Love At First Emoji

Day 1 - Ana

Day 1

 

Ana

 

         There is no justifiable way to explain the torture of being woken up at five in the morning after months of sleeping in until at least ten. Dragging myself out of bed and forcing myself to get ready for the day in hell that awaits me was hard. I had to force down my breakfast of strawberry pop-tarts and hope that I wouldn’t vomit from the very thought of entering Lincoln High School’s school grounds.

         I can just imagine Barbie and her brainwashed cheerleading minions stressing about what to wear and who they’re considering letting to escort them to the back to school bonfire. The nerds gathering all their brand new and completely unneeded supplies. The jocks flexing in the mirror and making sure that they’ve got at least two options of girls to invite to the party. And all of their parents cooking over extravagant breakfasts and making a huge deal out of the whole situation.

         Then there’s the people like me. I don’t fit into any of those categories. I’m just the girl that everybody ignores. The actress that nobody recalls after watching the movie ten times. I’m not the girl to get thrown in garbage cans or goes to school to find ‘LOSER’ written on her locker in sharpie marker. Nobody cares enough to do that. Nobody can bring themselves to like or dislike me enough to do anything but ignore me. Oddly enough, I don’t really mind. I quite enjoy being able to fly under the radar and not have to worry about what I’m wearing or what people are gonna think of me in general. I can just do my own thing, by myself.

         By the time that I’ve gotten myself ready It’s five after seven already. Good thing I set my alarm to wake me up early. Last night I just knew that I wouldn’t be moving so fast this early in the morning. School starts at seven thirty and I have to walk so I grumpily start to head out, not hearing a word from either of my parents or my older brother.

         John, my brother, is in the year above mine. A senior. One of the jocks, too. He’s been on our soccer team since he was old enough to try out for the youth team. At Lincoln High, soccer is every guy’s ticket to glory. This ‘glory’ includes a seat at the popular lunch table, attention from the cheerleaders, and passing grades on your report card. You could say the principle being an old soccer stud to be a bit biased when it comes to his leniency policy with the team. John usually gets a ride in Nolan Baker’s 2015 Mazda 3, he isn’t even required to get up until maybe seven.

         I arrived at school faster than I had hoped and without the mental capacity to stand and listen to the mindless masses rave about what the bonfire. What they were going to wear, who they were going to bring, and who they were going home with. I could see the ever so awkward freshman huddled up in groups here and there. Some looking around nervously, some with horrified expression etched into their pimply faces, and some genuinely excited to be here.

         A few yards away you could see people parting for someone. That’s when I saw them. Nolan Baker, Matt Vega, Jason Zook, and finally my brother, John Shawhan. They’re the equivalent of superstars in our school. They might as well be Channing Taner and Zac Efron for how people treat them around here.

         I love my brother but I hate his status and his friends. I especially hate Jason. Unfortunately he’s in my grade along with Matt so I run into them often. But I manage to stay out of their.

way and he stays out of mine. No need to cause any drama by bringing up the past.

         Last year Matt and Jason were lowly sophomores, now they’re at the top. I have no doubt that Jason will make his new status known to the entire Junior class. He’ll be a king, with Matt not far off. It happens every year. Once the seniors are gone the former Juniors take their place, the former Sophomores take their place, and so on. And every year there’s a new sort of ‘leader’ for each grade. But this is mostly in eleventh and twelfth grade. It’s like some fucked up teenage hierarchy. Most people think that these kind of schools only exist in really cheesy shows on TV.

         I’m beyond caring that John never even acknowledged my existence in school. It’s understandable, I guess. Even if I had a social life I’ll always be the weird one in school.

         The aggravating ringing of the school bell rings in and around the school as I silently thank God that I wouldn’t have to endure the lack of intelligence any longer.

         I’m not sure what will come of this school year. There’s a hundred and eighty days in a school year and this is only day one. It baffles me that I haven't gone insane yet. But that do say that the insane swear they’re not. Who knows? I don’t and I really don’t want to.

***

Do you like this setup? I was thinking of skipping the uneventful days and finishing at the end of the school year. I'm gonna switch the point of view every chapter.

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I'm already working on the next chapter.