The Time of the Hidden

A Bet

A sharp light tried to pry its way into my eyes. In protest, I dug my face deep into my pillow to block out the sun. As I was slowly drifting back off, an alarming ring began to bellow into my ears. Letting out a small grunt, I reached, without looking, for the snooze button to stop the obnoxious ringing. On the edge of my bed, not knowing that I was off from hitting the alarm clock, pushed down on thin air. Losing balance, I tumbled to the ground banging my head on the hard floor. With the now bump on my head and the annoying ringing piercing my ears, the universe decided start out my day with a blistering headache. I reached onto the night stand, and pressed the off button down hard.

Sleepily, I find a dark navy shirt and some black pants in my closet, and begin to get ready for school. After pulling back my brown hair with blonde highlights into a loose braid, I apply some mascara to the eyelashes around my hazel brown eyes. Finalizing my lip gloss, I looked into the mirror with a satisfied sigh. A small knock came to the door.

"Skyler?" A muffled voice came from behind the door.

"Come in." I replied. The white door cracked open. A tall man, with the same hazel eyes, stepped out of the door way.

"What's up, Dad?" I asked.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up that I will be gone this next week. There's a bit of an emergency at work. They need me to go to Phoenix to help out with one of the factories down there. A machine has malfunctioned."

"Oh, when you leaving?"

"Some time today. I'll be gone before you get home."

"Well, hope you have a good trip."

Dad gave me a worried smile, "Are you sure you'll be okay alone?"

I gave a small laugh. "I'm seventeen. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Barley seventeen."

"Well, seventeen none the less."

"Uh, well, there is some eggs and toast if you want any." He said before heading back out the door. I gave him a small smile before sitting down to pull my sneakers on.

Grabbing my backpack from the side of my bed, I slipped out the door and down the stairs to help myself to a small breakfast. Finishing off my egg, I checked the time. 7:55. School starts in only five minutes! I was going to be late! I scrambled off the chair snatching a piece of toast from the table, and bolted out of the house, with my backpack hanging off one shoulder. After sprinting three blocks, I saw the Ironwoods Highschool. Just one more block. Racing over the last block, I glanced at my phone. It was only 7:57. It really was helpful that I was the fastest in the class, because I always had a tendency of being late.

I reached the school, and made my way to English. Glancing around the non decorative room, I spotted my best friend, Jennifer.

"Wow, you're here early." Said Jennifer jokingly as I took the empty seat next to her.

"Haha, very funny." I said unamused.

A loud bell went off, commencing the school day. A tall woman stood at the front of the class dressed in a knee length gray skirt with a white blouse. Her white blonde hair pulled into a tight bun. A small, silver name tag stand was sitting on a neat desk behind the woman saying Mrs. Harrison.

"All right class," said Mrs. Harrison. "Today, we will be taking a test, so put your books away." She walked around the class handing out tests. "If I find any of you cheating, I will give you and whoever you're cheating off of a zero. So I do suggest you don't try anything. Some of your grades can't take a blow like that." I watched as the test slid into place on my desk. Mrs. Harrison said, through her pale thin lips, "Begin." I looked down at the sheet to see a page long poem. Ahh, annotating, easy. I took about the first third of class doing thorough annotations to each stanza, then moved onto the questions on the other side. After answering the first question, the silence of the working class room was broke by the sound of a phone ringing. I looked up from my paper to see Mrs. Harrison pick up her classroom phone.