Nightshade's Secret

Chapter 1

2:27 PM

"This is the longest class of my life" I complain aloud to myself. I'm sitting in Miss Millican's class, my 8th and final period, waiting for the bell.

We're supposed to be taking notes on the PowerPoint displayed in front of us, but every time I try, after jotting two words down I doze off.

Not literally, I could never fall asleep in class. I just blank out and think about what I'll be doing when I get home. I secretly have my phone next to my lap as I refresh my Instagram every 20 seconds, but no new posts. I mean it's 2:30 on a Thursday after all. I keep glancing up at my US gov. Teachers direction, careful not to get caught.

I decide to text my dad:
Daddyyy
Ugh help me
Can you plz sign me out??

After a few long minutes of pretending to take notes, I get a reply:
Haha it's almost the end of the day, can you last a little longer? I can't sign you out now.

I groaned internally.
Noooooooooo

He sent me another text:
Do good in school sweetie! Xx

I turn my phone off and slip it in my backpack, there was no point in having it on now, and I want to save the battery.

I glance at the clock: 2:35 PM
This is going to be a long day
***
After sitting through absolute hell, the 2:55 announcements come on and indicate that lacrosse practice is canceled bla bla bla... And they release the seniors.

I yearned to be a senior, absolute freedom, independent study options, more elective choices, every freshman's dream, right?

The 4 dings of our school bell indicated that it was finally 3:00, and the school day was over.

I walked out with my headphones in, listening to my favorite Pandora station, Pentatonix radio.

After a few minutes of walking across streets and making my way through bushes, I cut through the fence, and approached my dads bright red truck. You could identify it from a mile away.

I climbed in the passenger seat and my dad drove off. "How was your day sweetie?" He asked. "Boring as frick." I complained. He chuckled, "so do you got any homework?" He asked, "nope." I replayed almost immediately.

I saw him raise an eyebrow. "Again?" He asked, "and why is that?" He said, his voice full with suspicion.

"Because I just don't." I said and before he could respond I turned the volume all the way up in the car.

Okay, so maybe I was bluffing a bit. I did have some homework, but it wasn't a big deal. My teachers only check like once a week. My step brother always teases me about being dumb, but the only reason I'm a C average student is because I'm lazy when it comes to work.

We pulled up to my driveway and I raced upstairs to my room, dying to change my clothes. It was March, here in Modesto, and it was way to hot for what I'm wearing.

I looked in my mirror and I saw that I was clammy with sweat, wearing a black t shirt and army-green cargo pants. My side French braid was a bit frizzy and my layers had caused some stray pieces of my dark hair to fall out the ends. I tryed fixing it, but just made it worse. Screw It, I thought, and just scooped my hair into a messy pony tail. who am I trying to impress?

I changed into black track shorts and a white tank top, but I left my black chocker necklace on. I slipped my converse off and replaced them with black fuzzy socks.

I don't care how hot it is, it's never too hot for fuzzy socks.

I bounced downstairs and had a banana and peanut butter, and saw Jordan playing video games on the TV.

He noticed my presence and greeted me with a "hey Aqua."

"Hey Jordy." I replied back, with a mouthful of banana. He chuckled and went back to his game.

I went upstairs and crawled into bed. And I know what your thinking, I take naps after school because I like to stay up at night, so I only get around to 2 to 3 hours of sleep each night. I crawled into my mountain of covers, the cool sheets refreshing. I slipped away into my thoughts, thinking of the stars...