"Whhhyyy, must you always liieee" Sierra sings under her breath. She hums some of the song she doesn't know as she packs her backpack for school.

"SIERRA" Sierra's mom calls from the kitchen. But Sierra doesn't notice, she continues to gather her books and sing on the top of her lungs "Something, something, tiiimmmee."

"Sierra! For the love of god. Turn down that music!" Sierra's mom bursts through her bedroom door. Startled, Sierra fumbles with her radio trying to turn it off.

"You done packing?" Sierra's mom asks Sierra. She simply nods and gestures towards her packed bag. Today was the first day of college, well the first day of the last semester.

"Okay, well, hurry up and get dressed then go to the kitchen for some breakfast." Sierra's mom hugs her daughter. As soon as she leaves Sierra throws on her college hoodie over a purple long-sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

She throws on a pair of sneakers and grabs her blue backpack. She runs down the hall, nearly tripping on some of her little sister's toys.

"Karlene" Sierra grumbles under her breath as she pushes away a toy. She quickly walks into the living room and turns left into the kitchen, where Karlene and their mom are eating.

The kitchen is a simple layout, it has bright orange walls with cream-colored tile flooring. The dining table is by the large window on the right, with a bathroom behind it. In the middle of the room is where the fridge lies with tons of magnets and pictures on it.

Stairs leading to the basement are in between the fridge and the door to the pantry. And on the left are all the cabinets and cupboards making an L shape, with the last cabinet by the doorway.

With one black and white oven, with a microwave above it. An assortment of different appliances crowd the white cabinets.

"Good morning!" Sierra's twelve-year-old sister calls from the kitchen table. Sierra takes a seat next to her as their mom hands her a plate of bacon,  toast, and fried potatoes.

"I still don't understand how you don't like eggs" their mom sighs as she walks back to the oven. Sierra just shrugs and picks up the fork and starts eating her food.

"I like 'em, just not alone," Sierra says between bites. After shoveling down her food, she lightly fans her mouth and coughs.

"And I told you to let it cool down" Sierra's mom hands her a water bottle. Sierra takes a swig of it and sighs as her burning mouth gets cooled.

"Technically, you never said that" Sierra smirks and her mom rolls her eyes. "Well, you should know better. Now you need to get going, you'll be late" her mom takes her plate to the sink.

"Pfff, I'll be fine" Sierra throws her bag over her shoulder and stands up. She pushes her chair in and messes up her sister's hair.

Sierra pecks her mom on the cheek and heads to the front door. "Byyyee" Sierra calls out to her mom and sister "I'll be back around three" Sierra calls out again as she opens the front door.

"Okay be safe, remember don't accept rides from strangers" her mom calls out from the kitchen. Sierra snorts and closes the front door behind her.

She shivers slightly from the weather, luckily it hasn't been raining a lot to need boots, but Sierra is careful not to slip. She pulls her hoodie up and stuffs her blonde hair in it.

After ten minutes of splashing in muddy puddles and walking on the wet sidewalk, Sierra finally reaches her school. In big bold letters above the double doors spell out the school's name.

Cowbell community college, it's technically called Iowa community college but everyone calls it Cowbell since the founders of it also sell soup, and the school smells like vegetable soup.

Sierra walks in the double doors with a few other students, trying to keep her head down.  She sighs as the school heating system finally is fixed and she hit with a wave of warm air.

She pulls down her hood and shakes her hair out, her long hair falling neatly on her back. She looks around the familiar large room. The walls are plain white with black tiled flooring. A large chandelier hangs from the ceiling.

As soon as you walk into the building you're met with a sitting area with brown stairs around it leading to the other three floors. Sierra takes an empty seat on of the many chairs. She pulls out her schedule from her backpack and looks for her first class.

She groans, math, the worst subject ever invented. Sierra slowly looks up at a large black clock, it reads eight-fifteen. She glances back at her schedule, her first class starts in fifteen minutes.

'Guess I can kill some time in the library'  Sierra packs her schedule back in her blue backpack. She jumps out of her seat and throws her backpack around her shoulder and starts to climb the long stairs.

Fortunately, the library is right next to Sierra's math class. The library was and always will be Sierra's favorite place in the school, with the science lab in a close second.

Sierra could go on and on about how great a library is, but nobody really cares except for one of her two only friends, Madison.

And like Sierra, Madison likes spending her free time in the library. Sierra grabs a random book about animals and takes a seat next to her.

Madison is very pretty, her long brown hair is in a beautiful French braid, and her brown eyes are glued to the book she was reading.

"Good morning Mads" Sierra greats her friend. Madison looks up at her and gives her a beautiful crooked smile.

"Morning" she says "have you heard anything from Barbs?" She sits up from her hunched over position.

Sierra shakes her head no. Barbra is Sierra's other friend, she doesn't really know how they became friends since she was "popular". But Sierra is grateful for any and all friends she can make.

Sierra never understood why she almost no one liked her, everyone she knew said she wasn't ugly, well except for her eyes. She always hated her mismatched eyes, but her mom always said they were like her dad's and that they mean something important. But Sierra never believed her.

Sierra shakes away that last thought and focuses on her book. Her and Madison read for the remainder of Sierra's time, once her phone goes off she puts the book she was reading away and says goodbye.

The hours tick by painfully slow, and as soon as the professor dismisses the class Sierra jumps up, grabs her bag, and quickly leaves. She pulls out her phone to check the time, thirty minutes till three.

'Ahh, I got some more time to kill' she stuffs her phone in the pocket of her hoodie and heads outside through the back door. In Sierra's opinion, the backside of the school is a lot better than the front side. It's a large field with a huge oak tree, and a small road leading towards a few houses behind it. Underneath the shade is a couple of dry benches.

Sierra pulls up the hoodie again and runs towards the oak tree. She pulls off the hood as soon as she reaches the benches. She wipes off any water that might be on it and sits down.

She closes her eyes and takes a feel breath in, the smell of dirt and rain calms her. After a minute or two she opens her eyes again and looks up at the large branches of the oak.

After five more minutes of listening to the gentle pitter-patter of the rain hitting the leaves and the sound of a few cars going by.  HONK HONK. Sierra whips around searching for whoever made the noise.

She gets up from the bench to look at the road to see a large forest green truck, with its driver waving their hand at her. Sierra smiles at the sight, she quickly grabs her bag and sprints towards the truck, not caring about her hair.

Once she gets to the driver side window, the driver pokes their head out and says " get in loser, I'll drive you home"

Sierra nods and walks around the front of the car to the passenger side. She opens the door, throws her back in the back and hops in. "Thanks, Barbs" she wipes her hair away from her face to look at her friend, her long black hair is up in a tight bun, her gorgeous green eyes are watching her every move, and she is wearing a black t-shirt underneath a red leather jacket with tight black leggings.

Barbra smiles at her, showing her perfectly white teeth. "No prob, just try not to get to much mud in here, it's my brother's truck"  Barb makes sure Sierra buckles up before she starts driving.

"What happened to your car?" Sierra asks as she looks outside the window, watching the rain pour down.

"It's getting fixed, not sure if you heard but I hit a large bird and it cracked the window," Barb says as she gestures to how it hit and how it rolled up onto the roof of the car.

"Do you know what kind of bird it was?" Sierra asks, fully aware that Barbra has no knowledge on animals.

"Of course not" she laughs "if I'd have to guess, I'd say it was a turkey, but I have no idea" she stops at a stop sign and glances around, but before she can put her foot on the gas pedal, someone speeds past her.

"Idjit! Stupid idiots" she smacks the steering wheel in anger "it's like no one knows how to crapping drive!" She growls lowly. She turns left then pulls into Sierra's driveway.

"Thanks for driving me, if I would've walked, I would've been soaked" Sierra smiles at her "did you want to come inside?"

"Sounds good Mel" Barbra says, Sierra smiles at the sound of her nickname being used. Which is just a short version of her middle name.

They both hop out of the car, and Sierra quickly grabs her bag from the back as Barbra runs to the front door. Sierra runs through the spot where her mom's car would be trying not to get too wet.

Sierra quickly unlocks the door and lets Barbra inside. She shakes off any water from her bag as she closes the door behind her. They both kick-off their shoes and jump on the large comfy couch.

"Your house will always, always, impress me" Barbra says as she sinks lower into the couch.

"You're welcome here any time" Sierra says as she looks for the remote to her large tv.

"I know, I know, I just don't want to barge in every single day" Barbra sits up and sighs.

"Nonsense! You're not some pest, you really are welcome here any time. You're also welcome to any and all food" Sierra gets up to check the couch cushions for the lost remote "where the hell is the remote" she mutters to herself.

"Any food?" A wicked smile appears on Barbra's thin face.

"Well, not the pie" Sierra says "oh no." Sierra notices a note on the coffee table left by who she assumes her mom.

"What?" Barbra sits up trying to look over Sierra's shoulder.

"I forgot to clean the kitchen" Sierra says frantically "and this note says mom is at the store and will be home in an hour" Sierra runs a nervous hand through her hair.

"Hey it's okay, I can help" Barbra stands up and stretches out her back.

"Thanks" is all Sierra can mutter.

"I mean, how much will we have to do? Wipe the counters? Do the dishes?" Both girls head for the kitchen.

"Mop and sweep the floors, scrub the sink, wipe down the table, and wipe all counters" Sierra rushes around the kitchen quickly wiping all the counters.

"I'll start sweeping" Barbra heads for where they keep their brooms. Barbra comes back holding the mop, a bucket, and the broom to find Sierra quickly wiping down the table.

"Whoa, Sierra" Barbra puts down everything and rushes to her friend. "Calm down" she gently grabs her shoulders and spins her around "you're going to hurt yourself if you go that fast" she says calmly.

"Sorry" Sierra says quietly.

"It's okay" Barbra let's go of her shoulders and says with a slight smile "Now, take a deep breath and calm down, im here to help. We'll get this done in no time"

"Right" Sierra takes a deep breath and slowly wipes off the table. After thirty minutes of cleaning the kitchen, both girls collapse onto the living room couch with a bunch of snacks.

"See what'd I tell you" Barbra tosses a pretzel in her mouth "we'd get it done, and we have twenty minutes before your mom comes home"

"Mmhmm" Sierra grabs a handful of pretzels and stuffs them in her mouth.

Barbra sits up to face her "you know, a friend of a friend is throwing a party tomorrow, you should come"

Sierra smiles and shakes her head " thanks for the offer, but mom would kill me if I ever went to a party" Sierra sighs sadly.

"C'mon live a little, your mom is too strict with you. It's just a party, what's the worst that can happen" Barbra grabs a bottle of water.

"I can think of a few, and my mom could go on and on" Sierra huffs "it's really not worth the trouble"

Barbra pouts "but...ugh...Sierra, you don't have to listen to her! You're twenty-three! You're an adult, you can make your own decisions" Barbra argues.

"She's just looking out for me" Sierra turns her gaze from her angry friend to the floor "plus, I've got homework to do"

"Well I better go" Barbra quickly grabs her keys and stands up. Sierra nods and watches her friend head for the door "thanks for the help, you should invite Madison, I'm sure she'd love to go, but have fun"

"Ok will do" Barbra says as she slowly closes the door "hey you've got some mail" Barbra calls through the door.

"Toss it inside, it's probably for my mom" Sierra sighs. Barbra puts a letter and a small package on the coffee table in front of her.

Without any words, Barbra leaves and Sierra grabs the letter to inspect it. In big, black, cursive writing, her full name and address in the middle.

She quickly grabs the package to find her name and address in the same writing. She blinks in confusion and looks at who sent it. It says it's from Klexsity, School of Power, in Texas.

"What the hell?" Sierra mutters.