~Kritika~

*Brr-r-ing*

"Ugh! Stop ringing." I groaned throwing the duvet over my head hoping it would block the darn noise.

The sound faded just the tiniest bit.

Who the hell invented alarm clocks? Why was it even invented? Who the hell thought of inventing it? Even if it was invented couldn't it just purr out a lullaby instead of just.. ringing?

I know that would defeat it's purpose but then the number of people dying of a heart attack would be considerably reduced.

I blindly groped for the darn thing grumbling and my hand finally landed on cool metal. I slammed my hand on it furiously till it stopped ringing. I did a mental happy dance when its wretched wailing ended. I fell back and buried my face into my pillow, closing my eyes and letting sleep take over me again.

"Kritikaaaaaaaaa!"

Knew it would'nt last long.

I groaned and threw a pillow to the person disturbing my precious sleep, and turned over, muttering something intelligent.

Suddenly, the bed began to shake violently causing my eyed to fly open wide.

I peeked from beneath the duvet and saw my soon to be victim's upside down grinning head.

"Rise and shine, sunshine." Stacey sang in my ear, I flinched away, rubbing my now damaged ear glaring imaginary daggers towards her.

She's such a darling isn't she? Note the sarcasm

"You have to get up." she said, shoving me slightly.

"Ugh! Just go away!" I groaned at her, aiming a pillow roughly at her hoping that she'll get the hint and leave me alone.

It did really work. I couldn't hear her anymore so assumedly, she had left.I sighed in relief.

Peace, at last.

"And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed. Just to get it all out, what's in my head."

"Don't you dare.." I warned, prying one eye open and glaring at her.

Not this wretched song, if it even classifies as a song. Anything but this, please.

"And I, I am feeling a little pe-peculiar"

"Stacey for the love of god. Shut up. I beg you." I yelled, covering my ears with my pillow.

She cried on and on. The pillow was'nt doing its job so well, so I got up and shut my ears muttering 'la la la' over and over. Childish, I know, but I'd rather hear a hundred alarm clocks ringing at once than hear her sing.

Ever heard the annoying screech of chalk against blackboard? The sound of tires squealing? The cry of a dying alien? Multiply these by ten and you get a singing Stacey. 

And her horrible singing, combined with the worst song in history, let's just say apocalypse was very near.

No one deserved this torture. Especially early in the morning.

"In the name of every dessert in existence, Stop!" I barked like an army sergeant, smacking my hand onto her mouth, shutting off the racket. Her singing was muffled by my hand and I let out a sigh of relief.

She sighed and mumbled something under my hand. I rolled my eyes and removed my hand off her mouth.

"Hmm.. Wonder what day it is." she said sounding rhetorical , tapping her index finger slightly on my forehead smirking, getting up slowly and heading out.

Wonder what day it is? I glanced at the calendar in my room.What the hell did she mean by th--

My eyes widened in realisation and I quickly darted towards the bathroom.

********

"Couldn't you think of a, I don't know, less barbaric way of waking me up?" I complained opening the fridge door retreiving milk "and why didn't you tell me it was Monday, already?

I grabbed a carton of milk and the carton of chocolate cereal off the counter. Suppressing a yawn, I poured the milk into a bowl.

I was in my night clothes, my hair in a messy braid from the night before.

What can I say? I dress to impress.

"Good morning to you too, babe. And I did make you check the calendar, didn't I?" she said, spooning some cereal into her mouth, winking at me.
She was already dressed, her hair up in a high ponytail. How she tamed her crazy head of curls into a ponytail is beyond me.

"I did make you check the calendar, didn't I?" I mimicked in mockery, swirling the cereal around with the spoon and brought a huge spoonful of it towards my mouth.

"SHIT!"

I jumped in my chair and the spoon clattered back into the bowl, I looked at her in annoyance.

"Be any louder will you? What is it?" I muttered crossly, grabbing the spoon back.

She began spooning more cereal into her mouth, chewing ferociously. Okay, scratch that. I doubt she was even chewing because all I heard was a symphony of crick, crack and swallows.

"WE FARED FLATRD" she screamed through a mouthful of cereal and I chose to ignore the large chunk of cereal that fell out of her mouth onto the table.

"Stace, honey, chew first. speak later." I said slowly.

I patiently waited on, spooning in some cereal myself. She cleared her throat and screamed out so loud that I almost fell out of my chair.

"Now that I finished my cereal. WE'RE RUNNING LATE! AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU. GOD. YOU AND YOUR LAZY ARSE. GET UP!" she yelled and then seemed to catch herself inhaling a few times. She then gave me a look of warning "we have exactly thirty minutes for class to start. we need to leave now or mrs. smith will eat us bloody alive."

Mrs. Smith was our lecturer.

Stacy and I were doing our masters in psychology and Mrs. Smith was one of our lecturers and lets just say that in front of her, even Hitler would've looked like an innocent pink unicorn. No kidding.

"Bloody or alive? Because the last time I checked, Mrs. Smith wasn't a vampire and--" A glare from her shut me up.

Guess she's in no mood for jokes.

"But what about my breakfast?" I whined, pouting sadly at the bowl in front of me. Nobody separated me from my breakfast.

Not even Hitler Mrs. Smith.

"We can grab Starbucks on our way. Hurry up missy." she ordered, getting up quickly muttering about how I take so long to wake up. I just longingly looked at my breakfast, sighing deeply.

"Oh so I don't have time to have breakfast but apparently we have enough time to 'grab' Starbucks. Great logic Stace, just great.And because of you I need to throw everything away. Not to mention the wastage of precious resources. You're lucky I like Starbucks.. or else." I mumbled, getting up anyway

"What?" she yelled, grabbing her bag and stuffing it with books.

"Ever heard of Sustainable development?" I said loudly

"Would me knowing that make you move faster?"

"Uh.."

"What?"

I sighed "Nothing. But..uhh.. I still kinda have to.. shower?" I mumbled sheepishly.

She sent me a what-the-hell look and headed for the door.

"I'm waiting in the car. Better hurry or I'm leaving without you." She said before slamming it shut.

Lovely.

*********

I think i just broke the record for the fastest shower ever taken. I quickly put on a pair of jeans and my favorite flannel shirt, grabbing my jacket from the dresser. I decided to ditch my makeup. It basically consisted for eyeliner and some lip gloss so it wasn't much of a deal.

I tried to yank my hair with a hairbrush but gave up and threw it up into a bun which miraculously stayed in place.  I gave myself a once over and dashed out grabbing my bag and my shoes in the way.

I wonder how Superwoman gets to the rescue so quickly and yet manages to look nice.Now when I think of it, That is actually debatable. Hmm..But then you can't deny the fact that Superman looks nothing less than hot in his suit. Even Batman does. So does Spi-

A series of honks broke my ridiculous train of thoughts and I quickly headed out, locking the door. Stacey was the car and wasn't looking too pleased, honking the horn impatiently, muttering incoherent words now and then.

(A/N that's a funny phrase 'honking the horn' Yes? No? Sorry continue)

"Finally!" she muttered as I got in the car. I quickly shut the car door and she hit the pedal.

Hence started another very normal day.

I think

*******

"Grab whatever you want to and come fast, were getting late" Stacey grumbled for the millionth time, checking her watch.

Wow she's in such a great mood today.

"Yes, Mother.Why is my cousin in such a great mood today?" I teased, rolling my eyes smiling.

At first glance, no one could ever guess we were related. We were miles apart, in every way possible.

Guess god was in a bizarre mood and decided that our mothers should  share parents. So here we were, my maternal cousin and I.

"Its all because of you, babe. Now hurry up. I need you to be ready P-R-O-N-T-O pronto." she said, pointing at her watch "Or I'm leaving you here. And you know I will if I have to. Go on, the clock is ticking."

"Yes, your majesty." I mock saluted

"I'm serious." she warned "Get back here quick or this rabbit isn't going to wait for Alice to follow him."

"Wait, so am I Alice or--"

"Go!"

I quickly shut the car door at that and power walked towards the entrance door.

Okay, Kritika. Now all you have to do, is buy something quick, filling and freaking delicious.

As I opened the door, the smell of coffee and chocolate hit me like a tsunami wave. I took a huge whiff, sighing in content.

Yum.

I shook my head to regain composure and quickly headed forward to place my order.

I quickly place an order for a Choco mocha frappuchino and some butter croissant, quickly, might I add, and waited for my order to be processed, tapping my foot impatiently.

"Here's your order, Miss." the cashier politely said handing me a warm brown package.

I had to control my cave man like instincts that tempted me to rip the package open and devour it's contents right then and there.

"Thanks." I said smiling politely at her gave the money all the time, balancing the package in my arms. I turned around to head out..

Only to bump really hard into something,

or someone.

But thanks to my ninja like skills my breakfast was unharmed, well, besides spilled coffee.

Dang. Good thing it is cold coffee.

I did struggle to regain my balance as I tilted backwards and that's when I felt hands gripping my shoulders.

"I'm so sorry. Are you alright there, love?

I tried my best to not swoon at the accent. Even after being in London for more than a year, I could never get used to the melancholic, attractive accent.

Wow, drooling over how attractive an accent is. You're hopeless.

I glance up from my breakfast and saw a man staring at me. I noticed three things at once. One, he had brown hair, two he was staring at me. But third thing was the one that made me internally gasp. He was wearing huge, black glasses.

And that's when I knew.

"I'm so sorry sir. I should've seen which way I was going." I apologized profusely "Would you.. uhh.. like me to lead you to the door?"

"I..What? Why?" he asked, looking at me confused.

Well, not particularly at me. He would be if he could though.

"Well, I.." I said awkwardly "your.. umm. condition.. which is absolutely understandable. I mean there's nothing wrong with having.. visual impairment. In fact--"

"Wait, what? No, no.. I.. I'm not blind." he stressed, still not removing his eye glasses.

Or maybe they were sunglasses afterall..

Indoors? Really?

At that, I couldn't help but notice his body language.

Fidgeting fingers.. hushed voice.. glancing around occasionally..

He is upto no good, my conscience hissed. I agreed with it.

He cleared his throat causing me to head up at him. I have a really bad habit of spacing out. Can someone say embarrassing?

"Awkward. I'm sorry." I said sheepishly and he just let out a small laugh.

"Its alright." he smiled "I hope I didn't do any damage?"

"Nope, we're good." I said, using the package to hide the small coffee stain on my jeans "I'm sorry, Mr.." I trailed

"L- ahh excuse me." he said letting out a little cough "I'm.. James. Hello." He said the 'hello' quickly. Way too quickly. He then continued fidgeting with his fingers.

Definitely upto no good.

You thought he was blind and offered to help him to the door, if anything he's supremely creeped out..

Shut up, stupid conscience.

I hear a clearing of throat and look back at him. If he looked uncomfortable before he looked downright creeped out now "And you are..?"

"I'm..." I began slowly, my gaze travelling to the clock on the wall behind him. "..late." I finished lamely.

I mentally face palmed myself as he looked at me with an amused smile on his face.

"Sorry, I got to go. I'm late. Like really late. For Mrs. Smith's class. She will eat me alive if I don't attend her class. Not literally, she's not a cannibal. And.. Wait you don't know who Mrs. Smith is. She is one of my Psychology lecturers. Soo.. Yeah.. Bye. It was nice meeting you...?"

"James."

"Right. James. See you around.. I guess. Yeah, bye." I rushed and sprinted towards the door.

"It was nice meeting you too" he called out.

As I reached for the doorknob I turned back and give him an acknowledging smile and headed out.

It was a miracle that my breakfast hadn't been destroyed.

*******

"Thank god" Stacey muttered as I got in. She rambled on and on about how we were late for class and how Mrs. Smith was going to eat us alive.

I just mutter mm hmms at all the right times and I quietly munched on my breakfast , my gaze travelling to the car window.

My mind went back to the.. Starbucks man. Well, not man really. By his voice and clothes he didn't look old. The only 'old' thing about him was his little beard. It made him look french.

Maybe he was French?

He.. Him..

Guess who  gets a medal for forgetting a name twice in one day? That's right.

Jeremy? Or was it Jake?

Anyway, the odd thing was that that guy, even though very odd and shady had something about him I couldn't put a finger on.

He looked almost, familar. But I didn't know from where. Despite my dusty memory, one thing that I actually possessed was the ability to remember faces.

And that man.. guy.. man-guy wasn't unfamiliar.

Weird.

XXXXXXXXX

What do you think? :)

Did you like it? Yes? No? Do leave suggestions in the inbox if u wanna.

Oh and, the song Stacey was singing is called 'Heman- What's going on?'
For all those who don't know, it's a viral internet video song and let's just say it's freaking hilarious xD

I know my book got deleted and I had to write everything over again. And that sucks :/

But I'll quickly write all the previous chapters and then start writing chapter 10 :D

Okay? Sounds good?

Okay

Stay beautiful❤

~Kay ❤