I was a morning person, but some things were just too much of a hassle to wake up for, and school was one of them. The crisp September air seemed determined to keep me frozen in bed like the world outside. Only I know for sure that none of the trees outside had Girls Just Wanna Have Fun blasting full-volume through their alarm at 7am. The sound of the wake-up call made my heart nearly leap out of my chest, and I let out a frustrated and tired groan as I slowly moved my hand to turn it off. It was probably another one of Jack’s practical jokes.

After being able to just sleep in until 10 for two months, waking up for school was just a chore. Especially when your brother rigged your alarm to blast you awake. So despite my mind and body’s every protest, I grabbed my glasses, ditched the warm, fuzzy, and once again, warm blankets, all so I could drag myself out of bed and get ready for school.

After I rose from my sleep, I stumbled my way over to the washroom to, you know, wash up a bit. Groggily, I strolled into the washroom and glanced left, taking a sudden glance at a young woman waiting for me there, which made me jump back into the bathroom counter. Great, my second scare today was by my reflection in the mirror. I rubbed my eyes and took a closer look.

My curly hair was a thrown up tangle of dark brown and golden blonde. These curls are a curse, I’m telling you. Why did I bother getting an ombré if I was going to throw it into a messy bun anyway? The answer is because it’s easy to judge choices in hindsight. Though when my hair rarely looked good, the ombré really did make it look nicer I think. Sadly, today was not one of those days, and my hair got the bun treatment before I went to grab breakfast.

When I got to the kitchen, my siblings Jack and Bella were already up and ready. That was surprising, because normally I was the early bird. Well, Bella was more of a morning person like me, but Jack was another case. He hated waking up before his body wanted him to, and usually looked like an insomniac zombie most days he went to the bus stop.

“Morning, sleepyhead!” said Jack when he spotted me. “Did you get your beauty sleep?”

“You’re one to talk,” I yawned. “But I could’ve used more.”

“Yeah, no kidding. You seen your hair?”

“Actually I have, Jack. You don’t have to remind me.”

“Ooh, snippy this morning,” teased Bella.

“No need to gang up on me,” I said, rolling my eyes.

I made my way over to the cabinets and grabbed a bowl. On the menu for today’s breakfast was cereal. Normally I would’ve made something that would’ve sustained me until noon, because I struggle with blood sugars dropping, but meh, I was lazy. I also had like 20 minutes to get ready before the bus just left me in the dust, so it was a good motivator to speed up my morning a bit. I poured my cereal, then the milk, then went to get dressed; I like soggy cereal, cry me a river. 

I tossed on an olive green shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. I know, I really thought a lot about my wardrobe. As I sat down to eat breakfast, my phone went off. Hm, weird. Usually people only texted me in the morning if they needed notes for a test that day. I debated if I should just ignore it until after breakfast, but I caved in and just grabbed my phone to take a look. Hey, I’m a teenager. We’re allowed to have our phone addiction. It was a text from Robin.

“Hey, the bus is early today. Dad saw it driving on his way to work. Move like your life depends on it.”

I nearly choked on my cereal. Of course that damn bus driver was early today! Sometimes he’d come 15 minutes early because he thought he was funny. And if Robin’s dad saw him, then I had like 5 minutes before I wasn’t going to school easily anymore. I scarfed down the rest of my cereal in record time before jumping out of my chair.

“Jack, Bella!” I shouted, running to grab my bags and jacket. “Robin said the bus is early today! We gotta go now!”

It turns out the two of them were already pretty much ready to go and just waiting on me. What was with today and me being the late one today? As I quickly shimmied into my boots and jacket, Jack snickered.

“Running behind today?”

“Broken clocks are on time twice a day,” I growled. “You’re on time twice a year. I don’t wanna hear it today.”

“Fine, fine,” he smirked, opening the door. “Ladies first.”

“Aren’t I just lucky to have a gentleman for a brother?” Bella asked sarcastically, walking out the door.

Jack kept snickering and walked out of the door even while I was scrambling to grab my bag. As I ran out the door to catch up, Bella shouted back to me.

“Make sure the door’s locked!” she yelled at the end of the driveway.

Dammit Bella, why tell me after I’m running? Dad left for work before we went to school, so someone always had to lock the door before we left. I dashed back to the door and fumbled with the key in my pocket to fit in the stupid keyhole. After it was done, I ran to the bus stop as fast as I could. Unfortunately, the bus was already there.

Bella, Jack, and Robin were already on the bus when I got there. I gave a final running push and vaulted through the doors to the bus. The chilling September air burned intensely in my lungs, but I didn’t care. It was a longer run to school, and I needed that perfect attendance for that exam exemption. Out of breath and exhausted, I took a seat next to Robin.

“Hard morning?” Robin snickered.

“Hard time waking up… Didn’t expect an early bus…” I wheased.

“That’s not the Diane I know. She’s up super early every day! You sick or something?”

“Maybe. It’s flu season.”

Robin and I had known each other since we were 5, so we were pretty much each other’s best friend. We were neighbors, and basically family, which is why she waited at the bus stop with Jack and Bella. We even spent holidays together. My favorite was when we got to laugh and joke together. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend. She was always there for me, and I tried my hardest to always be there for her.

*   *   *   *   *

The morning classes were a slog, and I just knew the whole day was gonna drag on forever. My junior year was so much harder than last year, and that’s why I was supposed to pay even more special attention to all my classes. I tried, but just couldn’t help having a staring contest with the clock.

But after enough patient waiting, lunch finally came, and I met up to sit with Robin like usual. She, like me, looked incredibly tired. Robin really didn’t like school; she got the good grades, but she had to work damn hard to get them. I’d seen her spend hours pouring over notes and materials for tests. Heck, I’d been right beside her for some of those nights because her depression got right in the way of being motivated to do it.

Robin had a long, hard history of depression that started when her mom died when she was about 7. She completely locked herself down, shut herself in her room, and refused to go to school. From the young age, she even started cutting herself and contemplating suicide. We’re lucky she got the help she needed and got better thanks to therapy and antidepressants.

“You tired or what?” I giggled when she sat down next to me.

“I’m pretty sure I’m sleepwalking,” groaned Robin, rolling her eyes. “Math is going to be the death of me, I swear.”

“You know that if you need help, I’ll come over at the drop of a hat.”

“Diane, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said with a happy laugh.

She pulled her lunch out of her school bag, and my smile dropped when I saw she only had a granola bar. Robin’s family wasn’t the most well-off, and groceries often got cut from the top of the priority list in favor of things like rent and bills. Usually Dad would help them if they needed it, and I guess I should tell him they needed some money again.

“Money tight again?” I asked. Robin turned away and bowed her head.

“Yeah…”

“Hey, don’t look so down.” I reached into my school bag and scraped up some loose change and put it into her hands. “Here, go get something proper from the cafeteria. It’s not much, but it should be enough for today.”

“You don’t-”

“I don’t wanna hear it,” I interrupted. “Now go get something.”

“Diane-”

“Robin, just go-”

“Diane, thank you.” she said with a warm smile before running off to get something. When Robin came back, I pulled out my lunch so we could eat together. It was always more enjoyable that way.

“What did you get?” I asked, taking out my sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly.

“Pizza,” she said with a smirk. “Compared to that mashed potato mistake they’re dishing out, this is the edible rubbish.”

That gave us both a good laugh. We happily talked and enjoyed our lunches while we still could.

*   *   *   *   *

I couldn’t have been more relieved when the day finally finished. Pre-Calc was just unbearable with the boring teaching and easy work. Right as I was packing up my stuff and getting ready to leave, someone tapped my shoulder from behind. It was one of my classmates and a small cohort of her friends.

“Hey Diane,” said Lucille. She was a surprisingly laid-back classmate, despite looking like a textbook picture of an apathetic popular girl. I mean, she did look like she could’ve been in the cast of Mean Girls, but she was usually kind to me.

“Oh, hey Lucille. What’s up?” I said back with a smile. I figured they, like most people who just approach me, usually wanted some kind of help with work. Though, I could tell something was off. Her tone was just slightly pitched up, like she was talking to a dog, and she had this smug smile on.

“She sky!” blurted out Pat, one of Lucille’s friends. She had a fairly bubbly personality, which Lucille didn’t normally appreciate. She just gave an eye roll and ignored her like usual.

“Nothing much, really.” Lucille continued, cleaning under her nails. “Just wanted to ask a quick question.”

“Fire away,” I said happily. I figured it was just about Pre-Calc or something. The class stressed most people out a lot.

“Why do you think you’re better than everyone here?”

“Huh? I… What?”

That question caught me completely off balance. I didn’t even know how to respond. Lucille turned her eyes back to me and snarled.

“You heard me. Why do you think you’re better than everyone?”

“I- I don’t!” I exclaimed. “I don’t think I’m better than anyone!”

“Oh really? Doesn’t really seem like it, hun,” she said, venom dripping from her words. Any chill or calm vibe she might’ve had was gone, replaced with an icy and cruel stare. “You go around flaunting about all your friends, bragging about those perfect grades, and swinging that body around like you’re the pinnacle of the female figure.”

“I don’t mean to come across like that,” I sweated, putting my hands up. “I just… I’m just focused on trying to pass my classes and hang out with Robin most of the time.”

“Well you do come across that way. I see it, and everyone else does too. I thought that I should just be the one to finally break it to you.” Lucille decided to get right in my face. “Because one day you won’t be in your perfect fantasy bubble anymore, and when you can’t be the little teacher’s pet, nobody’s going to want to be with you because of how fat and gross you’re going to be. Except maybe Robin, but beggars can’t be choosers when freaks look for friends.”

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was outright blown away that Lucille would say those things. It’s like any semblance of the sweet friend I had known at one point was just grotesquely transformed into the biggest bully of my life in less than a minute. It had to be a joke or something.

“C’mon Lucille, time to stop kidding around,” I said, laughing nervously. “I mean, what’re you even talking about with the fat thing? If I go any lighter, my doctor might kill me with how underweight I already am. And like… I know it’s a joke and all, but I don’t think you should say those things about Robin…”

“You think this is a joke?!” Lucille snapped, anger in her eyes. “So ego-filled she thinks she can stand here and brag and think we’re being unreasonable. Oh, look at me, I’m Diane. I’m the skinny genius bitch, and my word is law!”

My breathing picked up and I felt like the world was closing in around me. I grabbed my backpack and bolted out of the room, hearing Lucille and her friends jeering insults like “fatty” and “bitch” behind my back. I had to hold back the tears. Normally Robin fought the bullies for me; I couldn’t stand up to them myself.

I ran straight to the bathroom. Normally I would’ve gone to Robin’s locker, but if she saw me like this she would’ve tried to fight those girls. She was always getting in these fist fights and being at the wrong place at the wrong time and… she didn’t need to get involved.

When I did get to the bathroom, I cleaned myself up. I was so fortunate to have it to myself, because my day would’ve only gotten worse if anyone had actually seen me like this. Once my puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks were calmed down, I made my way to Robin’s locker to meet her, and she didn’t notice a thing wrong.

On our bus ride back we talked about our days, and what we were doing tonight. Of course, I exempted the whole Lucille situation entirely.

“So you wanna come over to my place and we can watch a movie?” Robin asked eagerly. She loved movies a lot, and spent a good portion of her free time watching as many as possible.

“Oh well… I don’t know. I don’t really feel good, and I just was planning to go to bed early tonight.” I lied. I really didn’t want to hang out after what had happened. I needed to think about what those girls said.

“Don’t worry, I get it. You’re probably getting a cold or something, so rest up!”

“Yeah,” I sighed with a forced smile. “After today, I think I’m already a bit sick.”