Beyond The Starss

One

"they called me weak,like I'm not just somebody's daughter......"

   Humming to 'everything I wanted' by Billie Eilish while walking down the wet street. My hands hidden away in the pockets of my favourite black cardigan. Staring at no one in particular. Thinking about how bitchy life has been with my headphone singing loud in my ears. Yes, I'm only 16 but you have to believe me, life really has been shitty. My name is Vanessa and you're about to read my story.

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    My phone rang out. I knew what it was already -- the 4am alarm. I struggled to put the alarm off and then buried my face into the pillow in an attempt to sleep again. No! I wasn't going to sleep, I do this everyday and I've never fallen asleep after my alarm rang which is probably the only one of my mom's many rules that I keep to. Even if I tried to sleep, her voice wouldn't let me.
  "Nessa, do not sleep after your alarm has gone off."

  "Nessa, it's important to keep to your routine."

  "Nessa, you have had all night to sleep. Get off that bed."

   Less than a minute later, I slightly raised my head off the pillow and said my prayers before crawling out of bed. Slipped on my flip flops and straight to my reading table. I gently scrubbed my eyes before putting on my spectacles. Yes! I'm bespectacled, four-eyed, a blind bat and every other  name you can think of. I really wish I wasn't.
   I have my Physics test today. God knows, I am so not prepared for it. Don't blame me, it's not so easy to prepare for a test on your least favorite subject. Over the years, I've had quite a number of home teachers to help me with it. My mum wouldn't and couldn't deal with her only daughter failing.
   Here on the table are my textbooks,I have about 3 different ones but I still don't know where to start from. I lazily picked my pen, chewed on the tip while opening my notebook and began working out some questions. The same ones I've been doing since the past week. They were easy and I wasn't prepared to solve harder questions.

  Two long hours later, I was in the bathroom. Brushed my teeth,took a shower and out I was. There had been a power outage since last night and I silently prayed it wasn't what usually caused it. I'm not so used to power outages. I mean, my mum isn't working her ass off to buy a house in this extremely posh area just for her only daughter to suffer power outages. I enjoy laying emphasis on "only daughter". I'm like my mum in that way, she never missed any opportunity to remind me -- like anybody would forget they were the only child.

Thanks to the power outage, my phone has been my source of light since I woke up. My phone is one hand, the other hand scattering through my wardrobe now in search for my uniform. I have five uniforms, one for each day of the week -- mom has made school life that easy for me. Speaking of mom,I dialled her number and she picked up after a few rings.

"Good morning mum."

"Good morning Nessa,how was your night? Hope you said your prayers and I believe you're almost ready for school?"

"Yes mum. I'm on my uniform. I would just go down now to get my breakfast before going to school."

"That's like a good girl. And I'm sure your phone is well charged, Tinu told me the generator was on for most of the night,right?"

"Yes mum."

"Alright go have breakfast. Call me after school. Bye."

"Bye."

   'Do I have to do this everyday?' I sighed. I dropped my phone in my bag, threw in a few books and lots of snacks before heading out of my room, down the stairs and straight to the dinning table.
  Tinu already had the table set. Toast bread, slices of bread, scrambled egg,butter, tea and apples. 'Is it Thursday already? Obviously yes.'  I really do not need a calendar as long as I'm at home, the food tells me what day it is. I took one toast, spread butter on two slices of bread, downed the tea, forked few pieces of egg, and in less than five minutes, I was done with breakfast. Checked my phone and the time was 6:30am. The school bus would be here in the next 30 minutes or more. I settled in my favourite sofa with my school bag beside me. It was white and has flowery patterns. Thanks to Tinu for keeping the sofa this white. Hurriedly tuned the Tv to my favourite channel 'Zee Cinema'. I think I have a lot of favourites in the house. On the Tv was a movie I've seen not less than twenty times and I'm not even exaggerating. 'Main Tera Hero'. I had no reason to change the channel so I kept watching till I heard the horn.
   "Nessa,the bus is here" Tinu screamed out like i was deaf (rolls eye). I picked my bag and ran out of the house.