Delusion

The sound of an alarm wakes me up, and I begrudgingly lift my body with one arm. I use the other to grab my phone on the nightstand and bring it under the umbrella I call hair. When I see that it's 6:00 a.m. I sigh before groaning dramatically. Tossing my head back, so that I can finally see, I practically roll off the bed. Once my feet touch the ground I stretch out my limbs and yawn. When I actually stand up I almost fall, which was fun, and when I managed to flip on the lights I couldn't help but wince.

"Ew." I squint my eyes as I wander towards my bathroom. I always make sure to get in here before Austin wakes up. If I didn't it would be chaos. Right now is when it was relatively quiet around here, and I could brush my teeth and hair in peace.

Once I had finished washing my mouth out with water and Listerine I walked back to my room to get dressed. I already had my outfit picket out, so it didn't take me much time to get dressed. To be honest my mornings routine never take too long. I just wake up early, so I can do whatever I want.

When I'm done getting dressed I put a little makeup on and call it a day. I am surprisingly lucky when it comes to the ache spectrum. Not to mention if I wear anything besides a natural look my mom will tell me to go take it off. I swear it was like I had insulted her when I put on eyeliner once.

Mid way through getting ready I decided to pop in my ear buds to listen to the playlist Theo made me. He can be a never ending pest with some things, and sometimes I can stand my ground..but not all the time. So I gave him my phone and let him make me a playlist that he's told me to listen to everyday as if it's some sort of homework.

I have to give it to him though- his taste isn't bad. It's better than the poppy, overplayed stuff at least. When a song that I do recognize does come on though I feel a surge of happiness, and I immediately start to dance.

I swing my head back and forth as I jump up and down in circles. At some point I even use my phone as a microphone and start singing. "So tell me what you want- whatcha really really want!"

Sadly in the middle of my performance my music is interrupted by ringing. I frown instantaneously and look down at my phone to see the profile name "Princess".

Tapping on the call accept button I say, "You know if you actually want me to listen to 'quality music' then maybe you shouldn't interrupt-"

"We're seniors! Has it finally hit you?" Theo yells, interrupting with no remorse whatsoever.

I roll my eyes and bite the inside of my cheek to not smile.

Damn, why can't I be irritated with him.

"Yes Theo, and I'm guessing the realization has almost given you a stroke." I look at the time and notice I have twenty minutes, and I know for a fact he's going to talk every single second.

"I mean...you're not wrong. When I woke up this morning I swear my heart was beating so fast that I was scared I was going to have a whole damn heart attack." I couldn't help but snort and shake my head as I grabbed my backpack to leave my room. "Oh.. and I'll be there in fifteen minutes!"

I furrow my eyebrows and say, "You do realize that I have a car right? I have a license."

"Yeah, but if I had you come get me then we wouldn't have nearly as much fun." He retorts back with a childish tone.

I sigh as I walk down the stairs to the kitchen. "So why don't we just drive individually?" I whisper walk into the kitchen to see my mom putting fruit and some other things in a blender.

Theo gasps through the phone, and I'm almost scared that my mom heard him. Her head had turned to me the exact moment. I almost flinched.

"How could you even suggest a thing!"

"Good morning Joeanna." Mom smiles at me, watching as I reach for a muffin. When she sees this she turns her head back to the blender, but before she pressed the button to turn it on she said, "Are you sure you want to eat that?"

I freeze mid-action, blueberry muffin in hand, and reluctantly I place it back into the box. Right next to it is a basket filled with apples, and I grab one instead. I could hear the pleased hum come from her before the blender took over.

After taking a bite out of the apple I hear Theo scoff. "Did you seriously put the muffin back?" When I don't say anything and just continue to chew the piece in my mouth Theo groans through the phone. "If she didn't want anyone to eat the muffins— then WHY did she make them?!"

"Theo how far away are you?" I ask, glancing to my mom every few seconds. I would watch as she takes the lid off the blender filled with green liquid. I couldn't help but scrunch up my nose at the sight of it being poured into the glass. It looked like what I would imagine the polyjuice potion from Harry Potter looks like.

"About five minutes," I nod even though I know he can't see me. "I could get there in two if you want." When I laugh at him my mom looks at me, and I know that look. Immediately I try to stop smiling, but I couldn't because Theo just can't let me live in peace.

"That's what he said..." Theo whispers that into the phone, and he did pretty well at first. But he completely lost it after a few seconds. I couldn't hold it either. I literally almost wheezed in front of my mom. I had to run to the corner to hide.

"I hate you so much." I choke out after composing myself.

"Joeanna?" I practically jump at the sound of her voice behind me.

Wow, really Joeanna? You just had to go around the corner? Of course she's gonna follow you.

Slowly I turn to face her and I smile with immense caution. She raises her brow at me an asks, "Is that Theo?" I only nod in response, and I could hear Theo go into a whisper.

"Two it is. I'm coming- I'll save you Joey!"

Not the best time Theo.

"You do spend an awful lot of time with him." She looks at me suggestively. Okay– mom no.

Theo laughs so loudly that I have to pull my phone away from my ear. "Ha ha ha! Funny. Who's gonna tell her?"

Pretending to cover the phone, so he can't hear, I look at my mom and say, "It's not like that. We're just friends." I could see the disbelief in her eyes before she walked back to the kitchen. I follow as I continue, feeling an urge to defend myself. For no reason in particular. "He's been my friend since middle school."

"Yes, but I don't think I have to remind you that you're both teenagers now." Oh dear god- please no.

I want to die.

"People may get the wrong idea." She says with obvious meaning. I breath in heavily at the comment.

The sound of footsteps rushing down the steps steals both of our attention and in a split second Austin comes around the corner. Not paying us any mind he grabs a muffin and takes a bite. Only after does he acknowledge us. "Morning." While my mother greets him with a bright smile, I only mutter a good morning before walking past him.

When I finally look back to my phone I notice that I'm no longer on call. Maybe I hung up on accident.

When I go to call Theo back I hear a knock at the door. Looking up from the phone to the door I could of died from relief.

Running to the door I open it quickly and my arm is almost torn off. I squeal as Theo pulls me outside and shut the door behind me.

"Okay let's get the hell out of hear before she gets us." Theo whispers, dragging me along to his car parked just in front of my driveway. I run my fingers through my hair as we walk to the car.

"She's not that bad Theo- she's just protective." I say, trying to defend her. I hear him scoff before opening the car door to shove me in, gently, and close it. I watch as he walks around to the drivers seat, muttering to himself, but I can't hear him.

After he gets in, slamming the door behind him, he says, "Sorry Joey, but I think you pronounced possessive wrong." I bite the inside on my cheek after hearing his remark. He doesn't say anything else and turns on some music, and I rest my head on the window.

Before the car starts moving I see my mom walk outside with Austin, pampering him to his displeasure. Then when he tried to leave she made sure that he gave her a hug first.

She looked so happy.

Theo doesn't understand. He never will.