DRASHELLE'S POV

"Drashelle Scarsberry, why are you blushing at the mirror?" demanded my mother, running in the house, passing all the objects required for my dad's work, sissy's lunch, and my backpack. It always looks like a relay race in the mornings. 

Each day, I promise to wake up early but I just can't. It's just not possible. But I should've at least done it today because it was the first day of a new academic year. 

Yes, I am sixteen and my mother still wakes me up, or else I might sleep forever.

There I was, standing in front of the mirror with a length of my hair gripped in one hand and a comb in another. I have watched over 100 YouTube tutorials on how to make your hair with braids.

 It looks so easy when they do it. When I try to braid my hair, I honestly wish I could cut off my head. Nevertheless, I did my arm workout and continued to braid my hair as fast as possible. 

This was my first day and I had to look awesome.

I picked up a bottle of cologne that lay in the corner of a shelf and looked at the words labeled on it. I noticed the same words in the other few million bottles I had been using, Eau De Toilette. For years, I thought it meant "For The Toilet", but thanks to my research with the help of Google Translate, it just means cologne in French. I sprayed a few drops on my neck and wrists and inhaled the sweet fragrance.

I looked at the mirror and began talking in front of it, "Okay, I have to make a good impression. It's the first day. I can't mess up anything. I have to give good answers and not stutter my words, no exploding, check out guys, I have to go sit...Oh, who am I going to sit with?"

There were two types of rows in my school. The side rows where the tables and chairs are all lined up and there were no partners. So you just stay near the wall. The other row is the one where 2 desks and chairs are together. 

Sitting in the side row is not really a good choice, especially if it's the first day.

 You need a partner. So that you can look at your partner and be like, "What are we supposed to do?"

I have been studying in the same school for 5 years and knew almost everyone in my batch. This was a new class with different classmates and I mumbled a silent prayer that I would tag along with someone I meet. It shouldn't be hard anyway, since I naturally attract friendly people all the time.

I looked in the mirror for the hundredth time, carefully tucked my shirt underneath my navy blue pleated skirt, pulled my long white socks till they reached an inch below my knee, and fished out my jacket which was of a similar shade to my skirt, and left it unbuttoned. The bedroom door almost hit me as I dashed across the room to ask my mother to help me with the tie because I can't do it myself.

Yes, I know, pathetic.

I ran back to my bedroom and my eyes lingered over the packets of little jewelry hanging over the wall and picked two white studs for my ears. Many students of our school wear separate accessories, often because this is the only part of the clothing that we have a say over, and in some cases, purely to be somewhat rebellious. I have always wondered what it would be like if schools allowed us to wear clothes we liked instead of uniforms. I pretty much didn't care.

 After all, it's the heart that matters! Right?

I tried to run to the door but my mother managed to yell at me before I could run away. "Can you please wake up on your own? For heaven's sake, you are a sixteen-year-old girl now, not sixteen months. When I was your age, I could do every household chore on my own. You can't even wake up in the morning!"

 With that, she threw my backpack on the couch and walked into the kitchen. I breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed my bag, and walked with my sister to the car. 

As soon as I sat inside, a little demon we purchased from the zoo began to protest about the way she was being treated.

 "Can you please stop kicking me in the butt every time you see me? I literally have to protect my butt whenever you're near," my sister grumbled on the way.

 I pointed a finger at her nose. "You are a little girl. I do what I want. I wish you could stop acting so innocent all the time. Also, you deserve a kick in the ass. You are the younger one in this family. Anything you do is my fault and I have to explain everything. Do you have any idea, how many times I was blamed for something you did?"

 My sister made a fake gasp. "What did I even do?"

"Can you both stop arguing? I have to attend a work call." My dad looks at us through the rearview mirror.

 "Calling during driving is illegal," my sister replied. 

She just turned 6 last week. I honestly get surprised by these rare moments when I realize my sister can understand important things. Usually, it ends up with my sister lying on the floor and screaming because no one believes her when she says that the moon follows her wherever she goes. 

My father completely ignored her and took a shortcut while I had to patiently explain to my sister, who suddenly flinched as the sun rays fell on her, that the sun is not falling down and she doesn't need to defend herself with a plastic water bottle even if the sun lands on Earth.

 I rolled my eyes and then looked at her again, "We have almost reached school. Now if you please calm down, I would be highly grateful. I am too excited; I think I am going to throw up." 

My dad told us to have a wonderful day and just dropped us at the school gate. 

I don't know how but I found myself staring in front of the door with my hands all shaky because the door was shut and I had to pull the doorknob. Usually, the doors are open with everyone standing outside talking. The sports teacher would arrive, blowing his whistle, sending the class rushing into the room to avoid detention.

Today, it was closed. Maybe the others were nervous to make new friends too. I mustered up everything I had eaten for breakfast to uncap the bottle of courage and walked in.

Damn, all eyes on me now.

Now it made sense why no one is out. The teacher was already inside the class. She looked so young and short, with perfectly tanned skin and short black hair. She assigned a seat to each one of us and she pointed it out for me. I went and sat gracefully, as much as possible. Then, I waited.

A few minutes later, the classes are getting crowded and a lot of seats are taken except for my partner's seat. Yeah, thank God I got the double-row seats. 

A guy I know walks in. 

Vaozi Velour, the shyest guy on the planet, walks slower than a turtle, and he looks like he swallowed a pumpkin directly and now it's sitting in his tummy. What I know of Vaozi, he likes to sit in the side row because he kind of hates people and would rather live in his own dreams.

Wait, what! Why is he walking towards me? Oh please not you. I don't want to sit with you. Walk away, walk away. Oh no, oh there you go, you just sat with me.

It's a bit weird to sit with guys who always pick their noses and throw your things away and not talk at all. Like what's wrong with talking? This guy wouldn't even talk to teachers, and he is apparently gazing at my bag like it's his trophy that I had taken.

One must always pick their noses in private only. It's a cardinal sin to do it in public.

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SNAP!

Sorry, I just wanted to grab your attention. 

I hope the first chapter went well, me scared.

 ̿' ̿'\̵͇̿̿\з=( ಡل͟ಡ) =ε/̵͇̿̿/'̿'̿

I know the presence of GIFs makes the book less professional, but why follow the crowd when you can do something different?

   ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ ︵ ┻━┻

I hope you enjoyed Drashelle's fear of the first day of school. 

ᕕ( ᐛ ) ᕗ

PS. To all the younger siblings, life is hard for your elder brother/sister. You guys had a lot of things, (chances maybe the right word for it) to not repeat the mistakes of your elder ones. Being an elder sister,  some things are just too hard to handle.

  (/¯ ◡ ‿ ◡)/¯ ~ ┻━┻

But let me tell you this, "We Love You." We might never say it, but we do. 

ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ♡⊂ʕ•ᴥ•⊂ʔ

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