A Grave Problem

5. Sophomore Year

 "Miaka!"

At the sound of her mom calling her name, Mia tore her eyes away from the computer screen and glanced at the clock on her nightstand; she still had ten minutes before she was supposed to be downstairs. Sighing, she turned off the monitor and headed, fully dressed, out towards the kitchen. Even though Mia was obviously ready to go, her mom was not impressed.

"You need to hurry – today's the first day of school. You can't afford to be late!" she said, scowling at Mia. "You cut it too close. I should never have let you sleep so much this summer."

"Sorry." Mia said, trying her best to sound like she meant it as she passed her mom on the way into the kitchen. But as she opened the refrigerator door, Mia rolled her eyes.

Her mom had been making comments like this for as long as Mia could remember; she was used to it. And it was no good explaining that she hadn't slept in this summer – her mom wouldn't listen. She'd just get even more upset, and Mia would run the risk of getting grounded.

"Do you have your backpack ready?" her mom asked.

"Yeah – by the front door."

Mia grabbed the sandwich she'd made the night before and set it in her backpack on top of her books. She was still fuming silently at her mother as she headed out the door and towards the bus stop at the end of the street; she was tired of being told all the time that she was going to be late. Mia knew she would never be late to school because she was never in a hurry in the morning. Since she rarely slept, there wasn't a chance she would sleep in too late. And she always had more than enough time to get ready in the mornings; today wasn't any different than any other day as far as being ready on time was concerned. She tried to remind herself that her mom was always nervous on the first day of school, but it didn't make her feel much better. Sometimes she wished her mom would remember that Mia was the one going to school and try to relax!

The bus pulled up to the front of the school in what seemed like no time at all. Mia walked casually off the bus, trying to remember where her first class was. Her schedule had been mailed to her house almost two weeks ago, but Mia had only casually glanced at it. She usually needed to go to each class once or twice before she could really remember it anyway.

She walked through the doors, checking her schedule as she went. Her first class was math. When she was younger, she used to like math, at least a little. But as she got older, it just wasn't as fun as it used to be; it didn't hold her attention like it did in elementary school. Maybe that was why she always seemed to make so many mistakes. At least history was next. She actually liked history. Now all she had to do was get through math.

She'd gotten to school about ten minutes before class actually started, so she had more than enough time to find her locker and figure out the combination before heading to class. It took her four tries before the lock finally popped open – she always did have trouble with those stupid things. Mia threw her sandwich on the bottom shelf and double-checked that she had the right books before heading to class. Even with the locker troubles, Mia was still the first one there. She walked into the darkened room and hit the switch. The florescent lights flickered a little as they warmed up.

Since she had her pick of every seat in the room, Mia settled on one three rows from the back, on the side closest to the door. She'd thought about sitting in the very back row, but decided against it. She wanted to at least look like she might pay attention to the teacher, and she knew she never would if she was sitting too far away.

As the other kids started to walk into class, Mia glanced up casually, wondering if she would know anyone. She didn't have to wait long. The first couple of students Mia only recognized by sight, but after a few minutes a tall girl with deep copper hair walked in the door.