Waiting For Superman

Bored

My phone began to vibrate at 9:15 AM Tuesday morning, just like it did every other Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and even Friday morning. My mom was texting me until I answered her and got up.

Just like every other day.

Rolling over in my bed, I texted her that I was up, hoping she'd let me sleep a little bit longer, just like I did every other morning at 9:17. Remembering I had class at 1, I rolled out of bed.

"Good morning Penelope," Mom said as I came downstairs, still clad in my too big t-shirt and baggy sweatpants, my hair still a mess.

"Good morning," I replied, searching through the cupboards, only to find that my brothers had eaten the last of the Cheerio's.

"There are waffles in the freezer," Mom said, as if she was reading my mind.

"Finally, I get to them first," I laughed, grabbing the box of frozen waffles out of the freezer drawer. I unwrapped the packaging and stuck three in the toaster then grabbed everything else I needed.

I had a younger brother who was thirteen and ate like a horse. It was a miracle if I got to have waffles two days in a row if both he and my dad had eaten before me.

"Am I coming to get you between class and the game?" Mom asked as I ate.

"I'll walk to the rink," I replied, "I'll just chill there after class."

"Are you sure you're okay to walk across campus alone?" she asked.

"Yes Mom," I sighed, rolling my eyes. My mother frequently forgot that I was 17, almost 18, years old and could handle myself walking less than a mile to the rink from the student center.

"Penelope, I'm going to worry, you're 17," she said.

"In a month and a half I'll be 18," I reminded her.

"I know Penelope," she said, "I do know when my kids' birthdays are."
"I'm going to do my homework," I said, getting up from the bar stool next to the counter and walking back up to my room.

###

In case you're wondering, I don't go to regular school, I've been homeschooled since middle school and now I'm dual-enrolled at the local college, Aladine College.

My mother likes to think that I'm still twelve, that there's no way her baby is almost an adult. It's a great time, it's a party. Just kidding!

"Sup homie?" my friend Laura said in her thug voice as she dropped her backpack on the table I was sitting at between classes at the student center.

"Sup?" I said as she sat down across the table.

"Got any food?" she asked.

"Just a pop-tart," I replied, "Want a piece?"

"Of course," she said as I broke off a corner and handed it to her, "You still coming over this weekend?"

"Yup," I said, "A few of the club girls invited me out to skate Saturday morning too, if you don't care that I ditch you."
"I don't care," she said, "especially if it's early."
"I think they have ice at noon," I said.

"That's not even early," she said.

"I never said it was!" I laughed.

"Holy mother of God look who just walked in," she said, her attention averting to the front of the student center by the coffee kiosk where a group of the hockey guys were walking in.

"Hel-lo gorgeous," I said.

"They're all my husbands," she said, "All of them."
"Like at the same time or one after another?" I asked.

"Does that matter?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied, "Logan Campbell is hella fine."

"Not as fine as Matt Dalton," she replied, "If you disagree we're going to have a problem."

"Wouldn't we have a problem if I agreed?" I asked.

"Don't question me little one," she said, "Now, let's go follow them."
"Where?" I laughed.

"I don't know, let's go," she said.

"We're going to need an excuse to leave," I said.

"Fine, let's pretend to go to the library," she said.

"Let's go," I said, grabbing my backpack and following her out of the student center.

###
"Laura, you're going to start drooling if you don't stop staring with your mouth open," I whisper yelled at her in the library twenty minutes later.

"Sorry," she said, closing her mouth and looking over at me.

"I've got to go to my next class," I said, packing up my stuff, "Did I mention it's with Logan Campbell?"

"Lucky," she said, "You coming tomorrow night then?" she asked.

"Yup," I said, "See you tomorrow."
"Peace out," she said as I walked away.

###

Class, freshman writing, was in the library that day, lucky for me because I had lost track of time ogling with Laura to realize it was almost 3:00.

"Alright," our professor said, "I'm handing you guys over to the librarian here and he's going to take care of the rest of class. You can turn your analytic essays into me after class."
"Hello everyone, I'm Dr. Greene, I have a doctorate in library science, which means I pretty much know everything about how to properly use the library," he said, "For the next hour or so, I'll be teaching you tips and tricks on how to properly use the library and the tools and resources you have for free at your finger tips. So if you'll follow me, we'll start our tour."

###
An hour later, we had finished the tour and had learned how to search and find books on the library site. Before we left though, we had to finish our assignment by ourselves. We each got a call number for a reference book and we had to find the book, write down the title and the author's name, then hand in our assignment at the librarian's desk.

I had been searching the same section of shelves for what seemed like forever, unable to find the book I needed. It wasn't until I looked up at the very top shelf that I found it.

Just my luck. You see, I'm only five feet tall so it's kind of a difficult process, getting things off of the top shelf. Sighing to myself, I walked to the end of the shelves and found a stool that ended up being too short anyway.

I was walking out of the shelves to find a tall person when Logan Campbell caught my eye.

"Hey," he said, "Could you help me find my book? I can't find it."

"What's the first two letters?" I asked.

"PN," he said.

"It should be two aisles down," I replied, "Wait! Could you reach mine for me? It's on the top shelf."
"Here you go," he said, grabbing the book with ease and handing it to me.

"Thanks!" I said, grabbing the book and walking over to a table to fill out the rest of my worksheet.

###

***