Paperboy. (h.s. au)

01.

Two weeks and two days into my summer vacation and I have achieved absolutely nothing.

Each day has been sort of a routine. I wake up "too late," I eat a big breakfast consisting usually of cereal and whatever else I'm feeling that morning, I retrieve the newspaper from the sidewalk while my second breakfast is toasting in the toaster, eat that, then laze around until I feel like making or unmaking plans I may or may not have.

It's been a thriller, really.

Now, I scroll through my Instagram post feed, halfheartedly perusing the ever-so exciting lives of my friends or not-friends from school. Some, I realize, are actually doing things with their lives; getting tan at the beach, going out to parties, having fun.

I can't get a tan to save my life due to my unbearably paper-white skin, regardless if I'm at a beach or not. Parties are completely out of the question seeing as neither myself nor my friends are particularly gregarious. Scratch that. We can be plenty social when we're together, it's the fact that none of us take interest in getting dressed up or wasting gas, and/or gas money on seeing the people from school. We graduated, and we don't want to see them again. The end.

From that short list, I can do only one: have fun. Sort of. I hardly give myself the chance, unfortunately. Being lazy and anxious are bad things to be in the summer. Or any time, I suppose.

Realizing that I actually have no desire to learn more about these people's lives, I put my phone down on the table in front of me. A second later, I pick it back up when I hear the glass violently vibrate at the alert of an incoming call from my mother.

I accept the call greeting my mother with a tired, "Hi there."

"I hope you're working on the list of things I asked you to do." The way she says it makes me think that she thinks I haven't started it yet. She's right.

I get up from the couch, scrambling around trying to find the list she left for me before leaving for work, "Yeah, I'm almost finished." I find the list, and read the first thing I see: "vacuuming the living room floor."

"Last time I checked our vacuum wasn't silent," she says quickly.

"I just finished."

"But I didn-"

"I have to go shower, I'll see you later, mom." I begin to pull the phone from my ear.

"Robin," she says shortly, "do not interrupt. After your shower get David from the pool. His little friend's mom took them this morning." At least my nine year old brother has a social life.

"Will do, bye bye."

After we hang up, I actually do go shower and pull on a pair of shorts with a random t-shirt I find on the end of my bed. I slide on some flip-flops and grab the keys to my pride and joy- my lovely green pickup from 1983. I bought it off of my ancient neighbor down the street about six months ago for thirty dollars because he can't drive it anymore. I had tried to do some convincing for his sake, seeing as though this is a fully functioning vehicle in good shape. He insisted that I take it for that price. Bless his heart. And his truck.

I go outside, hop in my truck and start the engine to the old beaut. Then I carefully back out of our short driveway and begin my quest to the public pool.

The small town we live in isn't a particularly pleasing one. It's tiny; a little more than one hundred years old, and anywhere worth going is at least twenty minutes away. But hey, at least there's a dirty public pool for kids to gather, right? Most of the shops are old and dingy. I haven't the slightest clue how some of them have stayed in business so far. 

I take it back, one place worth going is the library, my place of employment of three years. It's quiet, there are nice old ladies who work with me(Marie, Pat, and Fran), and books of course. My second favorite thing behind my truck. There isn't a uniform, which is a plus. The only dress-code- best stated by my co-worker Fran- is, "don't dress like a slob," which is within my reach, I guess. And they let me eat snacks when I'm not handling books, so there's another plus. It pretty much fell into my lap, that job. I had been observing the newly added books to the collection when Marie had told me that I'm there too often to not be paid for it. I started the next day.

I approach the pool at last and turn into the parking lot to park. Shutting the car off and locking the doors, I head to the entrance to meet David. I tell the person at the gate that I'm only here to pick up my brother so that I don't have to pay to enter and go inside. She's seen me around here enough times to know I'm telling the truth. 

I accidentally take in a deep breath of air. This place reeks of mold and chlorine. I hear my younger brothers loud voice and call him over after coughing a few times. He gathers his things and follows me out, still sopping wet from the pool.

Once we reach the car, he lovingly tells me that I look like a mess. I thank him and make him dry off and lay a towel down before getting in my car.

"This thing is kind of a piece of garbage, you know. Why don't you get a new car so people don't think you're an old man?" David asks me.

"It was thirty dollars and it runs fine, kid." I shake my head at the comment.

We get home and I head up to my room after having a brief conversation with my mom about her half day at work and why I went out with my hair wet did you know you could get sick.

I pick up my newest edition to my ever-growing book collection and wait for dinner time to arrive.

And there you have it. A day in the life of me has proven to be substantially unexciting. Because every day mirrored the last, and every day felt the same to me- given the little jerks and pulls that everyone gets now and then. Or maybe that's just me. Regardless, my life is dull. And it will continue to be dull.

The jerks and pulls in my life have been slightly negative thus far that it came to me as a surprise when one of them turned out to be positive.

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A/N: If you have decide to read this, (*elvis voice*) thank you, thank you very much. If you like it, then vote please! Comment as well. I beg that you be nice if you do. 

Tell me what you think so far!

Xx

M.