A Pinch Of Normalcy
“Elicia, are you awake? You’re going to be late for school!” School? That’s right. Yesterday was the last day of summer. Shit. It went by way too quickly. I glance at the clock. When does first period start? At seven, I think. And the clock reads 6:25. Son of a bitch. Now I have to do everything half-assed. I wish it was at eight like at my old school. Brush my teeth, change make my bed, a whole bunch of other things. I run down to the kitchen and grab an apple from the fridge. “I made you a burrito. Take it with you,” my mom says. I look at her and can’t help but think I’m looking at a mirror. Her hair is dark brown but if she was younger, people would think we were twins. It’s so weird. Enough comparisons for now. I’ve got to get going. My mom and I rush to the car and drive off. Come on. We can make it to Madison in time. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked my mom.
“You said you’d be up in five minutes the first time you woke up.”
“And you believed me?”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be on time. Eat your food.”
I’m munching on my burrito when I see the school closing in. Thank God we live close by. “Murn righb hure,” I say with food in my mouth.
“I know where to go. Don’t worry. ” She continues driving for another minute before entering the parking lot. “Here we are. Bye sweety. Enjoy your first day.”
“Okay. Bye.”
Now I have to run to class. I tear my schedule out of my pants pocket and find the Pre-Cal room number. Room 223. That should be right here around the corner. I swing the door open and walk inside just as the bell rings. This counts as being on time right? I try to slink into a desk in the back when the teacher catches me. “Look guys. It’s the new student. Can you introduce yourself please?” Crap. Now everyone’s looking at me. It’s really, really uncomfortable. “Um... I’m Elicia. Now, uh... can I have a seat?”
“Of course. Sit behind...”
For some reason the last thing he said trailed off. “Excuse me. Can you repeat that?”
“Just sit behind him,” he ordered while pointing towards a boy near the back of the classroom. I sat down and started taking all of my stuff out. Notebook-check, binder-check, pencil... no pencil. Huuh. I knew I forgot something. “Hey. Do you have a pencil or pen that I can borrow?” I whispered to the boy.
“Yeah. Here.” he answered back.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
He seems nice. Then again I barely just talked to him. I’m jotting down all of the notes that the teacher is writing on the SmartBoard when he tells us to pair up with someone else to work on a worksheet. I asked the guy in front of me if he wanted to join and he said yes. It’s a while before either of us say anything. I understand most of this so I don’t really need help, but it’d be nice to talk to someone right now. I miss my old friends. We’d probably be laughing about something stupid if they were here. My friends... for some reason I can’t remember their names. Why... I should worry about this later. Sometime soon. In the near future. Eh. “So whats your name?” I ask.
“Daniel. And yours? ”
“Elicia. ”
“That’s a nice name. ”
“Thanks. Your name’s cool too, I guess. ”
“Where did you move from? ”
“I moved from Elwood. I went to...” I was opening my mouth but no words were coming out. Daniel didn’t seem to notice. In fact he carried on with our conversation. “I think one of my cousins goes there,” he adds.
