Signed, 33

Day One: Ice Breath

I woke up to the alarm the next morning, achy and sore, with my earbuds still shoved into my eardrums playing some kind of music that I couldn't immediately recognize. It took me a minute to figure out what it was; it was "Remembering Sunday" by All Time Low. I groaned, trying to shove the bad memories away from my mind so early in the morning, and ripped the earbuds out of my ears. I looked over at the clock and thought I was going crazy when I saw that it read 6:30. Then I realized it was right; today was the first day of school.  

I rubbed the sleepies out of my eyes and glanced down into my garbage can. The journal and pocket watch came into view, and I scoffed. I couldn't believe that I had fallen for something that stupid. Superpowers, I thought. As if I would actually get something. How could I have been so gullible? So stupid... Like there's any way that that would even be possible. I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, only to see that it was still occupied. I continued over to the kitchen table, hoping it was my mom in the bathroom, and not Cheryl. If there was one thing that I didn't need then, it was to have a confrontation with my mom about our argument the night before. Thankfully, Cheryl was still eating her bagel and flipping through the student handbook for Sacred Infant.  

"Hey, loser," she greeted me still wearing her koala pajamas.  

I walked over to the refrigerator, found the orange juice, and poured myself a tall glass. "I'm the loser? Which one of us is reading the student handbook?" 

"Hey, I just want to make sure I don't get a detention on the first day of school. You know how pissed Mom would be if that happened?" 

I smiled. "Yeah, but she'd be twice as pissed if it happened, because it would be the second time a kid of hers came home on the first day with a detention." 

She laughed. "Oh, yeah, I forgot, you did that, too. What was it for, again? I forgot." 

"I didn't have an acceptable haircut or whatever. Something stupid like that." 

"Really? I thought it was because you ended up punching a kid in the face." 

I pointed to the handbook. "Hey, nowhere in that book does it say that it's illegal to punch a kid. Technically, I did nothing wrong." 

"It does mention something about not causing great bodily harm to other students, though." 

"Ha! That's where you're wrong, sis," I said as I took a large gulp of juice. "I only punched him. Great bodily harm would've been breaking a bone, and then locking him in a locker that was full of One Direction porn... or would that be great mental harm...?" I finished my juice in another large swig. "Whatever. The guy deserved it." 

"What did he even do? I don't think you ever told Mom the truth." she said, laughing really hard. She, too, listened to music similar to what Ray and I did, so she understood what I meant. She wasn't really into the mainstream pop crap. Sure, she did once in a while, but a lot less often than most kids her age.  

"He-" I was about to tell her, but just then my mom came out of the bathroom with her bathrobe on and a magazine in her hand. Things got awkward really fast, since we were all silently staring at each other, seeing who would make the first move and speak first. I really didn't want to be put into an awkward situation with my mom asking me a ton of questions I didn't feel like answering, so I scooted past her and made my way into the bathroom. "I'm taking my shower. I'll be out in a few." 

I shut the bathroom door before my mom was able to get out a question and quickly got into the shower. My mom usually used all the hot water when she showered, so I usually turned the hot water dial all the way up if I showered after her, so my water would be at least slightly warm. I hopped in, turned the hot water on all the way as per usual. However, this time - for whatever reason - my mom didn't use all the hot water. So in a matter of seconds, my entire body was covered in scalding hot water, and my body couldn't react fast enough.