Nicole in the Middle

1) Imagine Complexly, Analyze Everything

Thirty days has September, but only 24 hours in a day. Eight of those hours are spent sleeping, six hours spent in school "learning", another three hours of homework, one hour of chores, and one hour to eat. That leaves us with five hours. But hold up, cause we're not done yet. Three times a week I stay after for clubs for about two hours each. Subtract five and three and we get a remainder of two hours. There are five days in the school week. Three times two is six, five times two is 10, add together and you get 16 hours of free time during the school week. I could spend that time aimlessly scrolling on social media while simultaneously searching google for 'how to get a life' or pick up a book from my ever growing jenga tower to-read list. I could even spend time with the family. Usually I find time to do all of these things, but the majority is spent by listening to music and writing. And this is why I am an introverted nerd with no success on 'getting a life'. But who needs this so called 'life'? I'm breathing just fine without it.

From my pretentious and sarcastic thoughts I figured I was facing one of three things: a) delirium from staring at my laptop screen for far too long, b) spacing out because ADHD and editing articles for two hours straight don't mix well, or c) my brain is trying to remind me that I still have chemistry, geometry, and Latin all due tomorrow. Not to mention two quizzes and a test all on Friday which require at least a brief amount of studying. I settled with d) all the above, making a note in my agenda to write an article on that for the school paper. Considering my workload ahead of me, I called it a hard day's night as I shut down my laptop and exited the classroom before heading to the library. My brother, Ryan, was sitting at one of the tables in the far back studying flashcards with his girlfriend, Megan. This activity seemed to require an extensive amount of PDA, which was a disturbing sight and quite unnecessary. But how was I to know?

"Ew, gross!" I teased, while making my way to the table. "Please keep the PDA to a minimum. This is a library, not a bedroom."

Ryan flipped me off, and, in response, I threw a few playful punches to his shoulder.

"Ow...be nice to your sweet, kind, generous brother," he spoke in the third person. "Ryan is providing transportation for his little sister after all."

"Ryan is very annoying when he speaks in third person. Ryan should just take his beautiful, smart, and favorite sister home before she goes insane and does it herself. Oh shit...I think she just may have."

With that last comment, he laughed, and we were on our way to the student parking lot. My brother has a Ford F-150 XL in the paint color "Blue Jeans". It fits five people, which is pretty big for a truck. My brother has a lot of friends though, and he also has me to drag around, at least till I get my license. If you thought the outside was cool, just wait til you saw the inside. On the rear view mirror hung a Rick and Morty portal air freshener from Hot Topic, as well as a dashboard Walter White thingy from Breaking Bad he got on Amazon. All 5 seats were covered with skull seat covers, and the steering wheel had a Harley Davidson cover. This car was my brother's pride and joy. She even had a name. Helena. Named after a song by a punk rock band called Misfits. Even though when it comes down to songs named "Helena", my favorite will always be by My Chemical Romance.

My brother, being a total gentleman, opened the passenger door for Megan before hopping in the driver's seat himself. I made myself comfy throwing my backpack on the seat next to me as I jumped into the passenger's side. Ryan turned the radio to 92.9 Alt before pulling out of the school and on the road. The song was Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I just blankly stare out the window, gazing at the scenery on the ride home, searching for something that has changed. Nothing has changed. Everything is absolutely ordinary.

It takes three songs before we pull into our driveway, just like always. "One of Us" by New Politics has ended, and "Numb" by Linkin Park has just started as my brother shifted gears into park, ultimately stopping the music. I have this weird ability to act like that music app, Shazam in certain cases. I only need to hear a few seconds of a song and I can tell you the title, artist, the album the song is from, and sometimes--depending on how familiar with the song I am--the track number. For example, lets go with "Numb". It's the 13th track in the album Meteora, released March 25, 2003. I should work for Hot Topic with my knowledge of 2000's punk and emo songs. Things our parents raised us on. I just have an interest in finding the nitty gritty facts that are probably only useful in Jeopardy. Just one of my weird and pretty useless talents I somehow have.