Staccato Bursts

Part One: My Party Blues

The sound of my alarm clock is something I'll never get used to. Waking up earlier than nine in the morning is also something I'll never get used to. My brain kept pushing me to get up and get ready for school, but my body wanted five more minutes of sleep. Five sweet minutes of sleep. Then there goes another sound I'll never get used to- my ringtone.

No one ever calls or texts me unless it's something important or if they need something from me. That previous statement obviously meant I don't have a boyfriend.

"We're stuck in traffic along Tenth Street but we'll be there around 15... Wait, 20. Jade needs some sugar.", it was Candace, one of my closest friends.

Notice I didn't use the term "best friends"? I don't know why, but I dislike branding something, or someone, as the "best". Candace Paige, or Candy for short, is... different. She isn't the kind of person I would usually befriend if we met randomly on a bus. We don't have a lot in common. She's the president of so much school organizations, moderately popular, and eye catching. I guess it's because she's always been there for me and that's enough for me to call her a friend. She was talking about Jade, another one of my closest friends. Jade Kilmer has Type 1 Diabetes. She probably had one of her hypoglycemic episodes and needed some sugar, as Candace said.

I jumped out of bed as I received Candy's phonecall. "Uhh. Shit, yeah, 20." I answered as I grabbed a pair of jeans from my bedside table. Yes, my bedside table. I'm not a particularly clean person when in comes to my room. I can keep the living room clean, the kitchen, even the bathroom, but never my bedroom. I also live alone. In a flat. It's not what you think, I'm not abandoned or anyting.

I live in the 4th floor of the O'Hare-Pearson Tower and my parents live directly above me, on the 5th floor. My family owns this building and this flat was some sort of gift when I turned 16. Cool, right? But it's not like I live totally alone, I come over their place for dinner most of the time. Plus, I have five dogs to keep me company.

I have an older brother, Harvey. He's in college in Ohio right now on a football scholarship. He wasn't really the intelligent type but he had a lot of skills. He owns a tattoo parlor on the first floor of our building. Pretty neat, actually. I work there sometimes when I feel like it. No pay, of course. My flat contains a living room- a flat screen tv and two Lay-Z-Boy couches facing it, and kitchen-slash-dining room adjacent to it. I don't know any real cooking so I have a bunch of ready to eat stuff, a fridge, and a microwave. And of course, my room. It's in colors of really dull orange and beige. I decided a long time ago to hide that monstrosity with my drawings. I don't have a walk-in closet like most girly-girls, so my clothes are all over the place. We're not an extremely rich family. Sure, we own this and that but we weren't born with it.

I plugged my iPod with the speaker and put on my playlist, making sure I get ready for school after the fifth song ends. I washed my hair in the sink as an Aerosmith song came on, hoping I would finish by the time it ended. I grabbed a sandwich and microwaved it while getting completely dressed. I also ate half of that sandwich, which overheated by the way, while drying my hair. I heard a knock on the door as another song just ended, indicating that I just made it on time.

"Kim! I see you're ready.", Candace said as I opened the door.

I hugged her because I haven't seen her all summer. She looked the same, except she got blonde highlights, different from her usual all-red hair. She was wearing a blue dress which was puffier than I expected, grey boots, and an oversized headband.

"Can we go now?", I saw Jade behind Candy, eating a Snickers bar.

Jade is really skinny, because of her condition, of course. She has huge green eyes and brown frizzy hair. I hugged her too.