I walk down a flight of wooden stairs, and can smell bacon being made from downstairs. What was up with that man's voice? Maybe the trauma of what's happening is making me start to hear things. Maybe this is all a dream, or I'm in a coma, in a hospital bed, with my sister by my side, holding my limp hand.
If this isn't a dream, though, why am I doing what the voice says? I don't even want to disobey, and that fact itself is scary. This is all one crazy mess!
I make it to the bottom of the stairs and follow my nose to the smell of bacon and the clinging of pots with the black lab dog following. I walk through a white hallway, past pictures of a family. Oh, well, the girl's-body-I'm-strangely-trapped-in-for-possibly-eternity's family. That family.
I finally make it to a red-painted kitchen. Inside is a black teenaged girl, probably my age, maybe older. She has her head buried in a book, and a cute, navy blue top on. She has on blue shorts that go to mid-thigh, and white sneakers.
I'm guessing that's either her--no, my--sister, considering she's in the family photo on the wall.
Working the stove is an African-American middle-aged woman with thick, curly hair, making eggs and bacon. She's wearing some pink pajamas and blue house shoes. "Morning. Pour yourself some milk, breakfast will be ready in a minute," the older woman says, not turning around to look at me.
I don't respond and start looking in different cabinets for a cup. I hear the girl reading the book laugh. "Susie, we've lived here for a week, you would think you would know where the cups are by now." I give an awkward laugh.
She stands up and grabs a cup from the cabinet next to where I was searching. "Idiot," she smiles. The woman at the stove gives her a light hit on the arm with a washcloth.
The woman looks me up and down, and I suddenly feel self conscious, and it isn't even my body. "Honey, why aren't you dressed? The bus is going to come and get you in twenty minutes for your first day." I shrug. She gives me a strange look. "Why are you so quiet this morning? You're acting weird," she says as she puts breakfast on three plates. She hands me one.
"I don't know. I guess I'm just worried about my first day of school," I mumble. The woman smiles at me. "Well, don't worry. You'll have Sammy here to make sure you're okay, isn't that right?" Sammy nods her head which is, once again, back in her book.
I put down my plate on the island and make my way over to the refrigerator. I open the door and find some Vitamin D milk, then put it down and pour it into my cup. I put it away and look back at both of them. They're both staring at me with a quizzical look on their face. I close the fridge slowly.
I raise my eyebrows at them. "What?" I ask. Sammy speaks up. "How come you're having the Vitamin D milk?" I look down at my milk and back up at them. "Uh...why wouldn't I?" "Because you hate that kind! You only have 2%." I sigh. "Well...I thought I should try it," I take a sip. "Mmmm...Yummy."
They both eventually let it go, and we sit down and eat. I can barely eat anything with my nerves so high, so I only have a few bites. I put the rest in the fridge for later, then go back to "my" room to put on some clothes.
I can tell you right now that it's really weird to go into someone else's closet and decide what to wear based on their wardrobe. It's so much weirder to put them on.
This girl's clothes are all so different from what I usually wear. A bit more girly than I'm used to.
I choose a frilly pink top and some light blue skinny jeans. I find some pink earrings on the desk and put those on too, then I find some white flip flops by the bed and slip them on my feet. I quickly brush my short, shoulder length hair. It's not a big change from my usual hair.
"Five minutes!" I hear from downstairs. Okay, I really need to hurry. Where's the backpack?
I search every inch of the room, but find no backpack. I guess it's downstairs. I make my way down and go to the kitchen. It's nowhere in sight, so I decide to ask the woman. "Mom...uh...have you seen my bag?" She smiles. "You left it on the chair when you got home so I put it on the couch a while ago." It was the mother, thank God.
Oops. Sorry God.
"Thanks," I mumble. I figure my way to the living room and see a yellow over-the-shoulder bag.
I grab it and hear Sammy call from the front door to hurry up. I make my way to the door, but the mother walks up to me before I get there. "I love you, have fun on your first day! Here's your schedule. I already said goodbye to Sammy. Now go on before you miss the bus because I'm not driving you."
"Bye," I reply. I make it to the front door with an impatient Sammy standing there, tapping her foot. "Took you long enough," she mumbles. I grin a little bit. We walk outside and the brisk morning air hits me. It's still a little dark outside, and I can kind of see the moon.
We seem to be in a suburban area, like where I live. A woman is walking her dog on the other side of the street, and we walk the opposite direction. We turn a corner, and we don't speak to each other.
I look down at my schedule. It says that she's a Sophomore at William Clue High School. So, she's a sophomore too? Interesting.
We stop at a stop sign and wait for the bus to pick us up. We're the only ones here. "Are you as nervous as I am?" Sammy whispers, looking straight ahead. This girl is nervous? That's surprising, she looks so confident. "Yeah."
She doesn't even know the half of it.
