09

I woke next morning to the sun shining brightly through my drape covered windows, warming my pillows and blankets comfortably.

One would assume that would be a very nice way to start the day, right?

Too bad that’s not how my day started.

It was actually raining outside, water droplets pounding against the side of the building, when I cracked open my eyes. Turns out I’d tossed my warm, comfy blankets off onto the floor sometime in the middle of the night, and I was missing one of my fuzzy slipper socks.

Oh, and to top it all off?

Not only did I have my laptop taken away last night, but I also had slept in forty five minutes late, which meant that I had exactly fifteen minutes to get ready for school and catch the subway that left at 7:53 am on the dot.

This, no doubt, was bound to be one surely exciting day.

Fighting back a groan, I practically threw myself out of bed, half crawled my way to the door, wrenched it open, and sprinted for the kitchen. Of course my parents were already gone – New York was the city that never slept – so there was no one there to rag on me for being late as I threw open cupboards in the kitchen, trying to find some breakfast. I settled on a granola bar and a quick class of orange juice, both of which I promptly finished in one minute and nine seconds.

I realized with dread as I sprinted back to my room that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to take a shower, brush my hair and teeth, get dressed, gather my school work together and shove it in my bag, and then make a dash for the subway all within thirteen minutes.

To hell with all of this.

I was going to have to skip a shower this morning and the light dusting of makeup that I usually wore to look at least somewhat acceptable and head off to school. Three cheers for looking unruly in the morning. And besides – the last thing I needed was to get in trouble again after the “little stunt” I’d pulled last night.

My parents had been darn furious about my arrival home well after midnight and needless to say, I doubted they were going to lay up on the rules for awhile. Hopefully they’d change their minds. I rarely ever got into trouble. The most I was disciplined for was a couple of bad geometry grades.

I banged my way out of the bathroom ten minutes later after running a brush through my tangled hair and tugging on a pair of jeans, a long sleeved blouse, and my coat. Interestingly enough, I’d also found the dress and flats I’d been wearing last night – or rather, 27 days in the future – at Archer’s funeral, neatly tucked back into place in my closet.

It was beyond weird talking about Archer as if he were already dead when clearly, he was obviously alive. The conversation that we’d had yesterday night was still emblazoned firmly in my mind, as well as everything Death had told me.

One could only hope that today was going to go perfectly fine with nothing at all to through me off track on my mission. Of course, however, that was too much to ask for when you were Hadley Jamison.

Under normal circumstances, I would spend a bit more time wallowing – somewhat – in self pity about how much my life sucked. But today I just didn’t have the time or motivation for that. So after grabbing all of my school things, throwing them furiously into my bag, I banged my way out of the apartment, quickly locking up behind me, and then took off running.

Okay, so I probably shouldn’t have thrown my bag around, knocking people out of the way as I tried to high-tail it down to the subway entrance half a block over through the hustle and bustle of the sidewalks.

However, since I was probably going to be late, I couldn’t afford to take chances and be nice or polite. Taelor Lewis, the best friend, would also be there, too, and the Lord only knew what a fit she’d pitch if I didn’t arrive on time, in typical Taelor fashion. I’d really prefer it if she didn’t hit me with her purse this morning.

By the time I actually barreled my way down the greasy, worn linoleum steps that lead down into the subway it was 7:52 am. Literally, I had just made it in the nick of time.

“Where the hell were you?” Taelor shrieked when she finally saw me sprinting towards her.

“Got grounded,” I wheezed out, clutching at a stitch in my side. “Woke up late.”

That first statement was enough to make Taelor stop in her tracks as the grimy subway train clambered to a stop beside us.

“You got grounded?” she repeated in a flat voice. “What on Earth did you do to get grounded? You’re, like, the perfect child.”

I snorted out a laugh as we both shoved our way onto the train.

“That’s hardly the case, Taelor,” I told her as we took our seats towards the back. “I stayed out too late and got in trouble. End of story.”

“I seriously think you’re lying here,” Taelor accused, pointing a perfectly manicured finger me. “What were you doing out late?”

Ah. So this was where we were going to run into some problems.

After I had finished getting chewed out by my parents last night, I was way too exhausted by the days more than shocking and frightening events to even think about anything else but sleep. So I hadn’t exactly had the time to figure out what I was going to tell Taelor when it became obvious that I was clearly ditching her for Archer.

The very thought made me shudder. But it had to be done, didn’t it?

“I went to this little Chinese place for dinner by myself and accidentally fell asleep because I was so tired and then Archer Morales was the one who woke me up because he worked there and then we talked for a bit before I finally managed to get home,” I explained in a rush, hoping she wouldn’t take in all of what I’d just said.

Sure enough, it took her a few moments to let everything I’d told her sink in, and then she was all but freaking out on me.

“What? Archer Morales? Why the hell would you talk to Archer Morales?” Taelor demanded, practically sneering out Archer’s name.

I narrowed my eyes at her, my foul mood worsening slightly. “You don’t even know him, Taelor. He’s not that bad of a guy.”

Okay, so maybe I was lying just the slightest bit when I said that, because it was plainly clear to me that Archer Morales was a jerk.

It was going to be a tough job convincing myself that maybe something had happened in Archer’s past that made him the way he was. I already knew that he had three little sisters, right? Well, maybe it was his job to take care of his little sisters or something.

Really, the possibilities were endless, but I didn’t really want to dwell on that at the moment.

“He’s more of a freak, you’re right,” Taelor giggled after a moment of contemplation.

I resisted the urge to smack her with my school bag and instead settled for slouching back in my seat, occasionally glaring over at my best friend.

Taelor instantly changed the subject next, like she was so famous for, and instantly started babbling about this perfect pair of stiletto high heels that she’d found at Bloomingdale’s the other day and how I absolutely had to go shopping with her later this weekend because my wardrobe was so bland, and –

I’d really rather not finish that sentence, thanks very much.

We when we finally dragged ourselves out of the dungeons known as the subway, it was 8:17, which left us just enough time to sprint a block over to JFK High for classes to start promptly at 8:30 on the dot.

I plopped myself into a chair in homeroom six minutes later with an exhausted sigh, feeling like I could happily sleep for the next three years and be okay. Thank goodness Taelor had another homeroom so now I wouldn’t have to put up with her nagging questions anymore.

I had a feeling that this was going to be a super awesome day full of fun filled events and even more surprising things.

Not.

Now, here's the funny thing. I found it rather downright confusing at first that I was already aware of almost everything that Mrs. Anderson droned on and on about as she read off the list of announcements from a piece of paper.

At first I thought that Mrs. Anderson was reading my mind or something and it took several moments of deep, calming breaths to realize that I was - somehow - in the past. That meant I was going to be repeating everything I'd already been through in the previous 27 days, right?

Well, this was probably going to be the only time I'd be looking forward to a geometry test, because this meant that I now knew what was going to be on it. The only downside was that I'd have to do all of my stupid, tedious homework again.

Oh, and stop Archer Morales from comitting suicide. There was that, too.

I was up and out of my seat before the bell signaling the start of first hour had even finished ringing.

If I was going to be honest, I was trying to avoid Taelor and her impending awkward questions, and I really wanted to see Archer. There was this part of my mind that kept freaking out, reinforcing the thought that last night had been a dream and that I hadn't actually met Death and been sent back in time, as weird as that sounded.

This was so weird. I needed to see Archer.

But unluckily for me, it wouldn't be until lunch - four classes later - when I would be able to see Archer. I didn't have a single class with the guy at all.

We were both Juniors, which meant we had the same lunch hour. I hadn't ever actually seen Archer at lunch before, but he had to be somewhere. And as much as I was freaking out about this, I knew I had no choice but to find him.

So I spent the hours leading up to lunch focusing intently on how I was going to make "small talk" - for a lack of a better word - with Archer. He hadn't exactly given the impression that he actually liked talking last night, so I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be easy.