Why Don't We Go There?

Chapter 2: Kayleen

     “Kayleen! It's time to get up!” Julie burst into Kayleen's room and turned on the lamp by the door. “Hey sleepyhead,” she exclaimed, “you're gonna be late for school!” Over in the corner on top of a bed, covered in heaps of blankets, lay a motionless bulge. “It's time to get up Kayleen!” Julie repeated, only in a louder voice. And still, the bulge did not move. Julie, amused, rolled her eyes as she paced over to the bed and pulled off the blankets from the child that lay underneath. Kayleen, who was once under the blankets but now exposed to the cool conditioned air, quickly withdrew and curled up as she groaned confusedly, still half asleep. “Kayleen!” Julie laughed, “Come on, you don't want to be late to school again! The bus is coming in thirty minutes and I'm not going to tell you again, so get up!” Kayleen rolled over and let out a grunt.

      “I don't care..” she whispered, “It's too early, five more minutes.” Julie tapped her foot and let out a sigh.

       “Just get up.” She pleaded. She shook her head and walked out of the room muttering, “I swear girl, you are the only reason I'm getting gray hairs so young in life.

        A couple minutes after Julie had left, Kayleen rolled over onto her side, facing her alarm clock. She rubbed her eyes and smacked her lips, and squinted at the time. The clock read 7:00 A.M. Suddenly Kayleen shot upright in her bed and seized the clock in both her hands.

        “OH CRAP,” she said as she stared at the time, “I slept through my alarm, I'm going to be late if I don't get ready!” Kayleen scrambled out of bed and headed for the closet. “Crap!” Her foot got caught on the bed frame and she fell into a fumbling heap upon the floor with a loud 'thud!'

        “Sounds like somebody just got out of bed!” Shouted a voice from somewhere else in the house. Kayleen clenched her jaw and glared out her door, then shouted back in a sarcastic tone,

        “Good morning to you too, Mom!” She rolled her eyes and steadied herself back onto two feet. “Right,” she coached herself, “to the closet we go.”

        Getting ready in the morning wasn't really a long and aggravating process for Kayleen. She wasn't like many other teenage girls her age- at least, not with her sense of fashion. Truth be told, Kayleen had no idea what mixed and matched or what patterns went with what. She didn't own cute girly miniskirts or stylish crop tops. She only had five pairs of shoes, three pairs of them which she hardly wore. Most of her clothes were hung up in her closet or lost in her drawers, and she never wore those outfits. She was plain, and managed her own personal simple fashion statement; black leggings and a t-shirt on another humid day in San Diego seemed fine with her. When worst came down to worst, the hardest decision for her was which t-shirt to throw on and whether she would throw her hair into a ponytail or not.

        She decided today would be an unbelievably lazy day- settling for a red t-shirt featuring her favorite WWE wrestler John Cena and the 'shaggy, homeless hobo' hair-down hairstyle, Kayleen grabbed her everyday black hi-tops and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

        “Mom,” she called as she reached the kitchen counter, “Mom, where are you?” She sat herself down on the dining stool to slip on her shoes over her brightly-colored, mismatched socks.

        “I'm in my office!” Julie called to her.

        “Well come 'ere!” Kayleen replied.

        “Kayleen! I'm busy, okay?”

        “Moooom!”

        “Kayleen what do you want? I'm busy!” Kayleen let out a sigh. She pulled on both of her hi-tops, both still untied and stood up.