Once In A Life Time

{1}Mrs. Walton

Monday, June 17th.

I woke up to the noise of my parents yelling. Although their arguing bothers me, I'm used to it by now. But being used to something doesn't mean it stops hurting.

I roll over out of my twin-sized bed and look at my phone. It's 8:00 am.

"Oh no."

I mumble to myself. Considering the first bell rings at 8:30 am, and I'm now waking up, there's a good chance I will be late. It's the first day of senior year, and I'm late. I speed walk over to my closet but stop in front of the mirror hanging on my wall. I'm mixed with Black and Mexican. I'm in between brown skin and light skin. I have long, black, wavy hair that stops in the middle of my back. I have light brown eyes, and my height is 5'7. Most schools just started summer Break, but my school is weird. Why do we start in June? We barely had a summer; we just got a few weeks off and returned to school.

I make it to my closet and begin to stress. I'm trying to decide what to wear, but everything has stains, holes, or needs to be more significant. I only have a few clothes that fit or are in good shape.

I got what used to be a white, now greyish brown T-shirt and threw it on my bed. I moved to my dresser, which is next to my bed, to look for some pants. I threw my black jeans on the bed. I grabbed socks and put them there as well.

I got my backpack and school supplies ready last night, so I don't have to worry about that. My room door opens roughly as I finish putting on my chosen outfit.

I turn around to see a tall, scary, angry black man who happens to be my father. Behind him is Mi Madre, who is in tears. I jump and turn my attention back to him as I hear glass breaking.

He punched my mirror, which was hanging on my wall. He bent down and picked up a piece of the broken glass.

I swallow and look between him and Mi Madre.

"Here. "

"I don't-"

"Now!"

He screams at me. I look at Mi Madre, and she mouths the words 'sorry' as her sobs get louder.

"I have school."

I beg, but begging never works for him. Within a blink of an eye, he was right before me.

"Don't make me repeat it, Carmen."

"Amari just leave him alone."

Mi Madre says with tears running down her face.

My father stares at me briefly before walking out of my room. Once he was out of sight, mi madre quickly embraced me.

This has been going on for a long time now. I hate thinking about how long it's been happening. I'm pretty sure my father regrets having me. In all honesty, that hurts.

"I'm so sorry Bebé."

She cries

"It's okay Mamá. I'm okay."

I pull away from her and fix my clothes. I grab my beat-up black and white Converse, which have holes in them. I quickly brush my teeth and wash my face. I say my goodbyes to Mi Madre, grab my backpack and phone off the dresser, and begin my journey to Central High.

It doesn't usually take long to get to school, but it takes around 15 minutes on mornings like this.

Since I won't have enough time to get my paper schedule, I check the schedule on my phone: English, Math, Theater, and P.E.

Well, at least I have my favorite subject to start the day with. There's a positive. I smile to myself.

I look at the top left of my phone and see that the time is now 8:27 am. The bell rings in 3 minutes.