how to live a life

Chapter one

I really hate these films where the main character makes the biggest mistakes and screws everything up, but then in the ending there's the happiest happy end of all time for literally no reason. Unfortunately, at the moment I feel exactly like I'd be the main character in one of these films. Just without the happy end. Only the mistakes. The first mistake was to accept the man who came into my and my mom's life without asking for it. The second mistake was to allow that we go to brazil and let everything behind us. And the third mistake is to wake up late on my first day in the new school. I'd say my life is ready for Hollywood. "Honey, you're late. Please hurry up!", I hear my mom's voice from the kitchen one floor und me. I sigh, get out of my bed and look around in my new room for a second. It's pretty big and under the roof, so there are wooden roof beams under the ceiling. I like that actually. My bed stands right under a window, so I can look at the stars at night. Pretty good idea from my mom. The rest of my room is not really spectacular: a wooden desk, a small wardrobe, an old leather couch and a bookshelf. The books are stored in the thousand moving boxes - just like all my other things - which I still haven't unpacked after three weeks. The only personal item in this entire room is a string of lights to which I attached photos from my life in Leiria. That's it. My new home. I blink for focusing again and walk the short way to my bathroom. I have the whole floor for me - the bathroom and my own room. Mom and Fernando sleep in the floor under me, where the kitchen, one more bathroom and the living room are too. I wash my face with cold water, brush my teeth and comb my hair. It is straight, in contrast to the curls of my friends from Leiria. They used to say I was lucky, but I always wanted to be more similar to them. I go back into my room, put on an oversized T-shirt and short jeans and briefly search one of the moving boxes for my earrings and bracelets. After I found them, I look at the clock again. We will never make it on time. Nevertheless, I hastily reach for my school bag, ignore the fact that I haven't had breakfast, run down the stairs and out into the front garden, where my mom and Fernando are already waiting impatiently for me in front of Fernando's Jeep. "What took so long, meu todo?", my mom asks with the nickname she's been using for me since I can remember. I shrug my shoulders and answer: "Clock didn't ring." My mom shakes her head in this how-can-something-like-that-even-happen-way and opens the car door for me to get in. "Have fun at school", Fernando says, but I'm sure he didn't hear my quit "Thank you". Anyways, I don't want him to realize that I can be friendly. My mom kisses him, and says something I cannot hear because of the car door I just closed. A few seconds later, she sits down next to me on the driver's seat. She starts the engine and sets off without a word, but after a few minutes of driving she looks at me again. "Alcina", she begins, "It's three weeks now. It would be really nice if you start giving Fernando a chance." "I don't know him", I reply without looking at her. "Then get to know him! It's not that hard, Honey. He's really a nice person." Yes. Maybe. But I've known nicer persons before him and because of him, I probably won't ever see them again. And the chance to meet nice people at a big and loud high school seems pretty low. I look at my phone for the time. We're already late, perfect. This is gonna be a very interesting day.