I Guess We'll Save the World

'The most important day of my life'

I wake up on the morning of the 'most important day of my life' to a sharp poke on the head. Believe it or not this is my preferred way of being awoken. It means two things: my brother, Josh is home from college and Rosa, my nanny, will not be waking me up using her usual yelling until I fall on the floor method. If this were not the 'most important day of my life' I would have stayed put for at least three more increasingly violent pokes, but I needed to get ready. On the 'most important day of one's life' they usually should take some time to brush their hair. As I slide painfully out of bed Josh makes sure to remind me of something I almost forgot.

"Hurry up Mimmers! It's the most important day of your life!" He says in a sickly sarcastic tone accompanied by a mocking slap on the back. I scowl at him and show off my newly manicured nails using a particular finger. Josh might be my favorite brother but he is also the bane of my existence. Not only is he the smartest person I know but, the most sarcastic. Plus being the second born he was the last kid in the family to get a normal name. My parents, Sally and Stephen, named their first borns Kyle and Josh. They the proceeded to go to the dark side and name me Mim, my mothers maiden name and the source of a never ending stream of nicknames and mispronunciations. Seriously how hard is it to pronounce Mim!

"How could I forget!" I mumble limping over to my bathroom in a not quite awake daze. As I reach for my door handle I suddenly turn around. At top speeds I sprint, really it is more of a lumber since I am half asleep, over to Josh and whack him in the back of the head.

"What the Hell?" Josh mutters swerving around. But he is too late because I have already lumbered back over to my bathroom door. I slam it shut laughing menacingly, proudly taking in the true power of my stealthy ninja skills. As I lock the door I can hear Josh grumbling to himself about getting me next time and the unfortunate existence of locks. Something you wouldn't expect a teenage boy to say. I have to give myself a high five for that burn which as I have found out from many experiences are not as cool as you think they'll be.

Josh and I share our blondish-brown hair and our annoyingly pale skin but that's about it. Though as far as everyone else is concerned we are identical. Josh is tall and wiry, but he's got face on him. By that I mean my best friends Harriet and Beth are both seriously considering taking his name. Of course they know him. I think he'd be a real player if it weren't for the fact that he is a complete introvert and comes off as the nerdiest guy on the planet.

Alone in my bathroom, I am forced to return to the thoughts that have been weighing me down for months. The drawings. Around three months ago I began drawing these girls, they were all around my age and I knew for a fact I had never met them before, but some how I knew everything about them. This wouldn't be as freaky if it weren't for the fact that the drawings had become an obsession. They had slowly become the only thing I could think about. It was like they were calling me, reaching out to me. I felt as though I owed something to these mysterious girls trapped in my sketchbook. As I brush my teeth I think about the possibility that I've gone insane. A possibility that has become increasingly likely ever since I had the dream.

When I finally turn to look at my dress and grad robes the drawings return to their home in the back of my mind. I can feel them waiting for a chance to return to my main focus and take control of my hands, but my dress manages to distract me for now. The dress is beautiful bought with the money my parents should have used for plane tickets. I call this dress the 'most important dress of my life' which it should be considering it cost twice my parents budget. Fortunately for me it is also my 'sorry we're ditching your graduation dress'. That is my parents though, always busy and never here. Of course I'm used to it. I slip on my shoes, grab my bag and head down stairs to continue the 'most important day of my life'.

As soon as I get down the stairs and reach the kitchen Rosa does her best to make up for the vocals I missed out on when she missed out on waking me up this morning.

"Oh my Mim! My beautiful Mim! Look at you in your dress and you robes! My beautiful Mim on the most important day of her life!" She cooes at volumes that could shatter glass. Giving me a suffocating hug that could shatter lungs. Despite Rosa's loudness she was the only good thing that came out of my parents absence.

"Chocolate chip pancakes!" I exclaim doing my best to fake some surprise as soon as Rosa releases me from her bone crushing hug. Rosa makes chocolate chip pancakes when ever there is a big event. First day of school, holidays, finals, prom, that one time the president came to our tiny suburb, etc. I still smile as I sit down because although the pancakes are predictable they are my favorite thing on earth.

Rosa is a short and stout woman with beautiful dark hair and thick glasses that are all over shadowed by her constant smile. The kind of smile that stays on even when she is yelling at you because you told your latin teacher to "take the fourth declension and shove it where the sun don't shine". The kind that says you are going to those three detentions and I will make your life hell, but you'll wake up to chocolate chip pancakes when it's all over. My parents hired her as soon as Kyle was born and Rosa has taken care of my brothers and I with the love and support she would have given her own children. Rosa is the one good thing about our parents constant absence.

As I inhale my pancakes I chat with Josh and Rosa about my future. This talk is mainly made up of college stuff and comforting Rosa as she sobs into her breakfast. I'm going to Boston College this fall and every emotion I have ever had is packed into the thought. I'm happy about finally leaving this suburb, excited about all the opportunities I will have, sad to leave Rosa, scared to be all alone, and about a thousand other emotions that I don't even know how to express. All the while the drawings scratch at the back of my mind doing their best to worm there way into my thoughts.

"College is great! You'll love it. Well at least I do, but you know, I go to-" Josh begins in his best nonchalantly better than you voice.

"Harvard. I know," I interrupt dryly in my best will whack you in the head again voice.

"College is horrible. You'll hate it!" Rosa whales into her already soggy pancakes.

The conversation continues like this for about 20 minutes. Josh brags about Harvard wearing the concerned older brother mask, I throw out snarky comebacks while secretly taking in any advice I can get and Rosa objects while making a show of loudly crying. Until our sort-of-our-family realizes we are about to be late. Most people would be surprised by the thought of being late to the 'most important day of one's life', but in my house lateness is the kind of illness with no cure. So we all pile in the car lying to each other and ourselves that this time we are not going to be late this time.

On the drive the magnitude of the 'most important day of my life' hits me. This is it. Good bye high school, friends, teachers, cafeteria, library, drama club, student council, I even start missing latin 4 and calculus. Before I can help it my face starts doing that weird thing where it's scrunches up in an attempt to not cry. Of course Josh notices. But instead of laughing at me he gives me a knowing smile in the mirror. In an attempt to keep my eyeliner intact I let my mind drift. The drawings do not hesitate to craw back into my thoughts, suddenly the images and stories of three different girls drift through my mind and run down to my fingers.

I'm about to start the search for a stray napkin when the car comes to a halt. There it is graduation. The wave of emotion returns and my faces scrunches a little, but it quickly returns to its normal state when I see Harriet and Beth waiting for me outside the school. I run up them and we hug, Harriet is already sobbing and my eyes are once again threatening my eyeliner. God I'm such a sap.

"You smell like pancakes!" Beth laughs as I release them.

"Really that's the first thing you say to me on the 'most important day of our lives'!" I say raising eye brow and doing my best to look like I am severely judging her. I break character and burst into laughter when they both groan at the mention of the 'most important day of our lives'.

"Come on we're already late!" Harriet snorts yanking us onto the crowded lawn where the ceremony will take place. Events are what my fancy private school does best. The lawn looks like a movie and the majority of the kids have no problem staring in it. I look around the huge space as I take my seat and try to remember what we practiced during the rehearsal. I still don't know if that's normal, a graduation rehearsal complete with catering and a post-rehearsal party.