Chapter Text
Streetlights and buildings flew by, blurring as the car raced faster and faster. Elena tried to move, to get his attention, but she was paralyzed. Her heart pounded and her breath came out fast and ragged. Suddenly the world reeled around her, noise and lights and then suffocating water.
Elena woke with a gasp, bolting upright in bed, her hands held out as if to fight something off.If nothing else, her weekend Krav Maga lessons certainly had improved her reflexes. She blinked blearily at the room, trying to place herself and calm her breathing. As the room slowly came into focus, she remembered. Apartment, not house. New town because the best job Mom could find after Dad died was here. Having to transfer schools right before her senior year. School. Starts tomorrow. Or, Elena checked the clock, today. She consciously relaxed her taut muscles and flopped back into bed. Was it worth trying to go back to sleep? She looked at the clock again. 3 am. The bus left at 6:30 from the front of the apartment complex, she’d need an hour and a half to shower, pick out an appropriate first day of school outfit, and eat breakfast (her backpack was already packed). Then, there would probably 10 to 15 minutes to let her mother take pictures. It was a yearly tradition and Elena certainly wasn’t going to say no to her mother now, not when she was finally starting to take an interest in things again.
Elena sighed and scrubbed her hands over her face. It really wasn’t worth it, trying to go back to sleep. Besides, her computer was right there and a couple of hours of coding could really make a dent on her project. She slid out from under the covers and padded over to her desk. It’d be fine, as long as her mom didn’t catch her.
“Sabina.”
“Yeah?” she muttered, straining her fingers just a little bit further and finally sinking the nut onto the tip of the bolt.
“What time is it?”
“Hmm?” Sabina cranked the wrench swiftly, tightening the nut it down with one last twist.
“Sabina.”
She finally glanced up at Boz, who had her “disapproving mother” look on her face. It was one of her stock looks, Sabina knew, along with “I’m not mad I’m disappointed” and “who do you think you’re fooling?”. They were stock looks because Boz only broke them out when she was trying to be all parenty-y but underneath was actually smiling. Except now she was quirking the eyebrow of “well, what do you have to say for yourself?”.
“Uhhh.” Sabina rewound briefly in her head, searching for the last thing Boz had asked. “It’s like 10?”
Now Boz was totally hiding a smile. Probably. Like, 87% sure.
“It’s 3:45, Sabina. And school starts today.”
“3:45? Wow! What are you still doing up?”
And there was the head tilt of “nice deflection but I still expect a proper response.”
“Um, right.” Sabina looked at her (now new and improved motorcycle) and then back to Boz. “I, uh, lost track of time?”
“Clearly.”
Sabina tried for an apologetic smile. “Sorry?”
Boz sighed, but with a smile, and shook her head. “Come on. It’s a bit too late for you to try to go to bed now. Clean up and I’ll let you help with breakfast.”
“Breakfast?”
“It’s the first day of senior year. I thought we could all do a hot breakfast together. You know, french toast or waffles or pancakes. Eggs, fruit, all the bacon you can eat . . .”
“Sweet!” Sabina scrambled up from the garage floor, pausing to give her motorcycle one last swipe of a rag.
“Don’t get used to it, though. After today it’s cold cereal or leftovers.”
“Sure, sure,” Sabina bussed Boz on the cheek before sliding around the corner.
A hiss from Boz stopped her before she ran up the stairs. “Do try to be quiet while you get cleaned up. Jane’s still asleep.”
“Right. Quiet.” Sabina nodded firmly. “I can do that.”
“Elena, time to get up!”
Elena blinked. There was a screen in front of her covered in a mish-mash or punctuation and letters.
“Elena, if you’re not up in five minutes I’m coming in there with some ice!”
She lifted her head just slightly and shouted back at her mother. “I’m up!”
“Breakfast in thirty!”
“Okay, Mom!”
Elena got up, rubbing at her face. It appeared the keys had left a few dents and certainly explained the three thousand lines of useless gibberish in her usually pristine code. She grabbed her robe and stumbled into the shower. She could do this. School was school. Easy. She’d done her research. There were clubs she could join, a decent library, and a relaxed administration. This school year would be . . . fine.
Sabina could not, in fact, do that. Between tripping over her shoes, running into the wall, and opening the closet door (which always, always , creaked), she made more than enough noise to rouse the lump in the other bed.
“What the hell, Bina. It’s 4 in the fucking morning.” Despite having impressive bedhead and being buried under thirty blankets, Jane still managed to pull off a terrifying glare.
Sabina paused, one foot in the air, poised to put on a pair of ratty jeans. “Boz is making French Toast. And bacon. Surprise?”
Jane’s head poked a little further out. “You were up all night, weren’t you.”
Sabina shrugged, finishing squirming into her jeans and sticking her hand into a half-open dresser drawer. “It’s cool. Saint snuck me some extra caffeinated chocolate covered espresso beans the other day.”
“You are going to die at 35.” Jane declared. “And I’m not going to go to your funeral.”
Sabina chucked a spare tin of Altoids at Jane. “Just for that, you’re not invited.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Jane thumped her head back into the pillow. “Save me some bacon.”
Sabina ran her hand through her hair and grinned. This year was off to a great start.