Casey and The Quints

03

At 7:00 am the following Monday, I wake up to my phone vibrating on top of an empty cardboard box which I had converted into a temporary nightstand. A groan escapes my lips, as I roll over to check how much longer I can sleep for before I absolutely have to wake up fro school. I am just about to go back to sleep having allotted myself another 20 minutes of sleep when the door to my room slams open revealing my mother. I pull the covers over my head attempting (and failing) to hide from her.

"Up and at 'em," She says in a sing-song voice, ripping the blankets from my grasp, "It's your first day of school! Aren't you excited?"

I don't say anything in reply. My plan is to ignore her and that will hopefully make her think to leave me alone. Unfortunately, my plan fails and with my mother's prodding, I eventually drag my body out of bed and head towards the shower.

"Be ready to leave in 45 minutes and I'll drive you," She calls after me as she shoves some of my boxes out of the way in order to place a laundry basket of clean clothes on the floor, "And make sure to shower quick, I still have to get in there!"

Twenty minutes later, I am clean, shaved and fresh-faced, feeling much less tired then I was before I took a shower. I allow my dark brown hair to dry into my naturally messy waves instead of using heat to save time, and immediately get started on my make up. I apply all the necessary products to hide my blemishes and then perfect my eyebrows with a tiny bit of gel. I quickly paint on a few swipes of mascara before applying some plain lip balm to my chapped lips. I glance at my appearance in the mirror, wishing I inherited the quints blonde hair that with my blue eyes would make me look much prettier than the brown hair and blue eye combination that I have.

I shuffle back to my room and sift through the clean clothes my mother left for me. My outfit for today consists of a plain white t-shirt that I think is actually one of my brothers, some faded ripped jean shorts that are about a size too small and show way more ass then I would have liked for school but are the only pair that I have been able to find. For shoes, I slip on my classic Birkenstocks and let out a sigh of frustration as my nails that I painted white last night have already somehow chipped.   

As I glance at my phone, the time 7:39 flashes across my screen, so I sprint down the stairs and into the kitchen. I hastily throw a banana, a handful of granola bars, and half a package of baby carrots into my backpack, which will suffice as breakfast and lunch for today. As I'm just about to sprint out of the kitchen, Paul calls my name and I turn around just in time to catch my water bottle and I flash him a smile and a thumbs-up before running out of the door.

My mom is impatiently waiting in the car and as soon the door is closed she whips out the driveway. We don't talk as we drive along the road and allow for the radio to fill the silence. Five minutes later (which is how long it takes to get anywhere in this town I have come to realize), we reach my new school. As my mom pulls up to the front, I can't help but notice just how old the school is. The bricks are worn down and weeds can be seen peeking out from the bottom of the school. The parking lot has seen better days and all windows on the school seem to be covered in layers and layers of dirt. The grounds look well kept though with brightly colored flowers and large trees that are on either side of the path leading to the school.

I undo my seatbelt and get out of the car, waving goodbye to my mom before I walk off to the double doors leading into the school. I notice the sign above the doors which reads Segginton High School, Founded in 1880  that seems to have been replaced as it's quite modern and not faded like the rest of the outside of the school. As I walk through the doors, I catch a glimpse of people talking to each other against the lockers and hear chatter echoing from a door to my right, which happens to be the office.