Author's Note: So I think I am going to do some rewrites and tell more of the story during the first semester. The next few chapters won't be affected so I'll be able to publish for the next few weeks, and hopefull I'll be ready by the time the I get through my drafts. As always thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy
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My alarm went off at 7:30, and I groaned as I struggled to turn it off. I took a moment to debate skipping the first day of school, but ultimately decided I couldn't. I rolled out of bed and grabbed the Advil off of my nightstand before lumbering my way into the kitchen. Mom was already up cooking breakfast, and she ran up and gave me a hug as she saw me. "Senior year!" She cheered before letting me go and grinning at me.
"Thanks mom." I said.
She waved her hand in front of her nose and made a face. "Ew you've got dragon breath, go brush your teeth." She said as she returned to the stove.
"I will after I eat."
Mom had made pancakes, a tradition she did for every first day of school. We sat down at the table to eat together, and I prepped my stack, spreading it with butter before dousing it in syrup. Mom shook her head, and took the bottle from me, pouring a small pool of it on the side of her plate. "You're gonna get fat again if you keep doing that."
I rolled my eyes. "Wow mom, not 'put on weight' or 'lose progress' just straight up 'get fat'? I thought you cared about my feelings."
She gave me a deadpan stare. "I care more about your health. I don't want you to get diabetes and have to deal with everything that comes with that."
"Just be glad I don't put whipped cream on them." I said, and mom knew exactly who I was alluding to. We both cut into our food, and enjoyed a nice breakfast. A few minutes in, mom's phone rang, and I saw she was getting a FaceTime call from Annie. She answered it and held the phone up so I could see as well.
"Hi Annie." She said, waving into the camera.
"Hi mom, hi Rich. Happy senior year!" She responded.
"Thanks Annie." I said.
"Well I'm not as good of a cook as mom so I had to settle for instant, but I've got my pancakes." She pointed the camera down, and we saw a plate of pancakes with a covering of syrup on them, topped with whipped cream. Mom smiled and I laughed.
"You gotta make compromises when you're in college honey, I understand."
Annie pulled the camera back up to her face. "Alright well I just wanted to say hi, I'm gonna have to eat fast because I've got class in 20 minutes. I'll call you tonight Rich, I wanna hear about your first day."
I took a bite of pancakes and answered. "Okay talk to you later."
Mom glared at me. "Don't talk with your mouth full." I heard Annie laughing over the call.
"Okay, talk later. Bye, love you both."
Mom waved to the camera again. "Bye Annie, I love you too." I waved but was still in the process of chewing my food.
I had realized when I saw Annie calling that I forgot to see what she had said about me talking to mom. After I finished eating, I went and checked my phone. In her response she said, "I think she's fine. Her job has always kept her busy, especially after she got promoted. As long as she gets at least one or two days off this week I think it'll be fine. Let me know if she does or not." While it wasn't the answer I was hoping for, I decided to wait and see. I saw that I had a few more messages waiting for me. The first one I checked was from Sam to see her response.
SR: Good for you Rich. You gotta invite me to one of those sometime and I'll show your girlfriends how it's done
I laughed and messaged back saying I'd have to introduce them first. The next message was from Bella. She had sent another photo, but unlike her usual pics, this one was of her fully dressed. She was standing in her mirror, wearing a blouse and skirt with her backpack on. She had one leg kicked up under her to show off her tall striped socks and her sneakers she was wearing. The message with it just said, "See you soon!" The last text was from Henry.
HY: Hey you don't need to pick me up today
The ambiguity had me a little concerned but I trusted that Henry would make it to school alright.
When I arrived on campus I managed to find a parking spot that was decently close to the main entrance. Unfortunately when my leg had healed I had lost all of the privileges that it provided me, including being able to park right in front. I walked in and joined the crowd of students in front of the poster board outside of the main office searching for their homeroom class. After a bit of time, I managed to work my way to the front and found my name. I made my way towards the classroom I had been assigned and walked in. To my surprise both Carter and Caity were also there. They spotted me and waved me over.
"Hey we got homeroom together sweet!" Carter said as I approached. Caity was sitting on top of a desk and held her hand up for a high five. I hit it, and dropped my bag off beside me. We spent some time chatting before the homeroom teacher, Mr. Wurchel, walked in. He was the psychology teacher, and since I hadn't taken the class, I knew I wouldn't have him as a teacher.
"Alright guys, let's have a seat. I know that most of you won't be in my class except for homeroom so I'll keep the introduction brief. I'm Mr. Wurchel, but Mr. W is fine if you prefer that. I'll be your homeroom teacher, aka your morning babysitter." That got a laugh from a few of us.
"I really don't have many rules, I just ask that you keep it quiet so any students who would like to study or do homework can focus on that. Outside of that I don't care if you use this time to play on your phones or draw or cook spaghetti in the back of the class if you can do it quietly. I only ask that if you do cook spaghetti that you make me some too." Another laugh.