One Morning
2000
Why did she write? She hated writing. So why did she take this writing class? Oh yeah,
because last year while signing up for classes she had some false notion that this would be fun.
Then over the summer everything had come crashing down into little itty bitty pieces and there
was no hope of even finding them all. But here she was at eleven at night trying to find a reason
for the princess to love the prince. In her eyes he had done nothing, this story was about a
princess too cowardly to find her way in the world and a prince cocky enough to appear as if he
has confidence and is able to get what he wants. One of those fairy tales where the two heroes
fall in love at first site and there's no real plot or basis for the story but everyone loves it, only
she has to come up with a reason why she wrote this piece of dribble that was a waste of paper.
She wanted to stay the truth, that she couldn't come up with anything else for the first story
assignment and wrote down the nonsense that she used to believe in, but instead she traced her
mind back to what it was that she did believe at one time, where it made sense to write like this
and scribbled down some answer about finding true love after waiting and struggling for so long.
*Struggling! If that wasn't a bit of irony.* she thought. *This girl didn't struggle she just fell
into his arms. Ha. I wonder which will get the "F", the story or the explanation?* she pulled off
her shirt as she got up from her desk and closed the notebook. She flipped out the light and
undressed herself in the silver moon light that shone through her window. She crawled into bed
placing only the thin sheet over her white form, her shoulder length blonde hair had been tied in
a messy braid but at this moment she didn't care because she was getting a well deserved five
hour sleep before her alarm would go off and she world get up for her four a.m. mile jog and
shower and dress and maybe even breakfast if she hurried and then the dash to school before the
first bell so that she could help the science teacher with setting up the days' experiment. But it
could all wait for another five hours.
The alarm sounded and she jolted straight up in bed, throwing the black cat asleep on her
stomach to the foot of the bed. She turned the alarm off and set it for the next day. She slowly
got out of bed and found her shorts in the early morning dark and sports bra which was long
enough she didn't need a top, she found a pair of thick socks which she put on and her jogging
shoes next to the door. She stuffed her keys into her pocket and made her way down stairs as she
removed the braid and pulled her hair into a bun in the center of her head. She unlocked the
door opened it quietly and locked it again in one full motion, she stepped to the other side and
closed the door behind her. The street lights were on but she didn't need the light to know her
way around, she'd done this what felt like over a hundred times since she started midsummer
and it was now late fall. She started because her boyfriend had broke up with her and she began
pigging out in front the tube all day and she didn't even realize what she was doing until she
stepped on the scale after she had taken her shower. She still remembered the scream she gave
when she saw her weight. It was even beginning to show in her thighs and stomach, since then
she'd been running about a mile or more everyday, it gave her time to think about things and she
felt a little better each time she ran, like she was finding a little shard of her life and was slowly
making her life whole again only without the guy this time. She was about half-a-mile from her
house when she finally stopped and decided she would go a little further today and then turn
back. She knew exactly where she wanted to go too; it was seeable from where she was, about
another block or so into the urban area, it was an arcade sign, she had seen it a few weeks ago
when she had decided to change her normal direction, but she had never been to it before. As
she neared the sign she could see that it read: Crown Arcade open twenty four seven. She could
see the lights on inside as she slowed her run into a fast jog and slowed that into barley jogging
until she was finally walking up to it. The area around the building was illuminated yellow by
the lights considering the sun still wasn't up, but she was surprised to see people inside at this
hour of the morning; a blonde guy who stood behind the main counter and looked to be
consoling someone, another man only he had black hair that was strewn every which way.
Neither of them noticed her as she watched from outside until she realized that she had to get
back home and wash the sweat off. She steadily picked up her pace as she exited the yellow
field of light toward the dark blue that now hugged the sky.
She picked up the paper as she entered the house at a quarter to five. She put the paper on the
banister as she quietly made her way up the stairs and took a towel from the hall closet as she
passed her room to see the cat soundly sleeping on the foot of the bed where she had fallen. She
smiled to herself at the thought of how that cat used to be up before her in the morning, but now
even the annoying alarm didn't phase her. She stepped into the shower and got the temperature
she wanted the water and let it flow down onto her hair and body until she was soaked and began
to reach for the shampoo. She got her hair into a lather and set it on her head, she then wrapped
her body in a soapy layer and stepped into the water that keep pouring from the shower head and
all the lathers washed down into the drain and she shone a shiny white against the pale lights in
the bathroom. She dried herself off and blow-dried her hair as her body remained wrapped in
the towel. She swiped her fingers through her silky strands as she made her way into her room at
five forty, she saw a light come on beneath her parents door and quickly shut her door as she
turned on the twenty-five watt pink bulb. The towel dropped from her body as she found a pair
of jeans and a light pink v-neck top. She put on a thin set of underwear and bra and slid into the
jeans and top. She looked around her room which now had a morning tint that was being
drowned out by the light which she then turned off. She saw her notebook on the desk and put it
in her bookbag, she scanned the rest of her room to see if there was anything else she needed, not
seeing anything else she closed her bag and placed it by her door. She put on the thin light pink
socks and pink and white Sketchers and made her way down stairs as her room filled with the
morning light of six-ten. The black cat stretched itself into awake mode and watched the blonde
hair swing across the light pink back as it rounded the corner and out of sight.
She found a piece of toast with strawberry jam on it in her spot at the table. Her dad was reading
the paper and her mom had her back to her as she was humming in the morning. She took her
toast off the plate, kissed her dad on the head as he moved to turn a page in the paper, then she
kissed her mom on the cheek and made her way out of the house. She ate her toast as she calmly
walked down the sidewalk toward the subway station. She reached the station and stopped in
the cafe to get some milk and wait for her train. She looked at her watch as she gulped down the
last of her milk; six-fifty, just enough time to brush her teeth in the cafe restroom. She stepped
onto the platform at seven o'clock as her train pulled up and the doors opened. She stepped into
the virtually empty car and took a seat next to someone who looked familiar but couldn't
remember where. His eyes looked so sad, she noticed, as he held his head down and strands of
back hair fell around his face. *He was the one crying this morning in the arcade, I shouldn't be
starring but something about him.* She realized the train had made it's first stop and she looked
up to see a blue haired girl step in the car from one door and a tall brunette entered from the
other, they both looked familiar and she realized they went to the same high school they had for
the past four years but she didn't think they knew each other for they sat on opposite sides of the
car. She went back to starring at the guy but he was now starring at her. She gave a timid smile
as they exchanged glances and she leaded back in her seat as they slowed for the next stop and
the doors opened again and two girls entered unaware of the others presence, they were the same
height and their hair was the same length only ones' was black and she had purple eyes and the
other was blonde with blue eyes. The five girls looked at each other with a new found curiosity,
they knew each other only by a reputation earned over four years. The "Smartest" girl in school
was the one with short blue hair, blue eyes, pink lips, and three pearls in each ear. She wore a
dark blue dress with light blue flowers on it and she had a crochet blue jacket that matched the
ensemble and the blue platforms that sneaked out form under the hem of the dress. The
"Roughest" girl in school was the brunette with green eyes, and dark rose pink lips that matched
the rose earrings she wore that could be seen because her hair was pulled up into a ponytail on
her head. She wore a dark green top and a dark green skirt that reached her knees, she had on
black platform boots that covered her calves, (not that she needed the extra height) and a thin
fake black leather jacket that reached her hips. The "Talented One" artistic wise, (like singing
and playing the piano) was the one with long black hair that reached the middle of her back and
purple eyes, and deep red lips that looked natural. She had on red ruby studs shaped like stars, a
three-quarter sleeve red shirt, black pants, red and black shoes and also a thin fake red leather
jacket that ended at the bend of the knees. The "Athletic One" in the group was the one with
blonde hair half-way down her back and sparkling blue eyes and rich pink lips. She had on a
tight orange top, blue side button pants, orange and blue Adidas shoes, and a blue Adidas jacket
that looked like the same material of the pants. And of course the "Dreamer", but I've already
described her. She had examined all of this between the next two stops as the man with the
stunning blue eyes and black hair kept starring at her. Finally they came to another stop and the
six people left the car through three different doors. The girls not level with another, each made
their way on the sidewalk and the man found his own way out to head to a nearby college. The
girls on five different parallels made their way down the sidewalk not saying a word to each
other, not really noticing the others, they made their way into the school court yard and hall
keeping in pace with each other as they each broke off into five different classrooms to get an
early start on that days assignments. But as each laid their things down on their desk they felt
that they had lost something and went back into the hall to find each other and for the Dreamer a
few more shards of life to add to the growing pile.
2000
Why did she write? She hated writing. So why did she take this writing class? Oh yeah,
because last year while signing up for classes she had some false notion that this would be fun.
Then over the summer everything had come crashing down into little itty bitty pieces and there
was no hope of even finding them all. But here she was at eleven at night trying to find a reason
for the princess to love the prince. In her eyes he had done nothing, this story was about a
princess too cowardly to find her way in the world and a prince cocky enough to appear as if he
has confidence and is able to get what he wants. One of those fairy tales where the two heroes
fall in love at first site and there's no real plot or basis for the story but everyone loves it, only
she has to come up with a reason why she wrote this piece of dribble that was a waste of paper.
She wanted to stay the truth, that she couldn't come up with anything else for the first story
assignment and wrote down the nonsense that she used to believe in, but instead she traced her
mind back to what it was that she did believe at one time, where it made sense to write like this
and scribbled down some answer about finding true love after waiting and struggling for so long.
*Struggling! If that wasn't a bit of irony.* she thought. *This girl didn't struggle she just fell
into his arms. Ha. I wonder which will get the "F", the story or the explanation?* she pulled off
her shirt as she got up from her desk and closed the notebook. She flipped out the light and
undressed herself in the silver moon light that shone through her window. She crawled into bed
placing only the thin sheet over her white form, her shoulder length blonde hair had been tied in
a messy braid but at this moment she didn't care because she was getting a well deserved five
hour sleep before her alarm would go off and she world get up for her four a.m. mile jog and
shower and dress and maybe even breakfast if she hurried and then the dash to school before the
first bell so that she could help the science teacher with setting up the days' experiment. But it
could all wait for another five hours.
The alarm sounded and she jolted straight up in bed, throwing the black cat asleep on her
stomach to the foot of the bed. She turned the alarm off and set it for the next day. She slowly
got out of bed and found her shorts in the early morning dark and sports bra which was long
enough she didn't need a top, she found a pair of thick socks which she put on and her jogging
shoes next to the door. She stuffed her keys into her pocket and made her way down stairs as she
removed the braid and pulled her hair into a bun in the center of her head. She unlocked the
door opened it quietly and locked it again in one full motion, she stepped to the other side and
closed the door behind her. The street lights were on but she didn't need the light to know her
way around, she'd done this what felt like over a hundred times since she started midsummer
and it was now late fall. She started because her boyfriend had broke up with her and she began
pigging out in front the tube all day and she didn't even realize what she was doing until she
stepped on the scale after she had taken her shower. She still remembered the scream she gave
when she saw her weight. It was even beginning to show in her thighs and stomach, since then
she'd been running about a mile or more everyday, it gave her time to think about things and she
felt a little better each time she ran, like she was finding a little shard of her life and was slowly
making her life whole again only without the guy this time. She was about half-a-mile from her
house when she finally stopped and decided she would go a little further today and then turn
back. She knew exactly where she wanted to go too; it was seeable from where she was, about
another block or so into the urban area, it was an arcade sign, she had seen it a few weeks ago
when she had decided to change her normal direction, but she had never been to it before. As
she neared the sign she could see that it read: Crown Arcade open twenty four seven. She could
see the lights on inside as she slowed her run into a fast jog and slowed that into barley jogging
until she was finally walking up to it. The area around the building was illuminated yellow by
the lights considering the sun still wasn't up, but she was surprised to see people inside at this
hour of the morning; a blonde guy who stood behind the main counter and looked to be
consoling someone, another man only he had black hair that was strewn every which way.
Neither of them noticed her as she watched from outside until she realized that she had to get
back home and wash the sweat off. She steadily picked up her pace as she exited the yellow
field of light toward the dark blue that now hugged the sky.
She picked up the paper as she entered the house at a quarter to five. She put the paper on the
banister as she quietly made her way up the stairs and took a towel from the hall closet as she
passed her room to see the cat soundly sleeping on the foot of the bed where she had fallen. She
smiled to herself at the thought of how that cat used to be up before her in the morning, but now
even the annoying alarm didn't phase her. She stepped into the shower and got the temperature
she wanted the water and let it flow down onto her hair and body until she was soaked and began
to reach for the shampoo. She got her hair into a lather and set it on her head, she then wrapped
her body in a soapy layer and stepped into the water that keep pouring from the shower head and
all the lathers washed down into the drain and she shone a shiny white against the pale lights in
the bathroom. She dried herself off and blow-dried her hair as her body remained wrapped in
the towel. She swiped her fingers through her silky strands as she made her way into her room at
five forty, she saw a light come on beneath her parents door and quickly shut her door as she
turned on the twenty-five watt pink bulb. The towel dropped from her body as she found a pair
of jeans and a light pink v-neck top. She put on a thin set of underwear and bra and slid into the
jeans and top. She looked around her room which now had a morning tint that was being
drowned out by the light which she then turned off. She saw her notebook on the desk and put it
in her bookbag, she scanned the rest of her room to see if there was anything else she needed, not
seeing anything else she closed her bag and placed it by her door. She put on the thin light pink
socks and pink and white Sketchers and made her way down stairs as her room filled with the
morning light of six-ten. The black cat stretched itself into awake mode and watched the blonde
hair swing across the light pink back as it rounded the corner and out of sight.
She found a piece of toast with strawberry jam on it in her spot at the table. Her dad was reading
the paper and her mom had her back to her as she was humming in the morning. She took her
toast off the plate, kissed her dad on the head as he moved to turn a page in the paper, then she
kissed her mom on the cheek and made her way out of the house. She ate her toast as she calmly
walked down the sidewalk toward the subway station. She reached the station and stopped in
the cafe to get some milk and wait for her train. She looked at her watch as she gulped down the
last of her milk; six-fifty, just enough time to brush her teeth in the cafe restroom. She stepped
onto the platform at seven o'clock as her train pulled up and the doors opened. She stepped into
the virtually empty car and took a seat next to someone who looked familiar but couldn't
remember where. His eyes looked so sad, she noticed, as he held his head down and strands of
back hair fell around his face. *He was the one crying this morning in the arcade, I shouldn't be
starring but something about him.* She realized the train had made it's first stop and she looked
up to see a blue haired girl step in the car from one door and a tall brunette entered from the
other, they both looked familiar and she realized they went to the same high school they had for
the past four years but she didn't think they knew each other for they sat on opposite sides of the
car. She went back to starring at the guy but he was now starring at her. She gave a timid smile
as they exchanged glances and she leaded back in her seat as they slowed for the next stop and
the doors opened again and two girls entered unaware of the others presence, they were the same
height and their hair was the same length only ones' was black and she had purple eyes and the
other was blonde with blue eyes. The five girls looked at each other with a new found curiosity,
they knew each other only by a reputation earned over four years. The "Smartest" girl in school
was the one with short blue hair, blue eyes, pink lips, and three pearls in each ear. She wore a
dark blue dress with light blue flowers on it and she had a crochet blue jacket that matched the
ensemble and the blue platforms that sneaked out form under the hem of the dress. The
"Roughest" girl in school was the brunette with green eyes, and dark rose pink lips that matched
the rose earrings she wore that could be seen because her hair was pulled up into a ponytail on
her head. She wore a dark green top and a dark green skirt that reached her knees, she had on
black platform boots that covered her calves, (not that she needed the extra height) and a thin
fake black leather jacket that reached her hips. The "Talented One" artistic wise, (like singing
and playing the piano) was the one with long black hair that reached the middle of her back and
purple eyes, and deep red lips that looked natural. She had on red ruby studs shaped like stars, a
three-quarter sleeve red shirt, black pants, red and black shoes and also a thin fake red leather
jacket that ended at the bend of the knees. The "Athletic One" in the group was the one with
blonde hair half-way down her back and sparkling blue eyes and rich pink lips. She had on a
tight orange top, blue side button pants, orange and blue Adidas shoes, and a blue Adidas jacket
that looked like the same material of the pants. And of course the "Dreamer", but I've already
described her. She had examined all of this between the next two stops as the man with the
stunning blue eyes and black hair kept starring at her. Finally they came to another stop and the
six people left the car through three different doors. The girls not level with another, each made
their way on the sidewalk and the man found his own way out to head to a nearby college. The
girls on five different parallels made their way down the sidewalk not saying a word to each
other, not really noticing the others, they made their way into the school court yard and hall
keeping in pace with each other as they each broke off into five different classrooms to get an
early start on that days assignments. But as each laid their things down on their desk they felt
that they had lost something and went back into the hall to find each other and for the Dreamer a
few more shards of life to add to the growing pile.
