“Wake up, Noel!” Mom shouts as she opens your wardrobe dresser. “You’re going to be late for your first day of middle school.”
You let out a big yawn and stretch your arms out to get yourself awake. You turn to Mom and let out an annoyed sigh.
She holds up two similar outfits from their hangers, side by side, smiling at you.
“Since you never want to go [[clothes shopping]], I went ahead and purchased these myself,” she said proudly. "I can't have my baby be the only one wearing old clothes for a new school year!"
She shakes the two different outfits from their hangers - ushering you to decide:
[[the white polo paired with a navy skirt]]
[[the navy polo-style dress]]
[[neither]]
The smile on mom's face vanishes.
You can feel how hurt she is.
Although you would rather pick out your own outfit, you feel a sense of [[guilt]] and give it a second thought.
You always felt bad when your taste of fashion never fit Mom's. She never failed to make you feel bad when you refused to wear what she had in mind.
Mom's eyes light up. "I didn't think you would pick this one, but I'm so glad you did! Now I can put this hair accessory on your head.The polka dots are so cute," she said.
You look at the hair bow and let out another sigh.
You then shift your eyes to your iPod touch and realize that you need to get to the [[bus stop]] in 10 minutes.
"Mom, I need to [[eat]] and then really get going."
Mom's eyes light up. "I knew from the two, you would pick this one. Navy looks good on everyone!" she said.
Although it fits like a love, you could not help but sign when you looked at yourself in the mirror while Mom ties your hair into a ponytail.
You then shift your eyes to your iPod touch and realize that you need to get to the [[bus stop]] in 10 minutes.
"Mom, I need to [[eat]] and then really get going."
"Fine, I'll wear one of the outfits you bought for me," you said.
[[the white polo paired with a navy skirt]]
[[the navy polo-style dress]]
As you walk towards the bus stop, you glaze your eyes over each individual to see if you could recognize anyone. Although you are about a minute away from the actual bus stop, you recognize your friends Christian and Cormack. You immediately [[run]] towards them.
Mom prepares a bowl of white rice topped with scrambled eggs and spam for you to eat before you leave for the bus stop.
There is no way you can finish this. You decide to:
[[put it into a tubberware box]]
[[eat it as fast and as much as you can]]
"hey guys!" you say excitedly as you approach them.
Your friends smile and before they can speak, they get interrupted by, you can only assume, upper classman.
"Who the fuck runs in a dress like that?" one of the girls remarked.
Triggered, Christian responds, "Only jealous cunts with cellulite and weight problems would complain about others about that."
Infuriated, the girl stomps towards you and your friends.
"I know you new little fuckers didn't just say that to me," the girl yelled.
*BEEEEEP* You turn around to find your [[sister]] in her car.
After a few minutes of doing this, your overstuffed stomach feels downright uncomfortable.
But at least you ate most of it, otherwise Mom would get angry at you for being wasteful again.
"I have to go now, Mom," you said.
Mom hands you over your lunch bag.
"There's more rice, eggs and spam in there. I even added your aloe drink is inside," said Mom.
You let out a sigh.
"Rice for breakfest, lunch and dinner," you said.
You run out the door to the [[bus stop]].
As you set the contents into the tubberware, Mom hands you lunch box with your favorite aloe beverage already inside it.
You leave for the [[bus stop]]
She emergency parks and steps out of her car.
"Oh God," you think. She's wearing her bunny slippers.
"You forgot your yellow information sheets," Aria says.
"You're embarrassing me - why couldn't you wear normal shoes?" you ask her.
Annoyed, Aria says "You should be thankful I even came out to give you this!"
You let out a sigh.
"You look super cute by the way - I always tell you that you have the looks for skirts and dresses," she said.
You smile uncomfortably and notice that Aria is [[staring]] over your head.
The girl continues to scream and yell at Christian.
Christian laughs and holds his stomach as if he's going to break.
"Did that chink really call her mom to rescue her?"
"Oh no," you think to yourself. "I really hope Aria didn't hear that. "
Aria walks towards the [[drama]] in her bunny shoes.
"Hi sweetheart, where's your mommy? I need to tell her how disgustingly racist her little girl is."
She responds, "Fuck you, my mom doesn't talk to chinks - says they're cheap and smell like shit," she says while laughing.
The girl's friends laugh with her.
The bus [[arrives]] and Aria walks in first to chat with the the driver.
Infuriated, the girl, now identified as Anita apologizes to Aria and Christian. She didn't look at you during her insincere apology.
Christian bursted out laughing at her apology.
Aria pinched him.
Anita walks towards the back of the bus with her group of friends and sits.
Aria chatted with the bus driver again and then [[smiles]] at you before she left.
Before everyone stepped into the bus, the bus driver stops us.
"Not yet, I'm still early," the bus driver remarks.
"Tell Anita she's not coming inside the bus today," she adds.
"I can use discretion to now allow you to ride the bus in the morning, especially if you're threatening other students who ride the same bus," she said.
"You [[apologize]] to Miss Aria and the kids you were aruguing with," she demands.
You couldn't muster up a smile to return back to her.
You think to yourself, "Does she have any idea what she just started? And on the first day of middle school too?"
To be continued.