herself down on the edge of Erika's desk and was smiling sarcastically sweet. She was dressed in her trademark denim skirt, a sleeveless pink top and a pair of white trainers.
Erika folded her arms and waited for her to move. But when she didn't, she cleared her throat to grab her attention. Her head turned to her instantly.
"What are you doing?" Erika asked bluntly. "Remove your ass from my desk."
Tiffany scowled and flipped her blonde curls over her shoulder with one hand. "You'll pay for talking to me like that."
"Oh please," Erika snorted. "What are you going to do? Get your hairbrush out? Or was it pom-poms this year?"
The girl opened her mouth to reply, but then instantly shut it again. She sat in the seat in front of Erika (much to her dismay) and ignored her for the rest of the lesson (much to Erika's delight).
The bell rang for next lesson.
Erika shoved the paper off her desk and slid the textbook into her bag with her pen. Next period was English. She only had that lesson with Taylor. That's when she realized that none of her friends had spoken throughout that lesson, when usually they would always be testing the teacher's patience.
"Ready to face Miss Burton?" Taylor smirked, rubbing his hands together.
Erika blinked. "What do you mean?" she half smiled, eyeing him suspiciously as she spotted the glint in his eye.
"You didn't finish the work last week on Thursday, and didn't attend the ten minute detention after school," he chuckled.
"Oh man, I totally forgot about that!" Erika gasped, but she was smiling all the same as she hit his arm playfully. "Why didn't any of you guys tell me on Friday? I could've gone to see her after school then instead."
"Could have," Adrian grinned. "But you wouldn't have."
"Would too!" she protested.
"You know just as well as us that you wouldn't," Amanda laughed.
Erika gave in. "Fine, I wouldn't, but I would have at least tried to remember. You know how forgetful I am."
"Yes. Yes we do," Joey said as they left the class.
"Let's just get there before we get caught lingering in the halls," Taylor said as they all hurried on to their classes.
"So ... " Amanda grinned. "Are you attending detention with Miss Burton?"
They all looked at her, and she smiled sheepishly with a nod.
"Really?" Joey asked in slight surprise. "Why the sudden wanting to go?"
"Oh please, like I actually want to," Erika said. "I just have to, and I'd much rather get it over and done with now than have her chase me around for the rest of term. Besides, I feel like I'm slacking."
"We all feel like that," Taylor reassured her. "It's natural."
"Yeah," Amanda agreed, putting her short black hair behind one ear. "Besides, the sooner the better."
"Will you be hanging out with us tonight?" Joey asked hopefully. "We'll miss you if you don't."
Erika laughed. "Funny, Joey, really. The other night you called me a traitor, and didn't want to know me because I wanted to stay home for a night. You didn't miss me at all."
"That's a lie! I still missed you!" he protested, lifting his chin up in defiance.
They all rolled their eyes.
"Well," Erika sighed. "I'll be online tonight, I'll talk to you guys then. Where will you all be?"
"Everyone's coming over to mine tonight," Taylor replied. "So, let us know if you can be there, yeah?"
"Will do," she nodded. "See you later." And they all walked away down the corridor. She sighed again. "Now time for Miss Burton."
"Ah, Erika," she smiled.
Erika gave a small smile back, letting her backpack slide off her shoulder and into her right hand. She glimpsed around the room to see that no one else was in detention.
"You have an hour," Miss Burton explained, handing an exercise book to Erika who took it slowly. "There's a computer," she pointed to the back of the room. "Type up your work on there and finish it as well, please."
"Okay," Erika muttered, and moved to the back of the room, taking her seat at the computer. She logged on and began typing up her work.
After what felt like forever, she glimpsed at her watch to see it was already five o'clock. She sighed and leaned back in her seat, scrolling up and down her work to see how much she'd done. This story writing wasn't all that bad, but it took alot of imagination.
"Erika," Miss Burton addressed her suddenly as she looked to her side to see the teacher leaving the room. "I'll be back in a moment, don't go anywhere."
"Okay," she nodded, and she left. As soon as the door shut again she saved her work and opened up messenger. She signed in to her account and was instantly suprised to see a new contact had added her. Certainly not familiar. At the moment the person wasn't online. She shrugged, despite the nagging curiosity in the back of her mind, and quickly scanned the contents of her contacts list.
Suddenly, a conversation opened. It was Amanda on her account. She was probably at Taylor's house now.
You still at school?
Erika typed back furiously.
Yeah, but the teacher's left the room so I'm sneaking online. I have to go again in no more than a minute - if that.
She waited for a reply, glancing at the door every two seconds.
Well, me and the guys are having a competition on Dead or Alive 2 right now, you should still come when you get out of there.
She smiled and typed back instantly.
Maybe tomorrow night? I'm really tired, believe it or not, and I think I'm going to stay home.
Oh come on! You can sleep or go online here at Taylor's, right? We'll get Joey to meet you halfway, yeah?
Erika tapped her fingers rather anxiously as she contemplated on an answer.
Okay, I'll be out of here in the next fifteen minutes, get Joey going in ten. Then you can watch me kick all your asses on Dead or Alive!
You always do! See ya soon!
She signed off at the exact same moment Miss Burton walked back in the room. She re-saved her work, checked it over and printed it out. She marked on her page 'Complete' before closing the book, and then turned off the computer before collecting her papers from the printer.
"Finished," she happily stated, paperclipping her sheets together and handing them to Miss Burton who smiled gratefully.
"If you can finish it all within an hour during detention I'm sure you can do it in class, Miss Daniels," she raised her eyebrows, the smile never leaving her face. Sometimes Erika wondered if her face was real or not.
"I know ... " she faltered, knowing she didn't really have an excuse. She couldn't very well say that life was getting her down again, could she? "I'm trying harder, I swear. It's just ... "
"Just what?"
"Nothing, I guess," she shrugged, looking at the floor as she shouldered her backpack once again. "I know that I'm slacking ... and I'm not proud of it. I don't know what's wrong with me. But whatever it is, I'll figure it out and do better by the end of term."
Miss Burton placed the work aside and looked Erika in the eye as she stood from her chair. "You're a very trying girl, Erika Daniels. I'm very pleased to know that you want to do well, and that you're determined to do so. Don't disappoint me. You may leave."
"Thanks," Erika nodded, and turned to leave rather quickly. She didn't know what made her blurt all of that out at once, but she felt a sudden confidence to know that she could do it. But, by tomorrow, she knew it would be gone.