wake up call Chapter One - - - - - - I woke up to the beeping of my alarm clock next to my bed. I groaned and opened my eyes slowly, only to be blinded by the sunlight coming in from the windows. I attempted to press the off button on the clock, but that didn’t work. I sat up in bed, annoyed that the clock wouldn’t turn off. It was way too early for a noise this loud. I pressed all the buttons over and over, but the alarm wouldn’t shut off. I unenthusiastically crawled out of bed over to the outlet and unplugged the alarm clock, smiling at the silence this brought to the room. I was just about to scramble back into my bed and pull the covers over my head when it dawned on me; I had to go to school. I groaned and trudged over to my closet and grabbed the first thing I saw. It happened to be a pair of dark wash jeans and my favorite sky blue sweater. I put the sweater back into my closet; a top that amazing didn’t deserve to be put through eight hours of school. I looked around for a little bit before deciding on a purple fitted t-shirt. “Reid? The school bus is coming in ten minutes!” I had a history of always missing the school bus, and having my mom drive me to school was not always the most pleasurable experience. So I hurried up, changed into my clothes for school, put my hair in a ponytail, grabbed my backpack and went downstairs. “Don’t kill anyone today,” my mom told me as I walked past the kitchen to the door. She tossed me a granola bar. “The school bus stops where the cul-de-sac is.” I smirked. “No promises.” As I walked out of the house, I saw that Flynn was just leaving his house from across the street as well. He saw me and waved, proceeding in crossing the street to get to my house. I waved back at him, walking towards him as well. “I didn’t think you’d be coming to school for at least another week,” he said, when we met up. We started walking again, towards the cul-de-sac. I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, this wasn’t my choice. I would have much rather been sitting at home on my bed, watching The Big Bang Theory and listening to Marina and the Diamonds.” Flynn laughed. “School may not be as great as Sheldon Cooper, but I think you’ll like it.” When we reached the cul-de-sac, we saw the bus coming right to a halt in front of us and a couple of other kids from the neighborhood. “Perfect timing,” muttered Flynn. When I got on the bus and looked around at all the people on it, I did a silent prayer. I prayed that I would be given the strength to restrain myself from having to slap any of these people.