Her brain absorbed her every thought and feeling from that day, every
contour filled in like the wholes of a sponge.
Her dream began and was a reenactment of today's events. Everything from the time she got up that morning until she got home from school replayed in her head. When her dream got to the point of Antonio saying goodbye at the end of the day, her sleep became a dreamless one and her snoring could be heard from down the hall, though it was ignored and overpowered by the sound of the television that her father was watching downstairs, with Mikey in his arms.
Soon, Mikey could be heard crying from Amy's room and she awoke, but without warning.
She sprang up and sat up straight. Her eyes darted from one corner of her dark room to the next until they met with her clock. It read 3:37 am.
Her muscles, tensed up from the alarm of the baby's cries, slowly relaxed and she lay back down to go to sleep, only awaiting another two hours of sleep. Her heavy eyelids were forced shut by the weight of sleepiness and her weariness overpowered her will to stay awake.
If there were a person standing in her room watching, they would see a motionless figure lay on the bed, the chest steadily rising and falling with her breathing. She lay on her back, her head cocked back so her nose was facing upwards.
It was now 6:00 am, but she did not hear her alarm clock go off, nor did she stir. Neither one of her parents cared if she was on time for school so they did not come to wake her either.
Finally, at 6:47 am, she heard a thump, though the sound seemed to be amplified to her because no one else had heard it. It was her book bag that had been placed on her chair the night before and it had fallen off.
Her neck muscles tensed up to lift her head and she peered in the direction of which came the thud. She then looked at her alarm clock and realized what time it was.
"Holy shit! I forgot to set my alarm clock! God damn it! And my parents aren't even considerate enough to wake me up!"
She probably should have gone to school but she decided it wasn't worth the effort of getting ready only to suffer another miserable day at Arlington High School.
"You know what?! Screw it!!! I don't care if I ever go back to school!!! In fact, I mean not to! No one would ever care if I ever came back!!!"
She calmed herself and laid her head back down on her pillow and slept in until about eleven o'clock. She really needed the extra sleep and the day off.
The sun's bright rays had been shining into her room for quite some time now, but they did not wake her. Soon the warmth of them started to radiate all over her body and the temperature in her room rose. Small beads of sweat started to formulate on her skin and she started to wake up.
Her eyes opened to the warm sun and the beautiful day, though they were squinted almost shut. The sun, though warm in her room, shone down on the snow and blinded her as she pushed the curtains to one side.
She swung her legs over the side of her bed and placed her feet on the floor. She stood up, stretched and walked downstairs to have breakfast.
The stairs squeaked as each one supported her weight. She went into the kitchen and found her mother with Mikey.
"How come you are still here hun?"
"Because I forgot to set my alarm clock and no one woke me up. I didn't feel like going to school."
"Okay dear."
*****
See? They could care less about me? They won't realize what I'm worth until I'm gone.
*****
She opened the refrigerator and took out the milk carton. She poured it into a glass for drinking and into her cereal.
She carried her cereal bowl into the family room (which again, wasn't much of one) and turned on the television. She flipped through the channels and found nothing good on, by which time she was done with her breakfast.
She put her dirty dishes into the dishwasher and then got dressed. She walked to her upstairs bathroom where she could not be heard or disturbed and closed the door behind her. She bent over the toilet, reached her hand into the back of her throat and watched the partly digested food come out of her mouth. She rinsed her mouth out and her face off and came out of the bathroom.
She had her driver's license by now, but only because her parents didn't want to be bothered driving her anywhere and she decided to go to the mall.
She grabbed her parents' keys for their car, "I'm taking the Volvo!" and went out the front door.
She got in her car and drove to the mall. It took less time than she had anticipated because there was no traffic, or hardly enough to call traffic. She had to wait ten minutes for the mall to actually open.
The minutes passed by slowly as the warm sunlight beat down on her body through the window. She spent those few minutes she had just thinking.
When the mall finally did open, she opened her car door and walked through the brisk air to the mall entrance.
She swung the doors open and stepped into the warm environment. She took her coat off and hung it, neatly folded, over her arm.
She walked into main mall and started browsing through the different stores. First she went into Hot Topic. She bought all her clothes there. She came out carrying a bag that contained three shirts. Then she walked down to the arcade and started to play some games. She wasted about an hour in there and then decided to go see a movie.
She bought one ticket to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a large soda from the concession stand and took a seat in the theater. The seats around her filled in and the movie began. There were at least twenty minutes of coming attractions and then the movie itself started.
After a grueling 3 hours, she stood up and threw her trash away. She wasn't much into this kind of movie. Everyone piled out of the theater and she slowly followed. She soon realized that the soda made her have to go to the bathroom and she quickened her pace to get to the bathrooms. When she finally reached them they were closed for a cleaning.
"Great. Just great. There goes my luck again!"
She walked up to the food court quickly because she really had to go. By the time she reached there, there was a very long line. People had come from the theaters, straight up to there. She stood patiently waiting in the line as the pressure in her bladder increased. She got to the point where she crossed her legs and her face had a severe look of discomfort all over it.
"Oh my God! How long does it take people to go to the goddamn bathroom! I really have to pee!" she thought to herself.
The line finally shortened enough so that she was in the bathroom itself and there were only two people in front of her.
"C'mon people! Hurry up!" she thought to herself.
It only took five minutes for people to finish up but those five minutes seemed like five hours to her. By now she was getting very impatient and there was only one person to go. Finally it was her turn and she ran to the stall.
When she came out, her faced revealed extreme relief. She washed her hands and made her way to the car.
"My God! It's like someone has placed a goddamn curse on my fucking life! Everything bad always happens to me!" she said to herself as she got into her car to go home.
When she got home, she parked the car and put her stuff down in the garage. She picked up a basketball and dribbled it out to the hoop that was on her driveway. She took a shot and it was a perfect swoosh! Nothing but net!
The shot gave her some encouragement and she dribbled around with a little more enthusiasm and energy. She made the next few shots and then a car pulled slowly up the road, slowing down and stopping when it reached her driveway.
She straightened up and stopped dribbling. She supported the ball on her hip with her arm hanging over it.
A boy opened the window of the car and poked his head out.
"Where were you at school today?" said Antonio, his blue eyes twinkling when he moved his head.
"Who cares? No one."
"Don't say that! I care!"
"Yea? Why?" she looked at his with sarcasm and disbelief.
"Because, I am your friend, or at least I'm trying to be" he said with a look of sincerity and innocence.
"You better watch what you're saying. Did you just say that you were my friend?"
"Yeah, I did" he said with a wide smile that showed his dimples.
He turned the car around, parked it on the side of the road, and turned off the ignition as she watched him. He opened the car door and stepped out.
You could see his toned muscles stick out through his shirt as he walked toward her. It was at that moment that she felt something that she had never felt before. She looked at him as his sexy body drew nearer to her. While she was staring and was off guard, he stole the ball from her and took a shot.
"Sweet!" she said.
She stole the ball back from him but did not shoot. She just stood in a crouched down position and dribbled the ball.
"Gunna steal it from me?" she asked him.
"Yeah, what if I am? Whatcha gunna do abut it?"
"Not let you get the ball!"
He ran towards her as she turned and protected the ball from him.
He reached around her, desperately trying to get the ball away from her and then it just became play to them. He no longer desired to get the ball from her and she knew it. He made a swipe at it occasionally to pretend and they continued to play keep away for quite some time.
Soon it started to get dark and cold. She stood up and slowly dribbled the ball on her right side. He followed, his body only inches away from her body.
"It's getting late out and quite cold. I think I had better go inside now" she said to him, reluctantly.
"Okay" he said, also reluctantly, because he too was having fun.
"Are you going to come to school tomorrow?"
"Yes" she said with a wide smile across her face and a look that made her appear to want to burst out with happiness.
"Okay, I'll see you there" as he touched her arm with the gentleness that men possess. "Goodbye" he said, resisting the temptation to hug her. He knew he would need to build up her trust first.
"Goodbye and good night" she replied.
"Hey, you want a ride into school tomorrow?"
"Yeah, that would be nice. I'll see you tomorrow" she said.
He got into his car and drove down the road as she stood on the driveway, watching his car disappear into the dark horizon.
She walked into her warm house with feelings of happiness and joy. For the first time in her entire life, she had been happy...
Her dream began and was a reenactment of today's events. Everything from the time she got up that morning until she got home from school replayed in her head. When her dream got to the point of Antonio saying goodbye at the end of the day, her sleep became a dreamless one and her snoring could be heard from down the hall, though it was ignored and overpowered by the sound of the television that her father was watching downstairs, with Mikey in his arms.
Soon, Mikey could be heard crying from Amy's room and she awoke, but without warning.
She sprang up and sat up straight. Her eyes darted from one corner of her dark room to the next until they met with her clock. It read 3:37 am.
Her muscles, tensed up from the alarm of the baby's cries, slowly relaxed and she lay back down to go to sleep, only awaiting another two hours of sleep. Her heavy eyelids were forced shut by the weight of sleepiness and her weariness overpowered her will to stay awake.
If there were a person standing in her room watching, they would see a motionless figure lay on the bed, the chest steadily rising and falling with her breathing. She lay on her back, her head cocked back so her nose was facing upwards.
It was now 6:00 am, but she did not hear her alarm clock go off, nor did she stir. Neither one of her parents cared if she was on time for school so they did not come to wake her either.
Finally, at 6:47 am, she heard a thump, though the sound seemed to be amplified to her because no one else had heard it. It was her book bag that had been placed on her chair the night before and it had fallen off.
Her neck muscles tensed up to lift her head and she peered in the direction of which came the thud. She then looked at her alarm clock and realized what time it was.
"Holy shit! I forgot to set my alarm clock! God damn it! And my parents aren't even considerate enough to wake me up!"
She probably should have gone to school but she decided it wasn't worth the effort of getting ready only to suffer another miserable day at Arlington High School.
"You know what?! Screw it!!! I don't care if I ever go back to school!!! In fact, I mean not to! No one would ever care if I ever came back!!!"
She calmed herself and laid her head back down on her pillow and slept in until about eleven o'clock. She really needed the extra sleep and the day off.
The sun's bright rays had been shining into her room for quite some time now, but they did not wake her. Soon the warmth of them started to radiate all over her body and the temperature in her room rose. Small beads of sweat started to formulate on her skin and she started to wake up.
Her eyes opened to the warm sun and the beautiful day, though they were squinted almost shut. The sun, though warm in her room, shone down on the snow and blinded her as she pushed the curtains to one side.
She swung her legs over the side of her bed and placed her feet on the floor. She stood up, stretched and walked downstairs to have breakfast.
The stairs squeaked as each one supported her weight. She went into the kitchen and found her mother with Mikey.
"How come you are still here hun?"
"Because I forgot to set my alarm clock and no one woke me up. I didn't feel like going to school."
"Okay dear."
*****
See? They could care less about me? They won't realize what I'm worth until I'm gone.
*****
She opened the refrigerator and took out the milk carton. She poured it into a glass for drinking and into her cereal.
She carried her cereal bowl into the family room (which again, wasn't much of one) and turned on the television. She flipped through the channels and found nothing good on, by which time she was done with her breakfast.
She put her dirty dishes into the dishwasher and then got dressed. She walked to her upstairs bathroom where she could not be heard or disturbed and closed the door behind her. She bent over the toilet, reached her hand into the back of her throat and watched the partly digested food come out of her mouth. She rinsed her mouth out and her face off and came out of the bathroom.
She had her driver's license by now, but only because her parents didn't want to be bothered driving her anywhere and she decided to go to the mall.
She grabbed her parents' keys for their car, "I'm taking the Volvo!" and went out the front door.
She got in her car and drove to the mall. It took less time than she had anticipated because there was no traffic, or hardly enough to call traffic. She had to wait ten minutes for the mall to actually open.
The minutes passed by slowly as the warm sunlight beat down on her body through the window. She spent those few minutes she had just thinking.
When the mall finally did open, she opened her car door and walked through the brisk air to the mall entrance.
She swung the doors open and stepped into the warm environment. She took her coat off and hung it, neatly folded, over her arm.
She walked into main mall and started browsing through the different stores. First she went into Hot Topic. She bought all her clothes there. She came out carrying a bag that contained three shirts. Then she walked down to the arcade and started to play some games. She wasted about an hour in there and then decided to go see a movie.
She bought one ticket to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a large soda from the concession stand and took a seat in the theater. The seats around her filled in and the movie began. There were at least twenty minutes of coming attractions and then the movie itself started.
After a grueling 3 hours, she stood up and threw her trash away. She wasn't much into this kind of movie. Everyone piled out of the theater and she slowly followed. She soon realized that the soda made her have to go to the bathroom and she quickened her pace to get to the bathrooms. When she finally reached them they were closed for a cleaning.
"Great. Just great. There goes my luck again!"
She walked up to the food court quickly because she really had to go. By the time she reached there, there was a very long line. People had come from the theaters, straight up to there. She stood patiently waiting in the line as the pressure in her bladder increased. She got to the point where she crossed her legs and her face had a severe look of discomfort all over it.
"Oh my God! How long does it take people to go to the goddamn bathroom! I really have to pee!" she thought to herself.
The line finally shortened enough so that she was in the bathroom itself and there were only two people in front of her.
"C'mon people! Hurry up!" she thought to herself.
It only took five minutes for people to finish up but those five minutes seemed like five hours to her. By now she was getting very impatient and there was only one person to go. Finally it was her turn and she ran to the stall.
When she came out, her faced revealed extreme relief. She washed her hands and made her way to the car.
"My God! It's like someone has placed a goddamn curse on my fucking life! Everything bad always happens to me!" she said to herself as she got into her car to go home.
When she got home, she parked the car and put her stuff down in the garage. She picked up a basketball and dribbled it out to the hoop that was on her driveway. She took a shot and it was a perfect swoosh! Nothing but net!
The shot gave her some encouragement and she dribbled around with a little more enthusiasm and energy. She made the next few shots and then a car pulled slowly up the road, slowing down and stopping when it reached her driveway.
She straightened up and stopped dribbling. She supported the ball on her hip with her arm hanging over it.
A boy opened the window of the car and poked his head out.
"Where were you at school today?" said Antonio, his blue eyes twinkling when he moved his head.
"Who cares? No one."
"Don't say that! I care!"
"Yea? Why?" she looked at his with sarcasm and disbelief.
"Because, I am your friend, or at least I'm trying to be" he said with a look of sincerity and innocence.
"You better watch what you're saying. Did you just say that you were my friend?"
"Yeah, I did" he said with a wide smile that showed his dimples.
He turned the car around, parked it on the side of the road, and turned off the ignition as she watched him. He opened the car door and stepped out.
You could see his toned muscles stick out through his shirt as he walked toward her. It was at that moment that she felt something that she had never felt before. She looked at him as his sexy body drew nearer to her. While she was staring and was off guard, he stole the ball from her and took a shot.
"Sweet!" she said.
She stole the ball back from him but did not shoot. She just stood in a crouched down position and dribbled the ball.
"Gunna steal it from me?" she asked him.
"Yeah, what if I am? Whatcha gunna do abut it?"
"Not let you get the ball!"
He ran towards her as she turned and protected the ball from him.
He reached around her, desperately trying to get the ball away from her and then it just became play to them. He no longer desired to get the ball from her and she knew it. He made a swipe at it occasionally to pretend and they continued to play keep away for quite some time.
Soon it started to get dark and cold. She stood up and slowly dribbled the ball on her right side. He followed, his body only inches away from her body.
"It's getting late out and quite cold. I think I had better go inside now" she said to him, reluctantly.
"Okay" he said, also reluctantly, because he too was having fun.
"Are you going to come to school tomorrow?"
"Yes" she said with a wide smile across her face and a look that made her appear to want to burst out with happiness.
"Okay, I'll see you there" as he touched her arm with the gentleness that men possess. "Goodbye" he said, resisting the temptation to hug her. He knew he would need to build up her trust first.
"Goodbye and good night" she replied.
"Hey, you want a ride into school tomorrow?"
"Yeah, that would be nice. I'll see you tomorrow" she said.
He got into his car and drove down the road as she stood on the driveway, watching his car disappear into the dark horizon.
She walked into her warm house with feelings of happiness and joy. For the first time in her entire life, she had been happy...