The next morning, which was Sunday, I awoke at the normal time, 5:30. I got up, quickly showered and changed into gray ultra skinny jeans and a black and white baseball tee with a black star in the middle. I ran downstairs, grabbing the silverware and setting the table as quietly as possible, so not to awaken anyone. I grabbed my book 'Beastly' and started to read while comfortably curling up on the red leather couch. After about half an hour, Trudy came downstairs.
"Oh my! Sweetie, did you set the table?" she asked.
"Yes. Do you need any help with anything?" I asked.
"Oh no sweetheart I'm good", she responded.
"Are you sure? 'Cause if there's anything I can do just let me know", I offered.
"You're too sweet", she chuckled, to which I responded to with a blush, getting another small laugh out of her. She went into the kitchen and started cooking breakfast. "Anything you fancy for breakfast?" she called out.
"Whatever you make'll be perfect", I responded, getting yet another huge smile out of her. So, I continued reading for a while before everyone started coming down to eat. I closed the book, folding the edge of the page to keep track and sat down in between Patricia and Nina and silently ate, ignoring Jerome's death glare. Then Mara kicked his leg under the table, getting him to temporarily transfer his glare to her before dropping it.
"So you nervous for the start of school?" Mara asked.
"Of course you'd ask about school Mara", Alfie mumbled, causing Mara's grin to drop. Jerome gave him a glare. I was starting to get an idea that he liked her. They'd be really cute together.
"Yeah, I guess", I shrugged. Patricia, Nina, and Amber were whispering about something, Jerome and Alfie were talking about pranks, Mick and Fabian were talking about sports, and Mara was quietly eating her toast. "So are the classes hard?" I asked her.
"I guess it depends what you're strong points are. But I'd say on a scale of one to ten they're about a seven point five", she mused.
"Cool. Are the teachers nice?" I inquired again.
"Yeah. They're strict, but only if you get on their bad side".
I nodded and then after a while about talking about random stuff about the school, breakfast was over. "What does everyone do on weekends?"
"Well, it depends who. Mick normally goes out to do sports, Jerome and Alfie go play pranks", she rolled her eyes, "Amber, Nina, Patricia, Fabian, and sometimes Alfie and Jerome go out together. I don't know what they do. And I just do homework and stuff". At the part where she talked about what she did, a sad expression came onto her face.
"Oh. Alright", I responded lamely. I know most people are like 'you should be nice and hang out with her' but she wouldn't wanna hang out with a twelve year old. She's sixteen! No sixteen year old would wanna hang out with a little kid.
"Do you wanna hang out?" she asked, almost embarrassed.
"Sure. What do you wanna do?" I wondered.
"Um, I don't really know. Talk?" she suggested. I nodded, we went and sat on the couch, and then she asked, "I don't mean to pry or anything, but what happened between you and Jerome?"
"It's just...Mum", I tried to explain without telling her what happened, 'cause I knew Jer wouldn't want me to tell anyone about it.
"Oh", she said, her face contorting into a frown. So, we just talked about other random stuff for a while before it was lunch. Lunch was kinda like breakfast, same conversation groupings. After lunch, instead of hanging with Mara I went up to my room and booted up my Macbook Pro. I went on my email account, and I saw my only and best friend Mitchell was online. He taught me how to play drums. His dad owns Bert's Pet Shop, so we always hung out there when we worked.
Thelordofawesome75: hey
Guitargoth98: hey
Thelordofawesome75: so howz boarding school?
Guitargoth98: pretty good. the kidz in my house r nice. but jerome's not happy 2 c me :(
Thelordofawesome75: nervous for classes 2moro?
Guitargoth98: I guess...kinda
Thelordofawesome75: it'll b okay...so who r the people in your house?
Guitargoth98: There's Mick, Mara, Jerome, Alfie, Nina, Fabian, Amber, and Patricia
Thelordofawesome75: oh, they nice?
Guitargoth98: yeah...they're all 16 just like Jer
Thelordofawesome75: cool...so any of the girlz hot?
Guitargoth98: lolz u would like 2 know
Thelordofawesome75: Send me some pics l8r. So, you met anyone ur age?
Guitargoth98: Nobody my age here...it's like 15 and up, so i'm the youngest here :/
Thelordofawesome75: Hey I gtg, someone wants to buy a puppy
Guitargoth98: kk bi. talk 2 u l8r
Thelordofawesome75 has logged off.
I sigh as he logged off. It was nice talking to my best friend. He was the only thing I missed from home. I never told anyone this, but I like him a little bit. He has tousled brown hair that hung over his dark gray eyes, was tall and lanky, and had a cute little smirk that shows up all the time. He was a total rocker, as well as a skater, just like me. I remember the day when we first met.
Flashback
I was walking home from school, when I heard a frightened cry and a menacing laugh coming from the alley. Some third graders were cornering this guy in my class against a wall. The biggest guy there threw a punch and it landed on the guy...Mitchel I think. I slipped inside the alley and crept up behind the guy. His idiot friends didn't see because he was in the back. I tapped on his shoulder and as soon as he turned around, I threw a punch as hard as I could and it landed right on his eye. As he was screaming and his friends were tending to him, I grabbed Mitchel by the arm and we ran all the way to the hidden pond by my house.
"Thanks for saving me", he gratefully said.
"It's alright", I mumbled humbly.
And from that moment on, we became the best of friends.
Flashback over
Since I was really bored, I grabbed my black acoustic guitar and played a little. Just strumming random chords, playing random solos from random songs, it was all just random. After about an hour of that, I got kind of bored and set down the guitar back on it's stand. I then booted up my Macbook again, plugged in headphones, and watched random episodes of Dr. Who until about five o'clock when Nina, Fabian, and Amber came in. They didn't notice me and Nina grabbed a small bag and went to the bathroom. They sigh heavily as they stared at their hands, and I said, "Hey"
"Ah!" they both yelled in fright.
"Oh my gosh Hailey! Don't ever scare me like that again! Scaring people can give them wrinkles!" Amber whined before examining her forehead in the mirror.
"Okay then", I said awkwardly, as Fabian gave her a disbelieving look. A few moments later, Nina walked in wearing a black dress with a black blazer type jacket covering her arms, as well as a sad look on her face. "What's wrong?" I asked, noticing the same solemn expressions on their face.
"Nothing, it's fine", Fabian lied (terribly). I just shook my head and continued to watch. Fabian and Amber each gave Nina a big hug and then Patricia and Alfie barged in, talking about some person named Joy and a dad with a mask before realizing I was there. I pretended to check my phone, grabbed my laptop and slipped it into it's huge, bulky black case before waving good-bye and leaving. I went into the living room where Mara and Mick were yelling at each other.
"Mick I told you, we just bring out the worst in each other. I'm sorry Mick, but we're finished for real", Mara shouted, her voice dropping into a sad tone at the end.
"Fine Mara! Be difficult! I'll just go back to Ams!" Mick yelled at her before stomping off. Mara collapsed on the couch, tears streaming down her face. I crept up and sat on the couch by her, comforting her.
"It's gonna be okay", I promised. She sigh as she stopped crying, and then gave me a grateful hug before going back to her room. I ran to Jerome's room and tapped on the door. Alfie opened up.
"Oh hey!" he said with a cheerful smile on his face. "Jerome!"
Jerome walked up to the door, and when he saw me his smirk turned into an angry glare. "What do you want?"
"Look Jer, I don't have time for your attitude. I just think you should go talk to Mara. She and Mick had an argument", I told him. He nodded, shoving past me and running up to Mara's room. I walked back into the living room where I left my laptop case on the couch, and played a couple games on it for a while. Then before I knew it dinner came. It was really awkward between Mara and Mick, and Nina had this depressed look on her face as did Fabian and Amber. Everyone else was fine, though Alfie and Patricia were a little less cheery. It was really weird. I finished and helped Nina with the dishes before going back to our room and taking out Beastly so I could finish the book. I'm a really fast reader, and by 9:30 I was finished. I slowly got ready for bed, putting on blue and green plaid pajama pants with a black t-shirt with a white stallion running across it on and crawling into bed.
I took a while to fall asleep, as I was super nervous about the next day. Finally I managed to fall asleep and I woke up at 5:30 again and got ready. I put on the weird uniform and went downstairs. I quietly set the table once again and took a piece of paper out of my notebook and starting writing down notes on the guitar, charting this song I learned called 'Stricken' by Disturbed. I wanted to write it down before I forgot it. Soon, Trudy came down. She thanked me again and started to cook. We chatted about school for a while until everyone else came down and started eating. We all ate out waffles quietly, and I walked to class with Mara. I met all the teachers and they were really nice. The work was kind of hard like Mara said, but no more of a challenge than school should be. I went back to the house and sat on the couch, doing my homework. First I started with Geometry, which was surprisingly not as hard as I expected. There were about two or three problems I didn't understand, but I skipped those and moved on to a descriptive writing assignment about your favorite hobby. I spent about half an hour writing the three-page assignment on playing the guitar. I absolutely love writing. English and Literature are my definite strong points. Especially poetry. I guess poetry is easy for me because of my love for songwriting. At around 4:30 Mara came and sat down across from me.
"Hey Hailey! How're you doing on your homework?" she asked, concerned.
"It's not that hard...but do you mind helping me with a few Geometry questions? They're just really confusing", I pleaded.
"Of course", she replied with a warm smile, snapping shut her French book and coming over to help me. She kindly explained the problems to me, and I thanked her. Then I took out my French worksheet, easily completing it. I speak French and Latin fluently, and I was learning Greek before I went to Anubis. "Whoa!" Mara's mouth hung open.
"What?" I asked, looking around worriedly.
"How'd you do that French worksheet so easily? Without the book or any help?" she asked in awe.
"I speak Latin and French kind of fluently. I was learning Greek before I came here", I responded, filling in the last answer before putting it back in my folder. Her eyes momentarily widened before going back to her worksheet. She frowned as she stared at question three for about two minutes before I came over and sat next to her. "Don't focus on the whole question. Pick out the key words, figure out what those mean, and then work on the pronouns and you'll figure it out. Same when they give you the answer and you have to find the question", I explained in a hushed tone before sliding all my books back in my backpack and going back to my room. I changed out of the uniform into a pair of gray skinny jeans and a purple plaid shirt and booted up my laptop, hoping to see Mitchel online. Thankfully, he was.
Guitargoth98: hey mitch
Thelordofawesome75: hey hailz
Guitargoth98: hows school going?
Thelordofawesome75: good...I've started hanging out with James and Gabe
Guitargoth98: Wat? Why would you hang out with them? R u nuts?
Thelordofawesome75: srry :( I just wanted someone to hang out with...I know they used 2 tease us but they're actually pretty cool once u get 2 no them
Guitargoth98: I doubt that
Thelordofawesome75: I promise! Hey maybe when we videochat I'll call them over...we can all hang out :)
Guitargoth98:fine...but only for u! not 4 those losers
Thelordofawesome75: thx! hey so how r things with Jerome? He still mad at u?
Guitargoth98: Yeah. U no if I had a choice I would have chose Mum over me right?
Thelordofawesome75: of course! but you need to tell Jerome that...you also need to tell him that at least he has someone to blame, but it's all on you on this one. but it's okay! it's not like u had a choice!
Guitargoth98: thx Mitch...you always make me feel better
Suddenly I heard a door open and Nina and Amber came in, chatting about school. They quickly greeted me, and me to them, before sitting on their beds and starting their homework.
"This is boring", Amber randomly stated before slamming her math book shut and coming over next to me. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously as I replied to Mitch's message.
"Just chatting with a friend from home", I cheerfully answered.
"Ooh it's a boy. Are you guys like dating?" she excitedly asked, flipping her blonde hair to the side.
"Ew! Me and Mitch? Dating? You're kidding right?" I asked, starting to laugh when I saw she was dead serious.
"Well- I needed someone to have romance since Nina and Fabian aren't making progress", she complained.
"Amber!" Nina hissed.
"Wait, Nina and Fabian aren't dating?" I was shocked. I seriously thought they were.
"See Nina? If you and Fabian aren't gonna date, then at least stop making it so obvious".
"Sorry Nina, I thought you guys were dating", I apologized sheepishly.
"It's okay Hailey", she forgave me.
"So do you like him? Don't tell me if you don't want to", I quickly added on the last sentence. Catching the worried look on her face, I promised, "I won't tell anyone".
A deep scarlet blush painted itself on her cheeks. "Yeah".
"I knew it! I knew it!" Amber pranced around the room singing. Nina and I both started laughing.
"Time for supper!" I heard Trudy call. We all rushed downstairs and took a seat, eating the pasta ravenously while chatting and joking around happily. It was really fun. For once, I felt a sense of belonging. I found my place in the world, and my family, in the house of Anubis.
