Chapter 1
I woke up to my loud alarm beeping almost aggressively next to my ear. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the sun peeking through the blinds. A welcome familiarity that I've come to appreciate over the last couple of years. I reached over to turn off the alarm on my old analog clock that I found in a garage sale a year ago. It was an old little thing that had a couple of dents and scratches, but it got the job done and that was the only thing that I cared about then.
I rolled out of bed violently, rubbing my face as if the exhaustion would magically go away if I rubbed hard enough (It didn't). Even my morning stretches seemed like it wasn't going to erase the uneasiness that was starting to build in the pit of my stomach. I decided that if my morning stretches weren't going to help this uneasiness fade, I would take a hot shower that would melt away the dread that was starting to settle in the pit of my stomach.
However, before I could even take a step towards the bathroom, I heard a knock at my door. I froze for a second, racking my brain for a reason why someone would be at my door this early in the morning. That's when they called out, "Come on, Katy, let me in. You know I hate waiting! If you don't, I'll just climb through the window again. You know I'll do it too." The impatient voice on the other side of the door paused for a second. "Oh Katyyyy, I know you're up, come on, there is no way you're still sleeping." I made my way across my tiny apartment to open the door, but before I could even get the door open all the way a tiny little blonde came bouncing through the entryway spinning around fast enough to give me whiplash. Standing in front of me bursting with enough energy to give me a sugar rush was one of my closest friends, Betty Maxwell. Betty reminds me of the girls that I use to be forced to be friends with back home. The only difference between her and those girls back home was the fact that she was kind, had a strong right hook and a zero tolerance for bullies. Betty was a little bit taller than me, 5'5 with beautiful golden blonde hair that sorta sparkled when the sun hit it and bright blue eyes that would light up when she came up with a plan that would surely get us all in trouble.
Betty was one of the first friends I made when I moved to this tiny town in the middle of nowhere. "Hello, did you hear me ? I said, Did you just wake up ? You look terrible? Did you get any sleep last night?" She fired out the questions so fast I didn't even bother answering each one. "Whoa, calm down hummingbird, you know I can't keep up in the mornings. I haven't even had my coffee yet." I made my way to the coffee pot that was located over in my kitchen on the counter in the corner. I began to prepare the coffee. I guess Betty must have followed me to the kitchen because when I turned to grab the cups, she was already behind me playfully hitting my shoulder. "Hey, you know, I hate that nickname. Darnell has been calling me that since grade school. It's so lame." She turned to grab two cups from the cabinet behind her, as well as the creamer from the fridge. "Yeah, I know, but the name fits so well you can't be too mad, plus I think it's cute." I said, turning my attention back to the coffee pot as I poured the water into the coffee machine. I went to reach for the coffee grounds that I kept in a little cookie tin can when I realized there wasn't any anymore. "s**t" That's all I could muster. One word to describe how I was feeling, not just that, but also how to describe the way the day seemed to be unfolding.
