Thirteen

Thirteen - Chapter One

Stuffing spoonful's of dry cornflakes into my mouth, I hopped about on one foot trying to slip the other foot into my trainer. The importance of the situation was clouding my thought's so I couldn't understand as to why I was having trouble getting my foot into my shoe one-handed and I was getting slightly irritated by it. I just didn't realize how stupid I was being at that moment.

      "Dani, sit down!" My mother exclaimed. "Try doing one thing at a time," I sighed, getting frustrated even more, and kicked the shoe off my toe. I slid across the tiles of the kitchen and placed my empty bowl in the sink and collapsed onto the floor. Then I snatched my trainer up, slipped it on and tied the laces as fast as I could. "What's the rush?" Mum really didn't know why I was having a hard time thinking straight.

      "Mum, they're coming to pick me up soon. I have to be ready!" I jumped up and started towards the living room, only to fall flat on my face. I flipped over onto my back to see I'd somehow managed to tie my laces together. Growling, I furiously started clawing at them, trying to free them from each other.

      "Hey, calm down" She swatted my hands away and carefully untied my laces. Swiftly, she tied them up again separately and, in double quick time, crossed over to the fridge, brought out a carton of orange juice and grabbed a glass from the cupboard.

      "Please don't do that, Mum. It freaks me out" I pushed myself onto my feet and sat in one of the chairs around the breakfast bar.

      "Do what?" She poured the juice into the glass and handed it to me. I looked down into the orange liquid and paused.

      I had to contemplate my answer before I actually said anything. Mum never liked me talking about our situation but I couldn't help it. She was always doing things that reminded me of it that I was always catching myself thinking about it. After a couple of minutes I glanced up at her waiting expression and brought the glass to my lips.

      "You know... what I can't do" I murmured and took a sip.

      "What?" She laughed, making me feel worse. "You're the one going off to a fancy posh school and me doing the basic's freaks you out? I should be jealous of you!"

      "Hardly. I'm only going to look around this school because you practically filled out the application for me," I fished out the files from my bag and waved the photo-copied papers at her. I couldn't let her know that I was actually excited about going to the school today otherwise I'd never hear the end of it. Mum was always like that. It was good that she was happy all the time but it did get a little tiring. "And besides, I don't even know if they'll let me in. Why would they want someone like me?"

       "Don't talk like that!" Mum snapped. I jerked my eyes up from the papers to see her glaring down at me as if she were scolding a toddler. "Of course they'll want you! You know more about anything than anyone!"

      "Only because I was the one person who listened... most of the time. It's kind of like cheating, only I have no choice in weather I want to cheat or not" I tried to continue but I was interrupted by three, sharp beeps from outside.

      "There's the coach" Mum smiled weakly. Why was she worrying about me? I had gone to school like this before. Still, I got up and wrapped my arms around her. She hugged back tightly and for a second I thought she wasn't going to let go but when she did I saw the tears forming.

       "Don't worry Mum; I'll be fine," I grinned, grabbed my bag and walked into the hallway with Mum following close behind. I opened the door and looked back at her drawn expression. She was seriously worried. No idea why, she knew I would be able to defend myself if needed. I smiled reassuringly and told her not to do anything crazy. Jogging across the little gap between my house and the bus I was able to feel the new morning air against my skin as the gravel crunched under my shoes. The doors swung open and I looked back one more time at her.