Audrey opened the door of her house and stepped into the living room. In there was her mom sitting on the couch and looking into the turned-off TV.

"Hey mom," Audrey whispered, Ramona turned her head around in response. Her mom looked back at her. Her eyes were red and puffy and the dim light made her irises seem more glassy.

"I'm so sorry," Her mom said, tears spilling from her eyes. 

"I know mom, I'm sorry too," Audrey said as she sat beside her mom, she wrapped her arms around her mom's wasit and lay on her lap. 

"I wish we had more time."

———

Audrey woke up the next morning, a slight ache lingering at the back of her head, but she felt better. She got up from bed and walked into her bathroom.

I can't waste time. She stepped out of her room and walked to the kitchen where her parents sat. The sound of the decades-old radio and the smell of fried eggs and bacon floated in the kitchen.

"Morning," She smiled at her parents, taking a seat across from her dad.

"Morning," Her mother replied, walking over with their plates and putting them down on the table, kissing the top of her daughter's head. 

"I see you both made up last night," Her dad said, looking at the two of them. The two hummed. 

"So, we heard from a certain Erik Makhov that you have created a list of things to do before... well you know that," Ramona said leaning forward, making Audrey groan as she pulled the paper from her jean pocket already knowing that her mom would want to see it.

"Here," she said handing the crumpled piece of paper to her mother, her mother's eyes scanned the paper over and over again before she looked up at her daughter.

"You've kissed a girl?" Her mother exclaimed making Micheal choke on his coffee.

"About that..."

"It's really okay, I'm- we're just a little surprised is all," Ramona said patting Micheal's back, who was still choking on his drink.

"Are you guys sure?"

"Positive," Her father croaked out.

"You'll get late for school, you should go,"

"Okay then," Audrey said reluctantly stepping out of the house stepping back in "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes," Her mother exclaimed.

"Okay okay just checking," she said, throwing her arms up in the air.

Audrey was about to open the door to her math class when the door opened abruptly and two hands pulled her inside.

"What the-"

"Don't what the- me, I'm glad you decided to show up earlier than everyone else," it was Mason who had said that.

"Mason what?"Audrey asked.

"No time for questions, show me the list," he said, tapping his foot on the floor and extending his hand. Audrey looked at his hand and looked up at him, hesitantly pulling out the list from her back pocket and handing it to him.

Mason looked at the list and his lips curved into a victorious smile. "Knew it," he mumbled under his breath and leading Audrey towards the very back of the class and sitting her down on the seat right beside the class's backdoor.

Slapping the paper down on the table in front of Audrey he pointed at one of the things on the list.

10. Scream in the middle of a class

"I know you hate math, so I thought this would be a good idea," He said, Audrey looked at the list, then back at Mason and back again to the list, contemplating whether to do something like this or not.

"Tell me what you're thinking?" Audrey asked.  Mason grinned, telling Audrey the entire plan from start to finish, Audrey nodded along, just as Mason finished telling Audrey the plan, the bell rang.

Students flooded into the classroom, different conversations floated around. As the teacher entered, all traces of conversations died down. Mrs Sheen was their teacher's name. One of the scariest teachers in the entire school.

Audrey sat at the very back of the class, right beside the room's back door. While Mason was right in front of her. The plan was foolproof.  Time passed as Mrs Sheen kept talking about something related to Trigonometry, it wasn't like Audrey was paying attention, the only thing that did have her attention was the wall clock in the very front of the class, ticking. 

As soon as the lass hit the 25-minute mark, Mason turned around and looked at Audrey, his head tilting towards the clock. Audrey nodded. 

Mason turned his head back around and raised his hand to ask a question, as he stood up to ask his question. Completely blocking Audrey from Mrs Sheen's view. She felt her heart beat faster, as she looked around to see if anyone was looking at her, but no one was, everyone was paying attention. Shaking away all the terrible scenarios popping in her head, she pushed her chair back a bit and leaned towards the back door of the class, looking around to make sure no one was looking at her before gently pulling it open, sticking her foot in the crack of the door, to keep it open.

She looked around one last time for reassurance then took a deep breath.

"AAAAAHHHHH," She screeched the loudest she could, before quickly opening the door with her feet and slipping out of the class, adrenaline pumping in her veins. Running away from the class, grateful that none of the classes had windows showing the hallways.

Audrey slowed down as she started breathing evenly, a small chuckle escaping her. 

She absentmindedly walked through the hallways, not knowing what she could do. It's not like she could drive herself back home, she didn't have a car. So she walked mindlessly until she remembered something. Audrey turned around and started walking in the direction of the library, it was Zahra's free period and everyone knew where Zahra spends her free periods.

Audrey walked in and looked around, immediately spotting Zahra with her head stuck in a novel. She grinned and quietly walked towards her and snatched the book.

"Drey, that's not funny," Zahra groaned, trying to get the book back from Audrey but miserably failing because of her short legs. "Also aren't you supposed to be in class," Zahra huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at Audrey.

Audrey smiled and handed the book back to Zahra, "So, I might've done a thing..." Audrey trailed off.

"Good lord," Zahra sighed, rolling her eyes. "What is it that you did?" She asked.

"I actually uh..." Audrey trailed off, not knowing how to explain herself when she decided to just show Zahra instead of explaining it. She pulled out her wishlist from her pocket and pointed at Number 10 on the list. Zahra's eyes widen at this and she looked at Audrey then back at the paper.

"Which class?" She asked.

"Math," Audrey replied.

"Oh for the love of God," Zahra said throwing her hands up, "Sheen will fucking murder you!" she exclaimed. Resulting in her getting shushed by the librarian, her eyes widen in embarrassment as she looked away. 

"She will kill you," She whisper-shouted at Audrey, dragging her out of the library and to the parking lot.

"I'm taking you home," Zahra said, opening her car door, "I don't want her killing you before you know that thing," she said vaguely gesturing at Audrey then proceeding to sit in the car and slamming the door shut, Audrey following her and sitting on the passenger side.

"It can't be that bad," Audrey commented, leaning back on the seat and Zahra sped out of the school's parking lot.

"Are you kidding me?" She exclaimed, driving faster than before "Did you forget what happened last year with Max?" She asked, glaring at Audrey. 

"Oh yeah, that," Audrey sighed, remembering what happened last year.

It was Junior year of high school and Max was one of the student's in Audrey's grade, he was the class clown, the prankster whatever you want to call it. Like Audrey, he was also in Mrs Sheen's class, and one day he decided it would be a good idea to place a tiny speaker in her classroom somewhere. and when she was taking the class he decided to play audio which said "Sheen's a fucking bitch," on repeat and since he had connected the speaker with his phone, the audio rang in the entire classroom. And after searching everyone's bags, Sheen found out that it was Max. The same day Max got expelled and now he was in military school.

Audrey shuddered at the memory, "Thanks for getting me out of there."

"I know, I'm a saint," Zahra grinned, "Now, where do you want me to drop you off?" She asked.

"People's park," Audrey replied and Zahra nodded in return. In a few minutes, they arrived at the park and Audrey got off, thanking Zahra for saving her before Zahra left to rush back to school.

Audrey walked into the park and took a deep breath realizing that lately, she has started coming here a lot. But it felt nice, it was her only chance of being here before the thing happened. She took in the fresh air and the smell of petrichor accompanied.

Audrey walked further into the park, and smiled at the scene before her. Little kids playing in the park playground, a little girl smiling as she slid down the slide, she called someone's name once she got up, soon a little boy came down the slide too. And they high-fived each other both laughing and smiling. Audrey's smile widened at the two friends they reminded her of, her and Erik when they were little, when things weren't so complicated and when she wasn't dying. 

Audrey shook her head at that thought. It will be okay. 

"They remind you of someone?" A voice asked from beside Audrey, pulling her out from her train of thoughts.

Audrey turned her head and smiled at the familiar face. "Yeah," she replied, "My friend and I when we were little we were exactly like this," She smiled.

"Can I know his name?" the person asked.

"Erik," Audrey replied.

"As in Makhov, Erik Makhov," the person said, excitement building up in their voice.

"Yes Taz, as in the great Makhov," Audrey said to Taz turning towards her.

"Holy shit," Taz grinned, "You're friends with the most amazing singer in all of town," she exclaimed.

"I know," Audrey smiled, "The real question should be what are you doing here, shouldn't you be in school right now?" Audrey asked.

"No, I should be asking you that question. It's teacher prep day...I'm not supposed to be in school, you on the other hand should be in school right now," Taz said, raising her eyebrows.

Audrey sighed at that, how could she forget. Lakeside High always had the strangest holidays. "Of course, Lakeside just can't help but give out holidays," Audrey said, making Taz grin.

"So why are you here when you're supposed to be in school?"

"Remember the wishlist I told you about?" Audrey asked and Taz nodded. Audrey then told Taz the entire story, for the second time today. From Mason telling her the plan to screaming during class to Zahra driving her here to now talking to Taz.

"Wow," Taz said, as the two walked up the hill to get to the gazebo. Audrey didn't realize they had started climbing the hill, but she didn't really care. "Yeah I know," she replied to Taz.

"You have some really good friends," Taz said, she looked happy, but her eye did. 

"Hey, you okay?" Audrey asked.

"I'm fine, it's just sometimes I wish I had friends like that," Taz sighed, as they finally reached the top of the hill and walked into the gazebo.

"Wait, but you're in one of the most popular bands in town, aren't you friends with your band members?" Audrey asked, she was shocked. It couldn't be, a person like Taz should have a lot of friends, Taz was such a fun person to be around and she didn't make Audrey uncomfortable in the slightest.

"Yeah well, we're close but not really."

"Oh," Audrey replied looking away, she didn't know how to feel about what Taz told her, but what she did know was that she did not want Taz to feel lonely, she deserved better than that. So without thinking, she said: "Hey, my friends and I going to the museum to finish something off my wishlist, wanna tag along?"