Beep! Beep! Beep! Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep! And that would be my alarm clock. I'm a very deep sleeper, so my mom bought me an alarm clock that, if you didn't turn it off after a few minutes, would start beeping faster. I usually woke up because I thought that there was a bomb in my room. But, hey, at least I woke up.
"Finally. I thought that you'd never wake up."
That's my roommate, Reanne. Unlike me, she's a light sleeper. So my alarm clock wakes her up 99.9% of the time.
"Sorry," I said guiltily, "I was having the dream again."
"You mean The Dream?" she said, smiling, "about your old babysitter?"
"That's the one," I replied, "It was weird. I was at the beach in La Push, you know, where I grew up, and I felt someone come up behind me and put their arms around my waist. When I turned around, it was him. Quil. Then, like in every other dream, he smiled, and said 'Hi beautiful'. Then he kissed me."
"And nothing ever happened between you and him?"
"Reanne. I was 3. That's just…wrong."
"Oh yeah," she said, smiling, "I forgot. Well, get your mind off of your hot ex-babysitter, and get ready for class. We have yoga at 7:30."
Reanne and I go to Minetonga Prep, a boarding school in Oregon. The cool thing about MP is that, along with general education classes, they offer fun courses that can enrich your "mind, body, and soul" (according to their brochure, anyway.) My first year, I decided to be different and take this class called "Belly Dancing and Beyond". It was cool because I got to learn how to belly dance, but there wasn't much "beyond" to it.
This year, Reanne and I are taking yoga in the morning, followed by some general education courses. Starting your junior year, you can take special English classes. For the first two years, you take English 101, and then 102. But this year, I'm taking a class that specializes in reading plays. Then I have geometry, followed by a nature photography course, a rhythmic gymnastics class, and a course on musicals. Yes, I get to watch musicals for homework. It's fun, but some of the musicals are a little outdated.
Yes, I'm a theater geek. I took drama in high school, and loved it. I love theater, musicals, and anything Hollywood. Especially old Hollywood, like Audrey Hepburn. Along with that, I enjoy comic books, superheroes, horror movies, and pirates. I'm an odd girl, I know.
I finally get out of bed, and while Reanne takes a shower, I do my hair, which is black and reaches my lower back. Since I have yoga first, I put it in a pony tail. I put on sweatpants and my "I can't, I have rehearsal" tank top. By the time I finish getting ready, and have all of my school stuff in my bag, Reanne is out of the shower, and ready to go.
That evening, after I finish my homework, I check my email to see if there's anything from my "little sister" Jennifer. Reanne and I signed up to be "big sisters" at MP this year. Basically, as a big sister, you are assigned an incoming freshman. Jennifer didn't start until the Winter quarter, and she and I have been emailing in the meantime. She lived in Washington with her parents, and enjoys drawing and singing. The winter quarter started a few days ago, and I still haven't met up with her. When I open my inbox, I see that I have a new message from her.
"Hey Claire, sorry that I haven't been able to meet up with you yet. Classes have been crazy hectic, and I'm still getting used to living away from home. I'm actually free tonight, so I was wondering if you wanted to have coffee after dinner? Or, if you don't drink coffee, we can just meet up and talk. Love, your little sister."
I replied, telling her that I would love to meet up. There aren't any time quotas to fill up as a big sister, but I do want to make her comfortable, and help her out.
At 7, I walked from Foxglove Hall (where I stay) to the school's coffee shop, which is three buildings over from Foxglove. I entered the coffee shop and immediately saw Jennifer sitting at a table near the back of the café. She saw me come in, and her face lit up. She waved me over, and before I could get halfway there, she had jumped up and was running towards me.
"Claire!" she exclaimed, hugging me.
"Hi Jennifer," I replied, laughing, "How's my favorite little sister?" She laughed.
"I'm good, just trying to get used to being away from home. It's weird. When I left to go meet you, I realized that I didn't have to okay it with my mom or dad first."
"Yeah, that definitely takes some getting used to," I said, "Should we sit down? Have you ordered anything?"
"No," she replied, smiling, "I didn't know what to get."
"Ahh, well that is my specialty. I'll be right back." I left to go get our coffee, and when I returned, Jennifer was sitting at the table, looking at her phone, and smiling. "What's going on that makes you so happy?" I asked.
"Oh, it's just my mom," she said, "She's freaking out, because I haven't been away from home for longer than a few days before, and now it's going to be a good month before she sees me."
"So you and your mom are close?"
"Yeah, actually I'm close with both of my parents. I live in this little town in Washington, well actually it's an Indian Reservation. But anyways, there's this group of families there that are really close, so as a child, I don't have just my parents, I have about 10 other sets of parents too."
"Aww, that sounds awesome!" I replied, "If you don't mind me asking, what reservation are you from?"
"Oh, the Quileute Reservation. It's in this town named La Push, you probably haven't heard of it, most people haven't."
"Shut up!" I replied, "I lived there until I was about 4!"
"No way! What's your last name again?"
"Young," I replied, "Claire Young." Her mouth dropped open in shock.
"You…you…you're Claire? Like, THE Claire?!"
"Umm…well, I'm Claire, so I guess so?"
"No, like, ugh how do I word this? Did you know a guy named Quil?"
"Yeah, he was my babysitter. But my mom took me away when I turned four, and I haven't seen him since. It's weird though, it's like there's this part of me that won't let me forget him. I mean, he was just my babysitter, right?" Jennifer looks completely shocked. I wave my hand in front of her face, wondering if she's okay. "Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine," she stammered, "I need to go though. It was awesome to meet up with you, umm, keep in touch. Here's my cell number," she hands me a piece of paper, "text me when you want to hang out. Bye!"
With that, she was gone. What the hell just happened? I wondered. That was weird. Deciding that I should probably get some sleep, I took my coffee and went back to Foxglove Hall.
