Status: Wish me luck fam
Distance
One
The month of August is a significant time for many people, one of those being students. August signifies the coming of the fall semester right around the corner, and the sign that it’s time to get your ass in gear if you’re a procrastinator and you’ve got summer work you were supposed to be getting done the whole time.
Alaina is one of those people.
Could she have gotten the books she needed to read in June when they were announced... maybe? Could she have looked for them in June, when she’d been out of school for almost a month, yes. But... that just seemed too soon to her. It just didn’t feel right to already be focusing on work when she had barely just gotten on summer break. She wanted to have an action packed summer for the record books, not make herself suffer at the hands of inanimate objects.
Well, honestly she hadn’t even really been doing too much exciting with her summer, hanging around with friends, yes, but a lot of just lounging and helping out around the house. Yeah, she wasn’t having the beach filled, party going, event laden time that a lot of teenage girls dream about being able to have, but those expectations were ridiculously unrealistic.
Still, in her defense, it was much better to be enjoying the North Carolinian Summer in the way she wanted than doing anything school related.
Anyway, Alaina had finally found it in herself to head out to the library and make some sort of effort at getting the books that were listed for incoming seniors, especially now that the deadline was looming so much closer over her head. The first day of school was about four weeks away by now, and she figured at the rate she liked to read(slow as all hell) she would probably need all that time she could get.
Quickly hurrying into the front doors of the big, brick building that was marked as the Hornsmith town library, Alaina breathed a sigh of relief at the blasting air conditioning. It had been wavering on a hundred degrees all week, and it was starting to really wear her out.
Wiping away the sweat that had just been beginning to gather on her forehead, just in case she saw someone she might know from school, she began her search. Poking around the Young Adult section where all the “trendy” books were kept, then the area that the book’s author’s surname initial might be arranged in, she came up empty handed.
‘How hard is it to find “Fahrenheit 451”, anyway?’
Begrudgingly going to stand in the surprisingly long line for the checkout desk, she gazed blankly off to the side, trying her best to ignore the snotty kid who was openly staring at her while he was digging for gold next to his oblivious mother. Gross.
She was impassively reading all the bulletins when she came across one that piqued her interest. Alaina wasn’t sure what about it appealed to her, maybe it was the cheesy stock photo of two teenage girls jumping into the air to high five, could have been the colorful bubble letters taking up the entire top quarter of the paper.
“PEN PALS?!” The sheet of paper exclaimed boldly. “Do you want to connect with others across the country? Do you want to make new friends? Get a new hobby?”
‘Well I guess I would…’ Alaina pondered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, though moderately confused as to how this shitty ad had managed to not only catch her attention, but interest her as well. Reading further into the leaflet, she continued.
“With your parent’s/guardian’s permission, head to www.findyourpenpal.com, print out the ‘New’ pen pal form, fill out and follow all the steps to sign up and be able to communicate with your new friend today!”
“Hmmm, well I guess that wouldn’t be too bad.” Alaina mumbled to herself, swiping a lock of sun-kissed brown hair out of her eyes.
Before she could even say or think anything else, the annoyed clearing of a throat announced the librarian’s irritation with her for not paying attention.
“I said, how can I help you?” The graying woman practically hissed at the embarrassed teenager from behind her half moon glasses.
Dropping into the worn desk chair in front of their bulky computer monitor, Alaina spun herself around twice, observing the emptiness of her living room. Normally, one of her little siblings would be laying on the couch and watching cartoons about now, however, the house was abnormally quiet today. Not even her mother was scratching around in the kitchen, or scolding someone for making a mess in the room she had just attempted to clean.
She had seen both her mother’s and her father’s car when she had pulled into the long, winding driveway marked as “Berry Farm” on the tall wooden archway. Although, they were probably just out somewhere in the fields or tending to the animals.
Shrugging absently, the brunette booted up the computer, not before making a face at the reflection staring back at her in the dark screen, though. “Never should have gotten that damn fringe.” She growled, pawing at her bangs in annoyance. The damn things were always falling in her eyes and just generally annoying her.
Popping findyourpenpal.com into the address bar, Alaina leaned back as she watched the loading bar fill up. ‘Am I lame for doing this?... Nah.’ Grinning to herself. ‘Better than reading that dumb book, anyway.’
“What’cha up to in here?” A voice said behind her. Alaina looked up from her paperwork in surprise.
“Oh hey, Mum. Were you outside?”
“Yeah, I was trying to help Daddy round up a few of the cows.” The blonde woman sighed, rubbing at her tanned temple in an irritated manner. “You wouldn’t know of course, since you sleep till noon half the time, girlie.”
The teenager merely grinned in response at the complete truth in that statement.
“The stupid things somehow found a break in the fence and squeezed through it, thought we lost five of ‘em, and as it turns out, they’d just wandered back to the barn without us noticing.” Alaina’s mother growled, picking up a stray action figure half hiding under the couch that belonged to her second youngest brother, Robbie, and throwing it into the toy box in the corner of the room.
“Ugh, that sucks.” The brunette cringed, completely understanding how obnoxious it was to have to search the whole property for some missing animals.
“What is that?” Her mother asked, changing the subject in a mildly suspicious tone, gesturing at the paper her daughter had been hunched over scrawling on when she had walked in. “I know it’s certainly not that homework you’ve been neglecting all summer, so what is it? Love letters?”
“God Mum, you’re so annoying!” Alaina cried dramatically, thrusting the paper at her so she could just look for herself.
Taking the paper from her hands, her mother examined it curiously. “Pen Pal, huh?” Nodding her head absently as she continued to read through the form, she continued, “That’s cool.”
“Yeah I figured it might be fun to do.”
“Mhmm.” Her mother hummed, glad that her daughter might be finding something to do instead of just laying around the house all day or watching television. “Just be safe, Honey.”
“Okay, mum.” Alaina whined, exasperated. “You’ve been telling me that since I was like five.” Mumbling to herself about her mother coddling her needlessly, she turned her attention back to the half-done form and continued where she left off.
Alaina is one of those people.
Could she have gotten the books she needed to read in June when they were announced... maybe? Could she have looked for them in June, when she’d been out of school for almost a month, yes. But... that just seemed too soon to her. It just didn’t feel right to already be focusing on work when she had barely just gotten on summer break. She wanted to have an action packed summer for the record books, not make herself suffer at the hands of inanimate objects.
Well, honestly she hadn’t even really been doing too much exciting with her summer, hanging around with friends, yes, but a lot of just lounging and helping out around the house. Yeah, she wasn’t having the beach filled, party going, event laden time that a lot of teenage girls dream about being able to have, but those expectations were ridiculously unrealistic.
Still, in her defense, it was much better to be enjoying the North Carolinian Summer in the way she wanted than doing anything school related.
Anyway, Alaina had finally found it in herself to head out to the library and make some sort of effort at getting the books that were listed for incoming seniors, especially now that the deadline was looming so much closer over her head. The first day of school was about four weeks away by now, and she figured at the rate she liked to read(slow as all hell) she would probably need all that time she could get.
Quickly hurrying into the front doors of the big, brick building that was marked as the Hornsmith town library, Alaina breathed a sigh of relief at the blasting air conditioning. It had been wavering on a hundred degrees all week, and it was starting to really wear her out.
Wiping away the sweat that had just been beginning to gather on her forehead, just in case she saw someone she might know from school, she began her search. Poking around the Young Adult section where all the “trendy” books were kept, then the area that the book’s author’s surname initial might be arranged in, she came up empty handed.
‘How hard is it to find “Fahrenheit 451”, anyway?’
Begrudgingly going to stand in the surprisingly long line for the checkout desk, she gazed blankly off to the side, trying her best to ignore the snotty kid who was openly staring at her while he was digging for gold next to his oblivious mother. Gross.
She was impassively reading all the bulletins when she came across one that piqued her interest. Alaina wasn’t sure what about it appealed to her, maybe it was the cheesy stock photo of two teenage girls jumping into the air to high five, could have been the colorful bubble letters taking up the entire top quarter of the paper.
“PEN PALS?!” The sheet of paper exclaimed boldly. “Do you want to connect with others across the country? Do you want to make new friends? Get a new hobby?”
‘Well I guess I would…’ Alaina pondered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, though moderately confused as to how this shitty ad had managed to not only catch her attention, but interest her as well. Reading further into the leaflet, she continued.
“With your parent’s/guardian’s permission, head to www.findyourpenpal.com, print out the ‘New’ pen pal form, fill out and follow all the steps to sign up and be able to communicate with your new friend today!”
“Hmmm, well I guess that wouldn’t be too bad.” Alaina mumbled to herself, swiping a lock of sun-kissed brown hair out of her eyes.
Before she could even say or think anything else, the annoyed clearing of a throat announced the librarian’s irritation with her for not paying attention.
“I said, how can I help you?” The graying woman practically hissed at the embarrassed teenager from behind her half moon glasses.
Dropping into the worn desk chair in front of their bulky computer monitor, Alaina spun herself around twice, observing the emptiness of her living room. Normally, one of her little siblings would be laying on the couch and watching cartoons about now, however, the house was abnormally quiet today. Not even her mother was scratching around in the kitchen, or scolding someone for making a mess in the room she had just attempted to clean.
She had seen both her mother’s and her father’s car when she had pulled into the long, winding driveway marked as “Berry Farm” on the tall wooden archway. Although, they were probably just out somewhere in the fields or tending to the animals.
Shrugging absently, the brunette booted up the computer, not before making a face at the reflection staring back at her in the dark screen, though. “Never should have gotten that damn fringe.” She growled, pawing at her bangs in annoyance. The damn things were always falling in her eyes and just generally annoying her.
Popping findyourpenpal.com into the address bar, Alaina leaned back as she watched the loading bar fill up. ‘Am I lame for doing this?... Nah.’ Grinning to herself. ‘Better than reading that dumb book, anyway.’
“What’cha up to in here?” A voice said behind her. Alaina looked up from her paperwork in surprise.
“Oh hey, Mum. Were you outside?”
“Yeah, I was trying to help Daddy round up a few of the cows.” The blonde woman sighed, rubbing at her tanned temple in an irritated manner. “You wouldn’t know of course, since you sleep till noon half the time, girlie.”
The teenager merely grinned in response at the complete truth in that statement.
“The stupid things somehow found a break in the fence and squeezed through it, thought we lost five of ‘em, and as it turns out, they’d just wandered back to the barn without us noticing.” Alaina’s mother growled, picking up a stray action figure half hiding under the couch that belonged to her second youngest brother, Robbie, and throwing it into the toy box in the corner of the room.
“Ugh, that sucks.” The brunette cringed, completely understanding how obnoxious it was to have to search the whole property for some missing animals.
“What is that?” Her mother asked, changing the subject in a mildly suspicious tone, gesturing at the paper her daughter had been hunched over scrawling on when she had walked in. “I know it’s certainly not that homework you’ve been neglecting all summer, so what is it? Love letters?”
“God Mum, you’re so annoying!” Alaina cried dramatically, thrusting the paper at her so she could just look for herself.
Taking the paper from her hands, her mother examined it curiously. “Pen Pal, huh?” Nodding her head absently as she continued to read through the form, she continued, “That’s cool.”
“Yeah I figured it might be fun to do.”
“Mhmm.” Her mother hummed, glad that her daughter might be finding something to do instead of just laying around the house all day or watching television. “Just be safe, Honey.”
“Okay, mum.” Alaina whined, exasperated. “You’ve been telling me that since I was like five.” Mumbling to herself about her mother coddling her needlessly, she turned her attention back to the half-done form and continued where she left off.
♠ ♠ ♠
Hopin' for the best.