Mr. Way

First Day Back

Jenny:

"Honey wake up, it's time for school."

I blink my eyes groggily and call out, "Ok mom, I'm up." I sit up in my bed, grabbing my phone off my nightstand. Unplugging it, I check the time. 6:30 a.m. I look out the window, and it's still fairly dark.

"Damn school. I should never be up at such an unholy hour." I grumble to myself as I swing my legs over the side of my bed, my bare feet hitting my warm carpeted floor.

"I can do this", I say to myself. It's the first day back from winter break. I get to see all my friends again. This is should be motivation. I rise from my position on the edge of my bed. I gather a towel and washcloth and proceed to step into the bathroom down the hall. I strip my pajamas off and switch the shower on. Stepping under the warm stream, I sigh. I think about the day's events that are sure to come as I wash myself. More than one person is sure to piss me off today, it's inevitable.

"Well, break was fun while it lasted. But now I have to go back to hell school. Oops. I meant high school. Same thing." I roll my eyes as I turn the shower off. Grabbing my towel, I try to think of the positives. I hate high school sometimes, but it can be ok. Lunches are fine, I only have to sit on the floor sometimes. See, they're doing construction at my school and the cafeteria won't be done until after March. So in the meantime, we have to eat in the second gym. We only have a limited amount of tables work with. And they all have seats attached already, so there's no pulling up an extra chair. If want to sit with my friends (which I only have like 8 of anyway, that might seem like a lot, but in a school of 1500+ kids with like 150 or more alone in your lunch period, it's not) and not with strangers, sometimes I have to sit on the floor.

I leave the bathroom wrapped in my towel. I rush from the bathroom the warmth of my room. "Holy hell, it's cold." I shut the door and dry myself as quickly as I can. After applying lotion and deodorant, I pick out a set of new blue undergarments and shake my hair out.  "Now, what to wear?" After much debate with myself I settle on black skinny jeans, a new pair of knee high combat boots, and long sleeve black t-shirt with a parental advisory sticker on the front. I quickly brush out my long black hair, fix my front fringe, and pick up my backpack.

Heading down my steps, I check the time on my phone. 7:30. I'm making good timing, I don't have to be at school until 8. I step into my living room and set my bag down on the couch, plopping down next to it. I switch the TV on just as I hear my mom yell for me.

"Jenny, breakfast is ready."

I sigh. I just sat down. "I'm not hungry."

My mom says in a singsong voice,"I have bacon."

"COMING!" I switch off the TV and hop up from my position on the couch. I rush into the kitchen and ask, "Why didn't you say you had bacon in the first place? I would have been in here in 3 seconds flat."

"Just eat." My mom replies, an amused look on her face. I sit down at the breakfast bar. She sets a plate of 4 pancakes and 6 slices of bacon and a medium sized pile of scrambled eggs, with orange juice on the side.

As I dig into the delicious food she asks me "Are you ready for your first day back?"

I swallow a mouthful of pancake and clear my throat. "More or less, I guess."

"Oh c'mon, you should be happy you get to learn again!"

"Yay.", I say in a monotone, waving my hands around in a feeble attempt to humor her. She just sighs and goes back to cleaning up her mess from cooking. "Well, I mean what do you want me to do? Do a bunch of cartwheels and backflips in front of a giant neon sign that reads 'I love school'?"