Annabel

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Annabel

On Monday morning when my alarm went off, I was already awake. I didn't sleep at all the night before but this was not unusual for me. There were lots of nights I couldn't sleep. I figured maybe it was insomnia or maybe I'd gotten into the habit of staying up. However, now it had gotten to the point where I couldn't control it. It first started when I would stay up all night waiting on my mom to come home from work.

When I walked downstairs, a sweet aroma filled my nostrils. Lyla was in the kitchen and handed me a cup filled with coffee. I hesitantly took it, officially weirded out by all the attention I'd been given since I arrived at my dad's place. It all felt foreign but weirdly...natural.

"You get up this early?" I asked.

"I do today. It's your first day at school and I wanted to make you breakfast so I made muffins." Lyla smiled, moving around the kitchen and focusing on the tasks at hand.

"Um, okay. Thanks."

She walked over to the oven and opened it. A minute later, she had two muffins on a plate and was setting them down in front of me. I had to admit, they smelled delicious but for a moment, I found myself merely staring at the steaming contents coming from the saucer.

"Wow you really didn't have to..."

"Oh it's nothing." She insisted, cutting me off.

My dad then walked in, his hair damp from his shower. I suddenly felt like we were part of The Brady Bunch.

"Hey Annabel."

"Hey dad."

He walked up to Lyla, kissing her on the cheek while he worked the towel back and forth against his wet locks in an attempt to dry the dripping ends.

"Hey babe."

"Hey." She replied, blushing a little while I just sat, gawking at them like a weirdo.

"So today's the big day Annabel. Are you excited?"

"Uh yeah, I'm excited." I lied.

I wasn't completely dreading my first day anymore but I certainly wasn't looking forward to it either. By this point, I'd convinced myself that everything was going to work out and school was an obligation I was required to deal with. One more year.

"Well I better get dressed. Thank you for breakfast Lyla."

She nodded as I downed the rest of my coffee. I took a while to get dressed. Everything I tried on, I didn't like but eventually settled for my dark wash skinny jeans, a navy button up shirt and my Converses; plain and simple. Since my outfit was so casual, I decided to curl the ends of my blond hair into loose ringlets. Once I was finished getting ready, I grabbed my bag and went downstairs, trying to make my way out the door with as little conversation as possible.

Finding the high school, Spring Lake High, wasn't hard but finding out what to do from there was more difficult. I sat in my car watching the kids in the parking lot, coming and going, some alone and some in groups and cliques formed from years of knowing each other. I sat there until the very last minute and then got out of my car, pulling the school map and schedule from my bag. I had History first, room 302.

I found it pretty quickly because it was the first classroom I approached after walking inside. I took a deep breath, turned the knob, and just walked in. The teacher, Mrs. Hanson walked up to me, a fake smile on her face. Who is happy on the first day back? Nobody, that's who.

"Hi you must be Annabel Owens, our new student at Spring Lake."

I nodded.

"Well it's great to have you. You can take a seat anywhere you'd like."