Finish Line

Chapter 1

Sydney

Its senior year and I can’t wait to graduate. We have one week for break before I start studying for finals. I finally have time to rest. I want to concentrate on the school paper for a while. I have been with the South High paper since freshman. I always wanted to be a journalist. I love to write and am fond or reading books since I was young.

My mother always read to me before I go to sleep. When she wasn’t around I started to read for myself. Those were the best memories I had of my mother and unfortunately the only ones I remembered.

Growing up was tough. Mom wasn’t around a lot so I quickly learned how to take care of myself and do mostly everything for myself to survive. See, my mother was a drug addict and alcoholic. I didn’t know what it meant until I was old enough to understand. She died of an overdose when I was ten. After her passing my grandparents took care of me since I didn’t know who my father was. I wasn’t sure mom even knew too.

I thank my grandparent everyday in my prayers for raising me well and taking care of me. They brought me up in a nice neighborhood and I grew close to our next door neighbors, the Larson’s. My grandparents died five years ago. I still miss them dearly.

I live in the school dorm now. After my grandparents passed they left me their house in a will. The place was too big for me to live all by myself. I missed the pace but I had to sell it. Too many memories were there. I saved the money for school tuition and other needs.

My roommate Stacy and I became friends immediately when we knew we both have a love for books. We both write for the school paper. She’s a year older than me but we’re in the same year now because she transferred schools because of her father’s work. She’s my second best friend. Jake’s my first best friend, or maybe was.

I really don’t know what happened between us but he started avoiding me during my sophomore year. It hurt. He was my best friend since we were ten and now we don’t talk to each other anymore.

I convinced myself that Jake was embarrassed to be with me. He’s a football player and really popular around campus. I work for the school paper and I’m a bookworm. So I guess he doesn’t want to be seen with the unpopular people. I still miss him though.

“You coming?” Stacy asks. She stuffs her backpack with her notes. She’s wearing her purple reading glasses now that look cute on her. I tease her about it sometimes.

“Yup” I answer her. I check my notes before heading out to the newspaper office to finalize our articles.

Our all girl dorm is located two blocks away from the school’s main building. Walking is the best way to get there, plus we pass by our favorite field. It’s during the cold weather that we hate passing by the field because it turns itself to an ice rink and people have had so many accidents to falling and sliding. The weather today though is great.

Mr. Davis is our school paper’s director. We’re meeting with him today. We submit out draft articles and he reads them in his office. He always does when it’s before publication. He’s a perfectionist and doesn’t want any mistakes or grammar errors in his paper. He returns our papers to do rewrites. We spend the whole day in the office because the paper has to be printed our tomorrow.

“That’s a wrap guys. Enjoy your break” Mr. Davis tells the whole room of students. Everyone celebrates.

“Time to head to The Shack” Bruce, the paper’s photographer, announces to everyone and we all agree.

The Shack is a burger joint just within school campus. The place is famous for their burgers and onion rings. It’s always filled with students and teachers. You’re always going to find yourself bumping into someone you know, that’s for sure.