Page 83 of Finding My Forever

“No. I’ll be there.” They were already down a man. I couldn’t put more on my mom’s shoulders right now.

“Okay. Now hurry up. You can miss homeroom but you need to be there by first period.”

I nodded, and after she stood and walked, out I rolled out of bed.

I decided to skip my morning routine and show up to school with a messy bun and no makeup. What did I care anymore? Liam was my soulmate, and he was on the other side of the country.

I made it through the hall doors and halfway to my class when the first person made a comment.

Just a random guy from the football team. I recognized him but never cared to remember names. There were like fifty of them. If they bothered to learn the cheerleaders’ names rather than calling us by their favorite body parts of ours then I would consider wasting brain space on them, but alas.

“Hey, Red! You sick?”

I shot him a look then realized I was wearing cheer sweats and looked the same as I did when I woke up. So, I looked ill? Cool.

“Nope.” I waved and continued down the hall.

If he noticed I knew Katie would think I was dying. Oh gosh. Gwen would think this was her lucky day. How creative could she get? This would be fun to watch.

It was one part stressful to go au natural but it was mostly freeing. Maybe Elise had been onto something all this time.

“Oh. My.” The bell rang when Gwen finished that statement.

I turned and smiled widely at her and Harley. “Morning girls.”

“Are you broken?” Gwen asked, almost looking genuinely concerned.

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t think so.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Harley looked like she was really struggling to figure out what was different about me.

“I was running late this morning.”

I watched Harley and laughed when she finally caught on.

“Well, if we’re done here, I’ve got to get to class.”

I smiled and walked away from them, knowing I hadn’t heard the last of it. What was the big deal anyway? It wasn’t like I was wearing pajamas…okay, sweats were glorified pajamas, but who cared what I did and what I wore?

Me. Or I used to. Basically up until seven this morning I cared greatly about it. But after last night, things like clothes and makeup seemed so petty.

I had real-life drama to focus on! My life was falling to pieces, so excuse me for not giving a crap about my appearance for one day.

My mental speech was interrupted by Katie’s expression.

“Oh no! Who died?”

I slid into my seat next to her and shrugged. “No one that I know of.”

“Well, that’s the only excuse for leaving the house looking like that.”

I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. Granted, I was usually the same.

“I had a rough night. I overslept and didn’t have time to do my hair and makeup. It’s not that big of a deal.”

She shook her head and whispered as our teacher started the class, “I have makeup in my purse. I’ll fix you up after class before anyone else can see you.”

I didn’t bother arguing with her. She would get her way in the end, and on the plus side, all I would have to do was stand in the bathroom with her while she did the work.