Close My Eyes,and Fly

Chapter 1
“I can't, I need to cram, I’m failing English! You know how bad that sounds? I speak English! Look, I need to get a good grade on this or my mom will kill me, Call me when you get back, I gotta go, bye.” Aaron said hanging up on her best friend Madison.
Aaron would give anything to be her best friend right now, in a car, on her way to the party all of her friends and classmates were going to attend. People had been raving about it for weeks. This party just so happened to be the night before her English final, and she knew better than to go.
She was still mystified as to how many people in the junior class managed to convince their parents to drive them to a party on a school light. But here she sat, not even bothering to confront her mother about such a childish request.
She had the same conversation many times, and every time she tried to explain that English just wasn’t her thing her mom would argue back, “But you speak English!”To her mom, failure wasn’t an option, it never had been. Unfortunately for Aaron, failing was her best skill.
Eventually she learned to just give up and study without being told to. Tonight was the same as any other night before a test, Aaron sat at the kitchen table with her books laid out. On one side of her was her binder with her notes, on the other was a double chocolate chip cappuccino she picked up on her way home from school. She needed a pick me up after she realized she had to submerge herself in English for the next few hours.
Across the hall she could hear her little brother Carter jumping around and yelling at the TV. Carter was only 5 years old and he resembled his father more than anyone else in the house. He had dirty blonde hair and green eyes and Aaron absolutely adored him.
Outside, the weather mirrored her mood, dark clouds formed a dome over her neigborhood, and rain drops fell softly to the ground leaving little wet splatters on the pavement.
Aaron sipped her drink as she read over her notes carefully making sure to absorb an entire year of grammar skills she knew she was going to need her senior year. She went through 3 pages until her brother came in screaming.
”Aroooo! Spider man died!” he shouted startling her so she dropped her drink all over her binder. ”Shit!” she yelled picking up her spilled drink and running over to the kitchen to get paper towels.
Running back her brother stood there in disbelief “Ooh, Aro said a bad word!” he shrieked over and over again. Trying to calm herself down she sent Carter into the other room and focused her attention to her ruined notes .
‘not good’ she thought to herself as she picked up the sopping wet piece of paper which quickly fell apart into soaked and mushy mess. ”ah shit!” Aaron yelled throwing the papers onto the table, soon after words she heard Carter shrieking again “Ooh Aro say another bad word.” He had employed the couch as a trampoline and though he wasn’t really paying attention to her he was like a sponge absorbing everything he was exposed to..
Sighing Aaron picked up her binder and walked over to the trash, throwing out all the ruined sheets of notes, The only un-ruined pages in her binder seemed to be the pieces of lined paper which she carelessly had doodled on while she was suppose to be paying attention.
This was quite typical for her, her luck was practically non existent. Aaron tied up her platinum blonde hair into a bun into a messy bun, leaving a curtain of her bangs to fall over her sparkingly blue eyes.
As she finished cleaning up the mess she sighed and leaned back in her chair. It was clear now that, that would be all the studying she would get done for the evening.
That night when her mom came home she was confronted, “Aaron why aren’t you studying for your English final?" She said, walking into the kitchen her arms full of grocery bags.
Aaron pondered an acceptable answer while her mother she ran out to the car to grab the rest of the bags. But she remained silent as her mother returned. She began to put things away throwing empty plastic bags away when she spotted the pile of mushy papers.
"Aaron! You need to learn to be more careful! How do you expect to get a good grade when you can't study!" she said putting her hands disapprovingly on her hips. The room fell silent as Aaron held back the urge to show weakness. In reality she felt like crying, she hated disappointing her mom.
It wasn’t until after she managed to escape up to her room that she let the overwhelming feeling of stress take over. She knew that her punishment was far from over. there would be hell to pay when her father came home, but she chose to await her fate in the comfort of her bedroom. Aaron threw her book bag onto her bed carelessly and mader her way over to her stereo. Flipping through her CD’s she found a track that appealed to her mood music soon filled the silence of her room.
Flopping on her bed she let out a groan of pain as she pulled her book bag from beneath her. By the time the song was finished she was asleep, dreaming about a carefree summer with her best friend. They had planned to spend as much time as possible together while Madion was still in town. She would be going out of town soon for a few weeks, but they had promised that upon her return they would spend as much time as possible.
What seemed like merely seconds later her mom burst into the room.
”Aaron what are you doing still asleep! Get up and get ready for school, your finals today!” she yelled, as Aaron shot up from her bed, running around her room in a panic grabbing random clothes and throwing them on. The panic of todays final hit her as she tossed her book bag over her shoulder. She didn’t have time for breakfast and as she scrambled down the stairs she ran into the kitchen for a quick morning snack that would need to sustain her until lunch time.
“A Poptart will have to do” she thought, grabbing one out of the box and rushing off to the bus stop, her mother glaring at her through the upstairs window as she raced down the street to the bench.
When she got there she set down her Pop tart on bench and shook out her hair from its bun. Her head ached after resting on the tight stands all night long, and she massaged her scalp before coming through her hair with her fingers. She then began rummaging through her bag for some eyeliner and lip-gloss, anything that could make her look somewhat more presentable. Minutes later the bus arrived and Aaron, scrambled onto the bus and sat next to her best friend Madison. Madison was the more stylish of the two, looking perfect even during a hangover, her long black hair framing her face she had a perfect part leaving a sliver of hair to fall in front of her sparkling blue eyes which at the moment were hidden behind thick sunglasses as she slumped against her seat.
The two of them had met their sophomore year, they shared the same art class and had bonded over their mutual distain for water colors. “I just don’t see the point! They all run together!” She remembered saying their first week of class. The two of them had laughed as their portraits turned from still life interpretations of fruit, so sopping wet pieces of deflated circles. They had quickly become friends, and although Madison was significantly more wealthy than Aaron, there was nothing that had come between the two that they hadn’t managed to work out in a day or two.
Now, here they sat their junior year, still best friends. The bus began moving again and Aaron turned to her “So how was the party yesterday?" her voice eager for all the juicy details on who was there or what the gossip was. Madison turned to her excited “I can't believe you didn’t want to come it was so much fun! Aaron sighed and looked out the window.” I would of come you know that, but my mom wants me to pass English or else I have to go to summer school while my little brother and her go to Cancun to stay with my Grandma.”
Madison rolled her eyes and nodded as if she heard this all before,”Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, Cancun, summer school, English, you've told me this all before” she said placing her hand on Aaron's shoulder. It was true that it was a reoccurring conflict in Aaron’s life. She had been struggling to keep up her English grade all year and it seemed that this final was her last shot at passing the semester.
The rest of the bus ride was filled with the details about last nights party,” I’m telling you, Scott was totally looking for you!” Madison finished as the bus pulled up to their high school.
The school itself seemed to be buzzing with gossip on last night’s party and Aaron
couldn’t’t help but feel like a major loser that she had stayed home to study then go to what people were calling this years 'hottest' party. The worst part was that she barely got any studying at all because her notes where ruined.
In reality she had spend the rest of her evening sleeping and moping about her misfortune.
That day 6th period Aaron sat down in Mr.Flum's English class, Her mom who been so kind as to request that she sat in the front row because she had 'trouble concentrating’. An excuse her mother had made up at the beginning of the year for her poor grades.
She threw down her bag in a huff and grabbed a pencil that had been sharpended to perfection by her mother that morning. She began nervously taping it on her desk as she waited, for the shining beacon of hope to be presented to her.
When Mr.Flum plopped the test on her desk Aaron felt a tight knot in her stomach, looking over the test before she did anything.
She was completely lost, ‘what was an oxymoron again? A simile? I should know this!’ she thought, mentally kicking herself as she tried her best to concentrate on the task at hand.
She heard her peers pompously finish and strut up to the front of the room as they finished in record time. Aaron on the other hand was one of the last to complete their test and when she turned it in she knew she hadn’t done well.
Her hand trembled as she passed the test to Mr. Flum who raised an eyebrow at her. “See you in summer school” she mumbled bitterly before turning around and returning to her desk.