Today was a big day, especially for Joshua. His letter came from Rice University today! He hasn't opened it yet. He wanted all of us to be there with him. Also he couldn't opened it when he found it in the mailbox. If he got accepted he would be starting this fall, and if he got rejected all of his hopes and dreams will be shattered and he will have to go to community college.

He woke us up at five in the morning, calling all of us in turns until someone picked up the phone. That person happened to be Greyson who was met with a wonderful amount of excited screaming which woke me up. I forgot there even was a 5 A.M. We hung up the phone and tried to go back to sleep but we were wide awake now.

We spent the day setting up a small party for Joshua. The three of us went to the mall in the morning to get him presents. We hid it in the room though for the time being. Just for a a lot of justifiable reasons we hid it from him. 

Dani and I spent the morning cleaning and decorating while Greyson was in the kitchen. It so lovey-dovey that it grosses me out but I had to fight the blush as he got flour all over his shirt. I personally think that every person in the world, no matter who you are, should know how to cook. It is just something that is really convenient, and, guys, every girl falls head over heels for a man who knows how to cook. The menu for the evening was burger and fries then ice cream later at Ben and Jerry's. We were just waiting on Dad and Victor. I had called them about 30 minutes earlier to see what's up.

"Hey, how far are you guys?" I asked as they finally picked up. 

"About 10 minutes away," they said. They both were joking around so much that I couldn't tell who actually said it. I heard Dad, I think, say "She was so surprised when I told her!"

"Okay, hurry up. We all are waiting on you."

"Yeah, bye."

"Joshua I think your dad is calling you," Dani said. He got up and went to the room where his dad was laying down.  We were in the living, chilling on the couch, watching 'The Breakfast Club". It's a great movie, possibly one of my favorites, but there is things in this movie that just make you question things. Like at the end of the movie John and Claire kiss right in front of her dad. If you think about it from both perspectives it becomes really funny. From John and Claire's perspective they're like "We hung out for one Saturday detention while running away from our lunatic principal, let's kiss in front of your dad, Claire!" And from the father's perspective he goes from "Who the hell is this kid?" to "What the hell is he doing with my daughter". That's the 80's in a nutshell, baby! 

We were at the part where Andrew, Emilio Estevez's character, has his big monologue about how his dad expects him to be his sort of protégé. Though the movie does become a bit exaggerative the characters become so relatable. Especially when Claire says that they all can't be friends because the people they hang out with are so different, or when Brian talks about killing himself because he got one bad grade and completely loosing it over his college admission.

You know what I think the best behaved students have it bad. Worse than others kids in most situations. The reason they act by the rules so much and get such exceptional grades is that they don't want to be a distraction or put more stress in an already stressful situation or else in fear that they can get in trouble if they slip up. If they keep their mouths shut and nod their head to everything then all will be fine.

My phone started to ring again. I thought it was Dad or Victor, it has been well over 40 minutes since the call, but it was a random number. I gave the phone to Greyson to talk. Maybe this was an important call that may have slipped from my mind and totally not a scam call. I like to give other people benefit of the doubt, it may not work in all cases but that's just I view the world. 

"Hello... Speaking..." the person on the line was speaking for a long time. Greyson's face was slowly falling as the person kept talking. I couldn't make out the words the person was saying. "What?" Greyson grabbed his phone and stepped outside.

We kept on watching the movie. I felt teary eyed when Andrew finished. I feel bad for kids whose parents treat them like that. Like they have an expectation to live up to, and if they don't they are a complete failure. This got me thinking of Grease. Though he could've related to John a bit more than Andrew the message, the upbringing was still the same. I heard rumors that Grease was sent to reform school out of state. His parents stayed behind though. They wanted him to toughen it out. It's sad. He was genuinely such a sweet guy; it was just the circumstances that he turned out how he did. 

Joshua went to the kitchen to get his dad something to eat. His dad is a pretty cool guy. He used to work in a production company as a set designer. It explains why his house, no matter what size, is always looking so good and is pretty functional too. But eventually he was diagnosed with Leukemia and the family lost their main source of income. Then his mom died, and things really went downhill from there. When Joshua needed an escape a really, really, really famous person showed it to him. He still hasn't told his dad though 3 years that he even does it in the first place.

I heard the door slide open. Greyson came inside, his face extremely red and blotchy. Tears were streaming down his face and he had snot dripping out of his nose. He was trying to breathe normally but it came out labored and uneven. His hair, which he had taken some time to do this morning, was all messed up, as though someone used it to drag him roughly.

"Greyson?" I said as I sat up. He ignored me though. He went straight to Joshua, who was making a sandwich for his dad, and took him upstairs. They came downstairs a few minutes later. Joshua was crying as hard as Greyson was. He finished making the sandwich and took it to his dad. Greyson stood above me and tried smiling through the tears.

"Daisy, I need you-" his smiled faltered and he looked like he was about to start crying again but he went on. "Daisy, I need you to change you clothes and come with me."

"Greyson, what's going on? Where are we going? What happened?" I grabbed his arms and I could feel him shaking very violently but trying his best to steady it.

"Come," he said. He helped me up and took me upstairs. Joshua came out of the room and started talking to Dani. He said something which she couldn't take. He sat down next to her and fully explained what he knew, or at least what Greyson has told him. What is going on?

We went inside the room. Greyson gave me my clothes that I was wearing earlier then sat on the bed, muttering to himself and leaking more tears. He put his head in his hands to hide from whatever is going on. I sat down next to him trying to figure out what is going on.

"Greyson, what's going on?" My voice cracked all over the place. I grabbed his hand and it was burning hot. He let go of me and rubbed his face again. When he looked up, he tried to stop crying again.

"Nothing," he forced a smile and pushed the clothes further in my hands. "Get changed."

We headed back downstairs after I had changed. Joshua was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees holding his head up, tears rolling down his face and dropping on the floor from his pointed chin. Dani looks shocked. She kept on saying "What?" very quietly. It scared me. What is going on?

"Come on," Greyson said to all of us. He grabbed the keys from the hook and headed outside. It was getting really late. The sun was on the verge for resting for the day. The stars had started to come out making the sky look very picturesque.

I was about to sit in the front when Greyson said "No, Joshua get in the front." I stared at all of their faces for a moment each. I was about to say something but Joshua held the door open for me and gently pushed me inside. What is going on? I usually ride in the front when Greyson's driving. It's like an unspoken rule. If you are a couple sit together in the car.

Joshua asked "Where?" as Greyson started the car.

"By the Kroger," he said and drove off. He didn't let the car warm up. You are supposed to get your car started at least for 2 minutes before driving to get your engine started. Greyson knows this. He is crazy about this car.

Kroger. We never go to Kroger. Walmart or HEB is much closer to us than Kroger. They were only a light away. Kroger it by the highway. Plus, there is always an accident by the highway so we avoid it when we can.

We start heading that way. With it being a 10 o'clock on a Saturday night in Houston, there was chaos in the streets. People honking and hollering, everyone having a party or gathering or night of fun to attend to.

Greyson got a text message about halfway through the ride. He made sure that I couldn't see the phone before he opened the message. As soon as he saw it he looked away, as though sickened by the message.

Joshua took the phone and saw the message too. He started to cry even harder at the sight of it. Dani sat forward and said, "Let me see." Joshua too made sure that I couldn't see the phone before showing to her. She started to cry after she saw it.

"Guys, what's going on?" I said. I started to cry too without even knowing what I am shedding tears for. But what I do know is that if Dani is succumbed to tears the situation is beyond grave.

Dani scooted closer to me and pulled me in a hug. This did everything but calm me down. I started crying even harder than all 3 of them. Greyson was talking to me but I couldn't piece together what he was saying. Joshua was just lost, crying into his hands. Dani was trying to calm me down but I was throwing her hands off of me. 

We got near the Kroger and it was a traffic jam. An accident happened, just like always. I overlooked it, looking into the parking lot. Maybe something happened in the parking lot that was related to me. But that wasn't the place. Greyson parked the car near the scene.

My eyes slowly looked over at the accident. Beyond the police cars and ambulance trucks and the million people there, the true fatality was visible. There was a Toyota Land Cruiser crashed into a Honda Civic. There was about 3 ambulance trucks and 2 police cars and beyond that were a million people. The whole scene was caged by the dreadful yellow caution tape.

The Civic looked extremely familiar. Like I had seen it before. There was a bunch of small smiley faces and flowers drawn with window markers in the corner of the window. Funny. I did the same thing to our car a long time ago. Dad didn't want to erase it because it played into his hipster phase that he had.

I slowly looked down towards the license plate. I read the number very quickly a couple of times. By the 4 or 5 time I read it I realized where I had seen it. This number was deeply engraved into my brain for the longest time. Dad always told me to memorize the license plate number of any car so that if I ever get lost I can go back to the right car or recognize it.

I looked at the other three again, thinking about the worst possibility. But it can't be. I had just talked to them. We talked on the phone about 30 minutes ago. "10 more minutes." But it's been more than 30 minutes. It can't be. It could be. It can't be. 

I opened my door despite all the protesting everyone did. I ran over to the midst of the scene. I had ducked under the caution tape and stood next to the car. The cops and EMTs and everyone else there were so shocked by the arrival of a new person that they didn't have time to stop or move me. And now I regretted it.

The front of the car was completely crumbled. There was bits and pieces of metal scattered all over the road. It was also mixed with a bunch of glass. The windshield and both the passenger's and driver's side were completely crumpled, smashed. The front tires were punctured. The back of the car was lifted about two inches off the ground, probably from the impact of the crash. It was very bad. The people in the back would have been fine, minor injuries the most, but the people in the front.

I saw them. There was a bunch of people surrounding them. I only took a couple steps forward and I finally saw them. There was only a thin stretcher under them separating them and the road.

There was an opening between two people and I got a view of Victor. He wore his light blue scrubs to work today. You could see all the blood splattered on him. He even got some in his hair. He is going to be so mad; he just used a hair mask yesterday. He knows how to take care of himself. He had to give me many tips and tricks on a lot of things like skin and hair. There was a huge cut on the side of his muscular chest. It was close to his heart. It was oozing out dark red blood. Even his legs looked funny, as though it was snapped and broken. But there was a linger of a smile on his face.

Lying a couple yards away from him was Dad, having a team of people around him too. Dad. There were more cuts and bruises on his face and body than there were countries in the world. Each on was slowly making him bleed out. Somebody had taken off his shirt. Didn't they know how insecure he is? He doesn't even take his shirt off at the beach. The beach. 

Glass was impaling his entire body. They all were still in his body. An important rule to remember, if you are stabbed with a sharp object don't remove it. Let the medical professional deal with it. They were a bunch of people pulling out the bits and pieces and patching up the cuts.  

But he was smiling too. I wonder what the joke was.

Why was the world still spinning? Shouldn't it have stopped and dropped everything, should be in shock about what happened? I heard the street noise, my favorite noise on Earth, but as though it was muffled. Why is everything still functioning? There was no point in anything working anymore. Everything has to stop and just not be there anymore- and why in the world are people still thinking? Everyone around me was talking or shouting to someone and making choices and decisions that didn't matter anymore. Everything has to stop.

I backed into something. Someone. I turned around and saw Greyson standing there, still crying. Greyson, my boyfriend, right? We love each other. We have been showing it to each other for a long time now. Love means being there for someone no matter what right? Never leaving their side. Being there for them?

"You see them!" I said to him. I bent forward and had my hands on my knees to support myself. "It's so funny! They have blood all over their scrubs! You know, they always told me that they were scared of getting pee on their scrubs. But look! It's blood! Bot pee, blood! They should've been more worried about blood than pee. I wonder if they are mad-"

I turned around to see them again. But they were hidden from me. Again! They already hid from me once, they can't do it again.

"Look, Greyson, look! They're hiding again! Look under the white sheet!" I backed into Greyson again. He stumbled backward as he caught me again. I told him not to do that stupid wedding diet. He was already in good shape. Really good shape. He had a good build for an 20-year-old. 

My face is wet. I think my eyes are making it wet. "See they're hiding again! See! Under the white sheet. Remember- remember when they didn't tell us? But we figured it out! It was you and me, remember! White and red! White sheet, red blood! God, they're so cheesy! Do you remember when they tried telling us about all the-"

Greyson didn't get to hear the rest of the sentence. No one did. Someone had a good right hook and knocked me out. I heard the crowd but very faintly. The adrenaline was pounding in my very red ear. They were so sensitive to everything. There was no point in getting up again. There was already a winner declared, and better yet a loser.

...

Make sure to vote and comment! Love y'all!