mr. mara

•1•

"Kai! You are going to be late!" My mom yells from downstairs.

"Coming!" I grab my bag and my phone and I start to walk down the stairs. Today is my first day of senior year. I'm super excited for it, but at the same time I'm not. It's my last first day. I'm nervous to go off into the big world next year. I have no idea what I want to do with my life.

Once I'm downstairs I sit down next to my dad and my older brother, Zion. He's only older than me by like a minute and four seconds. We are twins. He never shuts up about how he's older than me.

"Good morning," my mom says. She puts my plate of food in front of me and then walks back over to the stove.

"Morning," I say. "Thank you for the breakfast."

"Of course," she says. "How are you feeling about today? Are you guys excited?"

"No," Zion and I both say.

"Well why not?" My dad asks.

"Senior year is going to be stupid," Zion says blankly, "Yea, we have some advantages, but it's nothing too thrilling. Just another year in hell."

"Well at least it's your last year in hell," my dad says as he chuckles a bit.

"Thank God," I say as I take a bite of my egg.

"Enough chit chat," my mom says. "You two need to hurry up and get to school."

"Yes, mom," I say.

***

"I'll see you after school," Zion says as we get out of his car. He always drives us everywhere. He hates when I drive because he doesn't want me to spend my money on gas. Zion is always looking out for me. He really is an amazing brother. "Have a good day."

"See ya," I say. "Have a good day as well."

He smiles and then walks away to meet up with his three best friends. They have been best friends since they were babies. He met Edwin through school and he met Austin and Brandon through baseball. They have been besties ever since.

I walk away from his car and I start to walk to my locker. As seniors we get to decorate the outsides of our lockers anyway we want. I haven't decorated mine yet. I don't know what to put on it.

"Yo! Kai!" I turn around to see my three best friends walking over to me. Maggie, Izzy, and Ansley.

"Hey, guys," I say. I open my locker and they all stand around me.

"I already want to go home," Maggie complains.

"Tell me about it," I say. "I thought senior year would be fun, but I'm starting to realize there is nothing special about it."

"You have no idea how excited Austin is for today," Ansley says. "I don't understand how though. We still have to be here."

"He's crazy," I say.

"I thought Brandon was going to jump off a cliff," Maggie says. "He was so pissed when he woke me up."

I chuckle, "That's Brandon for ya," I look over at Izzy. "How was Edwin?"

"Eh," she says. "He was whatever with it. He didn't want to come, but he wasn't complaining like Brandon over here."

It's pretty funny because each of my best friends are dating one of Zion's best friends. Ansley and Austin have been together for two years. Brandon and Maggie just hit a year and Izzy and Edwin are at about ten months. Zion and I are the loners though. We have nobody.

I close my locker and we start to walk to our first period class. It's math. We all have the same schedule. We did that on purpose.

"Did you hear about the new teacher?" Ansley asks us.