All night long the sounds of the city had echoed through my ears, I could hear conversations out on the street, I could smell burning cigarettes despite being inside with my window closed. I was restless- tossing and turning the whole night long- and had not an ounce of sleep.
It wasn't just the noise keeping me awake either; it was the thoughts that raced through my mind along with my body's simple feeling that it didn't want to sleep.
It was the longest most painful night of my life.
When my alarm finally pierced the morning, I shuddered in pain. The amplified sound raced through my eardrums louder than the previous morning and caused me to cringe. I held back a cry as I reached a hand out to turn it off.
I climbed out of bed with a pounding head, but the pain thankfully faded quickly. I changed and felt surprisingly awake considering the sleep I hadn't gotten last night.
Hurrying downstairs, I informed mom I was going to school. She tried to persuade me to stay home, telling me I still looked unwell, but I told her I was fine and hurried out before she could say another word.
I normally would stop for breakfast when I left early for school, but I wasn't hungry, so I hurried down the bustling street towards the school.
'Nathan Ridge High' was a few streets away from my house, and only a 20 minute walk, but I took it slow so I wouldn't be too early. Being right in the middle of the city, we didn't have any sporting ovals or outdoor eating areas. The whole school was just a plain, brick, three story building which looked as old as the city itself from the outside. Inside though, a few rooms had been refurbished, but most of it still looked the same as it would've of 50 years ago.
Having no oval meant no football or baseball team (which was cool with me as I'm about as good at sport as a girl are at peeing standing up), so the schools thing was basketball. If you were on the basketball team or the cheer squad- you were cool.
If your favourite subject was math and you spent most breaks reading at the library you were just like me- so, not cool.
"Hey Richard!" I stopped my ascent of the front stairs into school and turned. The senior's parking lot was almost full but I quickly noticed the old blue truck that had just pulled in, and the black haired boy climbing out of it. A smile spread across my face.
"Janey!" I greeted back as he hurried towards me. Thomas Jane (Janey) had been my best friend since middle school when he'd fetched my backpack off the roof of our old school after one of the other kids had thrown it up there as a joke. He had climbed up through a window, and pulled himself up with nothing but a grip of the gutter. He was one brave kid.
"Where were you yesterday?" He asked, giving my shoulder a shove as we moved together up the stairs towards the front door.
"Sick," I replied casually.
"You do look really pale," he noted, as we shoved the heavy green doors open. The corridor was quite full of freshmen, sophomores and juniors, so we headed up the stairs to the second floor.
Senior privileges were the greatest; private eating area and a locker corridor away from the rest of the school. We hurried to our side by side lockers at the end of the block and began fiddling with the locks.
"Oh, guess what happened yesterday!" Janey exclaimed suddenly as I pulled my locker open. I didn't even have a chance to say 'what' when he started talking again. "We got a new girl in our grade and she sat with me all day."
"Bet she doesn't come back again today then," I replied, pulling my English books out of my locker.
"Hi Tom," came another voice from behind me. I pushed my locker shut and turned quickly.
