CHAPTER 6: FIRST DAY

I have a headache. It started last night. I missed my friends and I was starting a new school the next day. I was so nervous, I couldn't sleep. Some girls throw up when their nervous, I do what I always do when I have a heightened emotion. I cried. So I have a headache. Perfect.

I got ready for school. I decided to wear all black because it made sense to dress according to my mood and it was dark. My mood, I mean. I went downstairs and grabbed the box of coco pops. Only a few trickled out.

'Great. We're out of cereal.' I growled at no one in particular.

'There's more in the pantry. Headache?' my mom asked as she poured herself some coffee.

'Yeah. Bad one.'

'Scale of one to ten.'

'Eleven.'

'Oh. I'll go shopping and see if I can find any stores that sell Tylenol.'

'That doesn't help me now.'

My dad walked into the kitchen and slammed the kitchen door against the wall. I winced.

'Headache?' he asked. He had seen the wince.

'Yeah.'

'How bad.'

'An eleven on a scale of one to ten.' My mom told him.

'Sorry kiddo. I don't know where you got the overactive tear ducts from. No one on my side has anything like that.' He said sympathetically.

'No one on my side either.' My mom added.

I was just rinsing my bowl in the sink when the doorbell rang. With my headache, it sounded like someone had put a siren on the largest speaker in the world.

'I'll get it.' My dad said. 'I'm leaving anyway.' He kissed me and my mom goodbye and went to open the door. I heard him saying something to someone, but I couldn't hear what. I heard footsteps come closer to the kitchen and then Brittney walked in

'Hi! I'm Brittney. You must be Bree's mom.' Brittney said, sticking her hand out towards my mom.

'Yes I am. You can call me Carol.' My mom said, shaking her hand and smiling.

'Alright, as long as you call me Britt.'

'Ok. It was nice meeting you Britt, but you must have to get to school.'

'Yeah, we do. Bye mom.' I said, grabbing my bag.

'See you after school, sweetie. I'll try to find the Tylenol.'

'Oh, you're still looking for that?' Britt asked. 'We have some at my house. I could go get it if you're desperate.'

'I'm desperate.' I said 'Let's go.' I grabbed my sunglasses off the counter and lead the way to the door. My eyes are supersensitive to light when I have headache.

'Why do you need the Tylenol so bad?' Britt asked

'I have a headache the size of Texas.'

'Oh. Do you get them often?'

'Not really. Just one everyday.'

She laughed softly. 'Why do you get them so often?'

I sighed. She was going to find out sooner or later.

'I have over-active tear ducts. That means I cry for almost everything. This means a lot of headaches.'

'Oh. What were you crying about that gave you this headache?'

We had reached her house. It was only two houses down from mine. She hadn't locked the door, so we just entered. It was nice and cozy. It felt like a home. Their some houses you enter that are very beautiful but don't really feel like a home. Houses like Trish's. This was beautiful and felt like a house.

'I was nervous, and excited. So I cried. I cry when I'm happy, too. Generally, any emotion that comes on really strong is enough to make me cry.'

'Ok.' We were in her kitchen. She opened one of the cabinets and grabbed a bottle of Tylenol. She tossed it to me. I immediately opened it and got three out.

'Can I have some water?'

'Sure.' She got a glass and got some water from the tap. 'You don't mind if it's from the tap?'

'I actually don't like water that's not from the tap. It tastes weird.'

'Me too.'

I felt the Tylenol start doing its work almost immediately. I sighed happily.

'Wow. Your headache must have been bad. Your face smoothed out almost immediately.'

'Yeah. My headaches get really bad.' I glanced at the clock. 'We have to go I we want to make it to school on time.'

She glanced at the clock too and started. I put the glass in her sink and followed her out the door. I asked her why she didn't lock her door and she said they didn't really have a lot of crime around these parts these days. The "these days" confused me a bit but I let it go.

We walked up my driveway and into my car. We got in and I backed out into the road. When I was out I turned and started driving towards the school, which I had seen the day I was looking for Tylenol. I turned on my music system and played the CD that was in the player. It was the weird mix CD. I actually named it my weird mix CD. The first song started playing.

'You like Linkin Park? I love them! Their my favorite band. And this is my favorite song of theirs. Seems we have the same taste in music.'

'I love them as well, though their not my favorite band. I like the Jonas Brothers more. I'm really weird when it comes to my music selection. I like all types of music. Well, except opera.'

'That's where we differ. Opera can be really cool.' Britt said, smiling

'Are you serious? Most of it isn't even in English. It's in Latin or something. Even if it is in English, you can't distinguish the words so it might as well be Latin.' I said, shaking her head.

'I like the stories that opera tells. Most songs these days don't have that depth to them. That's why I love Linkin Park. Their songs always have a meaning, a depth to them.' She argued

'That's why I love them as well, but I never understand opera's.' I said. We had almost reached the school by then. You could see the building.

'Do you have your class schedule, or do you have to get it from the receptionist?' Britt asked me.

'I have it. I have history my first period.'

'Great so do I!'

I parked inside the school and we both got out.