Janet
"Ma'am." I heard a tapping on my window. "MA'AM!". I jumped up and let my car seat up. I looked to see that there was the police officer shining a flashlight into my car. Rolling down my window, I asked him what the issue was. I squinted at the light shining on my face.
"Yes, officer?"
"Ma'am you can't park here." I quickly straightened up. He began to pull out a pad and I knew for a fact that he was about to ticket me. I looked over and saw the no parking sign. I don't know why I didn't notice it before.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just trying to catch a couple of hours of sleep." He looked into my car at the piles of my clothes and belongs then looked back at me. He gave me this look of sympathy then put his pad back into his pocket.
"Just move along ma'am."
"Yes, sir. Goodnight."
"Goodnight and good luck."
"Thank you." He walked back to his car and I started my engine. Turning out of the space, I looked for another place to park. Living out of your car is never easy, especially when you have only fifty dollars to your name. But it's what my life was reduced too. After being kicked out by my parents, I had nowhere else to go. All of my friends had moved away or they lived on campus. So my car was the last resort and this was what my nights consisted of; driving around trying to find a place to sleep. I was used to being awakened by officers in the middle of the night, to the point that I had pretty much learned all of the patrol hours. I go to sleep from eleven to three because that's when the officers were patrolling the area. I'd move my car to find a new place to park and sleep again from four to seven, if I can. Oftentimes, I'm not able to go back to sleep, so I spend my time doing school work. Seeing as how I also worked after my classes, this really benefitted me.
I couldn't find anywhere else to park so I just drove to my college campus and parked in the visitor lot. It was after the hours of the campus police patrol, so I was good to sleep. Letting my seat back, I reached over to my pile of things in the backseat to get my blanket. Covering myself up I laid back and tried my best to fall asleep. I switched positions for about ten minutes before I realized that I wasn't going to get any sleep. Sitting back up, I decided to do some homework, so I pulled out my laptop and was happy to see that it was fully charged. I brought up my essay assignment from my creative writing class and got to work. The assignment was to describe how we felt on our first day on campus. We had to be very descriptive, which I never had a problem with. Unfortunately, I never liked anything I wrote so I kept deleting and starting over. I spent hours listening to my radio and working.
Before I knew it, it was almost eight o'clock. I had a class at nine so I had to get moving. I moved my car to it's usual spot; in the corner of the parking lot where no one ever went. I couldn't risk people seeing the inside of my car. I packed a change of clothes, my toothbrush, my towel, and soap into a bookbag. Getting out of the car, I made my way into the athletic building. This is where all the gyms and locker rooms were and since being kicked out I had been showering here. I made sure to get in here before any of the sports teams did because they often had practice early in the mornings. The coach knew that I did this and he always made sure I was out before letting the team in.
I made my way to the showers and began my morning routine. Sitting my things in the locker closest to the shower, I hopped in and tried to clean myself as quickly as possible. This was one of my only moments of peace; feeling the warm to hot water running down my back as I took my washcloth and massaged the soap into my skin. Allowing the stress and emotion of the past twenty-four hours to melt away. I felt glorious.
My alarm went off on my phone, signaling that I only had fifteen minutes before the team would be in here. I got out of the shower and quickly lotioned and put on my clothes, then brushed my teeth. Going back to the locker, I put on my clothes and quickly packed my stuff, leaving the locker room with two minutes to spare. Walking back to my car to switch out my clothes bag for my bookbag. Looking in my rearview mirror, I noticed that I forgot to do my hair. Quickly, I pulled out my hair products and did a nice slick back ponytail on my 4a-4c hair. After that, I did some light makeup. I was a medium-dark skin tone and I had great skin so I rarely needed foundation. Keeping it simple, I put on some mascara, blush, eyeliner, and some gloss.
I grabbed my backpack and laptop and headed towards the building where my class would be happening. Since it was early, there were very few students around campus and I liked the peace of it. I sat at a table outside of the classroom where my class would be held and pulled out my laptop. There were still twenty minutes before the class started, so I put the final touches on my paper. I actually liked this paper. It was rare that I got the chance to express my emotions and have someone interested to hear them. This made me feel special and important. Like someone actually cared, even if it was for a grade. It was something. "Hey, Jan." I jumped and turned around to see my best friend Toni standing behind me. She covered her mouth while laughing. "Sorry girl. Didn't mean to scare you." She made her way around me and sat in the seat across from me. "It's okay."
Taking out her makeup bag, she spent a few minutes checking her makeup and hair. Something must've not been right because she took out her makeup and did some touch-ups on her face. I found myself watching and admiring her. Her shiny, type four hair pulled back into two puffs. Her glossy, round eyes, that were accented by her cat-like eyeliner. That which was paired with a beautifully blended black and purple eyeshadow. In the middle of her face sat her cute button nose that had a little glitter highlighter on it. I admired how her cheekbones lifted when she smiled with her beautifully plump lips, which were only enhanced by the lipgloss on her lips. She looked up at me and noticed me staring. "What?" I quickly snapped out of my thoughts. "Nothing. I was just lost in my thoughts, daydream. You know how I get." She looked skeptical but brushed it off. "Ummm so how did your paper go?"
"Good. I think I'll get a good grade."
"That's great. I hated writing mine. I couldn't think of anything to write."
"I'm sure that's not true."
"No really, every time I wrote something, I erased it. I mean who does that?"
"I do."
"Seriously?!"
"Yeah. I always hate what I write."
"I never knew that." She looked down at her watch and grabbed her bag. "Come on." I looked and saw that it was two minutes until class started. I made my way in with Toni and we of course sat next to each other. I got into my zone and thought about nothing but school. This was another place where the problems in my world disappeared. Here, I was just another student.
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