But He's My Teacher...

Just The Start.

"Oh shit... Uh..." The tattoo artist starts.

"What? What the hell happened? Lauren! What did you do?" I panic. That's my best friend, Lauren, also known as the youngest tattoo artist in town.

"While I was finishing up your skull, I dropped the red ink beside me and I thought it was a good idea to try to lean down to pick it up... But once I got back up-"

"Lauren! What the hell?!" I shout.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I should have known bett-"

"WAIT NO! It's perfect! You can make it look better! Just make the line you messed up on into a rose... You can put a rose beside the jawline of the skull, right...?" I ask.

"Of course... You always see everything in a unique way. And like I said last year, you really should become a tattoo artist yourself." She responds.

She finishes up my tattoo placed on my stomach. So my very third tattoo is almost finished. My mom tells me that for my age, it's too early to have tattoos but I really don't give two shits about it. She may not like my tattoos, but at least she's a great mother.

So anyways, it's about 3 days until the first day of school. It really feels like my Summer lasted for about a week. I mean all I've been doing is: Wake up, eat, shower, sleep, repeat. I had no friends to see. Mainly because I don't have any but Lauren. But Lauren's been busy the whole Summer. Because y'know, I live in California and a lot of people on the Summer like getting tattoos for their 'swimsuit bodies' I think. But I'm not sure.

"And... finished!" Lauren states. I look down at the tattoo and thank her. "Now, remember, don't go swimming in the next 3 hours."

"Yeah, yeah," I mumble. "Don't wanna feel stinging... I know." She smiles at me and cleans everything up.

Packing everything up, Lauren taps her elbow on my arm and says,"So are you ready for the first day of school on Monday?"

"Do you really want to ask that question to me right now?" I roll my eyes. She lets out a laugh. "But no," I continue,"I'm going to be bullied again. I know it. And you know how sensitive I am. And what happened last year with my ex girlfriend. She only dated me because she thought her popularity level would have gone up if people found out that she was a lesbian. I don't want that to happen again."

"I know, and I'm sorry, Joy. But guess what!" Lauren states.

"What?" I ask cautiously.

"You and I are gonna go to Disney tomorrow! I already got us the tickets and everything!" She exclaims. My face lightens up a bit.

It's been a very long time since I've done something or been anywhere fun. Probably because most fun involves being in public. I mean, I used to be okay walking around with people being able to see me. But now, I can literally hear the negative shit people say behind my back. But it's just Disney. What's the worst that could happen?

---

It's 7pm. I look at myself in the mirror. "Ugh," I breath out. "How are you going to fucking put yourself together by Monday?" I ask myself, running my fingers through my aqua colored pixie cut. My bangs fall to my face as I sigh and fall back onto my sofa. I really need to get myself started and going...

Once I get up from dozing off to a nap, I get ready for tomorrow. I put the clothes I'm going to wear on my night stand and stare down at my clothes. My Green Day tank top folded terribly upon my black ripped skinny jeans. My black high tops sitting below. I feel like I'm missing something. But I'll figure it out tomorrow... or never. I mean it's just clothes. Not like it matters.