Across the Pond

My {Average} Life

-Amelia-
    "Um, I'm Amelia. I'd say I'm pretty average. I love to read and listen to music- any kind of music, I'm not picky. I don't know what I want to do when I graduate but I've got time to figure that out. I'm not in any rush. I do however want to travel. I'd love to go to the UK.  I'm, uh, not sure what else to say.. is that good? Can I sit.... now?" I faltered at the last word because the whole class is staring at me and I really hate being the center of attention.
    It's the first day of senior year and every year in every class, every student is forced to stand in front of the class and tell a little about ourselves. By senior year, we all know each other but we still have to do it. Luckily I only have two classes each semester so I only have to do it twice. My class is in cliques; what's highschool without them? But it isn't like you see in the movies. We all get along and all invite each other to parties and get togethers, but on an ordinary day outside of school or during classes, we hang out with "our" people.
    The "popular" people consist of the athletes- cheerleaders, danceline, football players, basketball players. Hannah Cole is probably the prettiest girl in the school and is probably the sweetest of the "populars". She has waist length silk, black, straight hair that pretty much does what she wants it to, very tan, thin, and has a great sense of style. Her closest friends are Tessa, Hayden, and Stella; all three look almost identical with caramel colored wavy hair that goes to their shoulders and tan but not natural like Hannah's.
    The other cliques are the potheads, the drama club, and my small group of averages. I consider myself average because I don't fit in with the other groups because I'm not athletic, dramatic, or a pothead. My fellow averages are Eden Poe and Paige Farnell. They wouldn't consider me average though. I have bright layered red, almost orange wavy hair that comes down to the middle of my back and bright blue eyes. I have the swoop across bangs and my clothes are in the middle of alternative and chic. My skin is almost translucent but marked with thousands of freckles.. maybe even billions. I was adopted when I was 18 months old and I don't remember my real parents at all but I love my adoptive family. You can't even tell I'm adopted except for how different I look compared to my parents and brother. My dad is tall with thick, wavy, dark brown hair and sand colored skin and beautiful green eyes, Mom is average height with sun dyed hair styled like a bob and chocolate brown eyes. My seven year old brother, Ansel, is what my parents call a miracle. Before him, they couldn't get pregnant- hence my being adopted. He has Dad's hair and mom's skin with big, amber, almond shaped eyes. He's gonna have all the girls' hearts when he's older.
    Eden is my best friend. She has brownish-reddish hair and hazel eyes that always sparkle. She isn't thin but she isn't "fat" either. She has an alternative look to her. She's my height, about 5'3". Paige is only around when her boyfriend isn't around. She has black hair that shines like a raven's feather that stops at her chin with blue,crystal-like eyes. She's on the heavier side but has the best confidence and I love that about her. Her boyfriend is Jeremy. He's also on the heavier side but he's very attractive. He's got sandy hair and is about 5'10". I've never got a good look at him besides that cause Paige never hangs out with us when he's around.
    "Wanna come over and watch Netflix after English?" Eden whispers to me so Mr. Lyles won't hear.
    "I can't. Mom wanted me to help her around the shop. I'll text you and let you know when I get done though!" I respond.
   
    The remainder of my half school day droned on as we introduced ourselves and went over the syllabus for each class. Soon, 11:55 came and I was free to go. I rushed out of Kyser High and unlocked my bike to ride to Mom's little boutique. We lived in a small town in Texas called Fender where it is always sweltering and everyone knows everyone, and if you don't, your parents do. The real kicker is that my school's mascot is a cactus.. how creative. Mom's boutique is so conveniently called Little Blue Cactus.. again, how creative. She liked when I came to help her and I didn't mind because I liked looking at all the trinkets she had. The best part was riding my bike because I got out of my own head and got to listen to my favorite singer, Ed Sheeran. No one knows about him here except Eden, and she only knows about him because of me. He's a British singer/songwriter, and that's one reason I want to go to the UK. But that's only one reason, I'm not sure of the other reasons, I've just always been fascinated with it. I took the long way to the LBC even though it was nearing 110 degrees. That's how much I love Ed and his music.
    "Hey, honey. You ready to help? I need you to re-tag and reorganize the back table of all of the signature Blue Cactus figurines. Then I need you to pull all the clothing items from the sale rack and put in the donation pile and pull the clothing items on the list to put on the sale rack. How was school?" She rushed through her to-do list. When she gets in the zone she talks real fast and gets an excited look on her face.
    "Hey. School was school. Sure, I'll get started on that now." It was best to keep my response short since shes rushing to get the list done.
    "If you see anything you'd like from the soon-to-be donation pile, feel free to take it. And can you pick Ansel up from school? I gotta run to the store for dinner." She springs that last request on me. I don't mind. I love alone time with Ansel, plus it gives me extra time to listen to Ed. Like I said, he isn't on our radios so I have to tune into a British station and sometimes I can't do that much because of the big time difference from here and there.
    Time passes quickly since there was so much to do. I grab my bike as leave the LBC to pick up Ansel and head home. I insert my headphones and turn my phone onto the right station. I peddled a good mile before the radio djs started talking about news going on with celebrities. I wasn't really paying attention until I heard his name. They said something about how Ed has been secretive toward his management and has been struggling with something but no one knows what. The second DJ started talking now, saying another headline read "Sheeran Siblings" insinuating Ed has a younger sibling.
    Now, a celebrity having a brother or sister isn't exactly news... Unless said celebrity's parents died years ago and said celebrity was an only child. How can that be? And if it's true, why is he keeping it secret or supposedly struggling with it? I reluctantly turned off the radio app because I arrived at Little Cactus Academy (what is with this town and cacti?). Ansel was waiting for me. We walked home, me in silence, him jabbering about his day. He always loved school and always excelled to which I'm very proud. We arrived home eventually and I had to force him to start on homework- although he loved school, he hated homework; but who doesn't?
   
    Mom made Cowboy Cornbread for dinner tonight. It's basically cornbread with ground meat, chopped bell peppers, pinto beans, corn, and topped with shredded cheese. It's pretty good, but I promise you Texas isn't all cowboy-cactus, country living. This just happens to be Ansel's favorite so Mom made it for his first day of school. She makes my favorite dish the second month of school if I don't miss any days.
    "Mommy, I want my hair to be orange like Sissy's is!" Ansel shouted across the table with a moth full of dinner. "How come Sissy is the only one that has orange hair?"
    "Sissy's hair is orange because she's special. You're special too because you have hair like Daddy's." She told him in a calming voice. Of course she didn't tell him the truth, not for my benefit but because they feel he's to young to know the truth about me being adopted.

    After dinner I went up to my room do do some research. Ansel's sudden question about my hair has me wondering about my parents- my real parents. I don't think about them often because this family is all I ever know, but tonight I can't get them off my mind. Where are they now? Do they have orange hair? Would they want to meet me?
    Coming to dead ends on this search, I decided to give up for the night. I went to take my shower and get ready for bed. I'll continue my search tomorrow. Maybe I should just ask Mom a few questions so I know where to begin my search.

A/N:
Hi, guys!! This is my first time ever to write any type of story. I'd like some feedback, but please nothing mean! I'll try to update regularly but it may get hairy here and there seeing as I'm a senior in college and trying to finish up.

The next chapter will be Ed's POV of the same day Amelia experienced or a day or two before. After his chapter we'll pick up where we left Amelia.

Thanks!