Fireflies

Chapter 1: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

                                                                         ARYAH

May 15th

"...BUT I'M A CREEP, I'M A WEIRDO...WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE? I DON'T BELONG HERE..."

i bolt out of bed to the sound of raucous music. Radiohead?

"What the hell?" I murmured, wiping the sleep from my eyes. I turn towards the sound that seems to be coming from my alarm clock. Then it all makes sense.

"CHRISTOPHER!" I screamed over the blaring music.

Could I be the younger sister in peace?

My eldest brother Christopher Montgomery II never let up. Every friggin' morning I woke up to some sort of sick prank. Yesterday, I was Saran wrapped to the bed and my dad had to cut me out. Today it was the music. This prank was no doubt what Chris considered "mild" because of the "scolding" my dad have given him last night. But my dad never really scolded.

In fact, I don't think I'd ever heard him yell. He was a soft spoken stay-at-home dad. That's right folks. My dad was a stay-at-home dad. Gave up a lucrative career as the top computer analysis at Macintosh to stay at home to dote on his two children. My brother, only two years older, was a sophomore attending Chamberlain College, an ivy league college in the city, yet he still lived at home.

My mom wore the high waisted pants around the house. She worked long hours at her law firm and brought home ample bread for the dinner table. We barely saw her though. Maybe on the weekends she'd grace us with her presence, but I've never really held my breath.

It was strange having my dad around, filling the shoes my mother left behind. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have your father come to a PTA meeting and be the only male in the room? He volunteered to be the head of the Parents Bake Sale Committee for goodness sake! Still, I couldn't talk to him about the things I wanted to...like boys or clothes or my body. Instead I've had to BBM my mom and have her give me quick and dirty advice over cyberspace. Her secretary Sally was nice to talk to. She had a really pleasant voice and would often times "substitute " for my mom when she just had to take an important call. It was fine though. My dad did fine, bless his heart. Plus, he could cook a mean lasagna - something my mother never could do. She was either an order-out type of girl or a microwaver.

But enough about them. Back to my mongrel of a brother.

Today, he changed my alarm clock to play the song "Creep" by  Radiohead instead of the general ringing sound I'd grown accustomed to and it was now...

SHIIIIIIIT! He even changed the time it was supposed to ring! So now I had approximately 30 minutes to get dressed, grab a bite and drive to school. UGHHH!

"Fuck, fuck, fuck..." I muttered as I hopped around my room pulling a navy blue polo over my head. The collar snagged on the toothbrush in my mouth and I cried out as the bristles dug into my gums. I quickly reached under my shirt to pull the toothbrush in my mouth not caring if any paste got on the inside of the shirt. Once the shirt was on I resumed brushing my teeth while looking around for my backpack.

Found it. I shoved a few books in and let it sit on my bed.

Letting the toothbrush sit in my mouth again, I pulled on the uniform skirt that had been lying on the floor and searched frantically for any sort of shoe. Ah ha, the black Steve Madden flats. I slipped them on easily. Crap! I forgot my navy blue knee highs. I took off the shoes and sat on the edge of the bed. Reaching over the hamper I grabbed a pair of limp knee-highs and shoved my feet into them.