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First Day Jitters

Mickey Allwine heard the alarm on his phone go off, and opened his eyes. For a moment, he thought that it was still summer vacation and wondered why he had planned to wake up so early, before he remembered. Jumping out of bed before he had the chance to go back to sleep, he smacked himself in the head for forgetting the first day of high school.

Mickey quickly changed into a black t-shirt, red jeans and a pair of tan sneakers before feeding Pluto, his mixed-breed dog that he had gotten when he was only seven or eight. His parents Walter and Lily didn't have to be at work for another hour, so Mickey simply grabbed a granola bar, swung on his backpack and ran out the door.

His best friend, Donald Anselmo ran across the street, yelling for Mickey to hurry it up. Donald's voice had been continually raspy ever since they had found an unfixable lump in the back of his throat, but Mickey didn't mind. It didn't make understanding Donald any harder, and it was different for sure.

They got in Mickey's beat up old Ford Thunderbird parked on the street, and sped off towards Floyd Gottfredson High School, heads filled with dreams and expectations if they could only get there before the second bell.

Minnie's eyes popped open when her alarm clock went off, pushing off the covers as fast as she could and racing to greet the day. Minnie was so excited to go to high school that she barely slept last night, her head overflowing with visions of all the freedoms she would be able to experience now.

She had even spent hours picking out her outfit the day before: a red-and-white polka dot peasant blouse, white jeans, a matching bow to decorate her short dark brown hair and yellow flats.

She ran out to the kitchen, giving her dad Marcus a quick hug before pouring herself some cereal and sitting down at the table. Minnie and her dad had lived on a farm in the country, but when her mom passed away from cancer, Marcus thought it would be better to start a new life in the city.

This was even the first time Marcus had thought about signing his daughter up for public school, since his wife had wanted to homeschool her, but he had become too busy with his new job to carry on that tradition. Minnie had loved living on a farm, but since no one lived close enough to their house for her to have friends except her animals, she would get lonely a lot of the time.

After Minnie had finished eating she gave her dad one last hug and put on her new backpack, practically running to school to see if it was just as wonderful as she had imagined it to be.

Mickey and Donald got to Yen Sid's first-period history class surprisingly early, breathing hard as they plopped down in their seats. They were so tired that they didn't even look at the other classmates, just closed their eyes and leaned back as they caught their breath. "Mr. Allwine, Mr. Anselmo, I presume?"

They looked up in surprise to see the stern face of Yen Sid, a japanese man who often scared students to tears. He was a good teacher though, and had quite a big heart under his rough exterior.

"Uh, yes sir. Sorry, we didn't want to be late, so we had to run all the way from the parking lot." Mr. Sid frowned, a look on his face that made even the most hyperactive person be quiet at once. "Hmm, seems you will simply have to get up earlier. I imagine that if you set your alarm for six instead of six thirty you should have plenty of time."

They both nodded, and he turned to talk to some of the other people in the room. "How did he know we woke up at six thirty?" Mickey whispered to Donald as he watched his teacher out of the corner of his eye. "My guess is either he has magic powers," he paused to wave his fingers at Mickey like he was casting a spell, to which his friend laughed and pushed them away. "Or, he had a look at your hair."

Mickey sighed and ran a hand through his mess of black hair. Pitch dark, thick as a lion's mane and would never lie in the same direction, he had tried everything to tame it but it was no use.