I awake to my alarm clock ringing after the third snooze. I decide that I need to get myself up, despite how heavy my head feels and how tired my body is. The revelation that it's Friday crosses my mind and my mood lightens up just enough to motivate myself to move.
I carry out my normal morning routine with slow steps; shower, get dressed, and eat some food. I put some concealer under my eyes to hide the puffiness from all my crying yesterday to the best of my ability. After brushing my teeth, I grab my backpack and go downstairs.
The house is silent, not that it's ever loud. When the only two people in the house don't speak more than three words to each other a day, things can get pretty quiet, especially when one of the two is hardly ever home.
I grab my keys from the coffee table where I put them when I arrived home after spending the night next to my dad in the East View Cemetery. I walk out of the door, knowing that I'm leaving early, but I have nothing else to do. I lock the door and go to my car.
I drive my dad's car. My mom already had one when he died, and I begged her to keep it so I could drive it. Back then she didn't treat me so badly; she still treated me like a human being.
It's a black, four-door Chevy Silverado with a tan faux leather interior. Just before he died, my dad installed a muffler and a two inch lift kit, so it's got some height and sound to it.
I've had so many people, mainly of the male gender, ask me if I could sell it to them, but I'll never be able to sell it. Sometimes they just ask me about the lift or the muffler, usually how much it costs. That, I can never answer because I don't know.
If I take the normal route to school, I usually arrive within fifteen minutes, but I decide to take the long way because I still have ten minutes before the doors at school open, meaning half an hour until first bell. I'm not in the mood for any talking this morning.
The vegetation in my side of East view is dull and sparse. We are the poor side. The rich people in East View like to compete, so they stay on top of their gardening. When I say they stay on top of their gardening, I mean hiring the best gardeners in the city.
East View, ever since I can remember, has always been separated by rich and poor. The only time we converge is at citywide events and in the schools because there aren't any private schools in East View. Some of the rich folk send their kids to boarding schools, but a lot of them keep their kids close to have something other than their money to show off.
After driving a few minutes in silence, I decide to switch the radio on. The last verse of "Riptide" from Vance Joy plays softly through the speakers, so I hum along. I don't like the radio very much, but if I do listen to the radio, I listen to the mixed station, 96.5. I like a little of everything, so it's perfect for me.
Once I arrive at school, it's 7:10, which means I've got ten minutes to get to my first class. It's not exactly what I'd been aiming for, but I can just move at the pace of a snail. I grab my bag from the passenger seat and exit my car. After locking it, I continue into the building. My first bell is in the 200 hall, left of the front doors. Having English in the morning is a good thing. It's not a strenuous subject, so I'm allowed to doze off just a bit without getting lost.
I meet Maylen in the hallway. Instead of talking with my other friends, I drag her into class with me, since we share the same English class. I don't want to be completely alone; I just don't want to be surrounded.
"Hey," Maylen greets me.
"Hey."
"How was your night? I tried calling you after my texts weren't being answered."
