Fiction

I gasped, waking up to the sound of knocking on my bedroom door. I sat up in bed, startled at the sudden sound, gripping onto my sheets to keep myself from falling off. I quickly looked at my alarm clock. It read 5:30. I groaned loudly and fell back onto my pillows.

“Get up Leah, it’s time for school. You don’t want to be late, now do you?” My mother shouted through the door. I had an alarm clock, but she woke me up every morning because I would always unplug the damn thing to make it stop. After I did not respond, she spoke again. “Leah, I'm not going to come back, now get up!” She said, walking away.

I sat up, about to get ready even though I had not gotten any sleep last night because I had a nightmare about a ravaging monster chasing after me. I had sat awake up all night trying to get it out of my thoughts.

I stood, turned on my bedside lamp and walked over to my closet to pick out my clothes for school.

Today was the first day of hell, and my senior year. I went to Huntington Beach high school in Huntington Beach, California. I’ve lived here all of my life, in the same house on the same street, and yet I was hardly known to be in existence. The only people who really seemed notice me were my parents, Jeff and Amy Taylor and my younger brother Kyle, and even then they seemed not to notice me. My parent’s entire focus was on my troublemaker brother, who was a freshman this year in high school. He was into soccer and was always misbehaving.

I was always the quiet one who hardly spoke and locked myself in my room all day. That was all I ever did during the summer. I would just sit at the computer and write, listening to music, blasting it through my speakers. My parents just ignored me and let me do whatever I wanted, as if they didn’t care. However, that was fine with me because I was used to be ignored by everyone.

I wasn’t popular, pretty or even what you would call cool. I was the loner kid who sat at lunch every day by myself and never spoke to any one unless I had to. I would get average grades and would scribble in my notebook in class. I liked to write, listen to music, draw and especially sing, but I never sang aloud. I was too afraid for someone to hear me or even judge me. I always kept to myself and tried to get good enough grades to get me out of high school.

I grabbed what I was going to wear out of the closet, laid them on my bed and turned on my stereo, putting in my favorite album. I turned that to a bearable level for my parents but loud enough to where I could still rock out to.

I got dressed and put my socks and shoes on. I brushed my hair and my teeth in the bathroom, grabbed my backpack from my bedroom, and went down stairs after turning everything off. As I was going down the steps, I could smell the scent of bacon and waffles being cooked. Kyle rudely pushed past me and went straight into the kitchen at the smell of food.

“Jerk,” I said to him.

He smirked at me and sat down at the dining table, his back facing against the island in the middle of the kitchen. Mom sat down a plate for him and dad, then sliding one in front of me as I sat at one of the wooden bar stools at the island. She sat down with the rest of them and started eating.

I wasn’t too hungry this morning and waffles and bacon definitely didn’t sound good right now. I pushed the plate away and grabbed an orange out of the fruit bowl.

Mom looked at me in question. “You’re not going to eat?” She asked.

I shook my head. “I'm not hungry right now. I'll eat an orange later.” I said, putting it into my backpack. I slipped it over one shoulder and started to walk out the front door when my dad stopped me, scarfing down the rest of his plate.

“Wait up Leah,” He said through a mouth full, standing up and grabbing his suitcase. He was a lawyer. “I can take you both to school since it’s your first day.”

I rolled my eyes in protest. “That’s okay dad, I can walk to school. I don’t want you to be late.” I said, making an excuse for him not to.

“Sure, I'll take a ride.” Kyle said standing and putting his bag on. He walked out the front door before us.

“Oh, it’s okay, I won't be late. Come on, it's not a problem.” He said holding the door open for me to go first.

I sighed and went ahead and got in the back seat of the BMW as Kyle had already claimed the front.

As we drove to school in silence, I could not help but already wish the day was over. I hated going to school. I had to go through hell since my first day in Junior High. I didn’t want to have to keep going through this. The only good thing about this year was that it was my last, and that I couldn’t wait to graduate.

We pulled up to the front door, seeing a bunch of kids talking, most likely about what they did this summer and catching up on all of the drama. I sighed, the anxiety rising up inside me, causing butterflies to fill my stomach.

Kyle and I grabbed our stuff and got out. “Have a good day!” Dad shouted over the passenger seat through the open door and waved at us both. Kyle shut the door on him and we both walked away. We went our separate ways then, Kyle to his friends and I was all alone, walking up to the front door.

I went straight into the office and to the front desk. “What do you need dear?” The secretary asked me.

“I need my schedule and locker number.” I said quietly.

She nodded. “What’s your name sweetheart?”

I wanted to roll my eyes so badly. I hated any kind of pet names such as honey, hon’ or even babe. I especially hated it when it was someone you hardly know or haven’t even met calls me that. It was just annoying and I didn’t like anyone doing it.

“Leah Taylor,”

“Okay,” She said, looking at a computer. “Here’s your schedule with your locker and combination at the top.” She said, handing me a piece of paper.

“Thanks,” I mumbled and walked out.

I had locker 117, and of course, it wasn’t even near any of my classes. I was looking down at the paper, trying to find my first hour, a teacher I've never had before. I had computer science. I was taking it to get my one of my art credits. It was in room 406.

Suddenly I felt someone thrust their self into me and shove my books on to the ground. I looked up quickly to see a bulky jock walking back to his friends and their girlfriends laughing at me.

I sighed and bent down to pick them up. It wasn’t the type of scene where the cute guy comes over, helps you pick up your stuff, and then suddenly looks up it to your eyes. It was just me and the 50 kids staring and laughing. My brother passed by then, looking down at me as he walked away, ignoring me. I'm sure he didn’t want to be ridiculed along with me.

I gathered my books and stood, just wanting to get the day over with. I was considering running right out of the front doors and walking home instead. I promised myself I wasn’t going to get upset and just walk to class.

First hour ended in such a blur. All I thought about was that jerk who shoved me. What the hell did I do to deserve that? I was angry for the rest of the day, wanting to punch some one’s face in, but there was nothing I’d do.

Notes