Why Me?

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I woke up to the sounds of my alarm beeping. I reached over and tried to turn it off, wanting more sleep. When I realized that my clock wasn’t the one making the beeping sounds. Groaning, I sat up and looked around wondering where it was coming from. Then I sniffed the air and my eyes widened when it smelt like smoke. The beeping started to sound familiar and that’s when I finally put it all together. I hopped out of bed and rushed downstairs. When I opened the door to the kitchen; a big puff of smoke blew right in my face and I coughed. When I was finally able to see and breathe again, I looked into the smoke filled kitchen.

“Damn it!” I heard my Dad curse to himself. I looked around and saw piles of dishes sitting in the sink. The counter across from the stove had an egg carton, the gallon of milk, bread bag, and a bowl of pancake. The fridge door was left open, the stove top had a pan of-I think-burnt eggs. Dad was trying to make pancakes on the hot plate. The oven was opened and I saw Dad trying to reach inside without any gloves on.

“Dad, don’t do that!” I shouted and ran over to him. I pushed him out of the way and grabbed the gloves. Shoving them on, I reached inside the oven and pulled out a glass pan that was filled with-what meant to be- a frittata. “Dad, what happened in here?” I asked as I shut the door to the stove.

“I thought that maybe if I kept a close eye on the food this time, then maybe I could make some breakfast this morning.” He tried to explain about why the kitchen was a mess.

“Could you have asked Mom to help supervise you maybe?” I asked and started cleaning up. I put the ingredients up, closed the fridge door, and began washing the dishes. After about 1-2 hours, I finally slumped down in a chair and looked around the kitchen. ‘Spick and Span’ I thought and sighed deeply. Then I realized something and checked the time, it said 9:43. I was late for school; I rushed upstairs and took a quick 5 minute shower. When I got out I grabbed some grey sweats, a white t-shirt and tank top and some white converse. Quickly throwing my clothes on and putting my hair in a ponytail, I ran downstairs yelling, “Bye Dad, I’m off to school!” and accidently slamming the door on my way out. I practically jumped into my car and started the ignition, quickly backing out the driveway and speeding down the road towards school.

By the time I got there, I was already 20 minutes late for 2nd period. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I got out of my car and jogged to the office.

“Hi Mrs. Parker,” I greeted her as I walked in and went to her desk.

“Hello dear, how may I help you?” She asked, her light brown hair pulled into a tight bun, with grey hairs growing around it. The bright pleasant smile on her face brought more spark to her doe eyes that are always so kind and comforting. The wrinkles grew the more she smiled and her small nose was lifted higher.

“Oh, I was running late again and I came for a tardy slip,” I said smiling back.

“What’s your reason?” She asked looking around her desk for the tardy pass.

“I kind of had an emergency at home,” I replied as she wrote down my excuse.

“Ok, just be sure to have a note next time. Have a good day,” she handed me the pass and went back to working on the computer.

“Thank you and you too,” I waved and left, walking to my class. When I arrived, I went inside and gave my pass to Mr. Harriet.

“Thank you for joining us, Ms. Birdhy,” Mr. Harriet said handing me the worksheet. I nodded and sat down in my seat, working on the assignment without waiting for him to explain it to me. It felt like someone was watching me; I could feel their eyes burning the side of my face. I looked up and saw Jace staring at me; we made eye contact for a few seconds and he turned away. ‘What was that about?’ I asked myself. I just shrugged my shoulders and went back to working.