The Confidence of a Nerd

Chapter 1 (EDITED)

~Picture of Aiden Lee Hendrikson on the side~

Today is the first day of my senior year, at this point the only thing I am excited about is for all of this to just be over already. The end of my senior year will be very close to when I'll finally legally be an adult and with all the money I get from my fights, I'll be able to move out and go to college. I'm trying not to look too far ahead in the future but it's so difficult when there's nothing else to look forward to in my educational career.

I yawn, still feeling sleepy and wishing that I could just stay in bed and dream of flying above mountains and touching clouds, but I still get up. Walking to my bathroom I did what everyone does everyday. I want to at least look decent, nothing eye-catching or anything, just decent enough that I can take a selfie or something and not be too embarrassed. I grab a white t-shirt and some overalls that stop at the knees, simply because they're comfortable enough to run in and cute enough on me that I feel confident enough to walk around school with my head high. I put on some quick makeup; eyeliner in the shape of a wing and some mascara on my upper eyelashes and bottom eyelashes, and then I grab my converse and I head out the door.

I was finally ready to get out of this god forsaken place for the day. I've got my own motorcycle that I bought with my own money, I think my mom was really suspicious when I came home with it because she kept coming into my room and digging around looking for the money I hid, she never found it though, thankfully. My mom never paid any attention to me after dad had to leave, so when I was sixteen I studied super hard and I applied to get a motorcycle license and I saved up a lot of money until I could get one for myself. I've been driving it for two whole years now and I'm super proud of my baby. It isn't my parents' money that I spent, to get her I spent my own money on it and I worked super hard, anyone would be excited. It's not like I'm super rich but I've saved up a lot of money for myself so that I could be successful once I was old enough to get to college. It's not like I suddenly became rich just because I have a job that pays me well because I can't just spend my money haphazardly, it's for my future.

Riding my motorcycle to school brings me a lot of unnecessary attention, so instead I walk. It can get pretty boring especially because I know how it feels to ride on a motorcycle but I enjoy the simplicity of walking to school because the view is really beautiful in the morning. The sunrise with all of its yellow, oranges, and reds crushing together and making the sky look like a piece of art. Everybody takes the world for granted, they litter, dig natural resources up, and throw trash in the ocean but when you look at the sky early in the morning and you see the dew falling from the grass, it's hard not to feel apologetic to nature as a whole.

My walk to school is always filled with thoughts about the Earth simply because I can see cars and buses passing by me and the sky above my head. Usually something about the atmosphere makes me feel depressed, but today felt different to me. I was still thinking about Earth and all of the facts about global warming but instead of the usual sadness, I feel happy. I'm grateful that my dad met my mom and gave birth to me despite all of the horrible things that happened afterwards, I'm grateful I'm alive. I'm grateful that I can hear the pitter patter of my own footsteps on the sidewalk and that the sun is rising up to say hello. For some reason, despite not enjoying and not feeling super excited for classes, I feel like something good might actually happen today.