6 to 2

Chapter Three: The Present

I wake up and hop out of bed. Three years later and I still think I have two legs. I pull myself off the floor and put on my prosthetic. I walk to Zach's room and wake him up.

"Get up, Zach, it's your first day of 6th grade!"

He rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head. I walked closer to the bed and pulled the cover off of his bed.

"Aww come on! No fair! I don't wanna go to school!"

"Zach, come on, get up and get dressed and I'll make your favorite breakfast."

His head shot up.

"Sausage and eggs?"

"Yep, but only if you get up now."

He raced to the bathroom and I laughed to myself, thinking I would do the same thing. Anything for food. Before I started cooking, I went to my room to get dressed. I decided to wear a blue dress with a flower pattern on it.

I walked downstairs and went into the kitchen.  I pulled out sausage and eggs from the fridge. I turned on the stove and pulled out some pans. I cracked 5 eggs in one pan and laid the sausage patties in the other. Once they were done cooking, I placed 3 eggs on my plate and 2 on Zach's. I then added 3 sausage patties to his plate and only 1 to mine.

Just as I sat down, I heard Zach race down the stairs. I watched him carefully place his new bookbag down by the front door. He climbed into a chair and started to tell me why he didn't want to go to school and why I should homeschool him. I felt bad sending him to a school he didn't want to go to, but I couldn't homeschool him and work at the same time.

   "You'll be fine. I went to that school and I turned out okay."

   "But that was like a million years ago! It's different now."

   "How old do you think I am?" I asked, smiling

   "I don't know, like 32 or something!"

   "I'm 22, but you'll be fine," I said reassuringly.

Just as Zach took his last bite, I heard the school bus pull up.

   "Go grab your jacket and bag and go. You'll do fine." He looked at me like I was the craziest person he had ever laid eyes on. "Fine?! You think I'll do 'fine', really? Ugh, I hate you and I'll hate my new school!" He stormed out of the house, slamming the front door so hard the glass could have shattered.

*3 hours later*

I work at a diner. It's probably the worst place you've ever seen. I don't like working here. I get paid minimum wage and I just flat out hate it here. I want to quit, but I can't because I barely have enough money to pay bills. Then he walked through the door. The boy I had loved since 8th grade, Justin Myers. And I was just the weird girl who stared at him whenever he walked in.. He came up to the counter and looked at me strangely.

"Taylor, right?"

Oh, my god, he was talking to me.

"No, it's Trish."

"Okay, Trish, can I get some blueberry muffins and a 2 large Diet Coke?"

"Yep, yes, sure, coming right up!" I sounded mental. He gave me a weird look and went back to his table. He sat with his friends and talked (probably about me). I made his food and walked up to his table.

"Blueberry muffins and 2 large Diet Coke's?" I knew it was his order, but I had to ask it so I didn't look weird. No one responded as they all looked at my prosthetic. I blushed just as Justin broke the ice.