Song of the chapter: Haley Reinhart - Can't Help Falling In Love

https://youtu.be/VqLU4wPzDVg

A priori

/ˌeɪ prʌɪˈɔːrʌɪ,ˌɑː prɪˈɔːri/

noun

Latin:

from the former

R-r-r-ring! R-r-r-ing!

I feel like smashing my alarm clock into a thousand bits. Maybe I should keep a hammer under my pillow. But I couldn't. Otherwise, my mom would turn me into her personal alarm. So, I turn it off as any sleep-deprived human would. But then my mom had to do this, "Ava, wake up! Wake up, honey. You'll be late for school if you don't wake up!" Now, I was fully awake. Oh, boy. I am soooo lucky. I have to start my day with a scream and end with one. People are fortunate that they don't have to live in my sh*thole of a life. But life is life. And I have to live.

I rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes. The sun was shining through the slits of the curtain. I sat up and looked around the room. My eyes stopped on the third pillow. I walk up to the chair and found Jack Jones sleeping. So... it wasn't a dream. Sh*t! I looked closer and he looked uncomfortable. He had a small frown on his face. As I had just woke up, I decided to put him back on the bed. I didn't think he'd need a blanket since he was a soul. I mean souls don't have nervous systems, do they?

I slowly slip away from the bed and get ready for school. I don't know why but I felt like standing here forever and watch Jack sleep. Sure, he was a soul from another dimension. But he was super cute. So, I was staring at his cute features like a creep until mom started banging on the door.

She screamed, "Ava! You haven't taken a shower yet?"

"Mom, how many times do I have to tell you to stop yelling in the morning? It gives me serious headaches. Just leave!" I yelled back.

After that, I heard mom leave. She was most probably disappointed but I was too irritated to go and apologize to her. I'll just leave that matter. I was walking towards the bathroom until I heard groans. Jack was awake. I turned to look at him. I realised that I might have just woken him up.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked.

"No, no. I've been awake for hours really." He yawned.

"Well, okay, I'm going to take a shower so..." I point to the bathroom's door.

"Yeah, carry on."

I felt the warm water relax my muscles. After finishing the shower, I took a towel and wrapped it around my body. I was about to enter my room when I remembered Jack was there. And as cute he was, I wasn't showing him my body any time soon. But my clothes were in my closet. I told you my luck is a b*tch.

Well, sh*t.

I couldn't just strip off and change in front of him. Also, I couldn't go in front of him and bring my clothes back, wearing nothing but a towel. What should I do?

I have an idea!

"Jack?" I called him.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Can you cover your eyes, please?" He most probably thought I was a weirdo.

"Why?" he questioned.

"I... left my clothes outside," I was blushing now. ¡Dios mío! (Oh God!)

"Okay. Alright, you can come out now."

I slowly pop my head out into the room to see if he actually covered his eyes or not. Thankfully, he was. Just as I stepped out, I warned him, "Jack Jones, in the name of all the Gods, if you peek, I will murder you." I go pick out my dress and immediately ran back to the bathroom. I put the dress on and headed out into the room.

"Did you peek?" I ask, warily.

"Nope."

"I don't know if I should believe you. But okay. I guess?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go have some breakfast and then go to school."

"Oh. When will you be back?"

"At around 2 pm."

"Okay."

"What will you do when I'm not going to be here? I mean, since you can't get up, you can't read my books or play some games on my phone."

"I'll play some games on my AI. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Okay. What's AI? Is it, like, artificial intelligence, or something?"

"No, it actually means Arthur Inc."

"Oh, well, I have to go or I'll be late. We'll talk about this later, okay?"

That's strange.

"Yeah, sure. Goodbye."

"Bye."

I close the door behind my back and head downstairs to have breakfast.

"¡Buenos dias!," Mom said. (Good morning!)

"Where's breakfast?" I was feeling a little cranky. Actually, when I'm around this wretched family, I just feel deeply annoyed.

"Oh, Richard is almost done making it."

"Richard is making breakfast?!" I ask with a scrunched up nose.

"Yeah. Why? What's wrong?" Mom threw a glare at me.

"You know how much I hate him. How do you expect me to have breakfast made by him?" I yell at her.

"Why are you so against him?" she was outraged.

"Because he wanted to marry you and you accepted him! Because you were too blind to see dad's goodness! Because you don't care about me, you never did! I've hated you since the day we came here and if you don't change, I'll keep on hating you for the rest of my life!"

I head outside of the house. I was very angry and also regretful. I couldn't do anything then. I just keep walking towards the school, cursing the Texan heat. It caused me to forget whatever happened in the morning. Thank the Lord!

I entered the school and walked to my locker. I was putting my books away when Estrella came by, "¡Buen dia!" She leaned her back against the locker next to me. She was jumping with excitement. (Good day!)

"Whoa! Did something happen?" I asked.

"Yeah, I dreamt about Jason."

"Por favor, Sálvame." (Please, save me.)

Jason was my ex. He dumped me last month. I had recovered from the heartbreak. I observed that the name Jason was a little like Jack's. The thought of my talking pillow was seriously creeping me out, even though I had managed to behave normally.

We both walked to class together. As we were sitting, Rivka greeted us with her version of hi, "Hui!" Feliz waved towards us.

We sat beside them. Estrella looked around and then asks, "Hey, guys, where's Emilia?"

"Late again," Feliz replied, nonchalantly.

From the side of my eye, I noticed Rivka was staring at me weird. I slowly ask her, "What are you doing?"

"You had a quarrel with Elizabeth this morning, am I right?" How does she know? Is she a f*cking witch or what?

"You know me too well," I reply, snarkily.

Emilia, Feliz and Estrella were talking about Jason. Where did Mili come from?

"Guys, please. Stop talking about Jason. You're really getting on my nerves!"

"Wait! I thought you and Jason were over," Estrella asked.

"It's not that. It's just... every time you guys say Jason it reminds me of Jack. It creeps me out." I blurted out.

"Who's Jack?" they all question, simultaneously.

"He's," the bell interrupted me, "I'll tell you guys later during lunch."

~*~

The first three classes were disasters. The first class was English. Mrs Hailey assigned us to write an essay on the impact of Social Media. It was boring. In Astronomy, Mr Jackson taught us about constellation and how to see them. It was confusing. The stars looked like they were in a cluster f*ck. AP Algebra was the bane of my existence. I mean, who's gonna ever ask you to solve for x? And Mr Zion decided it would be funny to take a pop quiz. I remember writing "Sorry, my equations vanished." as the answer. I was sure that Mr Zion would give me detention on Monday. But that was Monday's Ava's problem. So I head to the cafeteria.

I buy some lunch and go sit at our usual table. "Hey, Guys."

"Hi again. Now tell us who Jack is." Emilia cut to the chase.

So, I tell them the story. Everyone was quiet by the end and they were staring at me. Rivka finally spoke out, "Are you doing coke?"

I burst out, "Why does everybody think that I'm on drugs?"

"Everybody? Who else thinks that?" Feliz asked.

"My mom and you four."

"We think that because of what you're saying is... I mean, you're acting delusional. I'm sorry." Feliz had a sheepish look on her face.

"Don't you guys trust me? I'm telling you, I spent the whole night with him, and he was there when I left my room."

"Can you prove it?" Emilia asked. Everyone was looking at me with hopeful eyes.

"Okay, come over on Sunday. 5 p.m. You can see it for yourselves."

~*~

I threw my backpack near the trashcan. Throwing it there gave me some peace. As I walked up the stairs, I was just hoping that the guy was a dream because he was just disturbing.

I slowly unlocked the door and saw him on his phone-type thing. I look at the ceiling and frown. Why does this happen to me, Dio? I look back at him when he asks, "Hey, how was school?" (God)

"Don't ask me that. I hate that question."

"Oh. Why?"

"Because my mom has ruined that question. And isn't it obvious for me to have a bad day?" I said and got changed into something more comfortable.

As soon as I sat on the bed, my mom called, "Ava, come down right now!"

"I'm busy, I'll pick it up later!" I answered. I didn't hear anything else after. After that, I lay down next to Jack. It's easier to talk to Jack like that since my pillow didn't have a spine and he couldn't get up.

"So, what did you do when I wasn't here?"

"I slept."

"Typical. Well, I don't want to be rude but how long will you be here because you sometimes creep me out, no offence?"

"Well, I don't think my parents realised yet that I'm here. When they'll realize, they'll come here to take me home."

"Can't you just go back on your own?"

"My transporter is broken."

"Oh. When do you think your parents are going to realise that you're here?" His family might have been missing him, ya know?

"Well, you see, your one hour is our one minute. They will realise I'm here in our 15 hours. So, it would take them 2 years and 8 days of your time to realise I'm not home."

"Did you just calculate that?" I was blown away by his crazy math skills. I was an AP Algebra student but what he did was amazing.

"Yeah."

"Wow!"

"Hmm. So, since I'm going to be here for 2 years, I think it's good if we know more about each other."

"Alright. What do you want to know about me?"

"You said that it's obvious for a girl like you to have a bad day. What are you like?"

"Well, I'm not like every other girl. My family is f*cked up, which lead my life to be f*cked up. So, I built a wall around me. I show everyone that I am rude and a real...douchebag, you could say. But when in reality, I am too vulnerable to face the real world. Too weak to face the truth. And my mom and Richard are the ones who forced me to be this rude." I don't know why but I felt like I could trust him.

"Who's Richard?"

"My mom's husband."

"So, he's your stepfather."

"Don't call him my anything. He's a piece of sh*t. He's not related to me."

"Sorry," he apologised, "So, tell me about your family."

"Well, I have a mom, dad and an idiot at home."

"The idiot is your brother, I'm guessing?"

I moved to look at him. I didn't remember telling him, "How'd you know that?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I call my brother an idiot as well."

"Oh."

We continued talking until dinner. We discussed different things, such as his dimension and his family, my friends, etc. That night, I let him sleep on the bed beside me.

Maybe having Jack around wasn't that bad.

(2,085 words)