My Invisible Chains

Grace's Big Idea

MEEP, MEEP, MEEP MEEP, MEEP

    Stiffness. Searing Headache. Limbs that are nothing but jell ' o. All products of three and a half hours of sleep.

MEEP, MEEP, MEEP, MEEP, MEEP

    A constant high pitched drumming sounds in my ear. My alarm. My eyes wouldn't open. Reaching a hand up, I felt my eyelashes. They were glued shut by eye goop. I must have been crying when I fell asleep. The goop was hard now, preventing my eyelids from separating the lashes. Goop removed, I opened both eyes. Everything was blurry.

MEEP, MEEP, MEEP

    Ugg. My flailing left hand reached up and clutched the alarm clock. Five-thirty. Five, thirty. Five-thirty! Every muscle pulled me up out of bed and into the middle of my room. Alarm, it's killing my brain. Phone. Where's the phone? The small block desk by my bed was empty. Where is my phone? My eyes fell upon my out turned desk chair. It was soaked from my wet jacket. Digging through every pocket, I found my phone.

MONDAY 8th, 5:37 AM

    School. Looking down I was still in the clothes I wore yesterday. I need something dry. Pants, yes. Pulling on my pants, I hopped over to my shirts. On the top of the pile was a wrinkle-free black button down shirt. Sure, that'll work. Ripping open a drawer, I found clean socks. Black as well. Dry sneakers were in the corner. Shoe laces untied I ran to the bathroom. My hair was a mess, but there wasn't enough time. Ripping the hair tie out, I lightly combed through the mob. Then, with quick strategic motions, I wrapped it up into a perfect messy bun. Liam. Scrambling back out, my brother was still passed out on the couch. His school stuff was all over the kitchen table. Grabbing his backpack, I threw everything in. Pencils, erasers, math homework, English book, and gum. Zipping it shut, I grabbed a cereal bowl and spoon and sat them on the table.

"Liam, come on, get up." His muscles stirred awake.

"Mmmm, just a few more minutes." he pressed his face deeper into his pillow. I grabbed his leg and pulled. "WOA!" Thud. "Ohhhh, I asked for a few more minutes."

"We don't have a few more minutes, now get up." He was now sprawled on the floor. I started nudging him in the ribs with my foot.

"Hey! Stop that."

"Look, I don't have time for this, just get up and make some breakfast." I speed walked away, back down the hall. Liam rose from the floor and started pouring cereal into the bowl. In the bathroom I found my toothbrush and started going to work. While gargling mouthwash, I tied my shoelaces and tucked in my shirt. Walking back out, Liam had finished breakfast.

"Why do they have to start school so early?" I laughed at my brother. 

"I have no idea. Do you have all your stuff?" He looked down at his bag. 

"Yup,"

"You should probably change your clothes."

"Oh, yeah," he smiled, "that's probably a good idea." He ran over to his room and threw wrinkly clothes on.

"You should probably grab a jacket," I yelled, "It was dumping buckets of water last night!" He came out with his winter coat. Like mine, it had a few ripped holes, only difference was his was getting a little too small.

"Ready." Rushing back into my room I grabbed my coat and my back pack. I then dashed out and met Liam at the front door. "Let the long walk begin." Liam opened the door to find black darkens everywhere, but he kept pushing forward. We had to get to the bus stop before seven. and it was going to be a long walk. The rain wasn't pouring, but it wasn't exactly a drizzle either. Once out of the trailer park, we turned off of Berkeley. We both walked in silence in the dark. Liam kept kicking pebbles on the ground. His auburn hair was drenched. The hood of his jacket had been ripped off by another boy at school. 

    Off to the corner, an awoken bird flew from tree to tree. Sun. Looking over toward the horizon the sun started to rise. Its violent bright light spread across the fields and into our eyes. Ugg. It's raining and the sun is trying to kill us. Perfect.

    When we reached the bus stop it was six-ten. There was a large sign and it was covered in water. Looking down, my shoes were almost soaked.

Beep, Beep 

    Down came the bus, rolling down the road. It's lights all flashing. Sliding to a stop, our bus driver opened up the doors. Inside, there were more than thirty kids. Roughly half were jumping around. In the back, where I sat, were high schoolers trying to get a few more minutes of sleep. Walking down the narrow aisle, I saw a pair of legs sticking out of my seat. "Excuse me, that's my seat." A middle schooler was parked right in my spot. She scrunched up her nose and said,

"Find another," that little brat. Before I could argue the bus pulled forward, knocking me into the closest empty seat. It had a perfect view of the horizon and the burning sun. Turning away, I tried to get some sleep but the sun wouldn't leave. Boiling my eyes, preventing them from pretending that they could rest. Our bus driver was supposed to arrive at the bus stop at seven, but he's always about thirty minutes early. He denies it, but after a while you just show up early anyway.

"Katherine, get up!" looking forward, Liam was yelling across the bus. Out the window was the school. Stretching my head back against the seat I tried to get the stiff sleep out. After every kid had passed I stood up and made my way across the aisle. Stepping out, the pavement was wet from the rain. Sister Mirror Lakes Public High School was an old building. It was tall, and had its name written in bold straight across the front building. It had a cafeteria, a gym, a football field, and just about anything else any other high school would have. It was perched on a hill, so you had to walk up two flights of stairs to reach the front doors. The inside wasn't as tacky as the outside. Walking through the front doors, you would see the front office and white tile floor. In front was a two way passage that led to different classrooms. Our lockers were color coded with rust red and dull gold. Our school colors. We were some kind of armadillo thing, a pangolin or something. Walking up the steps, I saw Liam crossing the street toward the elementary/middle school. He was in seventh grade. He had been held back in sixth grade, so he was a year older than the other kids in his class.

Through the doors of my high school there were about two thousand kids. Everyone was huddled into their little friend groups.

"Miss. Smither," looking over, the secretary was hollering at me. What did she want?

"Yes ma'am?" her orange lipstick was a shade lighter today.

"It is the new semester, and I wanted you to have your class schedule, that way you would know where you are heading." Her high pitched squeaking of a voice was so irritable. Did she really think people liked listening to her? Grabbing the paper, I turned back toward the left hallway to my locker. 06-15-07, same as my birthday. Once open, a musty old smell floated up into my nose. Grose. There were sharpie marks on the sides, and there weren't any hangers. I was lucky enough to have a top locker. Looking around there were so many people talking, laughing, smiling. Day one of being nothing but invisible.

Ding.

    First bell. Grabbing my English book I made my way down the hall to room 315. Inside the classroom were dozens of books. Some, like the Great Gatsby, Twelve Angry Men, or Fahrenheit 451, were good reads, others were just paper on a shelf. Our teacher, Mr. Gregory, was a small man. He couldn't reach the top of the white board. Despite his size, he had more energy than any of us kids. He was a businessman, and that was how he taught, interacted, and presented himself. He never liked students who were late to class, and he rarely allowed bathroom breaks. 

    "Alright, alright. Everyone settle down."

Ding

    "That's the second bell, now everyone settle down." Eighteen people in the class sat down and turned their attention toward Mr. Gregory. "Thank you. Now we are going to be having a quiz to start off our new semester. Pencils out." He picked up a large stack of paper and passed one out to each student. One girl in the corner raised her hand.

"Mr. Gregory, will all the teachers be giving us a quiz?" Her nasally question hung in the air.

"Yes Miss. Lewis. Every teacher will be giving you some form of a quiz. Now start." She then turned her head down and started filling in answers. A quiz in each class. God definitely hates me.

    Four periods later I had taken a quiz in English, Science, Math, and Music Theory. Now all that was left was History and Spanish. Joy. In the cafeteria they were serving sloppy joes. Outside of the kitchen, there were several tables. The farthest had the jocks. The closest had the cheerleaders. In the middle were the average kids who were too positive for comfort. I personally like to eat outside by myself. I can enjoy my miserable life alone without any disturbances. On the cold pavement I sat, picking my sandwich apart; feeding the bread to the birds.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't miss loner." Looking over, a tall, slender girl was standing over my shoulder with her tray of lunch.

"Hi Grace." Her face widened into a grin.

"Why hello!"

"You're obviously in a good mood. Anything interesting?" She looked like a kindergartener who just received permission to buy everything in the candy store.

"What? No, nothing really interesting." She picked up her sandwich and started eating.

"If nothing is really interesting, then why are you smiling like your favorite actor just asked you out?" Another smirk spread across her lips.

"I, unlike you, happen to know how to make myself look happy, even though things could be better."  Her eyes laughed at me mockingly. "You should try it some time." Ha, ha.

"You know I don't have time for any of that fake stuff. It's just a waste of my time."

"EVERYTHING is a waste of your time but work. Have you noticed that?" Turning her head sideways she looked at me and then laughed. "It's a good thing I talked the secretary into changing your boring schedule up." My head turned sharply toward her.

"Wait, you changed my schedule? What did you do?!"

"Now before you get mad, you have to hear me out." She set her plate of food on the ground. "You are always rushing around focusing on work, and you never take the time to hang out with friends or to enjoy yourself, so I convinced the secretary to give you an extra class."

"Grace, how could you change one of my classes! I have a schedule, where everything goes a certain way. I didn't want it because I don't have room,"

"It's just one class Kristine, chill out. Pluss, maybe you'll start socializing after school." I can't believe this.

"I can't believe you went behind my back and changed my classes." All she did was smirk.

"what are friends for!" She thinks she's helping me. Why didn't people just leave me alone?

"Ok," just be polite, don't get mad, "what new class do I have?" Preparing for the worst, she filled her lungs with air.

"It's a really easy class, there's no way you'll get a bad grade."

"The class, Grace."

"Art."

"Art?"

"Yes, art. Didn't you look at your new schedule?" My schedule? "I'll take that as a no."

Ding

"Well, that's lunch."

"Wait, where are you going?" Standing up, I grabbed her arm so she wouldn't walk away.

"Lunch is over, I'm going to my next class." What?

"Look, we can argue about this any time you want, but it's set and stone now. You can't fix anything by arguing with me." I hate you. She smiled again. "See you around!" Turning around, she jogged up the side of the hill to the lunch hall. Well, I guess things could be worse. It could be something that could take major studying. Breath, just breath. Just three classes left. Walking up to the cafeteria, every person was smiling. 

    After a quiz in history, I made my way down to room 218. The door was covered in red paper, and there were pink and white hearts all over with student's names. Walking in was Mrs. Elisabeth. She was a perky woman who I never really hung out with.

"Oh, Kathrin! Will you be in my class for this semester?" Her voice was very sweet.

"Yup. That I am."

"Great," She held open the door. "Feel free to take any seat." Walking into her room was like walking into walking into a rainbow. There was so much color in every direction you looked, it was hard to see how a normal person could function. In the classroom were ten other people. I didn't know any of them.

Ding

"Alright everyone," Mrs. Elisabeth stood at the front of the classroom. "As you have probably guessed, we will be taking a quiz to see how much you already know about this course." She walked over to a window and opened the blinds. "The purpose of the quiz is to see how many utensils and crafts you are already aware of so that way I can try to keep things new and exciting. This should take about thirty minutes." She then pulled out a large box of colored pencils and sharpies. "Once you are done, you can either socialize or you can color some worksheets." Mrs. Elisabeth was really a pretty woman, with her high heeled shoes and a line skirt. Her blouse was gorgeous and she must have had a stylist do her hair. "You may start as soon as you receive the test." She started passing out papers.

    When mine arrived, the first thing I did was apply my name. Katherine L. Smither.  The questions on the paper were ridiculous.

Question 1: What is your favorite thing in nature?

    What is this? A personality quiz? What did this have to do with art?

Question 5: Have you ever remodeled anything? If so explain.

    Remodeling? Shouldn't this be about paint and paper cuttings?

Question 7: Do you know the difference between a HB pencil and a B4 pencil?

    Wow, and now I see art is like an alien language that has multiple terms for one pencil. When I finished answering all the questions, I had fifteen minutes left of the class. I was the last one finished. Walking up, Mrs. Elisabeth smiled and took my paper. Grace is going to be responsible for my first failed class. Light music played throughout the room. Oh how I wish I could just sleep. Before I had realized, fifteen minutes were over and the rest of the class was funneling out of the room.

"Mrs. Smither," Mrs. Elisabeth was at the door, stopping me from leaving her room, "I look forward to this semester with you." Scoffing, I pushed through and walked out the front doors of the school. The front yard was packed with students, each one trying to go in a different direction. One kid on my left stopped and asked a question.

"It's three fifteen," another replied. Three fifteen. Despite the crowd I started sprinting to the other side of the street. Several kids yelled and threw things at me for stepping on them but my work shift started in forty-five minutes and there was no way I was missing another bus.