Thank You Coronavirus

Chapter 1 - Adjusting

I finished typing in my last response to the questionnaire as I closed my laptop, a bit too aggressively, causing my dog, Smudge, to jolt awake. God, I really wanted to already have found the perfect college for me. I hated filling out the same exact questionnaires about myself, sounding just like everyone else since there's not much to distinguish with questions asking "What are you planning to major in?" and "What is your GPA?". I'm not even a lazy person either! I'm a runner for crying out loud! I spend my own, free, personal time being active, out of choice.

USC wouldn't want me anyway I thought. You need to have a 4.6 GPA and have won CIF or something for them to even consider talking to you. I wasn't completely wrong, but I knew I had to at least try contacting them anyway. Plus, it would be sweet to go to a college that was only 30 minutes away from where I lived.

Right now, I simply needed a break. I walked out of my room to check on my family. My little brother was playing Call of Duty again while my mom was watching House Hunters and my dad was working on the home computer. I turned right back around to my room after making the rounds around my house. We had only been in quarantine for two weeks now, and not going to lie, everything was definitely a bit more peaceful, but I still felt stressed out. Maybe it was the fact that my track season ended abruptly, or I haven't reached out to too many people from school all that much yet. Part of the stress was definitely due to the never ending thought of college, but I really tried to ignore that, despite it being a never ending thought...

I checked Snapchat. My boyfriend, Owen, still hadn't opened my message from an hour ago when I said good morning. I chuckled, checking the time and seeing that it was 11:30 am on a Monday morning.

Him and I have been dating for around 8 months, and it's been great. Owen is really smart and is pretty goofy, like me. I definitely miss seeing him everyday since school has switched to online. Even my track team has "online schooling" with my coach. We go through a 45 minute to an hour long workout session of squats, burpees, and whatever other workout is possible without equipment. I had 5 hours before the group meeting started to do whatever I pleased.

I surprised myself as I went into my drawers and pulled out a bathing suit, which I haven't worn since last summer, and put it on. I walked past my mother as I went outside to our singular lawn chair to try to relax and feel productive, for I was trying to get my tanning on too. Being a runner and being outside all the time leaves one's body stained with many tan lines. Shorts tan, watch tan, sports bra tan, and the infamous sock tan. I wasn't expecting to end up ever fixing that one, but I came outside to just think to myself for a bit.

I did quite a lot of thinking for a girl who's only been in this world for 17 years. It was a good and bad quality of mine. I take all the time in the world to try and make the right decisions but it comes at the cost of causing myself a lot of harm overthinking things. Additional stress was never wished for, but stressing over things was unavoidable for me. Here I am, laying on a lawn chair, simply trying to tan, and I'm stuck worrying over what is the best possible thing to do next after my designated time of "relaxation".

"Relaxation my as-"

My brother walked outside. Phew, at least not mom. I did not need to be scolded for cussing right now.

"What are you doing, Indy?" Terry asked me.

"Umm, well, brother of mine. I suppose I'm trying to waste time" I said, coming to my final conclusion.

"Ah" he stated. 

He knew. He understood. And he left without saying anything else. I see someone else is also making their rounds around the house.

Surprisingly, as most sibling relationships tend to go, mine was actually pretty good with my brother. It's not even that we talk a lot, because we don't. We hang out every now and then, usually playing video games together, and staying up late when doing so. I don't know what is was, but he could sort of tell when I'm upset too and somehow say or do something to change that. It's our weird little relationship that holds so much meaning. We simply share each other's company and that seems to work for us.