The next morning, Natasha woke up excited. She couldn't wait to show Amethyst around the school. She'd already introduced her to her friends, but Amethyst still hadn't met the rest of the student body yet.

Natasha got up and checked her clock. 4:15 - 15 minutes early! Natasha had hardly slept a wink last night, she was so excited! She quickly got dressed, then settled down at five o'clock to get to work. She glanced at the list her mother had made her and was glad it was relatively short - with a break at 5:55, which was the time Natasha had told Amethyst to set her alarm for. Amethyst had protested that she could get ready in 15 minutes flat, but Natasha insisted that she get up earlier.

"We need to go over things," she'd told Amethyst. Natasha recalled this conversation while she flipped through her Philosophy for Dummies book, trying to focus.

"What do you mean?" Amethyst had asked in return, not unkindly, but rather dubiously.

"Big city life is different from small town life," Natasha had explained while trying to keep her patience. While Natasha was smart, determined, and forward-thinking, the one quality she did not have was patience. And people, especially her mother, did not like that fact about her. "You can't be late on your first day," Natasha had continued. "What if the bus breaks down and we need to drive to school instead? What if you spill your drink during breakfast and you need to go change? You need to be prepared!" Oh, yeah, and Natasha was also insanely paranoid.

Natasha finished 50 pages of Philosophy for Dummies and checked over her shoulder as she put it away. She hated that she didn't face the door. What if someone came in while she wasn't looking and attacked her? Luckily, no one was there. Her mind drifted back to the conversation once more as she looked for Writing Tips for Creative Writing Majors.

"I understand that," Amethyst had replied calmly, "and I do know that I need to be prepared. Natasha, I wake up as early as you do some days. But I do think that being exhausted on my first day will be no better than being late."

"Forty-five minutes will not make you more tired!" She had shouted back at Amethyst. Thank goodness her mother hadn't been there, or she would've been grounded for another month for treating their guest badly. She had just gotten off two weeks of no allowance for getting a 95% on her last project while her partner got a 98%.

"Natasha, calm down," Amethyst had said. She hadn't seemed nervous or upset at Natasha, just concerned. "I will set my alarm for six o'clock if that makes you happy."

"Okay, fine," Natasha had agreed, finally calming down. As she thought about this now, she felt angry at herself for being so rude to someone who had helped her not be grounded for the next two weeks because of the fact that she would've surely failed the Music assignment without Amethyst's help. Natasha pushed the thought out of her head and told herself that she'd apologize to Amethyst at six o'clock, when her alarm went off and she was awake. In the meantime, she turned her attention back on Writing Tips for Creative Writing Majors, a book aimed toward college students that her mother had made her start reading when she'd gotten an B+ on a creative writing assignment. Luckily, her mother wasn't too mad, considering she had been a science competition finalist and was working on a project that had won her first place in the contest as well as $500, which her mother spent on a new purse, shoes, and some cheap jewelry that she gave Natasha after she got an A+ on an especially hard math test.

Natasha flipped a page. Metaphors are a great way to intrigue readers, especially when they don't yet know what they are about. Right, because Natasha was going to become an author when she grew up and needed to know about metaphors. Nevertheless, she continued reading.

Nearly an hour later Natasha's watch alarm beeped and five minutes past that, Amethyst's joined in from upstairs. While Natasha's alarm was loud and angry, Amethyst's was soft, calming music. Natasha rolled her eyes. No one's going to wake up to that music, she thought and headed to Amethyst's room to wake her up. To Natasha's surprise, when she burst in through the door, all ready to shake Amethyst and yell at her to get up, Amethyst was already doing yoga. Natasha's mouth dropped open as she took in the birds chirping out side the open window, the sunrise alarm on the nightstand, the Selena Gomez song playing from the speakers, and Amethyst, on a light pink yoga mat, head nearly touching her lower back.

"Oh, hey Natasha," Amethyst said. Natasha was speechless. First, this strange morning routine and then this girl who she had just yelled at last night being nice to her?

"What's up?" Amethyst asked when she noticed that Natasha wasn't speaking. She rolled over and paused the music on her phone. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nope, nothing," Natasha said quickly. "I just wanted to make sure you woke up. You know, um, on time. Yeah. On time."

"Oh, okay, thanks." Amethyst smiled. "I'm just doing my morning yoga."

"I guess I'll leave you to be then," Natasha said, then hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her. She paused in the hallway. Who was this girl and why was she always so perfect?

"NATASHA!" Mrs. Summerville appeared in front of her, tapping her watch. "Get back to work! It's six ten already!"

"Sorry, mom." Natasha dashed past her mom, down the winding stairs, and into her study, slamming and locking the door as she clung onto the knob to keep from crashing into the wall. She yanked out her history level four flashcards (causing a box filled with history flashcards from level five, six, and seven to fall on her head) and set to work studying, hoping it would keep her mind off things. It worked. Seemingly ten minutes later, Mrs. Summerville was pounding on her door, demanding Natasha to "Open up now, young lady!"

What do you think of Natasha's temper? And how about Amethyst's much different lifestyle? Who's actually strange?

~ writesthetic