This Isn't How it's Going to Go Down. Right?

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

I cringed at the sound of my alarm clock.

I swear to you it is the worst sound in the world. It signifies that it is time for me to leave the warmth and comfort of my bed. That I have to wake up and start the day. That if I don't get up now, I will be late for school. So, what do I do?

SNOOZE.

I’m just a rebel like that.

-5 minutes later-

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

I rolled out of bed to meet the cold floor.

"Face, meet floor, floor, meet face. Glad to see you are well aquatinted."

I am kind of regretting not getting carpet 5 years ago. Then again I was 11. Well, it's not like I could get it now... He would never let me. My mom would have. But she's not with us anymore, is she?

Snap out of it, Serenity.

I pulled myself up and began my morning routine. Hair, makeup, hygiene... What am I forgetting? Clothes, right.

-20 minutes later-

I ran out of the house, regretting hitting snooze earlier. I rushed to catch the bus, in the back of my head remembering I hadn't eaten breakfast. “It doesn't matter now. If I go back, I will miss the bus. If I miss the bus, I will have two options. I can either go ask my father for a ride and get beat, or I can walk and be late, resulting in my school calling home and me getting beat,” I tell myself.

Why do both scenarios end with me getting beat? Honestly, it is just not fair.

I walked onto the bus and found my best friend, Christina, sitting near the middle. I sat next to her and she turned to me, startled. She registered it was me and pulled out her headphones. She stared at me for a second before saying, seriously,

“Flux and flow,”

I laughed at the pure randomness that is my best friend. After a few seconds we both calmed down with a few giggles here and there.

“Did you eat breakfast?” She asked, sobering up.

“Didn’t have time,” I said casually, “I’ve got skittles in my bag. I’ll be fine.”

She sighed and I looked at her, she worries too much.

“This is the third day-“

“But I have Skittles!”

“I’m buying you lunch.” She said with finality

“No-“

“Shut up.”

“But-“

“Shut. Up.”

I crossed my arms and slumped down in my seat, defeated.

Our bus stopped suddenly sending me flying into the seat in front of me and earning a glare from the girl in it. I rolled my eyes and stood up, gathering my bag and books from the seat.
I walked into Hawkings HS, talking to Christina. We split to go to our lockers, knowing that we were going to meet in the courtyard in a few minutes anyway. As I turned the dial on my locker, I felt someone behind me. I spun around quickly and saw Caleb. Caleb is a pretty cool guy. He has an odd sense of humor that includes many pranks but that’s okay because he is my lab partner and experiments are always fun with him. He’s not that bad looking either, with shaggy, light brown hair, green eyes, and a cute smile. Not my type but it’s no wonder he is the second most popular guy in school. He is Aiden Russell’s wingman and best friend.

He smiled at me before saying a friendly “Hi.”

I smiled back and returned the greeting. “What’s up?” I asked.

“Well… You see… I was wondering… Didyoudothehomework?” he looked down at his feet in shame.

I laughed quietly, covering my mouth with my hand to smother my giggles, “Yeah, do you need it?”

“Yes, please! I would have done it but I had football last night and coach kept us late and when I got home I-“

“Calm down, man. It’s okay!” I said finally letting myself laugh.

“Thank you so fucking much. I owe you!” He yelled running off.

“No problem!” I yelled back, waving my hand. I got a few odd looks. I wondered why and then realized that I was just talking to one of the most popular guys in school. Oops.

By the time that conversation was over I only had five minutes until homeroom, so I decided to skip going to the courtyard. I would only have two minutes by the time I got there and it takes five minutes to get to homeroom.

I got to homeroom and walked over to my chair. I slumped down and stared out the window for the few minutes before 1st period, completely ignoring the announcements.
The rest of the day passed slowly until 6th period. English class, you’d think it was the most boring. Not today.

“Okay class. For the next two months, you are going to be doing a project. You will be assigned a partner and they will become someone you know as well as you know yourself.”

I tensed up. No one can know me. They know me and they know my secrets. They know my secrets then they know that my mom died, that my dad started drinking when I was 13 and hasn’t stopped since, that every day I go home just to be met with my father’s fist. No one can know that. They all think I am just a freak that is anti-social. No, I choose to stay away from people to protect myself. I have my friends. That’s enough.

“I will be assigning you partners.”

I zoned out as she started reading off her list. What am I going to do? How am I going to get out of this? This is going to be the hardest thing in the world to pull off. I am going to die-

“Aiden Russell and Serenity Sanders,”

I freeze. No, please no. Not him.

My eyes widened slightly as I met his eyes from across the room. I hate him.
Aiden Russell. We have never actually had a real conversation but everything about him annoys me to no end. The way he slacks off. The way he is disrespectful to adults. The way he goes out with so many girls. The way he acts like he doesn’t care about anything. Every little thing about him, makes me want to slap him.

Hi, my name is Serenity Sanders. This is the story of how one project changed my entire life. How the guy I can’t stand’s best friend became one of mine too. How my father nearly killed me. How my best friends became my family. How the guy I despised turned out to be the one that saved my life. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.