The anticipation is bottling up inside me like a bottle of wine. The longer I let it linger the better it gets. My thoughts are all scrambled. 'And it's only the first day' I tell myself. Its senior year at Brookviews High School in Southern California. My mom shouts from downstairs of our tiny apartment loft that if I don't hurry up for school I'll be late.
I never had to worry about tardiness at my old high school. I only lived ten minutes away and could walk or have Mom drive me. But Mom sold her blue 2014 minivan (classy for California people, I know) in order for us to move here. So no thanks to her, I get to take the bus for the first time in my life. Will it be as crazy as seen on those teenage rom coms my brother watches with his girlfriend Mack? Hopefully not. I'm just praying for this day to be over with- and it hasn't even started!
I hurriedly pace infront of my brown wooden dresser deciding what to wear for the first day. I've always been told first impressions matter. But today I'm not trying to stand out. So I grab a crumpled up T-shirt that has a speckle of green paint on the sleeve and a pair of ripped, light washed, blue jeans. As I'm almost out my bedroom I remember to grab a pair of beat up Vans.
Wow I don't fit in California. I never really fit in Virginia either but at least I had friends. Here I have nobody but Mom, Brody (lil bro), and my old vintage books.
I didn't really pack anything else because Mom wanted to start over after the divorce with Dad. She can't even bring him up without losing it. It was an ugly ending. I feel bad but the family knew it would happen eventually. We were held on by strings but now their cut. But it's whatever.
I just need to focus on my grades and getting into MIT. How hard could that be? Very challenging apparently. I head down stairs, feet thudding against the hard wood floors, and give a wave to Brody before heading out the door. Moms getting ready for her first day at work in her bedroom.
Once I shut the door I text Mom a "goodbye, I love you. I'll be good in school. Don't worry about me" sort a thing and walk over to the nearby corner bus stop. That's when I see her.
YOU ARE READING
Do Overs
Short StoryA new guys at school and doesn't know what to expect. Kylie Keyn is surely going to know by the end of his first week at Brooksview High School that things aren't like Virginia in this California town. Things have been rough in his family ever since...
