My bedroom door flew open, hitting the wall. Louis marched in, holding my violin. He was followed by Niall, who was eating from a bag of potato chips.
Who was followed by a flustered-looking Harry and an excited Ella.
"Would you just hug her already?" Harry said in a strained voice.
"Help me up, Pretty Boy," I said, holding up a hand.
"Awww! You think I'm pretty?" Harry responded dramatically, putting his hand over his heart.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
He frowned and pulled me up. Ella crushed my lungs, then lead me downstairs for breakfast.
After several more bone-crushing bear hugs, I finally got around to eating. Heather and Ella were running around the house, getting this and that and everything in between.
"Where are my keys?" Heather asked nobody in particular. "Wipe off the windows!" she shouted after Ella, who slammed the front door in response.
"If you would put them on the hook like you're supposed to, you would know," my mom said.
Niall took them inside last night!" Heather accused.
Niall looked up from his bag of chips, his eyes wide open. The essence of innocence. "No I didn't," he said, confused.
"Yes, you did!" Heather argued.
I groaned. "Take my car," I said over a mouthful of syrup-y pancakes.
She looked at me like I was stupid. "I can't drive stick shift!"
I shoved the last of the pancake in my mouth and put my plate in the sink. I swiped somebody's glass of milk from the table and gulped it. "Then I'll drive you."
I grabbed my keychain lanyard from my hook and looped it around my neck as I ran upstairs to change clothes.
After I had made myself presentable (I set a new personal record - 10 minutes!), I shoved my shoes on my feet and walked out the front door.

Starting the car, I backed out of the driveway and took off toward Ben Franklin Middle School to drop Ella off.
"Ella!" I called after her. "Don't tell anybody they're here, okay?"
She nodded in response and ran ahead to catch up with her friends.
As I pulled away from the curb, the back wheels slid on the icy pavement, and I slammed on the brakes. Not a smart move, but luckily for me, the wheels had hit dry pavement and stopped the car.
I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as the adrenaline rush wore off. I took long, slow breaths to help calm myself down as I slowly took off again. I've never had to drive on icy roads, and if I were to slip and slam on the brakes again, I might not be so lucky the next time.
"Oh. My. GOD, Melody!" Heather said crabbily from the seat next to me. "You could at LEAST go the speed limit! I'd like to get there today, not next week!"
"Shut up and let me drive," I said, turning on my music at the stop sign. I made sure it was on my One Direction playlist (for some reason, although I'd been on tour with them for a month and heard almost every single song every single night, I still didn't get tired of their music), then set my phone down and pushed the tape that was connected to my phone into the stereo.
Heather picked up my phone and changed it to Avenged Sevenfold's "Danger Line".
"Change it back to what I had playing, Heather," I said politely.
"No."
"Change. It."
"No!"
I pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park. "Heather Jane. You will change it back right now."
"No. I'm not going to change it!"
"Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts her cakehole!" I said before she could continue. "The wise, wise words of Dean Winchester."
"What're you gonna do if I don't?" she challenged.
"I'm gonna make you walk to school."
She made no move to change the song.
"Get out," I said.
She turned to look at me, her mouth open in a wide O. "You're not serious."
"I am."
She picked up my phone and changed it back to One Direction, then sat with her arms crossed over her chest, sulking.
I checked over my shoulder for any oncoming traffic, then signaled and pulled back onto the road, heading toward Davies High School.
Three songs and once through the McDonald's drive-thru later, I pulled into the student parking lot and double checked my rearview mirror for my parking permit, then got out.
"What are you doing?" Heather asked.
"Going to the office," I replied. "Now shoo."
I got a visitor's pass from the office, which I shoved in my back pocket. I walked across the gym, which also serves as the cafeteria, and leaned against the far wall, sipping on my caramel frappé.
When I saw my friends walk through the door, I smiled. They were laughing at something one of them had said, and I wanted nothing more than to go hug them, but I stayed put. They both turned and walked up the stairs.
Unless they changed their ways, they would come back down to get homework done, study, and/or eat breakfast, so I bought an apple and went back to my previous spot against the wall.
There they were.
The Katrinas put their backpacks across from each other on the table, then bought breakfast.
Nobody had noticed me.
Just like before I left.
As more people began to show up, more people recognized me. I got a few "hello's" and "what's up?'s", but neither of the Katrinas noticed me.
The warning bell rang for first hour, and I followed them to their first hour class, which had been my first hour class before I left. On the whiteboard, the teacher had written "seating arrangment", which meant that instead of going to our seats, we had to stand up front until we were given our new seats.
I leaned against the wall next to the door on the inside of the classroom, acting like I was supposed to be there. The Katrinas still hadn't noticed me. They were too busy giggling at something.
Tears blurred my vision, and I quickly blinked them away. I SOO don't need my makeup to get wrecked.
The tardy bell rang, and Mr. Todd walked in. He had a packet of papers all stapled together in his hands, and he got right down to business.
The Katrinas ended up two rows away from each other, and they frowned at each other from across the gap.
Mr. Todd gave the last person his seat, and walked around his lab table to his computer to take attendance. Other students had finally noticed me and were giggling, everyone waiting for the teacher to notice I was here.
Halfway through the hour, he finally did.
"Melody!" he said, wide-eyed. "When did you get here?"
That woke up the class. It also turned their attention to me.
Eeep.
"I've been here the entire time," I replied nonchalantly, throwing my McCafé cup in the trash. I had finished it awhile ago, but for some reason, I didn't throw it away. Not sure why.
"Really?" Mr. Todd asked.
"Mmmm-hmmm."
He turned toward the class. "Did you know she was standing there?"
Some people nodded, others shouted out "Yes!", and some just didn't say anything at all.
"How've you been, Melody?" Mr. Todd asked, turning to me again.
"I've been better," I said. "Got a little cross-country jet lag, but that's about it."
"Hm. Well that's good. I guess," he said. "Unless it's not."
"Eh. So-so. Mind if I sit in?" I asked.
"Go ahead," he replied before finishing the lesson.
I sat down in the only empty row, my old habits kicking in.
Stay in your comfort zone, Melody. Don't sit next to a boy, and give a girl space. Don't make it look like you're trying to be friends with people or get noticed by a guy.
I wanted to leave, but I forced myself to sit through the last half hour of the class before leaving. I returned my visitor's pass, then made a run for my car.
A careful run, though, because even though the last time I slipped on ice ended up changing my life, I don't want to fall again. Because this time it would probably end my life. Stupid ignorant teenagers with their licenses.
I unlocked my car and climbed inside, turning the heat on full blast. I waited until the windows were de-fogged on the inside, then pulled out of my parking space and made my way home.
I should probably get snow chains, I thought.
Which was probably really stupid, because right after that, my tires skidded.

And this time, I couldn't regain control.

Notes

Okay, so I know I didn't put the song in this chapter. :(
I just keep coming up with new ideas! But I promise it'll end up in here sometime.
I DO have a plan for the next chapter, so I'll get cracking on that during school and I'll try to post it afterward.
And FYI: I am going to be gone over the weekend, so I won't be updating after the next chapter (if I get around to it before Friday) until next week.
Anyway, I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to sleep. I have to get up in 5.5 hours, So I should've been asleep three hours ago, but I updated for you guys!

You'd better be grateful.

I love you guys. :) Just not in a weird, awkward-y way.
'Cause that would just be awkward, wouldn't it. :)
THAT'S A KNEE-SLAPPER! *slaps knee*

Have fun, my walricorns. (Walrus unicorns.)
Pugs not drugs.
Don't hate! Appreciate!