Waking Up

Normalcy

Hair all tangled, makeup smeared, phone on the ground, pillows and blankets thrown around. That was how Alaska woke up. Ugh she thought as she got up dragging her hand along the soft warm bed. 5 am and she didn't like being up, but for most teenagers "waking up to a good healthy run makes delinquently fade." Just one of the bullshit things her councilor said to her aunt before Alaska went into rehab. Alaska wanting to get back on track with her life is now willing to do anything to find her normalcy again.
Grabbing her iPod , which was really just a broken iPhone that had all her music on it, walked out the front door and onto the pavement.
Starting at a slow jog to "I just wanna run" by downtown fiction she starts to get a good pace going. Not really paying attention to were she's going, just going for the hell of it. The sound of her steps was getting louder and angrier. By the time the song ended she was at a full sprint. Running across the football field while all the football team stares at her. But she didn't see them. All she saw was past memories flooding her eyes. Alaska was running faster then she ever had and trying to run from her past. Then suddenly in the school parking lot something hit her, or she ran into it, she wasn't quite sure. Smashing to the ground her iPod falling out of her sweater. Her hands scraped against the pavement. She also hit her head as she spun around hitting her head as well. She laid there for a moment trying to catch her breath. Then someone was hovering over her. The person finally came into focus. It was coach Willis.
"Nice fall there Miss Winters." He said sarcastically.
Alaska rolled her eyes. Coach Willis held out his hand. Still laying in the parking lot she took his hand for a the help up. "Thank you sir." She grunted.
Standing up she inspected her hands. They were torn with bits of pebbles and dirt in the cuts. Coach Willis touch her hands. She winced.
"I can take care of that if you kindly come with me miss, I have a question to ask you either way."
She nodded and followed him into the hallways. He walked slow but steady. Nothing like the way she just ran. He was also a lengthy man with hardly any meat on his bones. How he was coach of anything she didn't know.
They both entered his office. Is was filled with sports balls of all kinds, school sports posters, and First aid equipment. Coach Willis got out hydrogen peroxide, gauze, and an ace bandage. "Go wash your hands in cold water please." He said softly. Alaska walked over to the sink and washed her hands delicately. Then she went to sit on the padded table that you'd usually find in a medical office.
As coach Willis cleans Alaska's hands with the hydrogen peroxide he speaks. "I saw you running beside the football field." She shook her head. "You're pretty damn fast. I was thinking, and I know you just came from a rehabilitation program and I don't care about that. The last is in the past." He says. "All that matters is how you do some here on out. So I have a proposal for you." He takes out another strip of gauze and starts to wrap her hand with the ace bandage. "How about you come be on either the track or soccer team. I'm guessing you got some anger you need to get out by the way you didn't hear me calling after you. It's your choice. Either or doesn't bother me. And if you do this and keep your grades up I could talk to some of my sources and get you a scholarship anywhere you want to go." She looks up and smiles at this. I could go anywhere and get away from these people. "You are in fact a senior correct?" He asks.
"Ye-yes sir I am" she beams.
He finishes wrapping up her hands and takes a card out of his t shirt pocket. "Here is my card, if you want to come by my office, or call me and tell me your answer by the weekend I'd love to have you." He noted. "Now it's getting late and I'm sure you wish go take a shower before school this morning correct?" He asked without really asking. "Then get going back on home."
Alaska walked out and began running the half a mile home to take a shower.
~~~
When she got home it was 6:30 she had 40 minutes to take a shower, (Without getting her hands wet and ruining the bandages) get dressed and get to school.

Alaska decided to wait until after school to tell her aunt and uncle about the good news she had just gotten, after all, was I going to do it, and if so which sport? She asked herself. School for Alaska was always easy, she was smart the only reason her grades started to slip last year was because the gang consumed all her thoughts and actions. She made a mental note not to screw up this year. She was going to be different this year.
~~~
Her aunt handed Alaska her classes for the year as she was walking out the door that morning. Alaska was still beaming.
Getting into her mom and dads old car Alaska drove to school playing the happiest music she could find on her iPod.
1st period-Spanish
2nd - math
3rd- biology
4th - English
5th - choir
6th - pe
7th - study hall
All her classes for the next year unless she decided to play a sport then her 6th and 7th would be switched.
Walking into Spanish she didn't go into the back of the class like she usually did. New school year, new me. She thought. So she sat in the very front, right next to the teachers desk.
Alaska did this for all her classes, and some of her previous teachers found this unsettling. They have Alaska a weird glance that you'd only know of if you'd ever been the bad kid in school.
In her English class there was the new kid. Morpheus, bright eye'd a bushy tailed. Or so he appeared. She saw Alaska and made an immediate B line towards her. She sat right next to her.
"Hello," he said "I am Morpheus. I suppose you already know that though I'm sure, aren't we neighbors?" He asks.
In fact she had heard of him, not because of her aunt or because he was her neighbors, but because ever girl on campus was talking of the "hot new nerdy kid."
She gave a vague smile. "Hello Morpheus, I am Alaska, and yeah I saw you yesterday." She says politely.
Morpheus smiles at her. And right as he was about to speak again the teacher Mrs. Elisabeth came into the room holding her class syllabus. Passing them straight to Alaska and telling her to pass them out.
Alaska walks around the room and hands out the papers to everyone, having a bit of difficulty because of the ace bandage on her hands. Almost being tripped by the school snob but Alaska steps on her foot. Not even phased. At that moment she noticed nydia sitting in the back corner. Nydia stares at Alaska, glassy eyed. "Damn Al you look hot."
Alaska looks down. She's wearing combat boots, blue jeans. A black muscle tee, where you could obviously see Alaska's biceps, and her hair was down. Her make up was a little less thick then usual so you could actually see her eyes. "Thank you girly." Says Alaska and walks away.
~~~
Choir was Alaska's favorite subject. Her mom used to say her voice was the stuff of angels. Sitting in the soprano section of the room she pulls out her phone. 5 texts from Sam asking where she was. 2 texts from Meg saying the same thing, and that she was sorry for last night. And one from Darwin asking for the notes to the Spanish lesson that the teacher already handed out. She cleared all notifications from her phone, she would see them later. Then began to sing with the rest of the class with a heavy heart thinking of nothing but her parents.

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Sorry for the long and boring chapter, it was meant to be like "normal" and normal is pretty boring.