Garvin Lakes

Chapter 1

Like most other teens, in the morning instead of a loud alarm, I'm woken up by my mother's deafening voice. The first piece of information that sneaks into my brain early in the morning is that I have to get up right away to get into the bathroom in front of my brother.

After all, the bathroom dispute happens pretty much every morning and it's almost a real instinct for me after my mother woke me up to leave the bed as fast as I can, running down the hall and into the bathroom include. Slowly I open my eyes and throw my tired eyes on the white blanket.

Internally, I feel like I will manage to get into the safe bathroom in front of my brother Ryder today, even though he is a football player and thus has excellent stamina. Energetically I push the blanket aside and look to my brother to see if he is already awake. To my disappointment he is unfortunately already.

At that moment, he runs his right hand through the black hair, which is so different from my own brown. The only feature we are really similar in is our bright green eyes that are so typical of our family and that I am quite proud of, as green is the rarest eye color in the world.

"Good morning, Ryder!", I greeted a bit provocatively and jumps out of bed with a playful grin on the pink lips. He does not even take the time to greet me, but jumps up instead and runs to his closet to grab clothes. However, he takes much more time for his night part than me, which causes me to slam the white cabinet doors a few seconds earlier and run out into the hallway with a pile of clothes in my arms.

When I arrived almost in the middle of the long corridor on the second floor of our house, I hear the loud footsteps of Ryder behind me and put another tooth. He must not be there again, because if he's faster, I lose too much time because he needs almost half an hour in the bathroom when I'm done in fifteen minutes. If I hurry, I can do it in ten.

With a sardonic grin on my face, I throw the door open and look at my brother who is just arriving at the door as I slipped through: "Maybe next time, kid!" With these words, I slam the door and turn the metal key around the lock. From Ryder is only a soft "but I'm older than you" to hear. Unfortunately, he always has to rub it under my nose, even though it is only eleven months that lie between us. Let's just say my parents were pretty productive.

I quickly stand in front of the sink and turn on the radio with my right hand. After all, nothing helps in the morning better than proper music and in between, there will be news, which is basically not bad. Immediately the beat sounds from the song "Hypnotic" and automatically I start to move while I wash my face and put on my fresh clothes. Luckily I looked at my Wetterapp last night, so I know exactly how hot it should be today. Unfortunately, I am a person who does not go outside without knowing how warm it should be.

Since it should be relatively warm today, I opted for a light blue T-shirt, which sits loosely and has slightly longer sleeves. It is one of my favorites. For this I put on a blue jeans. Luckily I do not have my periode at the moment, otherwise I would rather wear a black one.

Then I open a small closet door and take out one of my white hair ties and consider first to tie my long brown hair to a braid, but then I decide against it and shake my hair once through. That's how it will be.

I also do not keep up with the make-up for long. It's not that important to me, and I know Ryder will be angry if I need any more, as it's the second song, which tells me six minutes have already passed. I like to count in songs.

Quickly I put on a little mascara and pink lip gloss. I hate girls who come fully dressed with make-up to school. That seems so cheap. Luckily, I'm not the only one with this view. My friend Morgan, with whom I have been friends since kindergarten, agrees with me in this and a few other points.

As I leave the modern bathroom of black and white stone, Ryder is still standing in front of the door, looking angry: "Couldn't have been slower or am I wrong?" I look at the clock hanging in the hall: "Hey, that was only seven minutes, you usually need almost four times that long." He goes through his hair again with his right hand and then winks: "I have to look good too, after all, I'm the only popular one in our family." I roll my eyes: "Yes, sure!"

Although I know that he is not serious, but it still hurts. So we do not have to talk about it, I push him into the bathroom and close the door behind him. He knows for sure that I have voluntarily decided not to be popular. This ensures that I am not only reduced to my appearance and can concentrate on the school. After all, this is my last year in school and I want to get a good degree to be able to do my dream job later.

Ever since I was five years old, my dream of becoming a psychologist has always been to hold on to it. Unfortunately, I have to do a damn good A-levels and have no time to concentrate on anything else. Also, I like the way I dress and I would really reluctantly change for others.

Furthermore, something hurts my mind, I walk back to my room and pack my bag for today's school day. Today I have a pretty long day at school, which is why the gray backpack is quite heavy as I carry it down the stairs. That certainly gives a proper tension! At the landing, I look around. Then I run, now in a good mood, into the kitchen, which is adjacent to the living room. Both rooms were not even separated from a wall. Instead, you can look directly at the TV from the sink in the kitchen, which can be quite handy.

The wonderful smell of freshly baked bread rolls in my nose and I follow the path that my nose dictates. My mom is standing in front of the stove and my little sister Alyssa is sitting at the table. And if I say less, I mean it too. Finally, she goes to elementary school, which is probably better, because I certainly do not want to go to school with two siblings. Going to school with my brother is exhausting enough, even though he's pretty cool most of the time.

"Good morning," I greet my family and shuffled my sister through the hair, which happily grinning at me, with her large tooth gap comes to light. It bears no resemblance to me as it does to Ryder.

Her shoulder-length blond hair falls open over her shoulders. Two locks she has with pink hair clips clamped to her head. This looks really cute. At least she inherited one thing from me. She is damn smart and makes our parents always very proud. Mom also greets me happily and hands me a sandwich filled with egg and salad.

I gratefully accept it: "Thank you Mom!" Anyway, it takes a bit longer for my brother to finish, so I'm sure I'll have time to eat before we have to leave. Meanwhile, I pull my phone out of my pocket and check my messages.

When Ryder finally sprints down the stairs, it's already pretty late and we really have to hurry. I just tap my watch while my mother admonishes him, "We'll take our time, Ryder, do not take that long next time." Alyssa and I jump up from our chairs to get our shoes and jackets while Mom grabs the car keys. Then we jump into the car and my mother starts the engine. After all, we do not want to be late.

On the way, we leave Alyssa out of her school for a short while and then continue to our school at the "Delaware High School", which every teenager in our small town visits. Just as I'm about to get out, my mom is holding on to my wrist: "Katy?" "Yes?" I ask in surprise.

It does not look like resisting me when we're already late. "Could you maybe pick up Alyssa from Marissa after school today?" She asks me: "I have to work a bit longer today and your dad is not working until very late anyway." "Of course", I smile, although I did not have one Knowing that my sister got on with her best friend Marissa again after having had a huge fight, but that's probably not so important either, they always get along after a week at the most and meanwhile, I really can not stand it anymore ,

After my mom says goodbye to me with a hug, I close the door behind me and wait a moment until Mom started the car again and set off for work. Then my gaze wanders on to the huge school building in front of me and an oppressive feeling overcomes me.