Exhausted

"Well snap." Rocky said as he stepped through the portal onto Macy's balcony. It was completely dark, the lights were off and it appeared as if the party was long over. The glass door leading into the house was closed and probably locked and Alicia had no idea how they would get down. She was beginning to hate not being able to control where she appeared (and disappeared).

"What's the time and day?" Alicia told him.

"Well, last I checked my phone, there was absolutely no network, not that I could tell because the screen was all mess up, like I dropped it in water or something. Maybe I should get mom and dad to get me a new one, you know, if we can afford it."

"The electromagnetism in Alfairia messes with modern world gadgets, including cellphones. Check now." She said, her lips tightened with impatience.

He took his phone out of his pocket and said a quick silent prayer.

"Yes! It works!" He exclaimed. Alicia shushed him. Macy's family could be sleeping.

"Time and day please. Hurry."

"It's Monday. Eleven forty-five pm. Weird. Maybe I should get it fixed, isn't it supposed to be Wednesday?"

"Supposed to be, but it isn't here. We arrived at Alfairia on Sunday, that's when the party happened. On Monday, there was the audience, I spent the whole of Tuesday busy and I took you to the inn on Wednesday, but then we got back after midnight which means it's supposed to be Thursday, early morning. Something's terribly wrong."

"I could have told you that." Lucian said annoyingly.

"No, it's not your phone. I told you time is never the same in Alfairia as it is here, but boys never listen anyway. That's not the problem though."

"Then what is?"

"It's relative. Time there is relative to here. I can't calculate how right now because my brain is just so stuffed and I'm bloody tired, but I know this; it's not supposed to be almost Tuesday yet."

Rocky blinked. "Well that's a bit hectic. Does this mean I'm three days older than I'm supposed to be? Oh my---"

"---are you going to stand there all night or are you gonna tell me what the hell you're still doing in my house?" Macy said quietly but gravely and the twins almost jumped in surprise. There she was, standing there fully clothed holding the glass door open. It was Rocky who broke out of his stupor first.

"How did you know we were here? It's 11. Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He whispered and walked into the house with Alicia trailing him. Macy shut the door as slowly and as silently as possible before she turned to them.

"I should be, but I just sneaked in from...a friend's house and I heard you. You're the one who owes me an explanation here. Where did you come from? Why are you here? You're sooo lucky you parked your car far enough so my parents couldn't see it but Claire says you missed the entire first day of school. Good luck with dealing with the 'rents."

Rocky swallowed deeply, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"Trust us, you don't really want to know. Besides its not really of your concern." Alicia said,  before Rocky could begin to confess the whole truth about a secret island continent thing which his sister happened to run. Macy looked at the twins and said,

"You know what? I don't even care about your weird outfits. I'm tired. Please quietly get out. My parents are sleeping downstairs." Alicia could tell she looked very tired with those dark shadows under her eyes and her blond hair not shining as bright as it always did. But of course she was tired; she probably hadn't slept on the night of the party and if she did, she got very little sleep before she had to head to school today. Who has parties on the Sunday before school anyway?

"You're right." Rocky said, as they headed downstairs and out the door. Alicia went straight to the car and he stayed to talk to Macy; probably to apologize or ask about Claire or something. When she reached the car, she solemnly hoped and prayed that Rocky had the keys because she certainly didn't. A few seconds later, Rocky arrived and took in the woods and the isolation of the location before he lifted the keys and told her how Macy had come across them when cleaning after the party. Alicia vowed to be a little nicer to her and Claire, even if Claire was a part of Blair's friend group.

At home, the twins used the key Lucian always kept in the cabby (it wasn't the first time he was out late) and sneaked silently into their respective rooms, where they dumped their belongings on the floor and hopped into their beds. Macy's house was almost an hour away and so the twins got home at almost quarter past one. The last thing Alicia thought before her head hit the pillow was I hope they don't make us go to school tomorrow. She certainly didn't set an alarm.

And naturally she'd live to regret it as Alicia was woken up by her mother, thrusting the curtains open and telling her to get up or she'd be late, which was a little worse than being silently woken up by an alarm, which, she might add, did not expect to have a fully fledged conversation with her. With eyes groggy and a very foul breath (which was nothing compared to her mood), she asked,
"Don't you have work?"

Her mother, obviously just waiting to interrogate her and Rocky - Alicia could just feel it - said, "Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you?" The older woman didn't wait for an answer as she rushed out the room, to the kitchen, but not before she recited, "everyday is a new day for opportunities. Get up. Chop, chop."

Alicia missed her cigarettes most in times like this, but she settled for cursing as colorfully as she possibly could before quickly hopping into the shower and opting for the standard teenage 'I'm going to jail, oh wait, I meant school. Kill me now' outfit. That obviously meant some jeans, shirt, a hoody that looked more or less, pretty clean and that's right; whatever pair of sneakers you found first.

Look, Alicia knew that most teenagers probably stayed up late until witching hour o' clock, doing last minute assignments and studying to actually get decent marks or even ehem, sneaking in from friends' house and parties or whatever, but ever since she had become queen, she had become...a bit more intelligent, educationally and maturity wise. It's not like she wasn't up there already anyway, she wasn't this up there. Anyway, since ruling Alfairia, she actually didn't have to study as hard as she used to and she had lost a lot of friends who were fake, so yes, naturally she slept whenever she wanted, like, oh I don't know, ten? Yeah, I know. Tragic. But fact was, sleeping at one fifteen-ish had messed her up so much that she simply sat at the kitchen table and reached for the nearest coffee. It didn't help that she was dancing for hours the night before. Her parents were naturally bright and cheery and she almost wanted to kill someone. Almost.

"So," said her father, his eyes as brown as hers with laugh wrinkles she'd never own. "How did you two sleep?"

Alicia glanced at Rocky, who she hadn't noticed enter the kitchen. He probably felt as dead as she looked. Hangover. Rocky was physically unable to look bad. It just wasn't possible.

"Good." Lucian answered for the both of them. His one word answers were so much better than Alicia's soul-deep incapability to talk before the clock struck ten.

"And exactly where were you two last night, in fact, the whole day?" Their father inquired, straightforward to the point. Rocky glanced at Alicia. She didn't know what to tell him.

Their mother laughed at their blank faces.

"What? You didn't think we'd notice since we're always busy at work?"

Yeah, Alicia was kind of relying on that.

"Well," her dad said, in mild amusement even though this was a little serious. "Can we tell you how we did it, like in Scobby-Doo?" He didn't wait for their consent. Her parents were similar that way and they were both a bit dorky.

"First, your mother had an off-day yesterday and wait for it......the school called, saying that both our children did not attend the first day of school. Did we 'remember that it started today?'"

Alicia silently gasped down at her cereal, humoring him. Her parents were a little dorky, a little strict and a little too happy, but you know what? She wouldn't have them any other way. She knew there were worse parents out there, even if she knew her own tended to avoid hard topics: topics that eventually had to be spoken about.

The twins remained silent, at a loss for words.

"Look," Alicia's mother said. She was the strictest of both parents but what could they say? Lying to them never was and never would be an option. It hadn't crossed their minds and it wouldn't but rule two of lying: at least make it sound legitimate. "Your father and I cannot make you tell us, but we need to hear it eventually. We'll discuss punishment when you both return from school but in the meanwhile, you could think of a sound reason and excuse for missing the entire first day of school or you could tell us the truth and we can move forward, okay? Great. Have an amazing day at school. I love you both." She said, placing a kiss on both their foreheads and grabbing her jacket before she headed to the car. Both her parents shared a car, the same way Alicia and Lucian had a car between the two of them, and so her mother would be dropped off at work by their father. Sometimes she walked, sometimes she took the bus.

"Well," their father stood up and wiped his mouth with his handkerchief. "You heard what what your mother said. Have a bright and sunny day, kiddos." He said before he kissed Alicia's forehead, petted Rocky on the shoulder and walked out the door.

They had good understanding parents, but they were parents who worked a little too hard and generally avoided confrontation. The siblings were silent but they both wondered the exact same thing;

Exactly what were they gonna tell them?

~~~~

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