Under Pressure

Chapter 1

I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror, cleaning off the fog that laced the surface from my shower. Normally, I hate taking showers this early in the morning but last night was like my personal visit to what hell was like. Teachers decided to dump a ton of homework on me like my educational pain was their pleasure. Oh, and not to mention, I had this meeting after school that lasted two hours instead of one.

By the time I got home, I wanted to face plant into my bed and attend to my exhaustion, but I couldn’t. My homework called to me and I hated ignoring it for the mere fact that if I didn’t do it, I would be screwing myself over terribly.

I walked out into the cold hallway and took quiet steps to get to my room. My mom was still sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake her. She had a long day set up for today and needed as much sleep as she could get. Once in my room, I dried my hair slightly with my towel and got dressed in black pants and a tan v neck shirt.

I applied a little bit of mascara and walked down to the kitchen to eat and make lunch. I settled to make a simple sandwich because I was honestly feeling super lazy; as for breakfast, my favorite cereal was lined up. Again, my laziness.

My phone ringed and I didn’t realize how loud it really was. How did I ever have trouble waking up with that blaring in my ear is the biggest mystery I choose not to solve. I ran upstairs to go get it to avoid waking my mom up and nearly ate the carpet on the way up.

“What?” I answered without looking at the ID.

“Good morning to you, too, Best Friend. Someone is peachy.”

“Sorry, my phone is just loud and my heart is racing from running to shut it up.”

My best friend, Celeste, always called me in the morning to ask when I would be ready to be picked up. We always car pooled since she lived two streets apart from each other and my mom was a busy woman. It made things easier, but I lost track of time and realized how little of it I had left till school.

“I should be ready in max ten minutes. I just need to eat and put shoes on.”

“Alright, babe, I will be there in seven minutes.”

I laughed, “You are one for specifics.”

            “Yeah, yeah, get ready!” Celeste ordered me and I hung up. I quickly finished my cereal and put my tan and white Vans on. My backpack was placed at the door, so all I had to do was walk to my mom’s room and say a quick goodbye to let her know I was leaving.

            “Have a good day,” she mumbled into her blankets and I shut her door like a ninja. Celeste beeped her car horn and I cringed. She never does that. I needed my phone and she beeped again. I could just feel her waves of impatience.

            “Scarlet! Hurry up!” Great, now the neighbors know my name.

            I ran out the door with my backpack in hand and sat in her silver car. Clean as ever, I inhaled the fruity scent of the air freshener.

            “What’s with your impatience today?” I bit out.

            “I hate waiting. At seven minutes, I was here. At ten minutes, I honked.”

            I laughed and mocked her precision. My obsessively on time best friend always pestered me about my schedule. I was never ready at a certain amount of time. It was always different. When we got to school, I sighed. MY excitement was already low for today’s classes and I was already hoping the teacher would take a chill pill and not give us so much homework as last night.