The Rooftoppers: SHINE IN THE DARK

First Day

I promised myself I was going to start fresh here. After everything that happened.

For mum. For Alex. For dad.

For me.

+ + +

Today's the first day of sophomore year.

I yawned. My alarm went off. It was 7:45. Ring ring RING! RING RING RING! I slapped the clock to shut it up. I swiftly pushed my comforter away from my body so the cold air could enter and wake up my lifeless legs. I do this every time I need to get out of bed. I rubbed my eyes. I was exhausted from last night. I hardly got any sleep because I was too busy worrying about today. But I guess I'll have to deal with it now-

Zzzz.

I looked at the clock. 08:17

My sleepy eyes widened in panic. WHAT?! I fell asleep for THIRTY THREE MINUTES!

I bolted to my wardrobe dizzily and forced the doors to open impatiently. I picked out a sage green hoodie and a pair of neatly folded grey joggers- it had a bit of yellow paint by the pockets but it wasn't noticeable enough for me to have the urge to change into something else. It's not like I have a choice anyway. I quickly pulled into them and went looking for socks. I bent down under my bed and found a mix of socks, plus some other things: old magazines, a deflating soccer ball, some crusty dried red nail polish (from some cousin that I never knew existed) and a pair of old trainers with missing laces. I grabbed a handful of socks. That'll have to do. I matched up the closest socks that looked like a pair- a light grey sock and a white sock.

08:19

Ughh, no time. Gotta hurry.

I stuffed the books I've stacked up the night before into my bag. What else? My eyes wandered to my messy desk next to my bed. I saw crumpled up paper, good pens, broken pens, pencils with blunt tips, pencils with sharp tips, notebooks, sketchbooks, tangling sharpenings-

Calculator! Ruler! Compass!

I snatched those up from the table top and punched them down my bag. I looked around the room...

Oh yeah, my pencil case. Can't forget that.

I took that and stuffed it into my bag.

08:20

I think that's it.

I left the room with my bag over my shoulder-

Wait.

I turned back around to grasp my headphones and my phone- it was down to 32%.

08:21

A voice travels from downstairs: "SADES! C'MON! WE'VE GOT 6 MINUTES!"

I groaned. I don't have the energy to deal with Angry Alex as well.

I went to the bathroom and then emerged 2 minutes later with brushed teeth and combed light ginger hair.

I went down the stairs in a rush and stepped into the kitchen. Ding! Two slices of toast popped up from the toaster. I plucked them out and laid them on a plate furnished with decorative flowers by the golden rim. It's missing something.

I opened the fridge and found some butter. I spreaded hearts on the toast with a knife. It looked quite pretty. I smiled at my masterpiece as I heard familiar footsteps stepping into the kitchen. As expected, it was my mum. I greeted her a 'good morning' and embraced her while taking a bite out of the toast with one hand.

I let go of her to check the time. It's time to go.

"Love you mum."

"Have a lovely day, Sadie," Mum beams at me as Alex walks in and kisses her on the cheek.

"Stay safe and take care of your sister," she whispers to Alex. It was barely a whisper but it was loud enough for me to hear.

"You know I will, Mum, don't worry," Alex says affectionately.

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked away. I know Mum just wants Alex to keep me safe but I hate it when she thinks I'm incapable of looking after myself. I am only seventeen months younger than Alex. Being sixteen and fifteen isn't a big difference. I guess I can't blame her though. Not after what happened with Dad-

No. Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about Dad. He wouldn't want you to be crying over him on the first day of school here in Arizona. Whatever you do, don't cry.

And of course I cry. I cried every time.

I sobbed as quietly as I could while blinking away the tears rapidly. I was still not facing them.

Someone's arms wrapped around me.

It was Alex. He understands.

Someone else wraps her arms around me.

It was Mum. She understands.

We just stay there motionless for I don't even know how long. We were just releasing our grief and finding comfort in one another. I liked that. I didn't want this moment to end. It hurt too much.

Mum was the one who spoke first, "Alright, you two better go. I don't want you to miss class," she said gently with a look of sorrow in her expression. "And I've got to go to work soon anyways."

"Ok, bye mum," I wiped my face and grabbed my stuff.

The partial reason why we moved here was because mum got a better job. She used to be a part-time nurse before Dad's accident but after that, she had to quit so she could find a full-time job.

For a while, we had to live off our savings and insurances as mum looked for a job. It was the lowest point of my life- with dad gone, mum quitting her dream job and I getting bad grades at school because of it.

Alex wasn't doing so well either. He really wanted to help out so he got a part-time job at some cafè. Sure, he has a kind heart but his heart was bigger than his head. So with the late shifts and low pay, when his end of the semester exam results came, mum wasn't exactly happy about it. We

had a full-blown argument about it and it resulted on us all blaming everything on each other. We didn't speak to each other for a whole week until mum suddenly got a phone call from an aunt that said she found a simple full-time office job in Arizona for her.

That's when mum decided that we needed a fresh start at somewhere new. And that's how we moved here two months ago.

"Bye mum- SADIE, get a piece of toast for me, will you?"

I grabbed a piece of toasted bread and the car keys. We shut the door.

BANG!

Me and Alex rushed to his truck and then he started the engine.

Here we go.

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading. Please vote :) More coming soon!

-Nikki 

( 1097 words)