Pure As Gold.

+1

+1, Fresh Meat.

I tugged my favorite sweat pants onto my slender legs before slipping a sweater over my head. I didn't really care what it said, and as I checked in the mirror while washing my face and brushing my teeth I saw that it was my Ivy Park sweater I got with Char before moving. I debated on changing into something cooler, but my mother's voice on the other side of the door telling me that I was going to be late pushed the thought out of my mind.

"I done told you about that snooze button!"
"I had a late night," I say, laughing.

I opened the door and finished brushing through my curls. I didn't put heat in my hair often, and today was no different. I grabbed my glasses from beside the sink and placed them on my face before heading back into my bedroom and grabbing my things. My backpack lazily hung off my shoulder as I made my way downstairs with my phone in hand, popping my head into the kitchen to see if my mother was ready to drop me off. It was the one reason I had come to love Mondays since moving to Atlanta. She was always off, which meant I got out of riding the bus on Mondays only.

"I'm just gonna go by Starbucks, Mil," Mama says to me. "Forgot to grab coffee from the store last night."
"I can already tell it's gonna be an ok day," I laugh.

I follow her out to her car and we're on our way to Starbucks near the school. The drive takes about 25 minutes, and before I know it I'm opening my locker and grabbing the books I need for the day. Friday was an A day for us, so today was a B day. Definitely not my most favorite because I only had two classes and generally had to wait until the end of the day to ride the bus home if Mama was working. But since this particular B day fell on a Monday, I knew I'd have a ride home after lunch, and I couldn't be happier.

My only two B day classes were Honors English IV and Art. English was my favorite, and Art was just an elective I had to take in order to get my diploma in a few short weeks. When I was registered at North Atlanta a few weeks ago I was ecstatic to hear that it paid off for me to take so many classes while living in Houston. I doubled up every year in hopes of graduating early. Even though that wouldn't be happening because I was in a different state, I got to leave school early half of the week and I would live with it.

"Milaaaaaaaa"

I look up from my assignment with a smile on my face as Aria's voice fills my ears. We'd become close in my month of being at North Atlanta student. She was truly a sweetheart, and she was breathtakingly gorgeous too.

"Hiiiiii my Lovebug."

"Glad to see great minds think alike, huh?"

She takes a seat at the desk in front of me, and I notice that we had the same brown mixture in our Starbucks cups. The only thing I got from Starbucks was a white chocolate mocha frappuccino. Anything else I was weary to try, and to save myself the disappointment of not liking a new drink I always fell back into my safety blanket.

"Of course. Did you start your paper last night?"
"Nope, fell asleep. I have my thesis written already, though."

"I got a good bit done," I say, pulling my rough draft out of my binder.

I flip through the pages that I've written on front and back, and can see the surprised look on Aria's face. We were assigned a 5,000 word paper excluding a, an, and the. So far, I'd gotten about 1,000 words done, and I was proud of myself. We'd been assigned the paper on Thursday and I'd been working on it non stop.

"Well lookatchu Mils," Aria jokes.

"Hushhhhh."

We both laugh and begin working on the assignment written on the board as students saunter into the classroom. Before I know it the 8 o'clock bell rings, signaling that classes were almost ready to begin. Our first bell sounded at 8, the late bell sounded at 8:10, and the tardy bell sounded at 8:15. I was always early though, even if I had to ride the bus in the morning.