Wind, Book One of the 360 Series

Wind

Chapter 1

I rolled over and looked at the black numbers floating on the little white tiles that flipped over with each passing minute. The clock on my nightstand read 8:35 and through the sluggish swim to wakefulness I thought to myself, 'That can't be right.' I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them, blinking quickly to clear the fogginess away. I looked again; 8:35. I sat up with a jolt. Oh, shit! My stomach sank like a rock and then jumped back up to my throat. Why didn't anybody wake me up? I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the sleep and stop the tears. Oh my God, I have to get to school! I have to get to school and write my Biology final. I'm so late! I quickly jumped out of bed and went to check my mother's room to see if she had slept in too. She wasn't there.

"Mom!?" I called out with obvious panic in my voice but got no answer. "Mom, where are you?" Nothing and I didn't have time to search the house. She's probably at work by now anyway, I thought. I headed for the bathroom.

I didn't care how late I was going to be, I still had to brush my hair and at least try to put some makeup on. When I was thirteen, I went to Maddy Vicker's birthday party with about six other girls that were my best friends at the time. We all got makeovers and I loved it. The woman that came to the house that day was so pretty with her eye shadows and lipsticks and she said I was a natural at applying all the different colours to my face. I had worn makeup ever since, much to the dismay of my mother and her wallet. I knew I was late but the thought of going to school with nothing on my face was almost as bad as missing my final.

Biology, I thought to myself as I roughly brushed up and down on my teeth, too engrossed with my thoughts to even look in the mirror. I wish I knew what questions were going to be on the test. I studied a little last night before drifting off to sleep but knew it wouldn't be nearly enough. This was my final, covering an entire semester worth of classes; a couple of hours of reading through notes the night before was probably not going to cut it.

I rinsed my mouth and gazed at my reflection in the mirror. A small gasp escaped my lips. I had dark circles under my blue eyes making them look black and my mousy brown hair was all clumped together and tangled into giant heaps of wiry mess. How did it get so bad after one night? It looked like I hadn't combed it in a month! I opened the cabinet drawer and grabbed my brush.

"This is going to be fun," I sighed and bit my lip as I started to pull through the knots.

The trip through tangle hell took longer than I thought and my wrist hurt. I cringed as I realized that my face would have to go naked. If I didn't hurry, I wasn't going to make it! I just hoped the teachers would let me join the test if it'd already started. If not, I'd have to beg for a second chance or I wouldn't be graduating this year.

I wondered, for the fiftieth time, why Mom hadn't woken me up before she went to work. It wasn't like her to just leave me sleeping and I could feel myself getting angrier just thinking about it. She knew I had this test today. I told her all about it. Dad was still out of town on his business trip and Jamie, my little brother, would have left for school by 8:00; he was still in elementary. God, I thought, why couldn't I still be in elementary school?

I hurried back to my room and quickly threw on some jeans, an old t-shirt, a hoodie and a pair of mismatched socks. I grabbed my backpack, stuffed my Biology textbook inside, I would have to return it before writing the test, and headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

The lights were turned off, the dishes were stacked in the drying rack and the curtains were closed. It was like no one had even come in here this morning. It felt dark in the house and a shudder ran through my body but I quickly dismissed it. Maybe Mom and Jamie overslept too. Whatever, there was no time to think about it. I had to get to school. I wrenched my feet into my still laced up runners and ran out the front door.