My short story.

Susie May walked outside to her car, it was still dark outside and it had started to drizzle. She loved the rain. The feeling of water running down her cheeks and the smell of it made her feel comforted. She opened the door of her blue Ford Focus and got in the driver’s seat. She put the key in and turned the car on. The engine made a humming sound as she drove to Aaron’s house to pick him up. Aaron was one of her best friends. They had known each other their whole lives. He was tall and looked too skinny. He had light brown hair and dark green eyes. She pulled into his driveway and honked the horn. He opened his door and ran to her car, unlike her, he hated the rain.
“Hey Susie!” he exclaimed, “How was your night?”
“It was good. My mom took me to get a new outfit for church. What about you?” Susie replied.
“Oh, you know. Me and Richard got into another fight, but there’s nothing new about that.” Aaron didn’t get along with his dad very well. He was an alcoholic and sometimes when he would come home after a long night of drinking, he would hit his mom, Marie.
“What was it about this time?” She asked in exasperation. She didn’t like it when people fought. She saw it as a complete waste of time and energy.
“He tried to take money from me to spend at the bar, and I didn’t let him, so he got really mad. It’s pretty much what always happens though.”
“Did he hit you this time?”
“No, but he tried to hit my mom. I stopped him before he could though.”
“You really need to call the cops, this is getting really serious.”
“I know, but I will the next time it happens.”
“You always say that.”
“I do not… Ok… Maybe I do… But I Promise that I will next time.”
“Ok… Whatever you say.” She knew that he wouldn’t really call the cops. Even though he didn’t get along with his dad very well, he was still his dad and he still loved him. “So do you have any plans for this weekend?” She asked hoping that he would say nothing or ask if she wanted to do something with him. She has had a crush on him since the ninth grade, but she’s too afraid to tell him she has feelings for him because she doesn’t think that he feels the same way and it might ruin their friendship forever.
“I don’t know for sure yet, do you want to maybe do something?” What Susie didn’t know, was that Aaron did like her a lot and he was trying to work up the courage to asked her out, but just like her, he was scared about what she thought about him.
“That sounds great. What do you wanna do?”
“Um I don’t know… What do you wanna do?”
“Well we could go to my house and watch a move in our PJ’s if you want to.”
“That sounds like fun, do you think that you could pick me up around 5:30ish?”
“Yeah, no problem.” They pulled into the parking lot of their high school, it was fairly empty, because they usually got there thirty minutes early to talk to their other friends and catch up on homework that they didn’t have time to do the night before.
“Do you think that we should invite Jordyn? She might get a little upset if we don’t.” Aaron was hoping that for once, she wouldn’t say that they should. He really just wanted to see her, but Jordyn was one of their best friends, and it would be rude if they didn’t at least invite her.
Susie knew that Jordyn would want to come hang with them, but she was hoping that she would understand that she really wanted to be alone with Aaron just this once. “I’ll ask her if she wants to, but she might be busy.”
“Ok, well I have to hurry to one of my classes to make up a test I missed, but I’ll see ya later. Text me.”
Susie watched him walk off, wishing that they could be together, but knowing that it would never happen. She grabbed her stuff out of her trunk and slowly walked to the building, letting the rain fall on her, not caring about her hair or makeup getting ruined.
She walked into the girl’s bathroom and looked in the mirror at herself. Why doesn’t he like me? She thought. She thought that she had a fairly good appearance. She had long, wavy brown hair, and deep blue eyes, the only thing that she wished she could change were her eyes. She had always wanted to have emerald green eyes, like Aarons, but a bit brighter.
After fixing her hair and makeup, she walked to her locker where she always met Jordyn before school. They needed to talk about stuff that happened last night and Susie was planning on asking her if she would mind if she didn’t invite her to hang out with her and Aaron.
“Hey babe. What’s up?” Jordyn asked as Susie walked up to her locker.
“Nothing. Hey me and Aaron are planning on hanging out tonight, and I was wondering if you would mind if I didn’t invite you… I really just want to be alone with Aaron for a little while.”
“Well I was going to go on a date tonight anyways, so no, I don’t mind. What are you guys going to do?”
“I think we are just going to watch a movie in my basement. Who are you going on the date with?”
“I don’t know… my friend is setting me up on a blind double date. Hopefully it will be fun.”
“I bet you will have a ton of fun. You always do, no matter what it is you’re doing.” Susie said with a little laugh.
“Yeah, I do always have fun.” She said with a smile. “Well I have to get to Johnson’s class. I promised I would come in before school today to write that article for newspaper. So I’ll talk to ya later.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The bell rang to end another day of school. Susie hurried off to her family’s diner. The whole way there, she was thinking of something that she and Aaron could do other than just watch a movie.
She pulled into the parking lot of the diner, not even being able to remember driving there. She parked in the back, in the employee parking. She got out of her car and walked across the pavement to the entrance. The parking lot was littered with garbage; the employees were not very clean when it came to what they did after work. Susie wished that people would just pick up after themselves, it’s not that hard and it would make the world more beautiful.
“Hey mom, do you think that I could go home early tonight? Aaron is coming over and I need to get the basement ready.” She asked her mom as she walked through the door.
“If we’re not too busy, but we’ll need you to come in early tomorrow to make up your hours.” She replied.
“Ok, I can come in and help open tomorrow. Thanks mom.”
“You better get to work or I won’t let you leave.” Her mom said handing her an apron. Susie went to the back and put her name tag and the apron that her mom had given her. She loved working with her family. Her mom ran the diner, and her older brother Hunter and twin sister Samantha were waiters with her. They made working a lot of fun. The only thing she wished was different, was that her dad could work with them too. She hardly ever saw her dad. He was a lawyer and a big firm and had to work long hours.
She walked out to the front of the diner and got her tables that were assigned to her. There was an older couple sitting in one of her tables.
“How are you guys doing today?” She asked with a smile.
“We’re doing great.” The old man replied
“That’s good,” she said back, still smiling at them, “My name is Susie, and I’ll be your waiter. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Just water, for both of us.” The woman replied. The man did not look too excited about the decision.
“Alright, I will be back in a few minutes to take your order.” She said happily as she turned to get their drinks. As she walked the room seemed like it was spinning. She stopped for a minute and the sensation went away, so she went back to work.
As the day went on, she started to feel worse, and people were beginning to notice. Her once tan face was not as white as snow, and she had started to sweat, but she was shivering. She had even gone out to her car and gotten a jacket.
Her mom came over to her while she was finishing up with the older couple and pulled her aside. “Are you alright hun?” She asked worriedly.
“Yeah… I’m fine. Is it cold in here, or is it just me?” She replied through chattering teeth.
“No, it’s quite warm in here actually. I think you should go home and go to sleep. You don’t look so hot.”
“I’m fi…” she started to say as she collapsed. Her mom felt her face and it was ice cold.
“Susie? Susie wake up.” She said in vein as she desperately tried to get her daughter to respond. “Somebody call an ambulance!”