She pulled the long-sleeved shirt over her head, trying not to mess up her long red hair in the process, but, of course, she did. She sighed and quickly went into the bathroom to try and make her hair look decent before she had to rush out to the school bus.
She was wearing the long-sleeved shirt that managed to mess up her hair, a pair of jean shorts over a pair of leggings and her favorite pair of old beat up Vans with a necklace her aunt got her for her fifteenth birthday last year.
It was about one week into June and school would be done with in a week. The weather today was unusually cool, but nice.
Mondays were the worst day of the week, in her opinion. You go from sleeping in and relaxing all weekend to waking up at six o'clock in the morning to go to a place you have no desire to be at.
Parker O'Dell didn't have many friends. She was the quiet, weird girl who had yet to come out of her shell. She didn't talk to anyone in class unless spoken to, sat by herself at lunch, and always did her homework.
She wasn't always like this, however. She used to be outgoing and carefree. That was, up until her parents died in a freak car accident. Parker was only twelve at the time. She and her parents were driving to the theater, a place they frequented on Friday nights. The car just stopped in the middle of an intersection. Her father tried and tried to start it back up, but it was no use. A large tractor-trailer truck came speeding out into the intersection; the driver wasn't paying attention to the scene in front of him and hit the family of three in a head-on collision. It was a miracle that Parker survived. Nobody knew how she did, but she knew it was because of her parents love for her.
She loved the theater more than anything, with the exception of her parents; she loved them the most. The whole vibe of the place fascinated her and captivated her mind. Parker knew that when she got older she wanted to be involved with the performing arts in one way or another.
But things change. She changed.
After her parents died, Parker swore off performing in any and every form. She stopped playing both the guitar and the piano; she stopped dancing and singing; she stopped doing anything that reminded her too much of her parents and the life she used to live.
After the accident, a court ruled that Parker would go to live with her aunt and uncle on her mother's side out in Maine. Maine wasn't very far from her old home in Massachusetts, but she knew it would definitely be different.
And it was.
So many things changed in Parker's life because of that one Friday night. She didn't know who she was anymore; nobody did.
Kids could be mean, and Parker figured that out the hard way. The kids at her new school constantly picked on her for small things that she used to love about herself. She came home from school crying at least three times a week. She was no longer the happy-go-lucky Parker that everyone loved; she was quiet and she shut out everyone.
Parker heard the horn of the bus, breaking her out of the thoughts that harbored her mind. She was running late. She grabbed her bag and flew out the front door to the bus.
"Sorry," she mumbled quietly to the bus driver, Sandy, as she stepped onto the bus.
"It's alright, hun," Sandy would always say. Sandy took pity in Parker. She could see as clear as the light of day that Parker was a mess. A lot of people took pity in Parker.
Parker walked to middle of the bus and took her normal seat on the left side. She stared out the window the whole ride to school, letting her thoughts beat her up.
Today was just like any other Monday. She headed straight for her locker as soon as she set foot on school limits, got her books, and set off for her music class, the one class she despised the most. It had been a fluke in her schedule, this class. She went to the office and complained multiple times asking if she could switch out, but the answer was always the same.
No.
So, every day, she toughed it out and endured an hour and a half of a class she really did not want to be in.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the bell sounded loudly throughout the halls, and grabbed her books and bag, walking out of the auditorium and back to her locker. She picked out the books she needed for the next two blocks and shut her locker.
The rest of the day went by slow. It was Monday, after all.
When the final bell rang at the end of Parker's chemistry class, she sighed. Another school day over and done with, which meant is was another school day closer to summer vacation.
Parker climbed onto the bus and took her usual seat. She put her iPod headphones into her ears and turned the volume all the way up, the sound of Blink-182 flooding her ears. Soon enough, the bus pulled up to her house and she got off the bus and trekked up the short path to her aunt and uncle's house.
"Aunt Lorraine, I'm home," she called out softly.
"Oh, good. Could you come in the kitchen for a minute?"
"Yeah, hold on." She set her bag down on the couch in the living room and made her way into the kitchen. She took a seat at the table across from her aunt.
"How would you feel about going to visit your cousin for the summer?"
"Rian?"
"Yes."
"Really? You'd let me?"
"Of course I would. I figured since you used to go there every summer since before — well, I mean I figured you would enjoy going to visit since you used to all the time."
"Yeah, I'd love to." Parker smiled a little. This was the first time she had truly smiled in a long time.
Parker used to go to visit her cousin, Rian, every summer since before the accident. She loved it. Rian was the one person she could trust all her secrets with. She still tried to keep in contact with him, but it got harder as the two grew older.
"Would you be ready to go the day after school ends?"
"Yep."
"Alright then, it's settled."
Parker needed an escape from this town and from the people that inhabited it. A summer away from it all is just what she needed.