Meant to Be

Chapter Eight

"Beep! Beep! Beep!" my alarm clock yelled the following Monday. I groaned, rolled over, and turned it off. Then I realized what time it was.

6:35! It must have been going off for fifteen minutes! I thought as I jumped out of bed.

I rushed though my morning routine. Wash face. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Brush teeth. Comb hair. Put shoes on. Get backpack ready for school. And finally, rush out the door while putting on coat, hoping to not miss the bus.

Collin was already at the bus stop when I got there. "Hey," he greeted me, but before I could say a word, our bus arrived.

I sat down in my seat and Collin sat down next to me. "So, how was the rest of your weekend?" I asked.

"As expected. My parents ignored me, fussed over Mitchell until he left, he left, and then my parents still didn't really pay attention to me. But on the bright side, I got my English homework done," Collin said brightly.

I laughed. "Well, so did I. Kind of."

"What do you mean?"

"My little sister Brynn, who's seven, decided to showcase her artwork for us to see. However, there was no more construction paper on her little craft table, so she went looking for some. Her first place to look? My desk. Later, I was frantically searching for my English homework. I couldn't find it, so I went downstairs to ask my parents if they had seen it. There it was, pinned up on the refrigerator with a smiley face magnet, my English homework, complete with a smiling butterfly and a bumblebee on it."

Collin cracked up. "Nice. Did you flip out on her? I know I would have."

"No, I couldn't. She's so sweet. I asked her why she drew on my homework and she said, 'To make it prettier. When I draw on my worksheets, the teachers love it, so maybe your teachers will love it, too! And you can say, 'It wasn't me, it was my sister, Brynn, who's an artist!' Your teachers will love you, Rylee!'"

"Oh, my gosh, I'm going to have to try drawing on my homework! I think Mr. Walters hates me," Collin said.

"If only it were that simple," I said wistfully. Then I remembered his sweatshirt that I stuffed in my backpack this morning. "Oh, and I have your sweatshirt," I told him as I pulled it out of my backpack. I gave it to him.

"Thanks." Just then, the bus pulled up to the school. Talking and laughing about Brynn, Collin and I got off the bus and walked into the school.

The first bell rang, interrupting our conversation.

"See you in English!" Collin called over his shoulder as he hurried to his locker.

"Bye," I replied, and headed to my locker.