Another Serving of Attitude, Anyone?

La Familia

Chapter 1

Hey there, I’m Anesha. Just your regular 15 going on 16 year old girl who attends Brooklyn High in the city that never sleeps, the big apple itself, New York City. Yet, there’s nothing that regular about me. To kick things off, I’m an orphan, yes or-phan. That means, I have no parents and am currently living in a shelter home. To be truthful, orphan’s just a courteous name created for a homeless child, because when you reach that golden age, 18, you’re sent off packing and I guess you pretty much end up on the street if you don’t get your life straight. And as every year passes, I’m this much closer to reaching that “golden” age, now with only 23 months to go.

So, you might say that being an orphan is still regular because everyone treats you the same and so on and so forth. But, to add to my irregular list, one might also call me a freak, well not to that extreme, but what do you call a girl who often keeps to herself, has one friend; literally and goes around lugging a classic Shakespearean novel everywhere? Yes, freak might not sound so extreme now.

I have been told that I’m not bad looking, but that was short-lived as my secret admirer was indeed the head of the nerd herd, Johnny Capps. And as to why I found those torn pieces of red paper in my locker one day after English, well let’s just say it was a friendly game between him and his herd. And guess what, it was delivered to the wrong locker. He was aiming for my best friend or only friend, Jessie’s locker which happens to be next to mine. Yes, pathetic indeed.

Jessie’s a quirky young girl, who’s got a great complexion and curly brown locks which falls just short of her shoulder. I, on the other hand, have long black hair which is never down, but pulled back in a pony tail all the time. I despise to even touch make-up but I’ll do with my usual appliance of lip smacker daily. Well, I would be too modest if I was to say that Jessie was my only friend because we shared the closest unbreakable bond and had everything in common. But that would be lying, and as they teach you when you’re an orphan, lying is never a thing you want to commit to. Truthfully, Jessie and I are no more different than Angelina Jolie is to Jennifer Aniston. But I figure it’s our differences that bring us closer than ever. This is because we don’t hesitate to criticize each other, or speak our mind, which is always a good thing when dealing with the harsh reality.

But enough about Jessie. You see I never really socialized much because I was timid and shy of what others might think about a literature loving-freak who has no life, and is an orphan. But I realized that I was wrong to think that as people don’t care where you’re from but more of who you are. At least in my average status high school, nobody bothers me, but the cliques are still around just like in your standard high school. They “click” to each other, never mixing around much, so I guess my “clique” just consists of Jessie and me, though I wouldn’t know what you would call us, exactly. Maybe just the normal kids, at least I hope we were.

So I was coming back home to the shelter, as usual after a usual first day of sophomore year at school. Not abnormal at all. But when I noticed a sleek black limo parked up front in Mr. Kregger’s (our caretaker) reserved parking spot, I knew something was up. Mr. Kregger’s small blue Hyundai looked more than petite next to it. But I just ignored it as I made my way through the back door (we’ve gotten used to that) and to the kitchen to grab a frozen lasagna from the freezer. Yes, we’ve gotten used to frozen food too, but we can’t complain much, since it’s still considered food on our plate.

As I heat it up in our 70’s style mini-microwave, I hear voices coming from the hall, and it’s obvious that someone else is among our presence. Behind me, the back door flies open once again and Tommy, an 11 year old orphan boy and my best friend in the shelter, comes crashing in with his backpack knocking the wall and scratching the kitchen tiles as he moves.