Max

Epilogue

"James, why must we wake up so early?" I groaned. It was about five in the morning, and I couldn't remember a time where I ever woke up that early for school.

"Senior year, Max! Wake up and smell the whatever!" He got out of bed and grabbed his cane. "God, your voice is deeper than mine now."

"It's deeper than normal because I'm tired." I rolled out of bed and looked in my closet for an outfit. "Go shower, I'll make breakfast."

"I'll pick you up after school," Mom yelled from the car as she drove off. James and I walked into school to meet everyone.

"The Sekowskis have arrived!" Sidney exclaimed. "Hey, Max, c'mere."

"Hey, Sid," I smiled, giving him a kiss. "You guys look so different now." I took a look at everyone. Jillian grew her hair out, and it was down to about her waist. Rich, on the other hand, cut his hair shorter so that it wasn't in his face anymore. Bex didn't change much, but they pierced their lip, which I thought was so cool. Sidney bleached the top of his hair blonde, and let it grow out a bit longer. He was also taller, about six foot.

"Max, look, I got tall!" George beamed. I looked at him, not knowing what he was referring to. "I'm five eight now!"

"What were you before? Five seven?" Rich joked. George nudged him playfully and rolled his eyes.

"You guys ready to face the day and be seniors?" James asked.

"I guess I am, I really don't want to go to chorus though," Jillian replied. "I will be sitting all alone now that Max is not an alto."

"Sorry, Jills, I'm getting revoiced today, if that's what it's called." I loved hearing my voice when I spoke, it was amazing. "We have it first period, right?"

"Yes, we do," she said. The bell rang, and I followed Sidney to homeroom, which we had together. Once that was over, we walked to chorus.

"Alrighty, attendance time." Mr. Cunningham had just introduced himself to the freshmen, and he was reading our names aloud. I was excited, since Mom legally changed mine to Maximillian over the summer. He got to my name and instantly started smiling. "That's more like it! Maximillian Sekowski?"

"Here," I laughed. I could tell he liked the sound of my voice.

"Alright, everyone sit in your sections. Freshmen, or anyone who needs to change their voice part, come up to the piano." I walked up, almost in awe of how young the freshmen looked. I sang what I needed to sing, and I could tell Mr. Cunningham was impressed. "Max, you're singing bass this year. Your lowest note is an F2."

"Is that good?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, it's lower than I can go," he replied. "I can tell this'll be a good year for you." I beamed.

"I feel the same way."

My final class of the day was English. I had Mrs. Schmidt again, and I could tell she was happy to see me. She sat me next to James, who was in my class and using his special computer to take notes.

"Alright, kids, I know you're probably gonna be mad at me, but I'm handing out rubrics for your first assignment." Everyone groaned, but I was excited to start writing. "Your theme is going to be 'Importance of my Past,' and you're going to be writing a memoir about one of the most important moments in your life."

"How many pages does it have to be?" Sidney smirked. He was sitting in the front, next to Bex.

"Why am I not surprised?" Mrs. Schmidt chuckled. "Minimum of five, but you can go as many as you want. It can be an essay, or a story if you so choose."

"And it can be about anything?" I asked, already inspired.

"Anything." I beamed. "I'll give you the rest of the period to start jotting down ideas. This will be due in the beginning of November."

I opened up my notebook, and picked up my pencil to write. I already knew what to do.

Maximillian Sekowski 's Memoir, AP English

I stared at myself in the mirror in my bathroom. My deep black hair was growing fast, almost down to my shoulders. I was always so tempted to cut it, but I knew Mom wouldn't like it if I did. I had just put some makeup on my eyebrows to make them bigger, and I was trying to decide whether I liked it or not.