Undercover (Phan)

Chapter 1

Phil's POV

Beep beep beep

Beep beep beep

Beep beep bee -

I groan and shut off my alarm before it can continue beeping anymore. I hate getting up early. If school were to start just a little later in the day, maybe I wouldn't mind it so much. If I could at the very least not have to wake up while it's still dark outside, that would be fantastic. Since I can't though, I force myself to get out of bed and trudge off to the bathroom. I use the toilet and take a quick shower, the water warming me up a bit. Showering helps me think, which I think can be said about most people. I begin running through a mental list of things in my head, making sure I got all of my homework done and thinking about what I might have to do after school today. I can't think of anything I may have had planned, which is actually kind of nice. I like going out with my friends and spending time out of the house, don't get me wrong, but I've had something going on every day this week, so I'm quite looking forward to being able to come home and relax tonight.

After a while, I force myself to step out of the hot paradise of my shower and into the cold, outside world. I wrap three towels around me at the risk of my mother catching me and yelling at me for wasting so many towels. I don't know why I need three towels, I just do, okay? Everyone questions it and I never have an answer, but I need three towels when I get out of the shower. Mum says that Dad was like that too.

Once I'm wrapped in my towels, I go back into my bedroom. My walls are an assortment of green and blue along with a variety of posters and decorations covering them. I get dressed and make my bed - which is also decorated in green and blue - then I blow dry and straighten my hair. One time, when I was in the shower, my brother, Martyn, put flour in my hair dryer and when I went to dry my hair, I got flour all over me. It was not funny at the time, but then I saw the video he took of it and laughed pretty hard. Pranks like that have subsided since Martyn left to go to University. Or, at least, that's what Mum calls it. I try not to argue with her on that one.

Once I'm properly dressed and ready, I grab my things and head downstairs. I set my backpack and jacket on the couch in the livingroom, then I walk into my kitchen and make myself a bowl of cereal. The house is almost too quiet for me to even think. Silence is nice once in awhile, but I feel like my house has been constantly silent for months now. Maybe I just need to learn to make more friends so I can invite them over. I do have friends and I do invite them over from time to time, but I don't really have a best friend that I really connect with on a deep or emotional level. I've basically got other people to play video games with, but that's about it. Anyone that I used to be able to connect with on a deeper level is gone for the time being. Maybe I could try getting closer with PJ or Chris or Louise. God knows I've distanced myself from them the past few months; the reason why I don't feel close with them is probably my own fault.

I've just been going through a lot lately, I guess you could say. Part of it is your typical, teenage identity crisis where I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life after school is over. I mean, I know what I want to do, but...I don't know what I want to do, if that makes any sense...It doesn't, does it? Well, not only do I have all of that going on, but I'm in year twelve; this is my last year of school, so I need to decide quickly what it is I want to do when I finish. Again, I do know what I want to do, but - nevermind, it's too complicated. Not only is all of this going on, but I'm also having a different kind of identity crisis in terms of, well, figuring out who I am as a person. High school and university are typically the stages of life where you really start to figure out who you are and what kind of person you're going to be, on a deeper level than just what you're going to do for a living. None of which have I mentioned to any of my friends or my mum.