Socially Detached

(Ch2) September 19th, 8:30 AM

My alarm goes off, loud as always, waking me up. The annoying thing about this alarm is that it goes off at 8:30, no matter what. Doesn't matter if I unplug the stupid thing or try setting a new alarm time over it, it will always go off. It even went off when my whole apartment had no power at once. I guess some of the older alarm clocks have backup batteries in them.

The plus side to having an early alarm is that I can never miss a day by sleeping in.

I roll over in bed and press the OFF button, and grab my phone that is right next to it. Surprise, no notifications for me today. Or any day. Sometimes I wonder what the point is of having such a high-tech new phone if I only use it for music or e-mail.

I get out of bed and walk over to my wall calendar. September 19th... work from 12-6pm. I guess I have a few hours to kill before I have to go anywhere. Maybe I can finish up some extra homework.

I grab my backpack that I had placed by my door yesterday, and dragged it over to my study desk. I opened up my laptop and began to load up the digital coursework my professors leave online for students to do.

What homework would be less painful to complete? English, maybe? That is usually the quickest to complete, I decide.

I breeze through my English essay, and some (very primitive) sketches for drawing class. When I refresh my online course load, what's left is... Marketing. I open up my notebook and I'm greeted with my writings from yesterday.

She turned back around and dipped under the water, tending to the fishes below the depths. I looked at the last of my writing from yesterday. It actually wasn't so bad. Maybe I should keep some of this? I rip out the 4 pages of writing and put them off to the side. It'll be easier to keep the writing here rather than in a notebook for school.

I look back up at the clock. 10:30. I guess time flies when you knock out 3 full classes' worth of homework. Time to get ready for work.

I shower and when I come back; I have to sort through the pile of floor clothes to find my work shirt. Not that it was hard to find. It's the only hot pink shirt in the whole pile.

I work at the local ice cream shop, the name is "Annie's Treats." It's not such a bad place to work. Over the summer, I clock in about 45-50 hours a week, and when the prime season is over, it's around the time that school starts back up, so I only work about 10 hours a week until the shop closes completely for the winter. Then, it's a rinse and repeat cycle. The only downside is that I feel completely sticky after every shift.

I brush out my tangled mess of a hair and swing it into a high ponytail. My hair is supposed to be a light brown, but I've spent so much time dyeing its colors over the years that it's a faded yellow color. I know I need to go to a salon and get that fixed, but honestly, I've just been lazy. And, no one has said anything about it so I've had no need to feel self conscious about it.

I finish getting ready and I head out. I drive out of my apartment complex parking lot and head straight for work. I don't even bother turning on the radio since it's only a five-minute drive. When I arrive, the parking lot is empty. Go figure, it's 65 degrees on a Tuesday in September. Maybe I won't end up with chocolate sauce on my clothes this shift.

I walk into the kitchen through the 'Employees Only' backdoor and write my clock-in time on my paper slip. The owners almost never update anything, including the clock-in process. Not that I really mind it, but it can be difficult to count how many hours and minutes I've been there sometimes.

As I am putting away my timecard, I hear my other coworkers laughing at each other in the front by the ordering window. I peek behind the doorframe and see Elise and Anthony. Both of them are high school students who were hired over the summer to help out when we were at our busiest. Usually we don't hire high school students, because of strict schedules. I don't talk with either of them much, but I do know that their school offers early dismissal for those with jobs (so long as the student is not failing any courses).