Moon Girl (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 1.

"Wake up, Anna!" a voice shouted up the stairs "You have 15 minutes."

 She moaned and rolled over on her bed to face the alarm clock. It was 6:30, school started at 7:15.  Anna closed her eyes for a moment and tried to pretend that she hadn’t heard her mother calling for her to get up.

“Wake up, Anna!” She heard her mother say exasperatedly as she pulled the cover of Anna’s bed. ”You don’t have that much time.”

Anna rubbed her eyes and frowned, “I think morning comes earlier every day.”

 “Take it up with the Yellow Dwarfs.” her mother chuckled.

Anna plopped her head back down on her pillow and reached for the covers at the end of her bed. 

“Oh no you don’t!” he mother smirked grabbing the pillow of her bed too. “I mean it! Get up!”

“But mom!” she whined, “Let me just sleep for 5 more minutes! I’ll make it in time!”

“You can't rely on your powers for everything!" her mom reminded her. “You need to be responsible!”

Anna grumbled sleepily but stumbled out of bed, and opened the closet doors.

 "I can hear you!" her mom sang teasingly "One day you'll thank me for this!"

The clothes flew from her closet at her fingertips and her bed made itself. She walked swaying over to her vanity table and the brushes came to life. Her makeup did itself and her hair was combed quickly to perfection.

 "Anna! You now have 10 minutes!" her mother called to her again

 "I'm coming!" she yelled back

 She staggered tiredly out of her room and hurried into the kitchen. She subpoenaed her backpack as she went so that it met her in the kitchen.

 "Eat your food quickly." her mother ordered, dropping a plate of eggs and bagel in front of her.

 Anna wrinkled her nose but quickly shoved the food in her mouth, she did not like eggs.

"You need protein. Now eat up." Her mother nodded, “Now eat up”

 She swallowed and took a huge gulp of her juice. She quickly shoveled the rest of the eggs into her mouth, hoping to be done with them as soon as possible. 

A car horn honked outside and Anna knew it was her father waiting for her to come get in the car. Every morning her dad drove her to school on his way to work. Her dad didn’t have a lot of free time so these morning drives were always her and her dad’s time to talk. 

Anna put her plate in the dishwasher and gave her mom a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks for breakfast!” she yelled as she rushed out the front door to get in the car. Her dad threw the door open as she ran towards him and she hopped inside. 

 "Sleeping in this morning, huh?" her dad teased.

 "I'm still ready on time!" Anna protested.

 "Still, you need to be more responsible, you can't depend on your powers for everything." he said seriously.

Anna smiled, her mom and dad were so adorable. They always ended up saying the same things without even knowing. Still, she nodded her head politely at her dad and then turned to look out the window.

Traffic was slower than usual today and Anna was beginning to become impatient. 

 "Dad?" Anna asked "Can't we go another way? I’m going to be late."

“I know,” her dad said, “And I have a meeting today.”

He pursed his lips and punched some buttons on the GPS. “It looks like I can turn unto another road right up there. I’ve never gone that way before… but today we might need to try it.”

He pulled over into the left lane and put his turn signal on. 

 Anna tapped her fingers to the tick, tick, tick, of the turn signal.

 "Patience, Anna," her dad muttered.

 He quickly took a sharp left and they turned onto a street Anna had never been on before. The sunlight was directly in her eyes now and she pulled down her sunshade to block it. It was too early in the morning for straight sunlight. Her eyes weren’t adjusted.

 Her dad turned the car again and they pulled up in the back of her high school.

“Well, it got us to the high school,” her dad said scratching his head. “Can you get in the back entrance?” he asked 

"Yes, but I have to hurry.” she said as she climbed out of the car. “Thanks for the ride, dad! Love you!" She grabbed her backpack and turned to wave to her dad as he slowly and uncertainly drove away.

 "You're fine right?" he yelled out the window.

 "Yes dad, I'll be fine." she called back smiling.

 He looked back one more time to be sure and then drove off. Truthfully, Anna knew she couldn't get in through the back door. The teachers kept it locked because it was too much work to monitor both entrances and they didn't want kids sneaking in and out of school.

 However, if her dad knew that, then he would make her get back into the car so that he could take her to the main entrance and then he would be late for his meeting. Anna turned away from the back lot and walked around the corner of the school building.

 This high school was relatively new. The old one had to be torn down several years ago for structural problems. It had it's own sports complex, complete with an indoor swimming pool. Their high school was ranked second in state for their sports. Unfortunately they didn't have the complex all to themselves. The middle school shared with them because the school board couldn't afford to pay for a second sport field and gyms after building such a nice one at the high school.

 Last year the football team won states, and so did the girls lacrosse team. All the other sports teams had placed in the top three. Her school was incredibly competitive and took great pride in their teams. However, Anna herself wasn't on any sports teams. When she was younger she had wanted to be on soccer team, but her parents weren’t sure that would be a good idea because of her powers.

 As she walked around the side of the building Anna paused. Several yards away, standing on a hill staring at her were three teenage boys. She picked up her pace and glared back at them hoping to scare them off and show that she wasn't an easy girl to take on. They shook their heads as if in amusement and walked farther away. Anna kept her eyes on them though. She wasn't worried that they could actually take her on, no, she was more concerned about what they were doing out here when school was starting. She looked back at them and was really confused by what she saw.

 They no longer were standing. Instead were sitting down on the grass and stretching out their arms. They laughed loudly among themselves and it echoed of the brick walls of the school building.

She shook her head. They didn’t seem to be doing anything illegal. But if they were just playing hooky why would they stay so close to the school? She stared at them again, there was a nagging feeling of uneasiness whenever she looked at them. It was dissettling.

 They just sat there laughing in the sunlight and soaking up its beams as if they had no care in the world at all.

 She shook her head again as she walked over to the front door of the school. But as she pulled it open she took one more glance back at them. 

And with that she walked inside.