My indents haven't worked. AGH.

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I had known it was going to be painful.

I mean, that just comes with the territory of being woken up at half past two in the morning, doesn’t it? And I hadn’t for one moment expected an uninterrupted night’s sleep – not with the baby in Andrew’s full care. It’s not that he wasn’t capable, he just had a tendency to panic. What I hadn’t expected about being woken, however, was for it to be done not by not a trilling ringtone, but a sudden slap on the cheek by a piece of plastic.

A piece of plastic that I later discovered was my cell phone.

While I’d been smart enough to put it on silent, I hadn’t thought to refrain from putting it right on the edge of my nightstand, and in easy falling distance of my head. And so when it started to vibrate in indication of Andrew’s call, it had moved enough to topple off and slap me clean across the cheek.

About ten seconds later, when I’d recovered from my initial shock and gained enough consciousness to push the answer button on the screen, I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Avery, thank god.” Andrew’s voice was loud, much too loud for such an hour. “I thought for a minute there you weren’t going to pick up.”

“I’m here,” I assured him, rubbing my eyes and stifling a yawn. “Half asleep, but here.”

“Sorry, I just really need your help.” He was burbling, the words being forced out so quickly I could barely keep up. “It’s screaming, I… I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything. I’ve been awake for about two hours, I didn’t want to wake you up but I’m just… I really need your help.”

A pang of sympathy struck me. He obviously felt bad about calling, but it was a sign things were desperate. I pulled the comforter back and swung my legs over the side of the bed. “Okay. You’ve definitely tried everything?”

“Uh huh. Diaper, bottle, rattle, rocking, the lot. It won’t shut up.”

“Right. And it hasn’t stopped at all?”

“Not once.”

I sighed. “I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay getting here? I’d pick you up, but my car’s stuck in the garage.”

I paused, considering my options. Admittedly, getting over to Andrew’s house was going to be harder than it sounded. Mom was a total nut on making sure I got enough sleep, adamant that eight hours a night and good grades existed only in harmony. I’d never tried before, but I was pretty certain sneaking out of the house at two thirty in the morning wouldn’t sit well with her regime. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it… somehow.”

I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to manage it, but I did know that I couldn’t leave Andrew to sit up with a screaming baby for the rest of the night. Even if my assistance couldn’t shut it up, the least he deserved was my company. And I knew he’d do the same for me without hesitation.

“Thank you,” Andrew breathed, sounding immensely relieved. “Seriously, Avery, you’re a lifesaver. Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“You might’ve mentioned it,” I said coolly, but color rose to my cheeks all the same. “I’ll be there when I can, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks.”

I hung up the phone and slid it into my pocket, snatching up my coat from the back of my chair. I was vaguely away of how stupid my outfit – striped PJ bottoms and a mismatching T-shirt under a jacket – looked, but I pushed the thoughts away, telling myself no one would see me. Nobody in the neighborhood was crazy enough to go walking at this time of night. Slipping my feet into my sneakers, I headed for the hall.

But no sooner had I stepped out, I froze. The pale light from the kitchen, which was visible from the top of the stairs, rooted me to the spot. It was nothing more than a soft glow, illuminating the whitewashed downstairs walls so they stood out from the rest of the darkness. It could only mean one thing: my mom had stayed up late to work downstairs.

Which kind of ruined my plan of sneaking out the front door.

Channeling my inner feline and treading as softly as possible, I retreated back to my room and closed the door quietly behind me. I looked around despairingly, as if the solution was could be found amongst my clutter. I was contemplating just sprinting downstairs and making a run for it, leaving the consequences to deal with later, when my eyes caught on the window.

And I realized what I had to do.

My room sat right above the front door; the two storey-drop to the ground was cut in half by the porch roof. If I climbed down onto that, the only obstacle left to tackle would be the second drop onto the lawn below. It would be a challenge, but it was looking like my only option if I wanted to reach Andrew’s place and rescue him from the screaming infant.

After stuffing a couple of pillows under my comforter in what I hoped was an Avery-like shape, I unlocked the window and pulled it open as far as it would go. Then, I climbed up onto the sill and swung one, then both, legs out until they were dangling over the edge. The bitter wind hit me immediately; it came as a shock after the sticky heat of the day. Really, the drop was no more than a couple of feet, but sat there – in the freezing cold, not to mention pitch darkness – it felt like I was hanging from the top of Mount Everest.

But I jumped anyway.

My sneakers hit the porch roof with a dull thud; for one terrifying moment, my balance faltered, and I had visions of myself going plunging headfirst onto the ground below. Thankfully, though, I managed to stabilize myself, standing with bent knees and my arms stuck out comically.

That was the easy part; the drop from here to the lawn was considerably more sizeable. Not to mention the fact that the edge of the grass (the safest landing spot) sat right next to a patch of slightly overgrown rose bushes.

Which, I had a feeling, wouldn’t exactly provide the cushiony landing I was hoping for.

I inched over to the edge of the roof, hooking my legs over the edge. Despite the kitchen window overlooking the backyard, there was the possibility that Mom had migrated to the living room in the past few minutes. If this was the case, I sincerely hoped she wasn’t looking out of the window at that particular moment, because the sight of my scarlet sneakers dangling over the porch might’ve been a slight giveaway that I wasn’t sleeping soundly upstairs.

Moving my butt further forward, I prepared myself for the launch. I had to be swift about this – in an ideal situation, I’d leap off with the grace of an Olympic gymnast, land on my feet, and make a break for it without Mom even noticing a disturbance. I could get to Andrew’s in ten minutes, rescue him from the demon child, and sneak back before she even realized I’d gone.

Of course, when you’re perching on the edge of your roof at two thirty in the morning, in complete darkness, wearing your nightclothes and in landing distance of some particularly violent shrubbery, it’s not really what you’d call “ideal”.

And when I swallowed my fear and jumped, I pretty much went splat.

The distance between my position and the floor seemed about a thousand times greater when I was freefalling through it. And, as it turned out, I wasn’t as aerodynamic as I’d hoped. When I finally did hit the ground, the first point of contact wasn’t, as I’d hoped, the sole of my shoes.

Instead, it was my stomach (shortly followed by the rest of me).

And I’m pretty sure the resounding thud was loud enough to wake the whole street, let alone catch the attention of my mom.

So, ignoring the fact that my feet had landed in the rose bushes I’d been desperately trying to avoid, and there was a distinct throbbing in my shoulder that I was pretty sure was going to bruise, I scrambled to my feet and made a run for it.

I ran like I never had before – if Coach Davis could see me, I’d have made him proud. I could do with the motivation of a potentially livid mom on my case in gym class; if that didn’t boost my grade, nothing would. However, my top-speed sprinting lasted only until the corner of my street. While I told myself it was because I was no longer visible from my house, the fact that I was ridiculously unfit and panting fit to burst played a bigger part than I’d like to admit.

In the panic of running, I’d failed to notice the giveaway splashes on my face that had appeared out of nowhere. When I did slow to a walking pace, I became much more aware of it; now, I noticed that the droplets were rapidly increasing in frequency. A feeling of dread spread through me as I looked upward to the sky, where my suspicions were confirmed.

It was as if someone had flicked a switch; in no time at all, it was coming down full-force, drenching my clothing. Cursing under my breath, I shoved my hands into my pockets and tried to control my shivering. The rain had been absent for weeks; any other day, it would’ve been welcomed with open arms as a much-needed break from the heat. Yet the sky had remained stubbornly cloud-free, and ACs across town on full blast. And, of all moments, the weather had chosen now to have a mood swing.

Maybe my mom had enlisted the help of nature as an anti-sneaking out precaution.

When Andrew’s house came into view some time later, I looked – and felt – like I’d just stepped out of a very cold shower. With my hair stuck to the sides of my face, water dripping down past my eyes and PJs that were soaked through, I looked a sight. I was shaking, and probably had pneumonia, yet my mind stayed focused on one thing. I started up his driveway, headed for the door and knocked. A familiar muffled wailing could be heard from somewhere within; its sound intensified when the door eventually swung open.

Andrew looked exhausted, standing there with his hair sticking up in all directions, wearing sweatpants and a loose T-shirt. His eyes swept over me and my soaked appearance for a few seconds before his jaw dropped.

Then, completely ignoring the fact I was dripping all over the porch, he grabbed me and enclosed me in a hug so tight I was swept off my feet.

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Hope you like it! Avery/Andrew action coming up in the next chapter, so I hope you're excited! Aaaand... I don't really have much else to say here. God, I hope I can get this done in the next 20 days. I need to write quickly. Until next time! :-)