The Neverland Project ✎

━━ seven

I woke up half an hour later than I intended to. My mother was already gone and Martina was the one who had taken upon herself the task of waking me up for school. She was wearing a unique perfume today that she hadn't worn before and the smell was rather pleasant. She gently shook me awake and informed me that Amelia had called the house and said that she was getting a ride to school with somebody else. 

I pondered who she was going to be riding to school with as I got myself ready for the day. I sat down at my desk, where I stored my makeup bag and looked at my face in the mirror. Despite how well the sleeping pills had worked, I had dark circles under my eyes that made me look like hadn't slept at all. 

"Oh my god," I whispered, "I look like I got into a fight." My fingers flew to my phone and a quick Google search confirmed it. Sleep medication, even the kind that helps you sleep more, can cause dark bags under the eyes. 

"Fuck."

I yanked my makeup bag out of the drawer where I kept it and dusted off the top. From inside the bag, I tugged out palettes and bottles of products all that had their own chemical stink. I had a container of brushes sitting on my desk that I accidentally knocked over, anxious to start working. 

I had just begun covering my zits and the circles in the foundation when Martina barged into the room. "Cherry you don't have time to do that, school's starting soon." She pulled the brush out of my hand and guided me out of my bedroom and into the front hall. Martina lifted my backpack off the ground and handed it to me. "There's a muffin in a plastic baggie just in the front pocket for you to eat on the way to school." 

I took my bag from her, swinging it over my shoulder and letting the momentum carry me out the front door and down the porch steps where my car was waiting in the driveway. Once in the car, I fastened my seatbelt and twisted the keys in the ignition and sped out of the driveway. I skipped a couple of stop signs on my way to school and cursed when a group of kindergarteners had to cross the street in front of me, a rainbow of little puffer coats and smiling children all holding hands. 

I could feel my heart rate rising as pulled into the parking lot of the school. The parking lot was filled with slush that clung to the bottom of my boots as I walked towards the school. I didn't have to walk quickly to avoid cars, it seemed that all the people that needed to be here were and I was the only straggler. There were a few people who looked like they could be students walking towards the school in the distance, probably kids who had slept in late and missed their bus. 

As I trekked up the stairs I passed a girl with dark eye makeup and ripped tights smoking a cigarette. As I passed her I held my breath and narrowed my eyes. She made a face as I passed and exhaled a large puff of smoke in my direction. I pressed my eyes shut, willing myself not to cough as I hurried past her and into the building. The hallways were mostly empty, aside from a few students standing in circles, laughing loudly. I hurried down the hallway, not even bothering to stop at my locker to drop off my jacket. 

As I opened the door to my English classroom I looked down at the floor, walking slowly to my desk all while avoiding stepping on the lines of the linoleum tiles. The class was sitting all on their computers, fingers wildly typing away at essays about the book that we had read together as a group.

Curtis Cohen was smiling at me when I sat down at my desk. He gave me a little wave and showed me the drawing that he was working on, a portrait of a woman standing on a bridge. 

"What's she doing there?" I asked him, admiring the delicate marks that his pencil had made on the paper.

He shrugged. "I haven't come up with a story for her yet." He said simply, closing his sketchbook and putting it in his backpack, opting to draw in a basic spiral instead.