Charlie

"You're late!" Emery stated as she opened her back door. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she was wearing leggings and an oversized sweater, but she made it look like couture fashion.

"Sorry. Dallas came a half hour late and then I got held up talking to someone in the hallway," I replied, pulling my shoes off.

"He came a half hour late?" Emery echoed. We walked through her kitchen to the front foyer and up the stairs. "How inconsiderate."

"Yeah. He's so annoying," I grumbled as we entered her room.

"I'm sure you gave him a lecture though," Emery said knowingly. I grinned at that.

"Of course, I did! Not that it really did anything though," I sighed, sitting down on her bed. Emery smirked and closed the door.

"So..." she started. "Who were you talking to?" The expression on her face told me she already knew it was a boy.

"Mason." It came out as a mumble, but I watched her eyes light up and her mouth fall open in shock. "What?" I asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"As in Grey? Mason Grey!" Emery yelped. She rushed over to me and sat down on the bed. "Oh my God! Charlie! He's beyond gorgeous! What happened? Details! I'm begging you!"

"Em, it's not like we made out in the hallway," I said.

"Imagine you did," she teased, with a starry look in her eyes. I gave her a playful shove.

"I bumped into him and fell as I was storming away from Dallas. He helped me up and we talked for a moment before I told him I had to go."

"Oh, come on! Those are not details," Emery pouted.

"Um, he has really pretty eyes..." I said throwing her a bone.

"Really? I've never been close enough to see them," Emery smiled.

"They're really this really pretty deep green colour," I explained, thinking about them.

"Ooh, someone looks a little smitten," Emery teased.

"I will hit you," I warned, making her laugh. "Anyways, enough about me! Where's Adam taking you on Friday?"

That was an easy excuse for Emery to launch into the details of their upcoming skating date. I liked seeing Emery light up when she talked about Adam and it was fun to be able to help her choose a cute outfit for her date. I was happy to listen and happier to have the attention taken off of me.

***

The next morning, I was already awake when Lorraine entered my room. I managed to get about three hours of sleep the entire night, and watched the black sky turn grey with the morning light. I sat up and frowned as I noticed the flat iron in her hand.

"What did I do to deserve this punishment so early in the morning?" I whined, making Lorraine laugh.

"I'm straightening your hair," she explained. "Emery's orders!"

"Ugh, does she think that pin-straight hair will have boys falling at my feet?" I grumbled, knowing this was sparking by my brief conversation with Mason Grey. I knew it was also a losing battle, so I got out of bed. "Can I at least wear whatever I want?"

"With my approval," Lorraine smirked. I narrowed my eyes at that and made my way over to the closet. I grabbed a pair of black, high-waisted skinny jeans and the tight, blue crop top that Emery made me buy.

"Will this do?" I asked.

"I think Emery would approve!"

"Great, well, I'm also wearing my leather jacket to piss her off," I smirked. "And my combat boots."

"You, missy, are asking for trouble," Lorraine chided. I stuck my tongue out at her and headed to the bathroom. "I'm going to heat this up in the kitchen... you might be more willing with some coffee in you."

"You're absolutely right," I replied, stepping into the bathroom.

After changing, brushing my teeth, and adding a little mascara to my lashes, I rushed downstairs. I frowned at the straightener plugged in on the kitchen counter and went for my favourite cereal and a cup of coffee.

As I shovelled bites of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch into my mouth, Lorraine went to work on my long, curly hair. While I didn't protest, I wasn't happy about it either.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, glancing at the clock. "Lorraine! School starts in fifteen minutes!"

"I'm almost done! Relax," she said. I sighed and finished up my coffee.

"Don't you have class today?" I asked impatiently, as if by some miracle, she would need to leave right now as well.

"Yeah, but not until the afternoon. Though, I do have some errands to run for Mom," she said. Cue another impatient sigh from me. I sat there, bouncing my foot for a few more minutes, until the clock read 8:22am.

"You better be driving me or I'm going to be late!"

"Yes! I'm done! Now grab your bag and shoes, I'll be in the car!" she said, putting the curling iron down onto the counter. She grabbed her keys and left me in the house. I quickly picked my backpack up from one of the dining chairs and grabbed my leather boots from the shoe rack. I dashed outside in my socks, not caring that the ground was a little damp and then practically dove into the car.

"Remind me to kill you and Emery later," I glowered, slamming the car door shut. Lorraine laughed and backed out of the driveway. I leaned against the seat to pull my boots on.

"No! You'll crease your hair!" she said.

"Are you serious?" I whined. "You know what? It's going in a bun!"

"No!" Lorraine yelled as I twisted my hair into a bun. "My work is ruined!"

"That's life," I said, yanking my boots onto my feet.

We pulled up to my school, and I threw a 'thanks' over my shoulder as I ran towards the building. I didn't even stop at my locker, to make sure I made it to English. By some miracle, I made it before the bell rang. Unfortunately, that left enough time for Emery to chew me out.

"Charlie!" she hissed. "You're dressed like a biker chick! What happened to straightening your hair? A bun?"

"Biker chick in so in, Em," I teased.

"This simply won't do," she sighed, reaching for my shoulders. She spun me around, and took the hair tie out, letting my straight hair cascade down my back.

"Okay, this... this is a look!" Emery grinned as the bell rang. "I'll even forgive the biker boots because those are making a comeback." I laughed at that and took my hair tie from her.

"Miss Young! O Canada is about to start!" Mr. Morrison called from the front of the classroom. Emery nodded and faced the front of her desk quietly.

After morning announcements, Mr. Morrison began teaching, but I couldn't help but feel as if I forgot something. I didn't know what it was, but it felt extremely important.

By second period, I could hardly concentrate, that feeling gnawing away at me as if a piranha was in my stomach. I tried to run through what I might have missed, but I couldn't seem to figure it out. The coffee wasn't helping, and I was trying to stop my lab partner from screwing up. She was the type of person who thought she knew it all because she was in AP science – as if we all weren't.

But my attention slipped once again and she took it as a right to show off a little, skipping a step with the lab experiment. It caused the wrong chemical reaction we were looking for and the whole classroom was looking at us.

"Okay you two, since you want to skip steps in my classroom. You can sit outside of it and write down the proper steps to this experiment!" Mrs. Bowen snapped. I glowered at my lab partner and grabbed my stuff before sitting on the hallway floor.

In a matter of minutes, I jotted down the correct procedure steps and flipped my paper over so my idiot lab partner couldn't copy them. I then mentally went through a list of things I could have forgotten to do or take to school. Again, I came up short. I sighed, blowing a blowing a piece of hair that had fallen out of my face.

Hair... That struck a bell – a huge alarm bell.

I forgot to plug out the straightener, I thought to myself as I peered into the classroom and check the time. 11:57 am. Lorraine should have gotten back from the grocery store already and plugged it out... right?

I bit my lip nervously and tried to steady my breath as I waited the three minutes for class to end. As the bell rang, I rushed into the classroom and put my paper down on Mrs. Bowen's desk. She was talking to someone else, so I didn't wait for her to turn around and lecture me.

I bolted into the hallway, as it filled students who were excited for lunch. I narrowly dodged a blue shirt and steadied myself to see Mason Grey looking curiously at me.

"Lunch date?" he asked, teasingly. I shook my head.

"No, I have to go home. I think something's wrong!" I said. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" I didn't even give him time to respond before taking off down the hallway once again.

"Charlie! Wait! Let me drive you!" I heard Mason call. I bit back a groan and stopped to wait for him to catch up. It would certainly save me a lot of time, but it confused me to have him be nice to me for no reason.

"Why?" I asked before I could stop myself. Mason opened his mouth as if he was going to answer my stupid question but closed it before any sound came out. I sighed. "I – um, never mind. Let's just go."

Mason gave me a small smile and we began running towards his car. It was silver and looked pretty nice, though I didn't know what type it was. I just hoped it was fast enough to get me home in time.

Mason was quick to pull out of the school parking lot, and I gave him directions as he drove down the streets of West Point Grey. As we pulled closer to my house, I heard sirens blaring. We turned the corner, and my heart sank in my chest at the scene in front of me.

Numerous emergency vehicles were parked by the curb and in the street, blocking out path to the driveway. There was dark grey smoke billowing out of the house, and flames in the kitchen windows.

"Oh, God," I said getting out of the car.

________________

Author's Note: The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire! We don't need no water let it burn! 

Just kidding! 

But! Wow! An eventful chapter and kind of a cliff hanger! Are you excited for the next chapter? If so, drop a comment and a vote! :) 

I hope everyone's doing well and liking Nothing's Fine so far! Have a happy week! <3