Rollercoaster Ride

I looked at the clock. It was 7.30 already, and where the heck was my brother?

I got up from the table after finishing my breakfast and went upstairs to Kennedy’s room. He was still sleeping – and eww, was that his drool on the pillow?

“Kennedy, wake up.” I smacked his leg. He groaned. “Kennyyyyy.” I shook his torso. “KENNY!” His eyes flashed open, finally. “It’s 7.30 already. Get up or I’ll leave you.”

As I walked out of his room, he sat up and yawned and groggily said, “You don’t have a driving license.”

“But that doesn’t mean I cannot drive. Be ready in 15 minutes, I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.”

If you’re wondering where our parents were, they were too busy with their job. They were rarely home, so usually there were only me and Kennedy around. Sometimes the others would hang out in our house.

- - -

The school bell rang, time for lunch. I walked out of Geography class and went toward the cafeteria. I bumped into someone’s locker door, hard. I stopped walking and held my forehead. It hurt. Badly.

The owner closed his locker. “Daphne! You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay John,” I smiled.

“You still remember your name, right?”

I slapped his arm jokingly and then he laughed. God, I loved his laughter. One of the reasons why I liked him.

“Come on, the others are waiting,” he said, grabbing my hand with his big, warm hand. Another reason to like him.

We went to the cafeteria hand in hand. As we entered, I noticed John waved someone with his other hand. I looked up to see who it was. I saw Neyla was waving back at him, smiling. Her smile faded away when she saw me looking at her.

“Things are still pretty tense between you and her, huh?” John asked as we were approaching our usual table. I saw Jared was there, munching his tuna sandwich. “Come on, Daphne! I don’t know why you guys are fighting 3 years ago, but to be honest, I really, really miss those girls around my band.”

“One of them is still around your band.” I looked up and stared at his eyes.

“But she’s different! I like her when she’s around Neyla,” he stated.

I sighed and jogged toward our usual table, leaving him alone.

John, you didn’t know what happened. It involved you. And somewhere inside me, I still wanted to accept her as my best friend again, but I was afraid of betrayal.

You know what they say: it’s easy to lose someone’s faith in you, and it’s hard to rebuild the faith.