Finding Me

chapter one

Sahara Caballarios woke up to her alarm, her white iPhone 4S blasting a dubstep song. She quickly got up to use the bathroom, but to her irritation, she found her younger brother, Russell going into it. She grumpily returns to her room to take off her yellow pajama shorts, slipping into one of her many black leggings. As she lays back into her bed, her mom pops her head into the room, as she does every morning.

"Sahara," exclaims her mother. Sahara sits up abruptly. "You better not be late for school child," her mom continues, pointing a firm finger at her.

"Yes mom," Sahara says standing up. Her mother gives her a smile, then closes the door. Sahara sighs, rolling her eyes. Her mom knew very well that, that was the opposite case; Sahara being late for school. But she got up anyways, because she knew she will not hear the end of it from her. Annoyed, she pulls off her lime green sweater, that she received a few years back from her soccer camp. She begins to look and study her reflection, wearing just her black bra and leggings. She was grown to always have self-confidence, no matter what.

"You are one cute girl," she says to herself, giving herself two thumbs up and a wink.

Her childhood had been slightly rough. When she was six years old, she has always been the quiet and nice girl. The chubby girl. She's been called horrible names by children at her elementary school, but she always ignored them. She had to if she wanted to survive the further name-calling she would have to endure over the next five years. She would come home, to the emptiness of her room and cry her heart out. As she got to middle school, people did not seem to comment as much, and she began grow a bit of a backbone.

She snaps out of her thoughts and continues to stare at the face of the reflection in the mirror once again. She looked at her facial features; a round face, with skin of darken milk chocolate, which held sultry, deep brown pecan eyes, that had the alertness of a child at the zoo. A flat, short bridge and rounded tipped nose that sat nicely in the middle of her face. And a set of full, almost rosy lips, like many black females had. She has slimmed down since the sixth grade, gaining a curvy figure from soccer and a better diet. Quite large and womanly hips, and thighs that were big and firm but jiggled slightly with each step. This made it difficult for her to buy clothes, and didn't entirely help her confidence, or the lack of it. Realizing she's been standing in front of the mirror way too long, swimming in her thoughts, she pulls on a button jean top and went to go brush her teeth.

"Russell. Open. Up," Sahara wails banging on the bathroom door.

"Hold on Sahara," he hollers over the sound of the tap running.

"Just go use mom and dad's bathroom," Teodor says.

"Teo I didn't ask for your input," Sahara snaps back. Teodor grabs his crotch area, and Sahara returns his gesture with the middle finger. She huffs as she watches her younger brother go down the stairs. She gets up knowing that Teodor is right and heads to her parents' room. She starts her bathroom routine with angry words spewing in her mind. When she's finish in the bathroom, she places her toothbrush back into her room and heads downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.

She opens the fridge, the sight placing a huge smile onto her face. Thank you dad. She takes the plastic foods container, placing it into her handheld lunch bag. She saunters over to the counter where they keep their bread, and plops in a cinnamon bagel into the toaster. As her bagel is being toasted, she makes her way to the refrigerator, pouring herself a glass of Simply Orange juice. She takes a long sip, placing the butter container onto the counter, as she closes the fridge door with her foot. The sweet scent of cinnamon fills the kitchen and a pop sound is made. With smile on her face, she butters her bagel, then pieces it together, taking a great and well needed bite into it. She places the dirty dishes into the sink and heads for the front door.

"Dammit," she says, turning around and running back to her house. She was halfway down the four blocks she had to walk to the bus stop, before she realized she left her soccer bag in the house. Once she finally made it to the front door and unlocks it, she tumbles in.

"Ow," she groans, holding her head. She watches as a pair of long legs step over her.

"Make sure you put on the alarm and lock the door," Russell yells over his head as he jogs away.

"Thanks" she mutters. She picks herself off the ground, takes off her shoes and goes into the laundry room. She begins to panic when she doesn't see her soccer bag anywhere. She looks in the cupboards over both the dryer and washing machine but all she found were laundry detergent and gloves. She leans against the wall and begins to slide down it, accepting defeat. She rests her head upwards against the wall, closing her eyes in hopes of trying to remember where she last put the bag. Once she opens her eyes, she sees it pushed back on top of the cupboard over the dryer.

"Thank you," she breathes, while getting up. She goes on her toes to reach for the bag but just barely touches. She steps back, her eyes gleaming with determination; then she does a little run, leaping, and grabs the bag. Once she has it and both her feet were on the floor, she holds the bag close to her body as she catches her breath and await for her heartbeat to calm down. She exits the laundry room and towards the front door before she misses her bus.