Ask My Raider

One - Like Any Other

California

Friday, April 27, 2018 

The bright sun blasted through the windows of the room, the white walls making the light so unbearable so early in the morning.  The blonde-haired girl hid, with her head buried under a pillow trying to block it away but three sharp loud knocks on her wall every few minutes kept her from going back asleep. The loud hustle of the morning could be heard throughout the house, her parents scrambling around trying to make sure the little ones were all ready in time, as well as the older boys running around trying to get ready which included the older one trying to wake her up as well. 

Eventually, she pulled her way out from under the pillows and ripped the blankets off her body letting the cold air slam against her mostly unclothed body making her want to hide under the blankets again, though today she did not. She quickly hopped up and pulled off the t-shirt she was wearing and tossed it in the dirty laundry bin and the underwear she was wearing followed. She pulled on undergarments and them her school uniform over it.  She quickly brushed out her short bob styled cut to make it look nice and then went downstairs. 

The loudness of the twins bounced through the house as the two brunette boys ran around chasing each other doing something, their father tried to get them to sit down and eat but it was not working. Klein sat in his high chair at the table not wanting to sit still but not having an option to get out so he was also screaming, though the mother skillfully ignored him as she made breakfast. 

"Morning mum," Hailey said as she sat down at the table.

"Good morning, dear. Do you know if your brothers are almost ready? Alex has to hurry, he has a project do this morning so you two can't be late." She explained but Hailey already knew that it was an essay, she had edited the paper each of the twelve times her brother had rewritten it.

"I don't know. They've been up a lot longer than me though so I'm sure they're almost ready." She didn't even get any acknowledgment that she'd been heard but she knew she was.

Two loud thuds echoed throughout the house and all movement stopped on the main floor and soon after the two boys came rushing down just as her dad came back into the kitchen holding both of the twins. He set them down on opposite ends of the table and one looked like he was about to cry while the other looked triumphant. The one about to cry loosely held on to his curly brown hair, "Mommy he pulled my hair." He whined 

"You deserved it, Ty!" The other, shorter-haired, boy said with a happy smile.

"Be nice! Both of you!" Their mother scolded and placed the last bit of the food down on the table.   "Okay, dig in!" She spoke with a smile and all the boys dug into the food quickly but Hailey just grabbed an apple not wanting her hand to get ripped off. She took her time earing while her ride finished off his small feast.

"Hailey," Alex spoke grabbing her attention as he stood, she followed. 

"Oh! Both of you, we have guests coming so after you are done school get ready and come to the packhouse." Hailey groaned.

"The party's tonight." She complained

"Now, missy, just because you'd rather sulk in your room doesn't mean everybody else would! You better not ruin this for everybody." Her mother scolded. The lady's orange hair fell past her shoulders and her bright yellow eyes burned to look at like they were glaring into one's soul. Hailey had to look away from her mum's eyes, she couldn't match up in a contest nor could she bear to look into her eyes like that.

"Hailey!" Her brother yelled but more irritated this time. 

She grabbed her bag off the hook and raced to her brother's car. She sunk into the cool leather seats of the black car and stayed silent as her brother started up the car and began to drive.  

Hailey watched the trees fly by as they drove and watched as the distance between the buildings got thinner and thinner, "Hailey," She looked over at the red-haired boy and silently wondered why he waited until they reached the town to speak.  "You know mum means well. She just isn't used to girls with your... needs." He spoke slowly like he was trying to find a better word for it but also not offend his sister.

"I know, Alex, please don't worry about it." She tried to calm him but she knew that's what he was trying to do, he always got so upset when she blatantly ignored her. Though that excuse didn't make sense, where their mother was from people weren't babied the same way or so the rumors said. It seemed logical though, with six kids one was bound to be left in the dust

Her brother's grip tightened on the wheel and he nodded slightly. Soon enough they pulled up into the school parking lot, Alex pulled up close to their regular parking spot where most of his friends were standing close to their cars and goofing around. "See you in second," Alex said when he parked the car and soon enough he got out and hopped over to his friends. 

With the new arrival, one of the boys looked back towards the car and left the group to catch up to Hailey who was walking towards the school building. "Hailey!" The boy called out making her pause and turn around.

"Hey, Atlas." She said as she tucked some hair behind her ear with a smile, "What would you like?" She asked the blue-haired boy.

"Oh! Um, I was wondering if you did the psych homework." He asked rubbing the back of his head, "I was so focused on the proposal for the final project that I forgot to do it and you know how Mr. Stolk is about this kind of thing." 

"Yeah, I have it done." She started going through her back and easily found the homework notebook for that class, "Just make sure you get it to me before class starts.

"Don't worry, Mr. Stolk will never know." He said with a wink as he took the book. She thought he was going to turn around and go back to his friends but he stood there as if he was going to say something else. After a few moments in the awkwardness, he spoke, "You going to the party tonight?" Hailey nodded.

"Sweet," He smiled, it wasn't a full-on smile but the smirks that only players managed to do and that combined with the rest of him made her heart stammer, "Save me a dance or two then?" 

"Ok." She could feel the blush on her cheeks. He nodded and walked away, she could see her brothers questioning look from where he was but Hailey ignored it and went into the school.

The school, as usual, was horribly lit yet still burned the eyes. It had cheap, poorly made posters littering the was. The school reeked of depression, despair,  hormones, and teenagers but mostly the teens and depression. 

She walked to her class and took her usual spot in room 318. "Hey, Kailey!" Hailey. She corrected. This brunette girl was walking up to her desk with a bright smile. Hailey looked up at her with a smile. The girl was somewhat short and had long curled hair with a few parts of it dyed either neon green or pink. Freckled covered the girl's body. Hailey couldn't remember ever really talking to the girl though that wasn't a surprise. "Do you have the notes from  Bio, Math, and Psych? And could I maybe borrow them? I kind of missed most of this week, I was at the LA children's hospital with my little brother... I didn't want to leave him alone, my parents are so careless like that, I swear they'd forget about his existence if it wasn't for the med bills."  She huffed angerly, looking like she could rant about this for hours. A look came across her face, "I'm rambling." Hailey started looking through her bag

"I have the notes from everything but Atlas has my psych homework." Hailey held out the notebooks.

"Thanks a ton! I should be good for the homework but I needed the lessons. I'll get these back ASAP." She smiled and hopped away to her desk. 

And so the day began