Planning

".... Talia! Get up! "

"Mom said you're late!"

"Natalia! You little cockroach! Get up!"

Why was I hearing a kid screaming by my name? Maybe some neighbor's kid appeared in my dream I thought.

"What the- oh my God!" I jumped off of my bed with a pillow as my ass met the cold floor with a loud thud.

Someone splashed a blatant amount of water on me. I was totally fucked up.

I rubbed the water off my face with my palms and tried to open my eyes. But they were burning like hell. A few moments later of rubbing and blinking, I finally managed to open my eyes and looked ahead. Ellerie was standing in front of me with a small bucket while laughing his hearts out.

"What was that?" I asked blankly.

"A full bucket of water." He giggled.

Amazing! God this kid's gonna give me a heart attack one day!

I rubbed my eyes again to see clearly, it was a sunny day though the sky wasn't so clear.

"You know what, I know some cockroaches. They love to snatch toys from naughty kids like you. I'll tell them about your remote controlled car." I snorted.

"What! NO! MOOOOM!" He stormed out of my room in one blink.

Why does he always overreact?

I shrugged and walked into the bathroom. I looked at the sink mirror but God I looked more pathetic than a beggar who sleeps on the street. My silky long hair looked like a bird's nest. I always braided my hair before sleep but the previous night I was so scared to do anything after hearing that news.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face quickly because it was already 8:30 am and my class was at 9. I made a ponytail bun of my naturally wavey long hair. I changed my nightgown and slipped into a white loose shirt and grey jeans. I quickly grabbed my backpack which I luckily packed last night and ran downstairs.

"Good morning everyone!"

"Good morning, my little princess." Dad smiled.

"Mom, tell her something! She wants to give my favorite remote controlled car to that awful cockroaches!" Ellerie looked at mom with puppy eyes.

"Stop your crocodile tears, little bro. You splashed a bucket of water on me! And you ruined my mattress!" I complained.

"Don't act like a child Talia. You're already late." Mom shook her head.

"Oh yeah." I shoved an egg in my mouth.

Mom glared at me.

"Dad let's go. We're late!" I mumbled while struggling with the egg in my mouth.

I grabbed an apple and ran behind dad as he walked outside. We got into the car and dad started the engine.

"You have to wake up a bit early, princess."

"Yeah. Oh no, it's already 8:45! Dad, drive quickly!" I widened my eyes as I looked at my wrist watch.

"Don't worry, we'll reach in time." Dad chuckled at my reaction.

Ten minutes later we had finally reached in front of my school so I quickly got out of the car.

"Bye, dad."

"Bye, princess. Take care."

I ran towards my classroom and luckily my teacher hadn't arrived yet. I sighed in relief and walked into the classroom.

"You're late today." Reema uttered.

"Yeah. Ell splashed a bucket of water on me in the morning."

I huffed and sat down beside my friends who were sitting on the last bench of the left row.

"What?!" They laughed out loud.

Before I could say anything Mrs. Gomez, our Mathematics teacher entered the classroom. This lady is nice but boring.

"She looks cool today." Reema whispered.

"Didn't have a fight with the husband today I guess." I giggled but it was a bit louder.

"Ms. Rauf are you here to offer us your giggling sound instead of learning some mathematical formulas?" Mrs. Gomez threw daggers over her ugly glasses.

"Sorry, Mrs. Gomez. Actually I was listening to you attentively. But suddenly I felt a lump in my throat so I coughed."

"Then can you please enlighten us by explaining the difference between integration and differentiation?"

"Ah.. I- I just you know. Ijustnevereverheardthosewordsinmyentirelife." I blinked and smiled awkwardly.

Her jaw dropped on the floor as everyone started laughing.

"I don't want to waste my precious time on you Ms Rauf. You may sit down."

"Thank you, Mrs Gomez."

After that she went back to her boring and footless lecture again.

In mathematics class, my eyes stay on the blackboard but my mind goes somewhere else and my brain sleeps peacefully. This same thing happens in my chemistry and physics classes.

In contrast my brain, my mind and my eyes work incredibly well in other classes especially in biology classes. That's why I had low grades in math, physics and chemistry.

Classes passed one by one and now it was already the lunch break. We headed to the cafeteria for lunch. I took a sandwich. Reema and Marjan took burgers. We sat on a corner side table and started eating. Our eyes went to Delilah and Fardinn, giggling and laughing.

"We're tired of this scenario." Reema growled and took a bite from her burger.

"Don't give a shit." Marjan rolled her eyes.

"You heard the news about yesterday? Someone killed a man horribly and threw the dead body on the seashore behind the forest." I whispered.

"Oh yes I was about to say that. I almost had a heart attack." Reema uttered.

"Yeah. I think it's a perfectly planned murder." Marjan whispered.

"I think it's some psycho killer and we should postpone our plan." I huffed.

"Of course not!" Marjan frowned and scoffed.

"Oh girls! I forgot to tell you something. Granny is coming today! I think she's already arrived at my home."

There was a dead silence for a few moments between my two best friends.

"What?! Are you kidding me?!" Reema opened and closed her mouth.

"No, I'm serious." I bit my bottom lip.

"God. Why is this happening to us?! At first a murder occurred yesterday and now this old lady is already in your house." Reema rubbed her face with her palm and sighed.

"Don't worry. We're going to the club tonight and your granny won't be able to stop us." Marjan smirked.

Reema and I looked at each other and then looked at Marjan.

After school, I headed back home and met uncle Jacob on my way. We had a small conversation about the murder. He told me to stay cautious as everything was messed up in the town because the victim was a journalist.

The police were thinking that the murder was connected to some organized crime. Perhaps that journalist found out some important evidence about some big criminal organization so they killed him. It was not a psycho killer's case. But apparently the guy who had killed him was a psycho.