I knew today was going to be a bad day the second I rolled out of bed. I stepped on Legos that my little brother left on my bedroom floor. I hissed a sling of cuss words and jumped up and down on my good foot. I should have just went back to bed. I never should have gone to school. But I did.
I dressed as fast as humanly possible and chucked the Legos into my brother's room. I ran down the stairs to see my mom dressed in her purple scrubs flipping pancakes. My little brother Michael was playing with more goddamn Legos at the kitchen table. Mama told me to sit my little butt down, so I did.
I knew better than to get on her bad side. Mama had been through a lot in her life. She had me at sixteen, went to college at night to become a nurse all to have my daddy leave us right before Michael was born. It was just the three of us. I hadn't heard from my dad in almost five years and I was ok with that.
Mama put a plate of pancakes in front of me and another in front of my brother. She then sat down at the table between us. Breakfast was the one meal a day we got to spend with each other. Mama usually picked up night shifts after working all day in order to provide for Michael and me. I wanted to go to Brown someday and that shit didn't come cheap. So I watched my brother at night because Mama earned more than I would if I got a job at nights.
You wouldn't have known it by looking at me, but I was first in my class and on track to be valedictorian when I finally graduated. I worked my ass off and because of that I didn't have very many friends. Oh fine, I don't have any friends. When I was younger, I had been close friends with Bethany Walker but when she got boobs she became popular and forgot all about me. We hadn't spoken and I was ok with that too. Judging by her instagram we definitely had nothing in common anymore.
I ate my pancakes. I was about halfway through when I looked at the clock. Fuck. I was going to be late. Again. I was almost always late for school. But I had a good reason. It was because I was trying to spend time with my mother, something most teenagers avoided. Leaving my plate at the table I kissed Mama on the cheek before I ran to grab my backpack. If I ran fast enough I might just make the bus.
I ran down the sidewalk and tripped over Michael's bike. I couldn't really blame him, he didn't really know better. But I bet if I hadn't tripped I would have made the bus. Instead, when I got to the bus stop, I saw the bus moving down the road away from me. I swore and kicked the ground before I walked home.
Mama wasn't going to be happy. She would understand but she wouldn't be happy. Michael's sitter and the hospital were on the other side of town. If I asked her for a ride, I would probably make her late and I knew she had an important meeting today about a promotion. I couldn't make her late. Not today.
Instead, I grabbed my old bike that I hadn't used since like sixth grade. It was pink with streamers, a basket, and a bell. I had a phase back then. I jumped on the bike and headed towards school.
At school I flung the bike at the bike rack, not caring if it fell down or not. I ran into the school out of breath and sprinted toward my first period class. The halls were empty. School had started. My only hope was that my teacher didn't notice me sneaking in late. But I had no such luck.
The teacher greeted me with, "Eileen, how nice of you to finally join us. You know the school's policy. That'll be a detention this time."
After some prodding from January Lily I decided to write this. Eileen's faceclaim is Vanessa Morgan. Her Jumanji avatar will be played by Marie Avgeropolous. Thank you for reading.
-Ani
