Chapter Six
When I woke up the next morning, it was to the soft sounds of honking horns and the echo of a t.v. with bad reception.
Groggily, I sat up and groaned tiredly, my eyes blurry and still heavy with sleep.
Beams of sunlight filter in through the torn blinds hanging crooked on the window and shines brightly on my face. Blinking I stand and wobble slightly, the feeling in my legs gone. I grab onto my headboard and stretch them until the familiar feeling of pins and needles runs through my legs.
I let go of the headboard and glance down at my phone that was blinking with a red light, indicating me to connect my charger. Ignoring it, I pick it up and look at the time.
8:24
School, started in thirty-six minutes.
Sighing, I throw my phone back down and start to work my way over to the heap of clothes lying on the wooden floor boards. The familiar sight of them reminding me that I had worn them the week before and had yet to wash them.
Glancing over my shoulder to the closet all the way across the room, I stare at it in consideration, then look back down at the clothes on the floor.
"Screw it." Picking up the light blue sweater on the floor I tug it on over my tank top, and decide the gray leggings I'd worn to bed last night were fine, then slipped on some cheap sandals.
Tying my hair up into a quick ponytail, I grab my phone and the charger, stuffing it in my backpack, grab my keys and shuffle into the bathroom.
Quickly I brush my teeth hard enough to make my gums bleed and cup my hands under the water, splashing some on my face.
I disregarded the drown rat look I was rocking and dash out of the bathroom and into the living room, stopping just barely enough to turn off the t.v. and throw a blanket over the drunken, passed out couple on the couch.
Then I walked out the door.
Ten minutes later I was pulling up in front of New York's own Newbourn high school for the public, the red brick building bringing on a sense of resentment in the pit of my stomach.
School buses lined the front entrance of the school and kids filed from them, either joining a clique outside the building or walking inside.
Cars drove past and to the side of the school to the student and faculty parking lot, almost every space filled.
My rusted blue pickup truck jerked and sputtered it's way over to the parking lot, my baby just barely avoiding a crash with someone's civic.
"Hey! Watch where you drive that piece of junk, it almost hit me!" The driver screams.
Immediately, I'm bombarded with offense at his harsh words.
Piece of junk?
My baby was hardly a piece of junk.
It took me years to save up enough money to buy this thing, and finally two jobs, a tip jar, some couch pillows, and a scratch off ticket later, I had enough to buy it off my old neighbors hands and put it to good use.
The hunk of rust and metal was practically gold on wheels in my eyes.
Anger curls deep in my chest and my vision darkens as I find myself readying to lash out at him on impulse.
Before I could say anything, a clap of thunder cracked through the air, it's sudden loudness causing me to jump and forget my current anger.
Looking up at the sky, dark clouds rolled in at a supernatural speed and I watched in wonder as lightning zigged and zagged across the sky, a sharp contrast against the inky black sky.
Wind whipped my hair back and forth through the window, and I stuck my hand out, enjoying the soft way it caressed my skin, it's touch gentle and tender.
Almost humane.
The sharp sounds of car horns shattered the illusion and my head snapped up from where it was staring at my hand lovingly, and turned to the review mirror, the dust and dirt not enough to cover the impatient glares other drivers were giving me as I blocked the entrance to the school parking lot.
Sighing, I stepped on the gas and pulled in, and couldn't help but notice the driver was gone—the one who had insulted my car.
Thinking it over, I couldn't help but giggle a little at how ridiculous I had been to get mad at such a small thing, and I sat back in my seat, my head clear with the kind peace the wind had given me.
Before stepping outside of the truck, I grabbed my backpack and glanced up the sky and was struck dumb by it's baby blue color—no sign of the wind, and thunder before.
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