Riley's Box

Part 6

I must have dozed off somewhere between dinner time and studying. 

The next time that I awoke, i found myself at my desk with my head in my textbook. That was certainly not the most comfortable of positions that a girl could find herself resting in, if you could even call it that. 

I stretched and yawned and then thought decisively that it was time for me to get ready for school. 

As I wandered into the kitchen to grab myself some cornflakes, I really hoped to myself that the day wouldn't go by too slowly at school. 

"Dad!" I called out to him. 

He walked into the kitchen then and raised an eyebrow at me. 

"Yeah?" he asked. 

"We're running out of almond milk," I said. 

This simply wouldn't do. 

"I'll add some to the shopping order," my mother said, as she tapped away at her tablet. 

"Alright, thank you. Also, dad?" I asked, turning my attention back to him. 

He paused and smiled. 

"Yes, kiddo?" he asked me. 

"Is grandma driving me home from school today?" I asked him. 

His eyes widened a little at my question. 

"Uh..." he trailed off, "Not to my knowledge, no," he said. 

"Thanks!" I said. 

That was good enough for me! 

With that thought in mind, I quickly ate my cornflakes. 

After that, it was time to get ready for the day of school. 

Once that was all sorted, then it was time for me to head to the bus stop. The walk to the bus stop took seemingly no time at all, but I knew the day would go by a lot slower once I actually got to school. 

At least Jason would be there. 

Of course, he wasn't the only person who could get me through a mighty, long school day, but he was my best friend- so his presence there was fairly important. 

I was glad that the bus arrived quickly because the sun up above was hidden behind grey clouds. The sky was completely silver and an indication that it would probably rain soon. 

If it was cloudy during the day, then that meant that it would be cloudy at night, too. 

I sat down on a seat at the front of the bus and sighed quietly. 

A cloudy sky meant no stars. However, that wasn't even the worst part of it. When the night sky was cloudy, it was starless, sure, but also seemed to have this weird amber tone to it- a mix of the lack of light and pollution, I presumed. 

Apparently, getting the bus to school was supposed to be good for the environment, but I wished to see the actual data on that one. It would be great to get to the end of my life without global warming having destroyed everything. 

The bus eventually stopped again and as soon as I exited it, my thoughts moved away from the whole dooming, global warming, thing. 

I clutched my jacket a little more tightly around me because although it was spring, the climate was cool for the season. The air had a bitter edge to it that made the hairs on my arms stick up. 

Choosing to ignore the sensation to the best of my ability, I wandered in through the main entrance doors. 

As soon as I reached my first actual lesson of the day- mathematics, my eyes instinctively wandered to gaze out of the window, where I saw that the weather had only grown worse. It was rainy, but I was now hot. Stupid humidity, I thought to myself, as I moved my fingers through hair that I knew was going to frizz imminently. 

Unfortunately, seeing as it was spring, the rain was something I was simply going to have to get used to. 

The birds didn't seem to be too bothered by the weather, though. As I got on with a few calculus questions, my eyes drifted back to the sky outside and I watched as a few magpies and crows passed by. The magpies were much more preferable to the crows. There was a reason why a group of magpies was called a parliament, while a group of crows was called a murder. 

I supposed that things would have been made even more interesting, if a conspiracy of ravens passed by. 

My teacher then remarked that it would be nice for me to, instead of staring out at the birds gliding by, actually pay attention. So, I returned my gaze to her for the remaining five minutes of the lesson! 

After that, it was time for me to head out into the fresh air again. Joy. 

At least it was lunchtime, though. There were worse things. 

As I walked across the main school grounds, I observed as a few rabbits and a mouse scurried by. 

A mouse? Rabbits? 

It was rare to see such rodents on campus, but I had to admit that they were so adorable. 

Perhaps they would have made amicable housemates for my hamster, Roberto the second. The previous Roberto had unfortunately been eaten by our old pet cat, Molly. Molly had to be put down because she was sick. That was karma for you. 

 I occasionally grabbed some food from a café a short walk away from the main school building. 

On my walk, I saw a few cats and dogs wander by, too. 

None of them were as exciting as the tortoise that my English professor kept as a class pet, though. 

After I had eaten a lunch that consisted of a sweet potato wrap and some grapes, I walked to class and greeted the teacher with a friendly smile! 

Miss Richardson smiled back at me. She was definitely my favourite teacher- that much could be said. 

I instantly got started on one of the essays that she had set for us to do and managed to write a paragraph, before I was pulled out of my moment of concentration by a voice speaking to me.