I was shaken awake. "We'll be late for school." I was gently reminded by Mercedes.
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"Damn." I muttered, rolling off the air bed and hitting the ground face first. I should have known back to back sleepovers at Merche’s was a bad idea.
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I stood up and paced over towards the dresser in my friend's room. I picked up the clothes I had chosen for the first day of Senior Year and headed for the bathroom. I always laid out my clothes the night before, it was so much easier than going through closets at seven AM which was what Merche was doing at that moment. I showered and changed into the black sweater and baggy blue jeans I had chosen before applying a light amount of makeup. I then exited, freeing up the bathroom for Mercedes.
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Half an hour later both of us were ready for school. We wandered our way down into the dining room where Teresa had set up the most enormous breakfast, into which her husband was tucking in. We both dived at the table as if we hadn't eaten in weeks. We devoured not only a cooked breakfast but pancakes and cereal on the side.
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"Thanks Mrs. Aiza, this is amazing!" I marvelled as Merche's mother's cooking skills. Whilst my mother was a relatively good cook, she couldn't compare to Teresa.
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"You're going to be late girls!" Mr. Aiza reminded us, as he looked up from his paper. Merche's father was a well-built dark skinned man. He was slightly smaller than me and had short black hair and the same chocolate brown eyes as his daughter.
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I jumped out of my seat, I wasn't going to be late on my first day of Senior Year. As we approached the doorway, Mercedes and I chatted amiably.
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"Aren't you excited to be a senior?" I asked.
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"I suppose so."
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"I mean we'll finally be on top of the totem pole!" I enthused barely registering my friend's half-hearted reply. "You're not excited?" I turned to face Merche.
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"Oh it's not that." Came her feeble reply. "I just..." She began but couldn't finish her sentence.
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I let it drop, knowing better than to push her this early in the morning. Besides I was sure Mercedes would not appreciate having to go into school with raccoon eyes. I didn't even complain to Merche driving the car.
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We arrived with twenty minutes to spare thanks to Mercedes' driving. I had not had chance to step out the car when a tall powerfully built figure approached me.
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"Hey Kalia, how've you been?"
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"Hey Brent, I'm good, you?"
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"Yeah, yeah." He muttered opening the car door so I could step out.
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“Thank you." I looked up towards him. He had grown another inch over the summer and was officially taller than me. "So … Are you going to walk me to my locker?" I asked sweetly.
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"Yeah, why not?" He grinned but his focus was elsewhere. I noticed him gazing across the car park. I shook it off.
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We made our way through the crowded hallways and towards my locker, saying hello to many people on the way. These were mostly Brent's friends. I entered the combination and got out my books.
As I turned around, I surveyed Brent. His short hair was an ebony black and his emerald eyes sparkled. Well, they usually sparkled. Something was on his mind I could tell. His eyes were only ever dull if his mind was occupied.
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"I got Biology second so we could meet up somewhere, I mean only if you want to." He mumbled, staring at the floor. He sounded almost guilty.
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What was he guilty about? What had he done?
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"Sure I'll see you then!" I waved to him as I left for English.
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I reached English just in time, and took my usual seat next to Merche.
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"Hey." I chirped.
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Merche huffed and angled her body away from me refusing to speak to me. I opened my mouth to say something else but before I could Mercedes jumped up and went to another seat. I leaned back in my seat. Merche was Spanish after all and possessed the fiery temper that was stereotypically associated with them.
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It was not surprising that Mr Been was late, he probably had had problems with his vintage car, yet again. We had been in the classroom for twenty whole minutes when he finally arrived. The classroom was chaos, there were kids shouting and screaming. It reminded me very much of elementary school. He walked over to the desk and set down his briefcase. Mr Been turned to the class and raised an eyebrow. The class fell silent. Mr Been had that strange power over kids, one glance could shut them up. Everyone respected Mr Been.
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"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to Senior Year. We will be working on Greek literature this semester." He paused, then in a more business-like manner he proceeded. "Now please collect a copy of the Iliad, in fact Jacobs you can hand those out..." He surveyed the class before him, "Yes, and turn to page 133 please."
Mr Been proceeded lecture us on the choice structure that was used by Homer in the Iliad. It was in short, extremely boring and I found it difficult to concentrate with Mercedes glaring at me throughout the lesson.
After the bell rang, I packed up and headed off to my physics class which Merche was also part of. Physics was my absolute least favourite subject. I hated science in general but physics was the worst. Nothing ever made sense to me. It confused me how physicists developed their theories. I don’t know why, but I could never accept what most people accepted as fact in the blink of an eye to be true. I always felt as if there were other possibilities.
During the class, which I was known to fall asleep in, my mind turned to the dream I’d had on Saturday night. It wasn’t an uncommon dream for me. It confused me greatly. I had never seen anything like it, not even in a painting. That indicated to me that the dream meant something. What that meaning was, I had no clue. The dreams had however been increasingly frequent and vivid. I pondered over this until the bell rang. I jumped up and raced after Mercedes.
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"What's up, Merche?" I called after her.
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"Thanks for ditching me earlier." Merche's voice was bitter and loaded with sarcasm.
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"What, when?"
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"Like, just this morning!" She laughed incredulously. "You didn't even realize. Did you? You just went off with Brent without even saying goodbye or thanks for the ride."
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I realized the error in my ways. I had indeed forgotten Mercedes. I really needed to make it up to her. I hated when Mercedes was like this. The anger I could deal with but not the sarcasm. She stormed off angrily and with that the bell rang. I hadn't realized how long I had been thinking. Break wasn't that long in the first place. I turned to go to History and then I remembered, Brent.
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Great! Merche's upset with me and now I've blown off my plans with Brent. What a way to start Senior Year!
I slowly trudged toward History. Neither of my two friends were in History which I was relieved about. I tried to keep conversation with people to a minimum, there wasn’t anyone I really knew in this class anyway.
My next class was French and surprisingly I enjoyed it a lot more than usual. There was no one there I knew particularly well but I actually had fun watching others converse. It was interesting to observe the way people interacted with one another. The cheerleaders sat on tables, as stereotypical as it may seem, discussing the football players and hair products. There was a group of kids at the back that spoke only in French and two guys were yelling as they threw a basketball back and forth. The classroom was chaos but then again it always was. Very few of us actually wanted to learn French. I leant back in my seat. I wasn’t exactly sure why they made me take this class. I was fluent in French as well as Spanish and German. Languages was one of my strong suits. After an hour of observation and procrastinating the bell rang and I headed for the lunch hall.
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As I entered the lunch hall a chorus of claps, cheers and gleeful yells were heard. I blushed and waved slightly. Even after four years I hadn't got used to it. For some reason people had always liked me. It didn’t make sense. There’s one thing people liking someone because they’re nice or something, but it was like I was famous. I hated the attention really. I wasn't any more special than the next kid. I had once asked Brent's friends to convince people to stop it. That didn't work at all.
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I scanned the crowd and finally spotted Brent's distinctive black hair at our newly elected table. I waved to him and sat between him and Mercedes. At once the noise levels in the lunch hall rose as people began asking me how my summer was. They talked to me allot. I mostly just spoke to my friends making sure I gave a few responses so as not to sound rude.
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"Where were you at break?" Brent asked, I could hear the hurt in his tone. I heard Mercedes scoff and I could imagine her rolling her eyes.
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"Look Mercedes, I'm sorry for ditching you." I apologized. "And Brent, I'm sorry for blowing you off. Will you guys please forgive me?"
“I guess I could consider it.” Remarked Merche.
At this point I knew I’d won. That might sound self-centred, but it was true. Merche put on a tough act but she wasn’t what she seemed. She could never stay mad at me, not when I didn’t want her to.
“Of course, Kalia. I was never upset, I just wondered.” Brent added.
The rest of the day seemed to drag on and I was anxious to get home. I’d had a really good idea for a painting I wanted to get down on canvas. Unfortunately, Mercedes and I had gymnastics, so we had to stay for another hour. I loved gymnastics and always enjoyed practice however today I didn't seem to be able to concentrate.
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"Come on Kalia, you can do better than that. You're the best on the team!" Coach always seemed to be yelling and it was true I was the best on the team but it didn't seem so today.
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I was exhausted after an hour of practice. I was almost relieved when I finally arrived home. My mother was in the kitchen making lasagne and my father was watching the sports. I went to sit with her father knowing he would ask fewer questions. I would deal with my mother’s interrogation later.
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"Hey K, how was school?" My father inquired.
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"Good." Was my only answer.
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Half an hour later my mother called us both in for dinner. We sat around the table in an awkward silence, eating the meal my mother had prepared. It was my father however who was first to break the silence.
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"Where's your brother?"
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"I think he's at Mark's." I replied feebly.
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"Damn that boy." My father fumed, “Does he really think he can coast through high school going to parties every night and getting drunk... Which if you remember we grounded him for the millionth time on Saturday?"
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“Jonah, dear..." My mother began, attempting to calm her husband down.
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"I... Am going... To watch... The football." He stood up practically shaking. I sunk in my seat, trying to disappear. My father was a big man and could very easily become scary.
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"I'm sorry mother." I told her mother after he had left.
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"It's not your fault dear." She replied obviously agitated
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"No it is!" I insisted. "I should have at least found out where he was going!"
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"It's done now." Her mother spoke passively "Don't worry."
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After dinner I went upstairs, wishing my parents a goodnight on the way. I did my school assignments before falling back on the bed. I was so tired I barely had the energy to change. I fell into a dream plagued sleep.677Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChSbQhy6DH
