Heart of Gold

CHAPTER 1

I woke up to my alarm clock, a sharp pang in my ear every time it went off. I quickly shut it off and hopped out of bed. I'm the kind of person who can't stand to stay in bed any longer than I need to, so when Zeke comes downstairs, barely making it in time for the bus, he stares at me in awe. I opened my closet, quickly scrolling through my closet before grabbing a pair of denim shorts and a dark blue t-shirt with a bright yellow smiley face on it. I tip-toed over to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and pulling my hair into it's usual high pony tail, and snuck downstairs. In my house, you wake someone up, you suffer the consequences.

I grabbed some apple and cinnamon oatmeal, my favorite, and cooked it up for my breakfast. Sometimes, I sit down and I wish that we could still eat some of the delicious things our ancestors had. I've always wanted to try bacon, but of course the stupid pigs had to go extinct. I surprised the humans that are left even survived.

Just as I finished eating, Zeke clambered down the stairs, still half asleep. My mom and dad go to work every morning at 6:00, so I didn't expect them to show up.

"Mornin'." he said to me.

"You better hurry," I pointed out. "The bus comes in 5 minutes." I watched him rummage through the pantry, trying to find something to eat.

"Two more minutes." I said, amused.

"I'm going!"

"You know, you could've avoided this if you got up earlier." He turned around and stick out his tounge. He's the most immature senior I know.

"There's the bus." I said after we heard the classic two honks. I headed out the door, with Zeke trailing behind, finishing his half eaten cereal bar on the way. We climbed the worn black steps into the bus, saying hi to the driver, Fil, on the way. Even though we were the last stop, there was always plenty of seats. I went to sit down at my usual spot (3rd row from the back, right window seat), but today there was a dark blonde, hazel-eyed surprise waiting for me. I knew she had to be new, because here, where you sit on the first day was pretty much were you'd always be.

"Exuse me, but that's my spot." I said, slightly annoyed.

"Well, I was here first." She replied.

"Hey! Sit down already!" Fil yelled. Great. I sighed and sat down in the seat next to her.

"So, you new here?" I asked, even though I knew the answer was yes.

"Yeah," she said." Just moved from Lumonai."

"Jeez, that's like half the country!"

"Yeah, when my mom said we were moving to Ionu, I was stunned."

"Why did you move?"

"Never mind that," she said. A painful look swept across her face for an instant.

"What's your name?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Alexa. Yours?"

"Alana."

"Cool name." She said smiling.

"Thanks." I said. I could feel my face heating up. I'm not good at responding to complements. Never have, never will.

We talked for the rest of the 30 minute drive. Apparently, she lives only two houses down, but even still it would take 45 minutes to walk there. She has a little sister named Piper and a fish named spongebob, which was a TV show once apparently. I guess you learn something new everyday.

"Alright, here we are." Fil said, opening the doors to Walderbed high school. "Get out."

We filed out of the bus towards the small, four-room school. Since there weren't very many kids around here, they only had one teacher for each grade. Alexa and I walked together towards room 1, the freshman room, as my brother walked all the way to the end to his class. We settled down in our any seat we pleased, and began school as soon as everyone sat down.

"Good morning students." Mrs. McConnel, our teacher, said.

"Good morning Mrs. McConnel." Everyone replied in a dull, monotonous voice. "Today we will be learning about the extraordinary life of Sir..."

I droned out the rest of her morning lecture, knowing that everything she taught wouldn't even be relevant to the assignment. Instead I pulled out my phone and played Numerous games on my phone, most of which required zero focus at all. Just the way I like it.

"For your assignment, you need to read pages 43-57 and then complete the 20 short answers on the next page." She said, causing me to lose in a hard-core battle of rock, paper, scissors. I sighed, pulling out my book and starting the assignment. I opened my book and sure enough, the assignment was a random protest for a following chapter.

After school, me and Zeke decided to play a game. By game I mean see who can keep quiet the longest. Whoever loses dies. He was in a great mood. I quickly went up to my room.

I clambered onto my bed and pulled out my phone and went to "Living in Wonder", the book I was reading. I looked at the corner, slightly annoyed that there was only 30% left. I started reading and continued to read until my parents got home.