I'm A Mess || l.c

1- Summer Bucket List

Many people would say that school is like a prison or is a prison. I wouldn't exactly say that since school is pretty much my only escape out of the daily chaos that shakes up my household. Sure, I have my moments where I just feel like the world is crashing down because I may have received a poor grade on one of my assignments but, school isn't so bad if you really think about it. I mean, how many times have you ever actually pounded your fists on the school windows and yelled "GET ME OUT OF HERE, HELP!"?

Never, right?

I looked up from the mass of words in my history textbook and focused my eyes out of the window. They immediately landed on Ryan Hayes, aka the most popular, richest and smartest guy in school. Stereotypical much? It was as if I was attending a school in a teenage romance novel. Of course, I wouldn't have minded if I did end up finding myself in a teenage romance novel. Just imagine the thrill, the sparks...

"Lauren Cimorelli?" I mumbled a 'huh' as I turned around to face my history teacher. Slacking off wasn't something I usually did but since summer break was so close, I couldn't help it. Which stupid teacher even taught history in the last week of school? Our teacher, Mr. Cowell, obviously.

"Sorry, sir," I mumbled before I got back to the paragraph describing the many effects of certain global issues. As time went on, I zoned out again and my eyes went back to the glorious world outside.

*Ring, Ring!*

I muttered a quick thank you to no one in particular and dashed my way out of the classroom, dodging the many bodies rushing towards their lockers to go back home after yet another day. Only 2 more days and I could finally say goodbye and leave the school for summer break.

"Lauren!" Shailene, one of my only friends at this school, called out. She rushed over to catch up with me and quickly fixed her hair before speaking again. "Did you get your English exam back?"

"Yeah, I got it yesterday," I replied.

"Oh, great! I got my results back today and guess what I got?" The smile on her face was enough to clarify that she passed with a good score.

"Hmm, oh, I don't know, maybe an A?" I pretended to think hard.

"No, I'm definitely not as smart as you are, but I got a B+! Can you believe it? B+!" I was pretty happy for Shailene over her results, considering the fact that she usually got a C or a C+.

"That's great, Shai! See, you do have the potential to get amazing results if you really study hard," I explained.

"Thanks! You got an A, didn't you?"

"Yeah," I replied awkwardly. I didn't like having to tell people what I got in an exam or assignment when the person I was talking to got a lower mark than me. It made me feel so weird and bad.

"Knew it. After all, you're the straight-A genius!" Shai laughed. I cringed at this, not knowing what to say. I was seriously so awkward. No wonder I barely had any friends. "Want to go out for froyo to celebrate my success?"

"Sure! I'd never say no to froyo!" I laughed as I shoved a few books into my backpack and closed my locker door shut.

*

After a delicious daily dose of froyo, I was back into my natural habitat; my room.

My summer bucket list was stuck onto the wall near my desk and I began to read it to see a brief overview of what my upcoming summer contained.

1. Eat heaps of chicken.

2. Stuff yourself with froyo.

3. Buy heaps of ice cream.

4. Make homemade Valencia Orange Refresher from Starbucks

5. Make heaps of summer desserts

Wow, was I really such a pig for making my summer bucket list all about food? I groaned and ripped off the list from the wall, scrunching it up into a ball and throwing it in my bin. If anything, I had to lose weight. I walked over to my mirror and looked at myself closely. I was gaining weight really fast and in no time I was going to grow out of my newly bought clothes.

"WHY AM I SO FAT?!" I yelled as I pulled my hair in frustration and lay down onto my bed. Fat. Fat. Fat.

"What the heck is going on in here?" Christina asked as she opened the door to my room and peeked inside. I watched her through my fingers as she made her way to my bed. Probably came to 'psychologise' me or something once again. I wasn't going to let that happen. I had already been through so much torture with Christina, listening to her over and over again about how important it was for me to love myself and all that crap.

"Go away," I groaned as I covered my face with my pillow.

"No, Lauren. Tell me what's going on," Christina replied as she grabbed the pillow from my face and threw it across the room.

"GO AWAY!" I screamed. "GET OUT! Why can't I just be left alone?!" It was funny how I had my own room yet I still couldn't have privacy.

I wanted heaps of things to change over the summer. My appearance, social life, cooking skills... pretty much everything had to change. And I was going to make that happen. So many people took summer break as their opportunity to get out there and change themselves. Then they came back into school after the break like a freaking tornado, washing away all their past memories and becoming one of the most popular people in school. A certain example of this was Penelope Mayers who went from a typical shy nerd to a social queen just over the summer break. It was crazy how fast and how drastically people changed. I wanted to change into someone more popular and I wanted that to happen over the break.

The thought of becoming one step closer to becoming Ryan Hayes's girlfriend made my heart beat faster and my cheeks turn bright red. Of course, I could only dream of such a life as being his girlfriend because how would a girl like me, Lauren Cimorelli, become the school's most popular guy's girlfriend? Only by switching lives with Havana Brookes, Ryan's current girlfriend, but everyone knew that it wasn't possible to switch lives with someone.

Anyways, why was I thinking about Ryan Hayes, a guy who I barely knew?

"Lauren, everyone's waiting for you downstairs," Dani said as she opened my bedroom door.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Dinner?" she questioned with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, you scared me, and don't roll your eyes at me!" I stated.

"Don't tell me what to do, ugly."

I made a mental note to get back at Dani over that. No one got away with insulting me, even my siblings when I knew they were just joking around. After all, I played fair and fair is what they all got.