A Love-Hate Relationship

2~ First Day of School

Monday, November 8th

I screamed at the sound of my alarm clock blaring in my ear, falling off my bed and landing on the floor with a grunt.

I groaned and disentangled myself from my bedsheets, climbing back up and reaching to slam my hand on the snooze button.

Instead, I saw Brenda standing there with a smile, her air horn in her hand.

"What the-"

"Good morning!" She blew the loud air horn again.

I grabbed my pillow and smacked her, yelling at her to get out. She laughed and ran out the door, closing it as I threw my pillow at her. It smacked against my Avril Lavigne poster, which I'd placed yesterday.

I sighed and plopped my face on my mattress as I remembered what day it was today.

November 8th; our first day of school.

I looked up, staring at the ceiling. My stomach churned with both excitement and apprehension as my heart raced faster than the Roadrunner could run.

I looked around my newly decorated room. Over the weekend, we brought in new decorations and set up our furniture; I got my new bed on Saturday and my sisters finally adapted to their rooms.

We still had a few things to buy, but accessory-wise, we had enough from our old home.

I unpacked a whole bunch of posters of my favorite singers and bands; Avril Lavigne, Carly Rae Jepsen, Sara Bareilles, Daughtry. I even had some The Greatest Showman posters because it was my favorite movie of all time.

I'd distracted myself from school worries by focusing on decorating, while also playing outside in the snow with my sisters. I even climbed the tree in the yard.

I stretched my arms and swung them back and forth as I stood, stretching my legs and cracking my neck. I tried to be relaxed, but this new high school was haunting me like a monster under my bed; waiting until I was asleep and off-guard to devour me like a lion would devour an antelope.

Yes, I tended to be quite poetic when I described my feelings— being in the arts made me develop habits.

And yet, another thing to worry about. Where would I take dance now? I used to be in the dance club at my school and I attended other dance classes that taught me ice ballet.

Sure, maybe it had a dance club, but where would I find proper ballet dance classes? Was there an ice rink near here?

I cleared the worries from my head. I would let Future Marissa worry about that. For now, I needed to concentrate on making a good first impression at my new school.

I grabbed my outfit from my closet, which looked really nice, but it wasn't too fancy. Just a simple, lime green Polo T-shirt and some fake jean leggings, with a new pair of white sneakers I bought the other day. I also got a new jacket that matched my favorite hat, and a matching set of white gloves and a scarf.

It was gonna be cold on my way there, what with all the snow.

My new backpack was nice, too; it was a lime green backpack with black zippers. It was currently bulging with the weight of a whole bunch of schoolbooks I needed, but the load would lighten once I put them in my locker.

I changed and went downstairs to eat breakfast, finding my sisters already at the table. They were wearing some new outfits we bought and their schoolbags were at the door.

They looked more nervous than I did. Brenda looked like she was on the verge of throwing up while Gracie stared ahead at the wall, as pale as a ghost.