#Hanna
I yawned as my winter boots crunched the snow in my path to school. It was 6 in the morning and not a soul was awake, except for maybe the graveyard shift workers. But I was use to this by now; My mom's refusal to drive me to school in the mornings had become an expected norm. Her reason?: "Because you need to learn how to do things for yourself. When I was growing up, my family had no car and I still made it to school everyday on time. So will you." She says this to me after driving 3 adult sons back and forth to school for almost 20 years. It was only about 6 blocks away so it wasn't that far of a walk, but still, I don't get her sometimes. It's almost as if she doesn't like me. Like she does everything in her power to make my life as difficult as possible, as if I need her help with that in the first place. But... I have no coice but to get over it. After all, she's the only mom I have.
By the time I reached the school gates, my knees were knocking together from the freezing cold weather. My face was partially numb as I attempted to smile at Father Parks, the school's principal. He smiled and nodded, ushering me into the school yard with the rest of the early students. They didn't actually open the doors of the school until 7:30 because classes started at 8 so as usual, I found a secluded area and pulled out my phone, playing my recent musical obsession, Miguel's Kaleidoscope Dream. That man had a beautiful voice and a talent for matching it with the right instrumentals. I hummed his song "Don't Look Back" closing my eyes and sailing into a world of rythm and beautiful vocals. If I could do it and not look a fool in front of everyone, I would get up and start dancing. But I figured that little deed was better reserved for the confines on my bedroom. I swayed back and forth, letting the music consume me.
*
#Kwan
I straightened my tie in the mirror attached to the back of my bathroom door and inspected my face. I wondered why girls always fell for me. Was it only my looks? I'm tall, standing at 6'3", with dark chocolate skin, brown eyes and full lips. I have long dreads and I'm muscular with tattoos. I guess I gave off that bad boy image but... I don't think I'm a bad boy. I mean, that's not what I try to be. I'm just myself and being myself comes off as being a rebel. Was that it? Did girls fall for me because of my bad boy image? Because I don't want my "Yes" girl to think of me that way. My "Yes" girl will fall for me because of my mind and how I make her feel, not something as trivial as an image.
I moved from in front of the mirror and grabbed my coat from the chair in the corner, leaving my room completely. I briskly walked pass my parents room. I didn't dare look in that direction. I didn't want my eye to be caught by something I didn't want to see. I'd been doing pretty good for the past year so I'd be just fine now. I could feel my anger rising as I even thought about them so I decided to abandon that thought. I picked up my book-bag and walked out of the house, grabbing my keys and locking the door behind me. I unlocked the doors to my white 2013 Chrysler 300. My uncle had given it to me for Chritmas in hopes that I would come and work at his dealership and I was grateful... but he had another thing comin' if he though I was gonna work in a car dealership for the rest of my life. I had bigger dreams than that.
I started the car and drove to school. I lived on the completely other side of town so I had to wake up earlier than most would. It never surprised me that once I arrived to school, everyone that I hung with was already in the school yard, shooting the breeze. It'd always been this way. Everyone anticipated my arrival like I was something to gawk at everyday. I didn't care for it but at the same time I didn't mind it either. I parked in the student parking lot and walked towards the school yard. I surveyed all the females in attendance today. I'd slept with majority of them, well the sexy looking ones anyway, and the rest didn't interest me. I wondered if I'd been refining my search too much. What if my "yes" girl didn't go to school here? What if she went to Withrow? Or Spring Valley? Or maybe even West Monroe? I was pulled out of my train of thought when my best friend, and damn near brother, Jason called my name, making my presence in the yard known. All eyes landed on me as I strode across the yard, dapping him and the rest of the crew. I hugged the few girls that I was cool with and let them rejoin in their previous conversation.
