Too Good to be True

Chapter 1- Another day in Paradise

Grammar tip:

They're vs there vs their

They're eating their dinner there.

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Beep Beep

My alarm made the annoying sound it makes every morning. I groaned loudly and pressed the snooze button. I am not a morning person. I'm not an afternoon person either. I'm the kind of person who wakes up at three, lies in bed for a few hours, and stays up all night on Netflix and Tumblr. But, unfortunately, the world does not work that way.

So here I am, a depressed and lonely high school student waking up at 7am to spend 7 hours in hell and then go home to sleep my feelings and problems away. It never works, but I do it anyway.

I lied in bed until twenty minutes before I needed to leave. I didn't bother to brush my hair, instead I put on my favorite beanie, it says "Bad Hair Day" on it, and a sweatshirt and jeans. They'll give me crap about wearing a beanie at school but I really don't care. Students should be able to wear whatever they want as long as they aren't naked, but according to them it's not my place to say that.

I felt nauseous while heading down the stairs. The last thing I wanted to do was eat. I grabbed my backpack and tried to slip out the door without my mom noticing, but she did and called me back in.

"Eat," she said and took out a box of cereal.

After I had eaten enough to satisfy her, I grabbed my keys, got into my rusty old Jeep, and began the drive to school.

I always took the long way. If I didn't it would only take about five minutes to get to school. Instead it takes me fifteen. My phone connected to the car's Bluetooth and Pandora started to play. When I pulled into the junior parking lot I sat there for a few minutes and watched students file into the school. Whenever the warning bell sounded I opened the car door and made my way into the building and sighed. Another day in paradise.

I walked through the hallway to first period English. People ignored me, as usual. I sat at the front of the classroom while my teacher ranted about allegories or whatever. I started to daydream about a book I was reading until I heard the teacher say my name.

"Monica, your essay on 'Huckleberry Finn' was extraordinary. It was the best in our grade. I was very impressed with your wide vocabulary and the way you explained the plot. Let's all give Monica a hand"

The class was silent. Some of the students glared at me. One girl clapped once, but stopped when she realized nobody else was clapping. I heard a boy in the back shout "Boo!". Several people joined him. That caused a wave of giggles to ripple through the classroom. The teacher's smile faltered and I felt my cheeks get warm. I'm not going to accept this, I thought, so I stood up and turned to face the class.

"This is ridiculous," I said, "You all are going out of your way to try to make me feel like shit. Let me tell you something, it's not working," I smiled and continued while making eye contact with each and every one of them, "I thought this was high school. You all are acting like kindergarteners. What did I ever do to you? Grow up."

No one said anything. I sat down and nodded at the teacher to continue. When the bell rung I got up and walked through the hallways. I saw people talking and laughing with their friends. A guy put his arm around his girl's shoulder. Jealousy nipped at my insides. Why couldn't I be like them?

At lunch I sat on the floor in the back of the library. No one was ever in there during lunch, not even the librarian. I used to sit in the cafeteria, but whenever I sat with other people they would either ignore me or look at me and smile without listening to what I was saying. I don't know what I did to deserve this. I also didn't want to be seen sitting alone. It's better to just disappear, I guess.

During eighth period Amanda Marks was handing out invitations to her halloween party everyone got one except for me and the one weird girl who sits in the back. Maybe I'll crash it and wear a morphsuit or something so nobody will recognize me.

The bell rang to signal that school was ending and I got into my car. I stopped by the cafe uptown and grabbed a milkshake, then I drove to the park. I didn't want to go home just yet. Heading to the area of the park that is normally deserted, I sat on a bench and pitied myself for a while. Tears started to roll down my cheeks and I kicked at the ground in anger. The loneliness gets unbearable some days. Why must things be this way?

"Tough day?" I heard a voice say and I jumped and looked around. He laughed, "I didn't mean to scare you."

A guy about my age stood in front of me. I stared at him for a few seconds. He was pretty cute. His glasses framed his bright green eyes and his blonde hair was untidy. I scooted over and he sat down next to me.

"Well you did," I sighed.

"Sorry," he said. There was an awkward silence before he asked, "Why are you crying?"

I wiped the tears off of my face with my sleeve, "Life is short, and it's not going how I want it to go."

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked. I shook my head. "Ah, well then. Your name's Monica, right? I've seen you around at school."

"Really?" I said. I didn't remember seeing him before, but something about him was familiar.

"My name's Dave," he said. Two children ran past and started playing nearby, "I've gotta go. It was nice to meet you."

"You too," I said and I was left alone with my thoughts again.

I moved over to a picnic table and started on my homework. Whenever it started to get cold I went to my car and drove to get something to eat. I knew mom and dad would be working late and my little brother, Jacob, would probably be out with friends.

Once I got home I ate my burger and fell into bed. Another day in paradise, I thought.

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Kind of boring but I'm starting to get the plot figured out. Thanks for reading!