The High School Experience

» socially inept

· Chapter Five ·

"Good morning," Mom said to me as I staggered into the kitchen. I merely grunted in response and ungraciously flopped down onto one of the dining table chairs. Sunlight was streaming in from the windows, and although it was barely dawn, the temperature was a good seventeen degrees.

"Is Dad sleeping?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and forehead tiredly. Mom nodded without a word, which I suppose was the better option if we didn't want any unnecessary arguments. But a few seconds later, she spoke up.

"He got back early in the morning, Tiff, you know, so..." she trailed off.

"I know," I said, smiling a little. Dad had to rest, of course, before his next shift later that afternoon. And I guess it was just easier to understand and leave it at that.

Mom nodded once and pushed herself up from the breakfast table, where she was sat eating a bowl of cereal while shuffling through some papers, and walked over to the back door. She opened it with one hand, and bounding in came Fred. He happily skipped over to me, wagging his tail excessively. God knows what he was so glad about.

Mom closed the glass door and walked back to the table. She glimpsed at her watch, and, suddenly hurrying, grabbed her handbag with the other hand, and then looked over at me, who was watching her lazily.

"Sorry, Tiff, but I've got to go," Mom said, already slipping on her pair of high heels and stuffing some ballet flats in her bag. "Do me a huge favour and feed Fred, darling?" She tottered over to me and brusquely kissed my cheek.

As she was rushing towards the front door, Mom threw a handful of instructions my way about getting home on time and giving the dog his food, but they were hardly heard as she was out of the house in no time. The sound of a car engine coming to life confirmed that she had already left.

The house felt lonely all of a sudden, and a little cold. Goosebumps were starting to form on the exposed skin of my arms, and I rubbed at them. Standing up, I made sure Fred got a huge amount of dog food before going back upstairs to get ready for school.

When I came back down the stairs, dressed freshly and my hair slightly wet, the clock in the kitchen read quarter past eight, the perfect time for me to leave. I eventually left the house around five minutes later, due to Fred with his whimpering and whining at the thought of me leaving him, like it was the first time he was ever home alone.

The last thing I saw before shutting the front door for good was the golden retriever's miserable face, staring at me with those brown eyes. His form slowly disappeared the more I pushed on the brass handle, until the door was firmly settled in its latch. I turned and stepped down the porch steps, ignoring Fred's muffled barks and walking onto the pedestrian path.

School waited.

+ + +

To say the hallway was crowded was an understatement. It was packed with numerous people milling around, talking and waving to whoever their friends were. For some reason, there was excitement going around which meant something was definitely up, but to my misfortune, I had no clue as to what it was.

People were pushing past each other, one of them elbowing me painfully in the ribs, as I tried to spot my friends. Being an average height certainly came with its disadvantages.

"Tiffany!" Natalia's voice rang loud and clear, despite the noisy environment full of chatter and laughter.

I looked around until I finally came across my friends standing by a locker to my right. Caryn's, I presumed. Like always, they appeared the same. Caryn had her dyed, jet black hair styled into a ponytail and Natalia was wearing her usual style: a pastel-coloured tank top and a skirt barely gracing her knees. Walking up to them, while struggling to get out of the herd of people I was jammed in, I gave them a small smile, which Natalia returned with a blinding grin.