It was early November in the small town of Summers, and the air brought a light chill in from the north. The trees were bare; all the leaves already collected in trash bags and sent away to decompose at the dump. A snowy winter was on the horizon, and the town was calmly waiting for the frosty event. At least, most of the town was calm.

"ASHLEY, GET DOWN HERE!" a tired mother yelled as she leaned towards a wooden staircase. Upstairs a young girl rose from her bed with sleep still filling her auburn eyes. She absently glanced at her alarm clock, decorated with one of her favorite fictional detectives, and ruffled her red hair. 8:30... Wait... 8:30?!

In a whirlwind of activity, Ashley Reading prepared herself for another day of school. She needed to brush her hair, pack her bag, and put on her uniform in negative time. A nearly impossible task, but she was well trained in the art of rushing. Swiping her hairbrush off the desk, she ran to the vacant bathroom to prepare. It had definitely been a good idea to stash her uniform there last night. After five minutes she sprinted back down the hall, swept her schoolbooks into her bag, and went down the stairs. As she entered the kitchen, her mother glared while handing her a lunch. "Again, dear?"

"I told you my alarm clock isn't working!" Ashley protested as her mother surveyed her school uniform. Her mahogany skirt had a bit of lint on it, and the collar of her white polo was stuck beneath her light brown vest. Despite multiple nagging reminders, Ashley had once again refused to switch over to a long-sleeved shirt for the winter. Worst of all, her short red tie was completely undone, hanging loosely beneath her collar. Veronica Reading bent down to fix her daughter’s tie, not wanting her to head out of the house in such disarray. Ashley swayed impatiently. “Is Tabitha still here?”

“She stopped by, but I told her to go ahead alone. I’m not letting you make her late, too.” Veronica finished her inspection, handing Ashley a granola bar from the counter. “Have a good day.” She smiled, waving Ashley off.

“You too!” Ashley bounded to the front entrance, slipped on her shoes and ran out the door, almost tripping along the way.

-----

Pushing her straight black hair behind her ear for what must have been the fifth time, Tabitha waited nervously for Ashley to arrive in homeroom. She was used to her best friend’s habitual lateness, but it didn’t make things any less nerve-wracking to watch. Ashley’s grade would start suffering if she had two more unexcused latenesses. She stared into the hall, letting out a sigh of relief when her friend appeared, sprinting dramatically to the door. Ashley barely beat the bell to class, walking through the threshold moments before the dreaded chimes marked the start of homeroom.

"Morning!" Ashley whispered as teacher started calling roll. By some stroke of luck, the two were assigned adjacent seats by the back door. Or, more likely alphabetical order, as Ashley Reading and Tabitha Rosado often came up next to one another when a teacher didn’t bother to randomize the roster to assign desks. In any case, the teacher wouldn't move them apart if they kept out of trouble.

With a warm smile, Tabitha whispered back, "You’re seriously going to give me a heart attack if you don’t wake up earlier. You put on quite a show today."

Ashley shrugged, slightly embarrassed. It wasn't like she was trying to cause a commotion, and she had one more strike left until she would face any consequences. She placed her medley of schoolbooks on the rack beneath her chair, leaving only her binder of schoolwork on her desk. Flipping to a blank piece of graph paper, she snuck her granola bar out of her skirt pocket, pulling off small chunks to eat while the teacher wasn’t looking. Mr. Davis started writing on the blackboard, signifying the start of class.

-----

At lunch, the two girls walked back to their homeroom, retrieving the lunch bags from their lockers along the way. They pushed their desks together to form a shared eating space, and moved their chairs to face one another. Half of their classes were over, and Ashley was thankful for the break. She unzipped her lunch bag and began munching away at a sandwich. "So, what do you think about the new student council vice-president?" Tabitha asked.

"What new member?" Ashley mumbled through a full mouth.

"Oh, right you missed it. Yesterday the old secretary, Karen, was brought up to vice-president, since the old one moved."

"And why do I care? It was an obvious decision."

"Well I was just trying to fill you in, Little Miss Tardy." Tabitha playfully bopped her on the nose, and pulled out a bag of vegetables from her lunch.

"I told you, it wasn't my fault! My alarm clock isn't working!"

"Or maybe you just slept through it."

"Did not!"

Tabitha couldn't contain her laughter any longer. "I'm just playing, Ashley. You always get so riled up. It's adorable!"

"At least you're having a good day.” Ashley rested her chin on her fist, her elbow pressed against the desk. “On top of being late, Mom's working late again, so I have to watch Cecilia after school! What's next, a new book report?"

"Well, there is a report due for Mr. Lewis next week..." Tabitha mumbled.

"Argh! Don't remind me!" Ashley laid her head on her desk to mope.

After a few minutes of silent sulking, Tabitha tapped Ashley on the arm. "You'll be missing after school chorus today, right? Did you tell Ms. Edwards yet?"

Ashley bolted straight up, hitting her knees on the bottom of the desk with a loud clunk. "I was supposed to tell her this morning but I completely forgot!" She yelled. She marched up to the teacher's desk before Tabitha had a chance to respond. "Mr. Davis!"

He had already been alerted by her commotion, and had the hall pass in his hand. "No pit-stops, just straight to the music room and back, you got it? And no distracting other classes." He ordered, not looking up from his pile of ungraded work.

Before she could even finish saying, "Yes sir,” Ashley was running down the hall.