though, I planted my feet, stopping in the doorway, refusing to move an inch farther.
“Come on, Aiden. I can handle dirty teeth, but no coffee? It’s like you want me to be a grumpy bitch all day.”
He shrugged, his eyes solemn as he looked at me. “Sorry, Clary. Maybe if you’d spent less time on your hair this morning you’d have had a chance to get coffee.”
“I didn’t do my hair!” I exclaimed. I’d barely had time to change out of my pajamas, and my hair was still in the same messy bun I’d woken up in. I was planning to redo it on the drive to school.
“Really? But it looks so messy chic.”
“It’s bed hair.”
“It’s sexy.”
“Aiden, coffee, please.” Yep, I was begging now.
He laughed and nodded at Elliot who was standing on the front porch with a travel mug in his hands. I nearly wept at the sight.
“Oh, thank God,” I said as Elliot handed it to me. I cradled the warm cup in my hands and took in the strong smell of the fresh coffee. “I was about to mutiny and refuse to go to school.”
Aiden chuckled. “Yeah, I noticed. Now, let’s go.”
I followed Aiden and his brother toward the truck. It was cold this morning, making me even more grateful for the coffee warming my hands. As Aiden started the engine, he turned the heat up full blast. I took a sip of my coffee and let out a happy sigh. Aiden’s mom bought the best coffee. I had no idea where she got her beans from, but I imagined they came from a happy place. Only happy beans could taste this good.
“I still can’t believe school’s starting again,” I said as Aiden pulled out of the drive. “It seemed like the year was over. That we wouldn’t get to see graduation.”
“I know,” Aiden agreed. “I was surprised too.”
“Did the email say why it was okay for school to open again?”
Aiden shrugged. “Something about the fact that they’ve been able to put precautions in place now.”
“Oh, okay.” I was quiet as I thought it over. It seemed strange that they’d open school when everything else remained committed to staying closed. Experts on the news kept insisting that the virus didn’t affect kids in the same way it did adults. Perhaps that’s what made it okay for us to go back to school.
I lowered the sun visor above my head to take a look at my appearance in the small mirror. I immediately scrunched up my face in disgust. My hair was a total mess, and there was a long crease down the side of my face from where I’d been sleeping. I probably smelled too. It wasn’t going to be a lack of caffeine that drove people away from me today. It was going to be the lack of a shower and deodorant.
I let out a sigh as I lifted the visor, pushing it back into place. I was a total lost cause today, so there didn’t seem any point in bothering to redo my hair.
“You really couldn’t have woken me up a few minutes earlier?” I complained to Aiden.
Elliot laughed from the back seat, and I shot him a scowl over my shoulder. “It’s not funny.”
“It kind of is. Some of the zombies on my video game are in better shape than you right now, MJ.”
“Great,” I muttered. I was rocking up at school for the first time in weeks looking like I’d just risen from the dead. It was just what every girl wanted to hear.
“I think you look pretty hot—for a zombie.” Aiden winked at me.
I groaned and buried my head in my hands. “I’m not a zombie.”
“But you need a constant stream of caffeine in your system to keep you animated,” he continued. “And if you don’t get it, you’re likely to bite the head off the closest living being.”
“Just like a real-life zombie,” Elliot added.
I lifted my head to glare at them both. Aiden laughed when he caught my expression. “Don’t deny it. You know it’s true.”
“I…” My voice trailed off as Aiden pulled the truck to a stop in the school parking lot. There were no other cars in sight, and not a single student was wandering around the grounds. “Where is everyone? Did you guys get the email wrong?”
I turned to find two identical grins watching me. “What’s so funny?”
“Clary, what day is it?” Elliot slowly asked.
“Wednesday…” Though I failed to see his point.
Aiden rolled his eyes. “Yes, but what