Being Hannah

Chapter One

Being Hannah

Chapter 1

A week before

I wake up to the sound of my alarm beeping. I turn it off groggily and stare at the pale yellow walls and ceiling surrounding me. Another day. Unknown. Unowned. One more week.

I had a plan for my birthday; I had never met my parents. I wanted to. I was going to. It was that simple...or so I thought. My plan involved 5 steps; Get packed, get up, get over the fence, hide out, find my parents. The only problem was not getting caught. The orphanage I'm at is called Shady Oak. It should sound nice except for that fact that it wasn't. I don't really consider it comforting when you look like a savage, eat mush 3 times a day, and are trapped by coiled barb wire and a fence. Yeah, not my idea of a day at the spa.

I finally decide I don't want to get yelled at for being late, so I get out of bed. After brushing my teeth, combing my hair, and putting on my grey jumpsuit, I go into the cafeteria to find my best friend, Sara. I see her in line, and go to join her.

I'm so jealous of Sara. She's one of those born a model type people with long blond hair, icy blue eyes, and on top of that, she could be passed as the skinniest person at Shady Oak. "What's for breakfast today?" I ask. Sara replies with a groan and "what the health department lets them pass with as scrambled eggs and toast." We grab our slop and go sit on the floor. That's another thing; Shady Oak keeps telling us its better to sit on the floor than chairs because it helps your body, whatever that means.

My stomach is growling like an elephant, but I poke my eggs (I'm pretty sure that they blinked), and realize I'm not hungry anymore. Neither is Sara. One of the nicest employees here comes and sits with us. Her name is Arlet. She has jet black hair and breath taking brown eyes. She smiles at us and says, "you ladies need to eat. We have a long day ahead." We both groan and swallow our soggy 'toast'.

After breakfast is school. We have language arts, math, science, and history, none of which I like. I start waking down the hall and turn left to Mr. Haploy's history class. He greets us and tells us to take a seat. I just so happen to find the only seat left in the back by the worst kid in the world, Bart.

Bart is a faded redhead that annoys the crap out of everyone. He thinks he's funny but people I think are only his friends because they don't want to be annoyed. Bart's average in height and wears skinny jeans all the time because he thinks it looks cool. Today, Bart has a boot on his foot. He looks at me and gives me that knock off smile everyone hates. I'm so sick and tired of him, I snap back as he crosses the room. I pout. "Aww. What did little Bart do THIS time, hmmm?" I ask in my fakest sugar coated voice. He scowls and tells me he had an oh-so-heroic fall during soccer. Wow. That kid is fragile.

Finally, Mr. Haploy enters the room and tells us to take our seats and looks straight at Bert. I stifle a giggle. every one is silent now as he strides over to the board and writes 'Revolutionary War' on the board in his bird scrawl writing. Most of the class sighs, but I keep quiet. I'm too tired to do anything.

History is more like daydreaming period to me, and is soon over. The bell brings me back to reality as my classmates and I grab our things and file out like perfect angels. Or robots. I meet Sara in the hall and we both make our way to Ms. Mayde's language arts class. "Did you see Bart? Broke his leg in soccer," I inform her. Sara rolls her eyes. "Man, that kid is never going to get married when he's as breakable as a china doll. He even acts like a girl, too," she says and we both giggle. We make a turn and go into class.

The rest of school goes along like every day; slow, uneventful, and torturous. After school, I have lunch where I meet up with Sara again. Because its a Friday, the employees play the radio for us. This is once a month; such generous people, don't you think? The song "Wrecking Ball" plays softly in the background as Sara and I find a table. Today's lunch is hamburger soup which really looks like colored water and flour mixed together with pieces of crumpled brown paper in it to represent meat. We grab the paper bowls, look at each other and groan again. Neither of us buy that 'eat up you need it' crap.

After lunch, I go to my room for down time. I like down time because it gives me time to think. Every day, I think about my nonexistent parents. What if they're looking for me? What if they don't want to see me? What if they're dead? Am I going to be stuck here forever? I hope not... I flop onto my bed and hear a crunch under my pillow. I pull out the only piece of my mom I still have. The picture shows a tall and gorgeous women with long brown hair that spills in spirals everywhere. In her arms, smothered in a pink ball of fabric, is a small baby, about 3 months old with dark hair and wide green eyes. That's me. I look at it and instantly feel a twinge of a feeling I always get looking at this picture. It's a felling I can't explain. A feeling that's closest to a combination of hate, abandonment, hope, and something else. I feel something wet tickle my cheek and realize that I'm crying like I always do. I swipe the drip away and wash my face. I glance at the digital clock on my table and rush around to get ready for night activities. I only have 5 minutes. I go to clean my face and put on my outfit. I don't even glance as I pass my mirror and head out the door.