Eraser

Chapter 1: A S.A.T.urday Discovery

The loud alarm clock rang relentlessly telling Zoe that she needed to wake up and start the day. She blindly reached for her phone and hit the sleep button for the 4th time. Sleeeeep.... I just want more sleep.

Today was the day of the SATs and she had been up late the night before cramming away as much as she could before the big day. She had taken the PSATs before and had so-so, but she knew that she needed to do better if she wanted to get into a decent school. Zoe hadn't always been the best student but she had always done alright. She didn't have a lot of options as far as schools went but she was determined to make her dream happen. She had always loved animals, especially dogs, and dreamed of one day operating her own clinic. Thor, her golden retriever, was asleep on top of her bed by her feet.

Growing up in a small farming town, she had always been around animals. A lot of her friends' families had owned farms and had horses and cows. Her parents had always been supportive of her dream, and always reminded her that a big dream like becoming a vet would require a lot of work. Letting out a quiet groan into her pillow, Zoe prepared herself to start the process of getting out of bed.

Moments later she heard the quick thudding of tiny feet coming across the wood floor of her bedroom. "Zoe! Zoe! Wake up!" Lily, her little sister, jumped on the bed with the energy that only a five year old could have so early in the morning.

She rolled over and opened her eyes and fixed her little sister with a tired stare. "What time is it?" she rubbed her eyes.

"It's time for breakfast! Mom told me to get you. Let's go! We're having waffles!" She jumped up and down on Zoe.

Ugh... so it was mom who sicked this little viper on me. She pushed Lily aside and sat up, putting her feet onto the floor. She had a white plush rug around the edge of her bed, so it wasn't cold when her feet hit the ground. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Jeez," she said as she stood up and stretched.

I wanna go watch Spongebob! she heard in Lily's voice, but her sister's lips hadn't moved. "What was that?"

"I didn't say anything! You're silly!" Lily giggled and then jumped off the bed and ran off.

Must've been my imagination I guess. Zoe shrugged and went over to her closet to get clothes for the day. She examined her options for a moment but ultimately she wasn't the type to spend a lot of time deciding on what to wear. She just chose a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She took her clothes and went to the bathroom down the hall to change and finish getting ready.

A few minutes later she was more-or-less fully awake and ready to take on the dreaded SAT. I'm going to do good today. I've been studying non-stop for the past couple months. The smell of bacon wafted down the hall, and she could hear her mom and dad talking about the news or something, but she didn't really pay attention to what they said. She looked down at her phone and saw that it was 7 already. Ugh... I need to go soon. Shouldn't have hit the sleep button so many times.

"Good morning, kiddo!" her dad said to her in his chipper morning person voice.

"Morning." she replied dully. Mornings were definitely not her favorite time of day. What kind of monsters decided to have the SATs be on Saturday? Being forced to get up so early on a weekend is literally psychological torture. Zoe liked to believe that there were two versions of herself. One of those, Morning Zoe, was a grumpy, irritable person who didn't want anything to do with anyone. Whereas Normal Zoe was a friendly, mostly likable person who enjoyed the company of others.

"Breakfast is almost ready, hun," Her mom said as she stood over a sizzling pan flipping thick strips of bacon. A stack of belgian waffles sat on the counter to her right and after she had finished flipping the delicious smelling bacon she opened up the waffle iron and pulled out another waffle; adding it to the stack.