Freshman

Life

Mel's POV

"Mel!" My Mom shrieks from the bottom of the stairs. "Time to get ready for school!"

I groan, rolling over in the sheets and wrapping them around my head.

"March Break is over!" She yells. "Go to school!"

I huff and sit up, my feet touching the cold floor beneath me.

Rubbing my eyes, I stand up and stretch out.

"Morning" I greet Dee Dee as she walks past my bedroom door.

She waves her hand at me non-comitally, headed for the bathroom, I guess.

About an hour later I'm walking up the path to school.

I wish I spent my March Break in Florida like Dani and that Jeremy guy did. Instead I spent it trying to hide my guilt over egging Jason's house whenever we hung out. Which was everyday.

Has the guilt made me crazy? You could say that.

Arriving at the school, the first sight that greets me is Jason playing basketball with his buddies. I notice Eileen, waiting for me at the wall.

"Hey" I ask. "How was your trip to China?"

"It was great!" She tells me. "I saw all my family, and I went to the Great Wall. I had tons of food, I've probably gained like ten pounds"

"Sounds like you had fun" I say. She nods.

"How was your March break? I know you were upset about not going to Florida and....."

"It's fine" I say quickly, a little too quickly. I change position, crossing my arms.

"I mean I get why she brought Jeremy, but I've never been on a big trip like that and I thought this could be my chance." I say, trying not to sound sad.

But this is how it works, Dani's family always does these huge vacations and live in a big house. I guess that's what happens when your Dad is deputy sheriff at the police station.

I mean at least there's a balance. I know rules are stricter at her house, and she doesn't get to have sleepovers with her friends as often as I do. Plus her friends....well they're not real friends in my opinion. But it would be nice to see what her side of life is like, it looks so great.

Eileen does something unexpected, she hugs me.

"Mel, it's okay. Different people are put in different situations. It happens, that's life."

"I know" I mumble, staring at my shoes.

"C'mon" she puts her arm around me. The bell rings. We walk into the school together. "Life is great Mel, you just have to look past all the crap before you see any kind of beauty."

"That was beautiful" I tell her. She laughs.

"I got it off the internet."

__________________

"Different people are put in different situations. That's just the way life is. There's nothing you can do to change it. But if you look at things a little more clearly. The world isn't such a bad place. Look for the everyday beauty of the world, and things won't seem so bad anymore." I conclude. Mr. Anderson claps.

"Mel, that was a wonderful presentation on your perspective of life" he says and Jason winks at me.

"Thank you Mr. Anderson" I gather my papers and head for my seat.

Eileen taps my shoulder from behind me.

"Gee Mel, that was so original!" She hisses in my ear. I try to contain my laughter.

"Shut up Eileen." She makes a gagging sound.

"Think your valedictorian speech will be as good as that?" She asks. I blank. I completely forgot about that. I haven't even thought of a concept.

But looking around at my peers, I'm starting to get a few ideas.

"Alright everyone, Milo has a story to read you all"

The class groans, as Milo walks up to the front of the classroom.

He wipes his nose with his hand.

Gross.

"I'd like to call this story, Crack"

We all groan again, preparing for the worst.

A/N: Short update but here y'all go. Like I said before there's not much going on with Mel right now, we'll get to her stuff later. We gotta get through Dani first.