Chapter 1 : First day back

Riley's POV

"Riley, oatmeal!" Mom called, oatmeal my ass.

"I'm not calling a second time!" mom screams, argh I groan and roll over and drop straight onto the ground. "Ow" I groan, hugging my fuzzy blanket one last and sit up.

"Riley I have to leave for court in 5 minutes" she yells down the corridor, I hear the clunk of pans, this is not fair, my hand reaches for my phone which is somewhere beneath my blanketless bed. I deserve at least 20 more minutes. I sigh bringing myself to my feet, this is not at all how I would plan getting ready for first day back at school.

I trod to the bathroom which was shared with my younger brother Auggie, "hurry up!" I nagged, knocking on the firm white wooden door. "In a minute" Auggie cried, I rolled my eyes. "I really have to go" Mom says, coming in and kissing me on the cheek, " have a good day baby" she says turning to Auggie who had just come out.

" I hope so" I groan, watching Auggie skip down the hallway with his freshly gelled hair, he's so cute. I stare at myself in the mirror, " today will be a good day " I glare at myself, pointing my finger at my determined reflection, " I'm not going to stuff this up". I brush my teeth and wash my face as quickly as I can, walking back to my room now, I need to find an outfit that shows I'm mature. "Sophisticated, mature, confident, smart ", I smile, " 9th Grade".

After getting changed I hop over to the dining table, which now was empty apart from a small bowl of oatmeal situated to the far left. "Zzz" i quick buzz came from the door bell, I run over to the door, "come on up Maya!" I call pressing the button down on the apartment radio. I run back quickly to the table and sit forcing mouthfuls of oatmeal into my mouth, at the same time as scrolling through my Instagram feed.

"I'm here" I hear maya's chime, the door is peeped open just enough for her to call out to me and stick her head through. " I'm coming!" I call, leaving my plate where it is and running back over to Maya. I quickly grab my coat before locking the door and clambering out.

We walk down the stairs and down into the subway, , "Maya we're not gonna make it" I whine, stressing myself out as usual, " we're gonna be late, I'm going start of the year with a late attendance, the teachers going to hate me, I'm never going to go to college." I grab Maya's arm and pull her back looking her in the eye, " I'm not going to survive" I frown. Maya giggles at me, " Riles it'll be fine, I've had plenty of late attendances and look at me" she smiles, I think " true" I say furrowing my eyebrows together again.

"How are my favorite young ladies" I turn around to see Crazy Hat, Crazy Hat is the nickname Maya and I gave for a lady we met way back when we were in seventh grade. She had shown us the importance of work, and how we must work to succeed, Maya and I had originally underestimated Crazy Hat, judging by the nickname we gave her, you could probably already guess what we thought of her. " Doing great " I give her a wide goofy smile, " Maya and I are going to school" I add, " Maya and I are going to be late" I smile tilting my head again. "Aren't you an..." Crazy Hat pauses, " interesting girl" Maya says nodding her head, " yes she is", but without stopping continues, " now if you don't want to be late I would suggest we leave now" she grabs my arm and I wave goodbye to Crazy Hat.

We are finally in the subway now holding onto the bar, " Maya?" I say pondering, " yes Riley " she says suspiciously, " do you think this will be the year" I ask, " year of what" she asks squinting her eyes, " you know Lucas" I whisper. She smiles, " yeah". " Do you think he will ever ask me out on a date again?" I sigh, " what Mr Howdy Pants?" she laughs, " you don't have anything to worry about". I frown, I sure hope so.

" Hey this is our stop!" Maya exclaims, and pulls me out of the subway. So this is it, the start of ninth grade.