I Don't Think I'm Going To Study, Mom

11:04 am - 19th Sunday 

Juliette sighed, as if the theater schedule for practice wasn't annoying enough, her finals were right around the corner and studying was something she definitely did not want to do. Nonetheless, she couldn't escape it, all she could do was manifest her passing and hopefully get the grade she wants. 

She yawned, Freya shuffled beside her, to Juliette's surprise she was still sleeping even when they slept quite early the night before. Her brown hair traced her jawline, her lashes fluttering every now and then, it sat so perfectly well on her face, almost grazing her rosy cheeks. With the lazy feeling keeping her in her bed Juliette attempted to get off the bed and at the very least stand up. Finally succeeding she stretched her muscles, groaning as the tense muscles slowly relaxed.

"Freya?" Her voice came out much quieter than she wanted. "Are you going to get up?" She asked much louder now as her friend once more shifted her position, Juliette did not want to wake her up by shaking her, her siblings on the other hand would do it without hesitation, what for? She never really understood. 

"Julie," she spoke, groggy but clearly through her morning voice. "What's the time?" Freya raised from the bed, muttering to herself about wanting an alarm to wake her up. 

"It's time to get up," Juliette chuckled, switching on the lights. Her actions were swift and calculated, she turned to face her, the sunlight squeezed through the close blinds and covered her face, beautiful did it look as Juliette had to pull herself away in order to stop staring at how the sun shimmered on Freya's face. 

"Please no, why right now, couldn't you have woken me up tomorrow instead?" She grunted getting up from the bed a lot faster than Juliette had done. Freya's hair stood up on one end and was completely messed up on the other yet somehow she managed to still look amazing, every detail seemed to still radiate even through the madness of her morning self. She exhaled before looking at the closed bedroom door, which was now being opened by Juliette. "Shall we?" Her smile glistened in the dull light that embraced the room. 

"Let's," Juliette slipped her arm around Freya's as the two of them majestically headed downstairs to make breakfast for themselves. 

The kitchen windows illuminated the whole area with a lovely golden tint when they had started cooking. In front they could see the trees swaying to a rhythm of their own with the wind in full swing and birds chirping elsewhere. Tips of the tree were decorated with red leaves indicating the beginning of autumn, further down the tree the leaves emphasized different shades of green. 

We've traveled the seas, we've ridden the stars 

Freya rubbed her nose, morning chills had passed through both of them as they had almost finished cooking. The sweet smell of pancakes filled the air when the two of them sat on the sofa in front of the TV. 

"So, did you sleep well?" Juliette asked with a yawn, her body was still tired even when they had well over eight hours of sleep. 

Freya grunted, "something like that, did you?" She sucked in a breath before turning to face Juliette who was now taking a bite of her pancake. The volume on the TV was brought down as Juliette nodded before taking another bite. The ground floor in her house was cold, especially now that the temperature had gone down. It was frustrating but nonetheless it gave them an excuse to cover themselves in layers and layers of blankets. 

Their attention was brought to the program that Juliette played on the TV, an old series that was recently brought back on Netflix, DC's Justice League about heroes defeating foes and constantly saving the world. So far neither of them had yawned or wanted to change the series which was a start since whenever Mara was around it would be either Mean Girls or some old Disney channel show. 

After a couple episodes, Juliette got up, their plates had been empty for quite some time as if they had completely forgotten time passed by. "I'll just dump them in the sink and be back, you can continue watching," she said, grabbing both plates and cutlery before dashing into the kitchen to leave them in the sink. 

Once they both had finished the episode they were on, Freya suggested a little study session for today; they could invite friends to the library and work together on the topics finals were going to cover this term. Juliette agreed quickly but backed off just as fast because she had to ask her parents first if she could go with them, it was a Sunday after all. 

Her mother who was on a work call all the way upstairs waved Juliette off, another way of saying don't ask right now come back later. She frowned, knowing her father would probably tell her to ask her mom regardless of what it was, therefore asking him if she could go would be completely pointless. A pair of footsteps made their way upstairs as Freya looked at Juliette who was fumbling with her hair. "Everything okay?" 

"She told me to wait," Juliette raised her eyebrows, annoyed -slightly-. "Anyway, we should probably pack, ay?" She wasn't going to wait for her mother's response, it was studying obviously she'd say yes. Right? 

"Suppose you're right," and with that the both of them walked back into Juliette's room to pack notebooks and Freya's things. In the next couple of minutes Juliette managed to fix her bed and collect what she needed and Freya handled her clothes and notebooks. 

"Kannu?" Her mother called for her from upstairs. "What did you want to tell me?"

"I was wondering if I could go out and study..?" Her voice trailed. 

"Are you eating lunch outside?" 

"Yes, can I eat out as well?" Juliette was pushing her luck but to her surprise her mother let her. 

"Mhmm, but be careful, okay?" Her mother trampled down the stairs to wave the kids off already knowing that her daughter was going either way.

As the lot of them made it to the entrance, Juliette's mom told them goodbye and to take care of themselves before closing the door on the two girls. "Wow-ee, your mom is really kind! Wish mine was like that," Freya laughed brushing off the light tension she had felt between Juliette and her mom. 

"Oh, you think?" Juliette, who was currently walking slightly quicker, answered. "I mean, pff, I guess, yeah she's a lovely person," hesitation sparked in her voice, but she suppressed as best as she could, what am I saying? It felt wrong, why did she feel that way when it was about her mom? Without returning to that topic they continued walking to the bus stop as Freya spoke of the weather and how it was almost completely clear outside.

They finally got on the bus and sat down after waiting a couple minutes, the bus was busy even for that time of day. Normally people aren't out till late in the afternoon or somewhat early morning hours, but today felt different, there were certainly more people than normal. "Freya, do you think there's an event or something?" Juliette asked once the bus stopped at the next station. 

"Possibly, I haven't exactly heard anything though, so, I'm not sure," she mumbled, shifting her focus to the green signal and gas station the bus had just passed.

"Fair enough," Juliette shrugged before offering Freya an AirPod, she gladly accepted it and placed it in her right ear. 

They both sighed, coincidentally as Juliette pressed play and put her phone back into her pocket. Freya quietly but noticeably tapped her foot to the rhythm as Die For You by The Weeknd played in their ears, the volume had been raised to fifty no higher and no lower than that by Juliette. She wanted to minimize the volume as much as possible but at the same time enjoy it, one might think that it's better to listen to music on the speaker, honestly. If she could, she definitely would. 

Unfortunately traveling on public transit doesn't necessarily provide that option because it would be a nuisance to everybody there. So she doesn't go past fifty otherwise she might as well go deaf before she hits her twenties and frankly she didn't want to.

Twenty four minutes had gone by since the girls had sat down on the bus and yet it felt like forever, time wasn't of the essence for them since they had promised to be there around one and not for studying but for eating out. Freya drummed her fingers against the edge of the window, they were both looking forward to something happening but clearly fate had other plans for them. 

They shuffled around in their seats till the bus finally halted to a stop at their destination, without a moment to waste Freya through her bag over her shoulder and Juliette looked back for a spit second to make sure the girls hadn't left anything behind. A gust of wind overtook their senses as Freya giggled, "'bout time we got out of that damn bus."

A lovely smile formed on Juliette's face as she tried her best not from laughing out loud. "Imagine, I take it every day to school," she mentioned, quite disappointed in the mode of transport she had to rely on daily. 

"Girl, I would laugh but I mean, the trains that I take aren't any better," she groaned as the two of them made their way down the stairs. They followed the mob of people across the area as they prepped themselves to blip their tickets at the counter. It was quite unusual for there to be such a large crowd at the station during lunch hours and to top it off it's a Sunday. "Why are there so many people today, what the hell."

"Is there a football match that I don't know of?" Juliette looked around before walking past the ticket counters. 

"What if we go next time, hmm?" Freya beamed watching Juliette's expression. 

"Huh? Why would we go do that?" She arched an eyebrow at her friend before going down the next set of stairs which finally led them to where the trains would arrive and depart. 

"I don't know actually," she shifted her focus to the now arriving train. "You don't like football matches?" Wide-eyed but still rather neutral Freya's eyes watched her.

"No, not really, I don't like ball sports," Juliette giggled, truth be told her history with almost any sport that needed a ball was hell for her. Whether it be football, basketball, ping pong, volleyball, it just somehow manages to knock her out cold. 

"Oh," she creased her eyebrows in disappointment but amusement filled her face. "Girl, what have you been through?" Freya snorted out loud, earning rather a couple annoyed faces from the elderly sitting around them. 

Juliette let out a dramatic sigh, "if only you knew…" and with that the train took off, heading to the next station across the bridge. The train made its way down the green line for quite some time. The girls were standing up till it halted to a stop at their station, pale -almost white- green walls covered the inside of the station as they hopped off and headed to the exit. 

Quickly as they got off the girls raced up the stairs, dashed past the ticket counters and stepped onto the escalator. "So, are you ready?" Freya asked, she was practically jumping out of her skin. 

"Ready to study or ready to eat?" Juliette smirked, tapping her leg against the metal steps.

"Both!" She grimaced looking outside. "This must be your first time with the group right?" 

After some thought Juliette responded in what almost came out in a whisper. "Yeah, I didn't realize, you guys must've gone with each other already, huh?" 

"Yep! But don't worry, we'll make sure you catch up with everything," Freya pressed, knowing damn well that everything was just unnecessary gossip that had nothing to do with school. Okay, no, it had everything to do with school but nothing that would help Juliette survive her tests and nationals. 

"Lovely," she gritted her teeth, as if her head didn't have enough information she was about to get dumped with a boatload more of it.

"Freya, are you sure this is the right way?" Juliette grumbled. They had been walking around the same set of buildings for almost ten minutes and still not achieving anything. 

"Yes, yes, now hurry they should be right around the corner," she smiled, turning to the left. 

A long pause passed between them before the air was suddenly filled with 'hellos' and 'welcomes' to both of the girls. The group had appeared out of thin air in front of the building everyone was supposed to meet at, Juliette glared at the group, larger than five people and yet they went unnoticeable…?

"You must be Julie!" One of the girls chuckled while walking directly to her. She was a cute little girl no taller than 160 cm but still filled with bundles of energy and love. "I'm Chiara Rossi! Me and Freya share Bio together."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you Chiara, I'm in the theater club with Freya and Sky," Juliette answered, hugging her tightly. 

"Ugh, theater, the one thing I actually tried enrolling in but didn't get the cut, it's so annoying," she frowned before giving Juliette a lopsided grin. "Oh well, at least they gave us a perfect Juliet."

Freya watched them intently and smiled as Chiara looped her arm through Juliette's and turned to face the others. All that was left was roll call to make sure everyone who wanted to be there showed up and then off they could go, to find a place to eat. 

"5, 6, 7… hey it feels like we're missing someone?"

Chiara nearly shouted "Lucas said he was joining," and then recollected herself before talking in a more controlled manner. "But we all know how that'll go." Confusion prickled onto her face as she turned to question Chiara why, but was quickly stopped by another person.

"Lucas has a way of saying one thing but doing something else, it's his way of being him, I guess," a guy said, sandy blond hair with freckles splattered across his face. "River." He chuckled with a one word introduction to himself, he stretched his hand out and she reached out to grab it. 

"Juliette," she grinned, shaking River's hand. His blond curls tumbled around his face long enough to pass his chin but short enough to not graze his shoulders. He looked cute for a guy who wasn't her type. 

"Nice to meet you, Julie," he nodded before smacking the back of another guy that wasn't present earlier. "Welcome to the club." 

The guy frowned before turning to meet her, and all of a sudden she was speechless. 

"As much as it seems like you own my heart…"