10

NOT FANFICTION

Riverdale Middle

By Sophia 

Claire POV

I, unfortunately, wake up to the sound of dying animals outside my bedroom window. Hazel said it was the birds singing a lovely melody but I beg to differ.

The definition of a Monday; the worst day of the week. Monday's have always been the worst. For one, you have to go back to school. Secondly, you have to go back to school. And third, you have to go back to school.

Unlike my twin sister Hazel, I absolutely despise school, especially since I have to attend Riverdale Middle, population; annoying.

In my eyes, the worst decision my mom ever made was moving us to Riverdale, located in the northwestern tip of Washington. The state, not D.C..

We moved when Hazel and I were in second grade, my younger brother, Wes, was in Kindergarten at the time. Coming all the way from Maine, (why we moved across the country, I don't know) was a struggle and I almost got kidnapped by a farmer when we went through Iowa (we are not talking about that right now) but we made it to our normal sized house in Washington without any major injuries.

Ever since, Hazel and I have struggled through the grades and somehow survived until now. We started sixth grade a month ago and it has already become my least favorite grade. My classes sucks and even if I liked Hazel, she isn't in any of my classes.

She landed a spot on the blue team, the team with the best teachers of all time and the most favored students of all time. They always get River Cards, our school's currency, they get let out to lunch early, and all of their teachers are super nice.

Of course Hazel got onto that team. Hazel is the better twin, more liked by my parents no matter how much they say they like us both equally, gets way better grades, scoring full As while I land a C when I try, she is good at practically everything and is friends with everyone in the entire grade. 

Despite being twins, we are fraternal and not identical and she is way prettier than me with her practically golden hair and sea green eyes and clear skin. I on the other hand have dull, brown hair which is always in a ponytail, a braid, or falling in my face messily. My eyes are a dull green color like dead grass. And my skin has freckles all over it like sprinkles on a cupcake.

I decide to make myself actually useful and roll myself out of my messy bed, quite literally, and land on the carpeted but hard floor, groaning with annoyance. Checking my alarm clock which I must have slept through, I find out it is 6:45. Instead of sleeping through my alarm clock, I woke up before it. Too early.

I tell myself to go back to sleep and savor the 15 minutes I still have of slumber but it doesn't work. I pull myself into an upwards position only to nearly stumble back down.

After steadying myself, I make my way into Hazel and I's conjoined bathroom and walk-in closet to find her already dressed in a cute loose lavender crop top, her golden hair falling in waves across her shoulders. She wears jean shorts and some Converse and is brushing her pearly whites while facing the mirror.

I choose to ignore her presence and walk past her and into the walk-in closet. Still half asleep, I chose a dark purple shirt and some black gym shorts to replace my sweatpants and oversized sweatshirt. After slipping those on I grab the second pair of converse from the shelf of shoes on my way out of the closet and I step into the blinding light of the bathroom.

"Morning," Hazel says from where she is on her phone, leaning casually against the counter.

"Sup?" I respond, grabbing the nearest brush to comb through my vicious tangles. After successfully brushing through the knots, I decided to let my hair cascade down my back for today and move on downstairs for breakfast.

Checking my phone which was precariously balanced on the edge of the counter, moments away from falling off the counter, I find that the bus leaves in twenty minutes.

As I walk into the kitchen, I find my mother sipping coffee at the kitchen counter. She is still in robes and looks like she didn't sleep at all. Typical Mom.

She's always been like this, ever since our dad died the year before we moved. That was the main reason why we moved in the first place. My dad had had the main job in our family while my mom worked at a local fast food place, not earning as much as Dad made as an engineer. Soon after he passed away, we began to run out of money so my mom decided to go job hunting for a better paying job and luckily she found one. All the way in Washington.

"Morning Claire Bear," my mom greets me as I walk into the room. I've had that nickname ever since she gave it to me when I was younger.

"Good morning, Mom," I reply, heading to the pantry to grab a Pop Tart. I select a blueberry one, my personal favorite, and scroll through my phone while I eat.

This group chat has been texting all night. As I scroll through my missed messages I find two different conversations happening at the same time, one is about our group Halloween costume, we are going as different Taylor Swift Eras because there are eleven of us. I'm Reputation.

The other conversation is about the 'drama' that has been happening recently. So basically, my friend, Lori, is dating this annoying guy named Ollie but apparently Ollie has a crush on my other friend Tessa and both of them are in the group chat so they've been arguing all night.

I choose to not answer any of the messages but instead text my best friend, Asia, about how much I am going to fail our Social Studies test today. She tells me that it's going to be fine and that I'm going to do great but I know that's questionable.

I finish my Pop Tart and plop down on the couch to play Dress to Impress for the 10 minutes I have to wait for the bus. My friend Riley who lives at the end of my street joins me and we duo and win the round.

Hazel descends the stairs, her feet softly padding against the hard wood as she walks over to me, absorbed in her phone.

I groan internally as I hear the sound of the ugly yellow bus screeching to a stop outside our house. I grab my black backpack, an abundance of keychains clinking together as I sling it over one shoulder and follow Hazel out the door.

A slight drizzle of rain sprinkles to the ground and I scrunch up my nose. I despise the rain and the feeling of getting wet.

As I hop aboard the yellow, moving trash can, cringing at the smell of sweaty armpits and axe body spray, I wish with all my might that this is just a dream, nightmare I supposed, and I can wake up and it's Saturday morning again.

Luck isn't on my side