Chapter 1

Lizzie stood in front of her vanity mirror, admiring the outfit she had put together. Faded blue jeans hugged her hips, finished off with a pink cardigan and white spaghetti strap top. After putting on her second long, silver, dangly earring, she retrieved her black Converse with pink shoe laces and plopped down upon her bed. As she forced the first onto her left foot she thought about the year to come. It was the first day of her senior year, and she could barely piece together the emotions that seem to hold her mind captive. This was it, she was a senior. The last year of compulsory education. Her last year that she was forced to go to school day after day. The last year that the American government could tell her what she had to learn. But then, it was the last year that she could be a kid. The last year that the American government allowed her to be a minor, ignorant to the real world outside. The idea was a bitter sweet one.

Both shoes had found their places on each foot and she rose to her feet to search for her makeup bag. Her not so tidy bedroom seems to laugh at her as she stumbled through the piles of clothes, blanketing the floor. Her eye caught a glance of the desired bag. She grabbed the pink poka-dotted bag and once again found the comfortable spot on her bed. Sitting down, her mind flooded back to the day, and year to come. She smiled as she thought back to her first day of middle school. Looking down at her outfit, she smiled as she remembered the sweater her mother had forced her to wear. She could hardly believe she could smile about it. But what had once been so crucial was now so trivial.

As she applied her last stroke of maskera, she returned all her makeup products to their bag and threw it in her backpack. Standing up, she lifted her baby-blue backpack from the floor and exited her bedroom. As she began her pursuit downstairs, she viewed her younger brother out of the corner of her eye. It was Matt's first day of high school.

"Ready for high school?" she asked.

"Sure," he grumbled under his breath.

The two found their way downstairs and sat down to the breakfast their mom had prepared for them.

"Are you guys ready for the first day of school?" Mrs. McGuire asked enthusiastically.

"Yes, I'm finally a senior. The head of the school." Lizzie smiled.

"Yeah, and I'm now a freshman, a pee on to the rest of the school."

"Oh come on Matt, just think, you only have to put up with ten long months of torture and degradation."

"Lizzie," Mrs. McGuire sternly said, "leaves your brother alone. If I remember correctly, you weren't too excited on your first day of high school either."

"Whatever, you'll be fine, Dorkface."

"Oh Lizzie, I'm really sorry, but you won't be able to take the car to school today. I have a doctor's appointment that I can't miss." Her mother jumped in.

"But Mom, it's the first day of my senior year!" She protested.

"I know, and I'm really sorry, but it's my appointment with my gynecologist for a mammogram, and I really can't reschedule. Getting an appointment is hard enough."

"Matt covered his ears. "Please, men at the table who really don't want to know these things."

"Hey, one day you'll have a wife and you'll have to put up with these things." His sister taunted him.

"So I'm really sorry, but you'll have to get a ride home. I'm sure Gordo or Miranda can give you a lift. But I'm going to have to drive you two schools."

"But Mom, it's my car!"

"Lizzie, we've been over this, it isn't your car. It's the family car. Matt will be able to use it when he gets his license in a year."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "Great, the first day of my senior year I'll drive up to school with my mommy."

"Lizzie, I'm really sorry."

"Just let us out a block early."

The two children retrieved their backpacks and made their way to the car.

The family didn't live too far from the school, and they made it there in five or so minutes. Lizzie grabbed her bag and jumped from the car quickly.

"Bye Lizzie!" her mom called after.

Matt exited the car less enthusiastically. "Have a nice day, Matt. It'll be fine."

"Sure it will," he said as he slammed the door shut.

"Lizzie had run off toward her new assigned locker. She had told Gordo and Miranda she would meet them in front of the vending machines. Their lockers had never been close to each other since they were always in alphabetical order. She quickly emptied the appropriate notebooks and binders into her locker and made her way over to the vending machines. They hadn't received any textbooks, so her load was significantly lighter.

"Hey Girl!" Miranda shouted out as she ran forward to greet her best friend.

"Hey, you look awesome!" Miranda playfully posed as Lizzie admired her white pleaded skirt, blue, flowered, peasant top, and black flip-flops. "You never fail to have an awesome outfit."

"Hi guys," the two girls spun around to greet Gordo.

"Hey," they answered in unison.

"So, do we have any classes together?" Gordo inquired as he unfolded the schedule he held in his hand.

"Um, let me see," Lizzie said as she extracted her schedule from her backpack. Miranda lifted her purse from the bench she had been sitting on and pulled her schedule out.

"No backpack this year?" Gordo asked.

"Why use a backpack if you have a locker?"

"Girls, I'll never get you guys."

"I don't think we have any classes with you. You're in all your AP fancy classes." Lizzie delivered after scanning all three schedules.

"Why are you wasting your senior year taking all these classes?" Miranda groaned in an annoyed manner, "This is supposed to be the fun year."

"Hey, Lizzie has a few hard classes here."

"Just AP English," she blushed. She looked up at Gordo. She couldn't believe how much he had grown over the last few years. He was now six foot and somehow, had become more muscular over the summer. He had even tried out for the track team which shocked Lizzie. She never would have imagined that Gordo would be associated with an established sport.

The bell rang and the three all went off in different directions. "See you guys at lunch," Lizzie called.

The rest of the day had gone very well. Lizzie actually liked the majority of her teachers. The only one she didn't like was her French four teacher who didn't speak a word of English and looked at everyone as if they were an enemy to the French republic.

After school, she caught a ride home from Gordo. She was actually more excited about the prospect of this than she had been in the past and she wasn't quite sure why. As she climbed out of his beet-up Ford, she took one last glance at his muscular body that leaned against the steering wheel.

"Bye Gordo, see you tomorrow and thanks"

"See you tomorrow."

She entered her house, her face plastered with a grin. Why was she so happy? As she entered the living room, she saw her mom on the couch crying, her dad trying to comfort her, but tears pouring from his eyes as well.

Lizzie threw her bag to the ground and ran to her mom

"Mom! What's wrong?"

Her mom looked up at her through tear-blurred eyes, "Honey, they found something on the test today."