How To Feel Alive

1: Summer Sunrise

I wake up to the sound of my loud, annoying, alarm ringing on my nightstand. I groggily roll over to shut it off and see that the screen reads '6:00 AM'. What... the fuck. That's basically like the middle of the night.

The i-phone alarm clock noise is single-handedly one of the worst sounds in the world. Especially this early in the morning. I usually don't mind school too much, but it's finals week, and I actually have to do well on my exams to keep my 4.6 GPA. Needless to say, I haven't been getting much sleep. I crawl out of bed to start getting ready after checking my notifications and pressing play on my favorite playlist.

For school, I don't wear too much makeup; just some concealer under my eyes, blush, and mascara. Sometimes if I'm feelin' extra fancy, I'll throw on a little lipgloss too. I am in the middle of trying to get a knot out of my long, brown hair when I hear my mom call my name from upstairs. 

"Charlotte, hurry! you're going to be late!", she yells, and I glance at the clock on my phone to see that I have two minutes to leave my house.

"Oof", I say under my breath as I pick my backpack up off the floor and slip my converse on, running out the door. I grab my keys from the kitchen counter before my mom gives me a look of disapproval.

"Aren't you going to eat your breakfast?", she asks while crossing her arms.

"Sorry, mom." I give her a little shrug as I look over at the food she made me. "I really gotta go."

"You know I don't like it when you don't eat anything in the morning." She sighs, clearly exasperated, a hint of dissapointment in her eye.

"I know, I'm sorry, I promise I'll eat something tomorrow morning!" I say, kissing her cheek goodbye followed by an apologetic smile as I walk out the door. We both know that probably wouldn't happen. Again.

Right as I'm about to hop into my little Volkswagon Jetta, I hear the voice of Ben, my neighbor, who I think may have a little crush on me. Oh, who am I kidding, that boy has been in love with me since we were eight years old. He's nice and all, but I always saw him as more of a brother than anyone I would ever consider dating.

"Hey Char, you look nice today", Ben mentioned with a small smile, "Anyway, I'm glad I caught you, I've been meaning to ask you if you wanted to do this thing for yearbook, it's kinda dumb, but I think..." He continues to talk, but I kinda zone out. All I can think about is how I'm gonna be late for my Spanish final if I don't hurry my ass up.

"Hey Ben, I really gotta go, but you know what? I'll text you if I find some time for it okay?" He nods his head timidly, "great, I'll see you later!" I say, trying to get out of that conversation without being too rude. I feel bad cutting him off like that but poor Ben can talk for hours about the same thing and I'm in a bit of a rush, if you couldn't tell.

As soon as I get into my car, I put on my sunglasses, turn up the song on the radio, and head out. It's a good thing school is only a few minutes from my house, or I wouldn't have gotten there on time. After all, we do live in a pretty small town.

Here in Cresthill, California, just about everybody knows everybody. Sometimes that can be a great thing, but other times, it can make you want to crawl into a ditch and never come out. For example, the summer after fifth grade, Ben dropped a weight on his foot at the gym and broke three of his toes. Word got around and everyone called him Butterfinger Benny for about two years. It's beyond me why people talked about it for so damn long. But even worse, everyone knew all the not-so-pretty details of why me and my ex-boyfriend, Mason, broke up last year. Trust me when I say, it was a total mess.

I arrive at school (barely on time) and my Spanish and Chemistry finals were a breeze. School has always been important to me and I like to push myself to get the best grades I possibly can. Well, that, and my parents are always on my back about grades and college and all that stuff.

When I get to my locker after class, my best friend of ten years, Tabitha, is hastily attempting to shove all her books back into her locker. 

"You know Tabby, maybe if you were more organized, you could actually fit all your shit in there", I tease.

Tabby and I have been best friends since first grade. Other girls have slipped in and out of our friend group, but the two of us have always stuck together. We've got that kind of bond only ten years of friendship can create.

"Oh shut up. like you're any more organized", she snorts, which made me laugh.

"You've got a point there," I say in agreeance. "But pick up the pace missy, or we'll get too much traffic on our way out of here, it's the last day of school, I'm sure everyone can't wait to get the hell out of this shithole-"

"CHARLOTTE NICOLE KLASSEN!!!" she squealed, with a sudden realization, "We are officially juniors!"

I laughed as I watched her jump up and down in excitement. 

"Yeah, it feels pretty great to be an upperclassman huh?"

"Hell yeah, it does. Now let's get out of this god-awful place, I don't need to worry about these bad vibes for three whole months", she said with a smug smile.

"No need to tell me twice", I reply, quickly turning around.

 And with that, we walked our way to my car, with high hopes for what was to be the best summer of our lives.

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A/N: hi all i hope you enjoyed that first chapter! i know it's kinda boring rn but dont worry i promise it'll get better! go ahead and keep reading, vote, and comment if ya feel like it ;))