My Name is Michael Clifford

A Day in the Life of Michael Clifford

I woke up to the ear-splitting noise of my alarm clock. I peeked out from underneath the mountain of blankets and pillows into my dark room. I felt sticky and sweaty and even detected the pungent smell. I scrambled to the opposite side of my bed to turn little satan off.

I lazily threw the covers off of my body and looked around the room. It was fairly messy, typical for a teenage boy. Clean clothes piled onto the chair in the corner, never to be put away, while the dirty clothes were scattered all across the floor.

'Here goes another day,' I thought.

I dragged myself over to the clean pile of clothes and picked my outfit for the day. Band shirt, skinny jeans and a pair of Batman boxers.

I went to the shower across the hall noting how quiet the house was. Mum must have left to work already. She works too hard.

I went through my mourning routine emotionless and slow. I remembered to pack a small lunch of fruit gummies and a juice box. I usually went to the library during my free period anyway so I usually eat my minuscule lunch there.

I walked to school, longing the accompany of a friend. The walk always seemed to be the longest part of the day, however it probably lasted for 15 minutes on a good day.

When I arrived at the school, I timidly walked past the delinquents smoking at the corner. The group consisted of a junior girl with a bad dye job and dangly boobs, a scrawny egotistical boy, the generic version of Eminem and lastly the female version of Chucky.

I then walked by the theatre group. This group was sweet and kind but wouldn't get that involved with you if you weren't in theatre. First there was Nick, a tall handsome boy who happened to be gay. Second there was a plump girl of color, whose hair was bleached and whose lips where red. Thirdly there was Nate, an adorable gay kid who was the definition of adorable. The group had some irrelevant sophomores and freshman but all were talented. The school may be in a bad neighborhood but their theatre is the best in the state.

I found them inspiring. They were willing to follow their dreams and be themselves while managing to stay pretty and keep their grades up.

I made it through the crowd of hormonal teenagers without being injured. They don't pay me any mind. I can't say I don't mind though.

I made it to the corner of the courtyard where I slid down the brick mossy wall and onto the grass. I then people watched. I saw the nerds play Magik, the football players talking up some pretty girls, the trashy clan gossiping and the fan girl group smiling at each other gleefully over something on their phone.

I sat their wishing I had some company and wondering if I would ever fit into one if these groups.

The bell rung as I got up on my feet and brushed my butt from grass and picked up my backpack, hauling it onto my back. I then snaked my way through the crowd, dodging arms and legs.

'Here we go,' I thought.

0:0:0:0:0

I arrived at my home after a lonesome day at school and a long walk from school. I had to take the longer route because I saw a suspicious group of men blocking me from my original route.

The house was once again empty. My poor mother. Sometimes I felt like she had the world on her shoulders and I don't know how I could help her.

I made myself a bowl of cereal, it being the only thing we had to eat. I watched tv, it being the only form of entertainment we had. We only had about 50 channels however so I settled with watching re-runs of Ellen. I love her. I hope one day I can meet her.

After Ellen was done I was left in my thoughts. I sometimes wished I had a friend. I've never been great at making friends. It's not like I am shy. I can't count how many times I've introduced myself. My parents used to bribe me by saying that each time I introduced myself, I would get a dollar and we would go get ice cream at the end of each week with the money I made.

That was in 1st grade. This continued until 4th when my parents would start fighting and it became so awkward that they wouldn't talk to me at all really. I missed them asking how my day was every day. I haven't been asked how my day was by anyone since 4th grade.

I miss being cared about.

However, I never stopped introducing myself. It always ended up in embarrassing myself or annoying them. No one took a like to me.

I've always watched those movies about the shy girl or boy who was shy and had close to no friends because they preferred it that way. I wasn't like them. I always craved having a friend, or at least someone to just speak to every once and a while. There was one question that ran through my head especially at night:

Why don't they like me?

And since this night was no different from any other night, a tear slipped from my eye and onto the cold pillow beneath my head.

ꅏꃅꍏ꓄ ꀸꀤꀸ ꌩꂦꀎ ꁅꀎꌩꌗ ꓄ꃅꀤꈤꀘ?
ꉓꂦꎭꎭꍟꈤ꓄ ᖘ꒒ꍟꍏꌗꍟ!!