waking up and getting out of bed are two very different things.

on the windy, cold morning of october 12th, violet jackson lay in her bed, wide awake but dreading waking up. her alarm had gone off nearly 5 times now, the girl snoozing each and every one.

but now, at 7:45 in the morning, violet could hear her father calling to her from downstairs and she reluctantly dragged herself out of bed. after hastily getting dressed she rushed down the stairs, her backpack slung over one arm, shoes half on as she half tumbled, half ran down the stairs.

when she reached the bottom, two sharp honks came from outside and the curly haired girl swore under her breath. violet rushed into the kitchen where her father connor jackson was leaning against the counter, a coffee in his hand and a small smile on his face.

"sleep in again?" he asked, the deep rumble of his voice familiar and comforting. connor smiled at his daughter, inclining his head towards the two bagels already sitting next to the toaster. violet smiled at her father and grabbed the bagels before kissing his cheek goodbye.

"remember i'm working the night shift tonight so i won't be home till 2!" connor called to violet as she ran out, a small nod from her confirmation that she heard. "make good decisions!"

violet laughed at her father's half-hearted attempt to remind her to stay out of trouble and pulled open the front door. she was greeted with the sight of a light blue honda and a blond boy in the drivers seat, the early light of the sun peeking through the clouds.

as violet opened the passenger door, she felt her bag being taken from her shoulder and cyrillo junez grinned back at her. they tossed violet's bag in the backseat before leaning back into his own seat, the sound of one direction meeting violet's ears.

"on time as always cj," violet greeted, passing the second bagel over to cj's outstretched hands. they grinned back at her, mouth already full of bagel.

"i don't know what you expect vi," cyrillo replied, his voice slightly muffled from the bagel in his mouth. at the sight of violet's cringe of him talking with food in his mouth, he swallowed before continuing. "you've known me for at least 8 years now. have i ever been late?"

violet grinned, her lips twisting into a smirk. "well there was the time with the taco night-"

cy shushed her, raising his finger to her lips as he pulled out of the driveway. "shh, we don't talk about it."

--------

when the pair turned down a road that didn't lead to school, violet looked up at cy with a confused expression.

"you didn't tell me we were picking up indi today." violet remarked, turning the volume of the radio down from the previous high volume because of their daily taylor swift karaoke. she stole a glance over at one of her best friends, admiring the way his blond hair shone in the early light and the way his blue eyes sparkled.

feeling her glance, cj smiled at violet before returning his eyes to the road. "they texted me about 15 minutes before i picked you up but i plan for these things so we'll be there on time anyway." they glanced at vi again, motioning for her to skip the current song on the radio. "for example, i planned on you laying in bed until absolutely necessary, causing you to be outside 3 minutes later then what time we agreed on."

violet rolled her eyes, scoffing at cj's statement. "oh come on, i'm not that predictable."

"well i mean-"

she fixed a glare on the blond and he raised one hand in surrender, pulling up next to an old pink apartment building. cy sent a message on his phone and moments later indigo mendez came bursting out of the apartment complex, hastily pulling a trench coat on in an attempt to warm themself. indi opened the door to the backseat, tumbling into the car with a fresh scent of coffee and oranges.

"good morning," indigo murmured, clearly not fully awake yet. they rubbed their eyes and yawned, screeching when the back of their head hit the window.

both violet and cj laughed, returning indigo's good morning with smiles. cy pulled away from the curb, comfortable silence filling the car as the trio drove to school.

--------

when they arrived at their school, hillsdale high (go wombats??), they all piled out of cj's car. cyrillo motioned for violet and indigo to leave him, mentioning that he had to grab something out of his locker and that he'd meet them in their regular spot. the two reluctantly left, leaving cy to venture on to his locker alone.

when he arrived, lizzy mcallister was next to his locker, the door of her locker open. cyrillo greeted lizzy with a smile and nod, opening the door of his own locker. lizzy grunted in response, though a small smile came onto her face when she realized it was cj.

"hey cj, how you doin'?" she asked, shutting the door of her locker with a satisfying bang. cyrillo shrugged in response, turning slightly when lizzy reached for his arm.

"i'm alright," the blond replied, a small smile on his face. cj turned away from lizzy, facing his locker to search for the textbooks he'd need that day. "been better but oh well. hey, did you know what our physics homework was last night?"

however, when he turned back after hearing no reply, cyrillo saw that lizzy was already making a beeline towards someone. there was a sharp glint in her eyes, one arm clutching the strap of her backpack and the other arm in the pocket of her sweater.

"nice talking!" cyrillo called after her, waving his free hand in an exaggerated fashion. lizzy replied with a middle finger in response and despite being left talking to his locker, cj couldn't help to laugh.

--------

lizzy mcallister hurried down the hallway towards the flash of blond hair she'd seen during her conversation to cj. despite not liking majority of the student body, the dark haired girl was quite fond of cyrillo. he'd always been nice to her and lizzy was grateful for that.

nearing her history classroom, lizzy spotted the blond hair again, sighing at how fast her best friend was. she scowled as adaline walker hurried away from her, almost adaline was aware of the angry girl following her.

finally, lizzy caught up to adaline, gripping one of her sleeves causing the blond to spin around.

"oh lizzy! what's up?" adaline asked, a radiant grin filling her face. for a moment lizzy forgot about her anger towards the girl, her head and heart turning to mush. lizzy shook the thought out of her head, somewhat forcing a scowl to her face.

"what do you mean 'what's up'?" lizzy asked with a scoff. she let go of the grip on adaline's sleeve, crossing her arms over her chest. "where were you last night? i called and called but you never answered. thursday nights are supposed to be our nights. you've been so flaky lately."

a flash of anger passed through adaline's eyes and lizzy reveled in it. it was very rarely that she could get a rise out of the blond girl and savored every moment when she did. however, as quickly as the look was there it was gone, replaced with the pleading look adaline had mastered lately.

"lizzy please, i promise it won't happen again." adaline pleaded, laying an hand lightly on lizzy's bicep. "i'm sorry, alright? i swear i was on my way over then som- something came up."

lizzy yanked her arm away from adaline's hand, stopping the contact from the blond girl before lizzy forgave her on the spot. "you can't keep saying that something came up!" lizzy exclaimed, rubbing her eyes with her hands. "you keep on saying that adaline, yet you never tell me where you go when things 'come up.' what is keeping you so busy?"

adaline bit her lip, running a hand through her hair. "i swear, i'll tell you soon. just-" she sighed, looking back up to lizzy with those stupid pleading eyes that made lizzy bith want to kiss her and hit her.

"look," adaline stated, breaking lizzy out of her thoughts. "i'm having a party at my house tonight. the parents are out of town again and everyone's just seemed down lately so i want to cheer everyone up." the blond met lizzy's glare, her eyes pleading and certain. "i'll tell you then i promise."

for all she could, lizzy tried. she tried not to melt under the gaze of adaline. she tried to not let herself hope that addy would actually tell her what's going on. and for all she could, lizzy begged herself not to fall even more in love with the beautiful girl in front of her.

despite all of that, lizzy felt her will escaping her grasp and against all of her pleading with her mind, a small "yes" fell out of her mouth.

a/n

hey guys i'm so so sorry that this is out nearly two weeks later than promised. i hate that i keep putting out deadlines and not living up to them so i'll try to make it up to you and i've already started chapter two :)

i wanted to include more characters in this one but it ended up being way too long with just this part so i ended it here. i hope you liked it and i promise i'll work harder to get the chapters out sooner.

ily guys so much thank you for being patient and enjoy!