Chapter Two
The next I woke up and everything seemed normal, it was a typical day in the life of Alex Lakewood. I had to wake up at six in the morning, so I could be to school by 7:45, then I had to change from my comfy pj's to my uniform. That's another downer to private school, we must all be equal, which means, go ahead and bully each other, but you have to wear the same clothes.
I stood in front of my mirror and looked myself up and down, I'm not one of those people who criticizes everything about themselves, so I won't lie, I am kind of pretty. Today I have my long, bouncy brown hair down around and past my shoulders. I have brown eyes that are, as a famous author puts it, like melted chocolate and they're hidden behind simple glasses, which I, unlike most people, don't mind. I have a decent smile, I won't say I've never had a cavity, because that would be a downright lie, but my teeth are average, and I smile a lot, even if I don't have anything to smile for. Then there's my freckles, the one thing on my face that I can honestly say I don't care for, although my dad seems to think they're to die for. My freckles are sprayed across my cheeks like the flecks from a paint brush.
I'm on the taller side too, not gigantic, but not small either. My ears are kind of big, but most of the time my hair covers them, and I don't mind them, they make it so I can better, which is way my dad calls me Ears, not because of their size, but because I can be at one end of house and my brothers can be talking at the other, and I can hear them. So the first time he called me Ears, it stuck, now it's a permanent nickname.
I was already to go down to our kitchen and eat breakfast, when I wondered if I could get away with wearing pants. For our uniform, which is navy blue and white, we have to wear a white t-shirt, a blue button-down sweater with white trim and for girls a navy blue skirt and guys blue shorts or pants. Oh and black shoes, very attractive. I've been begging my dad to change it, but no such luck, he claims it has to go by some other people and they deny it, whatever, I only have to wear it for eight hours or so, then it's back home or at the skatepark with jeans/sweatpants, a t-shirt, maybe a sweatshirt, and sneakers. Comfy cozy.
Our hair and makeup (which I don't wear by the way) and jewelry and stuff like that is up to us, which I don't think really helps the whole, we're all equal thing. There are girls at Lakewood *cough, cough* Taylor *cough, cough* that wear so much makeup like eyeliner, it makes them look like racoons. Then there's the fact they wear so much jewelry they shouldn't even be physically able to move, it weighs them down too much. I simply wear a bracelet my mom gave for my seventh birthday (her favorite number, and she gave it to me via my dad because, well you know) and it's got a leather strap with a piece of thick metal in the middle with a fancy A engraved into it.
"Ears! Breakfast!" My dad called to me, hearing that nickname brought a smile to my face.
"Coming!" I yelled back and grabbed my backpack from my bed. I was starting to make my way down the stairs when something caught my eye. There was something shimmering and floating above the steps. At first I thought it was just my imagination, or the way the window was catching the light from the sun, but there was definitely something there. I shook my head, clearing my mind, and figured I was just being stupid. As I finished making my way down the stairs I passed by, or more through the weird air and coldness rushed around me. Filled me. I went completely cold, freezing inside and out, but it lasted only a few seconds before I was on the last step and it passed.
When I turned around to see if it was still there, there was nothing.
"Ears! Are you coming or not?" My dad asked.
"Yeah. Be right there." I said, though I don't think my dad heard me, my voice sounded distant and foreign, even to me.
I shook my head again and made my way to the kitchen where my dad was putting some pancakes on a plate and the twins were sitting at the counter with toast in front of them. "We gotta go quickly, so eat up fast." I just nodded my head, still completely shaken by the icy coldness.
"You okay Alex?" My dad asked, he was halfway through pouring some syrup when he looked up at me.
"Yeah, just still a bit tired I guess." I said, and starting eating my breakfast. I was finished quickly and my dad ushered us all into the car. We dropped off my brothers at their public elementary school and then Dad drove me to Lakewood. One perk of your dad being principal however was he got a special parking spot close to the doors, which was a relief this morning because it was still raining from last night.
"Seriously, are you feeling okay?" My dad asked. I had stopped in front of the doors and was staring off into space.
"Yeah, I don't know, just feeling weird, but I'm fine, not sick or anything." I said, and my dad gave me one last worried look before going inside the building.
I went through the door seconds after him and walked through the hallway, stopping at my locker which was, luckily by Peter's locker, and unluckily, right next to Taylor's. On my locker door I have a bunch of pictures of my dad and my brothers, and only one of my mom. I also have a picture of Peter and I from when we were much younger. I put my notebooks and folders in my locker without any sign of the devil, but as soon as I grabbed my books for first period, the lights darkened and the devil itself sashayed up to her locker.
Somehow, she made our horrible uniform look like something a supermodel should wear, probably because she wasn't actually wearing our school uniform, not exactly anyways. She had curled her short, flowing brown hair, so it bobbed around her head when she walked and her blue eyes shone through contacts. She had had braces in the first year of middle school, but they were off now, and her teeth were perfect. She used those whitening strips, so on some days her teeth were literally too bright to look at and since she had had braces, they were the straightest ones in the school. She was one of the girls that actually knew how much makeup to use, so her eyeliner perfectly complimented her ocean eyes and her lips looked full, which I hate saying, because I hate her.
She was wearing a white V-neck, which if you asked me, showed off a little too much, and her little cropped navy blue sweater, didn't help cover anything up. She was also wearing, instead of our stupid flowing blue skirts, one of those super tight skirts that looked impossible to walk in, and the walking factor was not helped by the fact that she wore black high heels. I felt a very big urge to slap her and inform her that this is school, not one of her mom's fashion shows.
I guess she saw me looking her up and down and decided to start a 'friendly' conversation. "You know, if you like what you see, you can always go to my mom and ask for fashion advice, I would give it to you myself, but I don't donate to charities." She flashed her gleaming teeth at me, and I nearly gagged. Like she hadn't said that to me before.
"Thanks, but I prefer not to look like a clown that came out of a car wash." I said, turning back to my locker, I may be shy in class, but I handle my own battles in hallways. "Besides, you do understand that the uniform is not just a recommendation right? It's so you don't fall on your face when you're walking."
She stared at me in awe for a second, and then down at her shoes, I don't know why, we've been having conversations like this the whole year, it wasn't exactly a new occurrence.
"Well, I do whatever it takes to look good, you could probably get away with wearing something like this too. Considering your daddy's the principal and could easily bend the rules for you." Taylor sneered.
"Please, I've been asking him to change the uniforms, but I'm not a spoiled brat who gets everything she wants. You already have that position filled." I said, closing my locker as she opened hers. On the inside was about a thousand pictures of her and her 'friends' and two pictures of a her 'boyfriend', Zach. Zach is probably the most popular guy at Lakewood, but he's not one of the typical 'popular guys'. He does great in school, plays sports, is extremely good looking, but he talks to everyone, not just the populars. He's friends with everyone, is a good student, gets involved with things like Student Council, and he's not dating Taylor, she just pretends he is.
I'm actually one of the few girls that like him, or are willing to admit it anyways. I can tell by the way they look at him that other girls totally like him too, but they would never admit it out loud because he's supposedly 'Taylor's guy' which means no one else can have him, but I'm not afraid to say it.
"So you've gotten down on your knobby knees and begged your daddy to change our uniforms?" Taylor asked.
"Please, I would never sink to your level of self-pity, I'll let you do that for yourself." I said, leaving the conversation.
My friend (emphasis on the the word friend), Peter, joined me in the hallway as we made our way to class. "Another battle with the queen of the devils?" He asked me, he hated her too, although, who didn't?
"Yeah, did you see what she was wearing today, I swear she wants people to see her- never mind." Peter's expression gave away that he was uncomfortable talking about this, so I stopped mid-sentence. "Anyways, the point is we have uniforms for a reason, even if we don't like them."
"Right." Peter agreed. "They are our equalizers." He mocked our school board.
"Well, I guess I'll see you at lunch." I said, as I stopped at my classroom. I had one class with Peter and it was the last class of the day, which meant suffering through six hours of torture all alone.
"Yup see ya later." Peter said and went into the classroom next door. I guess I shouldn't say I'm completely alone, the wall separating our two classrooms was one of those ones you could pull back, that wasn't really a solid wall. So Peter and I both sit in the back of the classroom and we're able to communicate through the wall. Not talking, too risky, so we learned morse code.
A minute after I took my seat there were knocks on the wall. Dash dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dash dot, dot, dash dot dot. A pause, meaning space, then, dash dot dash dash, dot, dash. Bored yet.
I tapped the wall back. dash dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dash dot, dot, dash dot dot. Confirming his question, bored.