September 8th

Dear Future Me,

Um, hey? I decided that since it's my senior year that I'd document the chaos of it, and this is the first (I guess you could call it) entry? I don't know, it's like six am and I'm super tired, give me a break. I'm sacrificing my time for us, okay? You can thank yourself now.

You know, if you can go to bed at the end of the day and wake up the next morning, then good for you. Summer always turns me into a night owl. You know, that sounds kinda stupid, doesn't it? You're probably reading this thinking "isn't that just how you live?" And you're right, it is how you live, but sometimes you have those days where you don't want to wake up, like, ever. Or you have those days where you just want to stay up all night looking at memes. There's no in between, I swear.

If you made it through senior year, however, then you deserve a big fat pat on the back. School sucks these days, and you can bet your ass I'm praying senioritis doesn't hit me with a ton of bricks. Chances are it will, but you can't help but hope it doesn't. High school has already beat my ass enough. Let's not look back on the SAT's last year. I get chills just thinking about it.

Sincerely,

Past Me.

•••

Senior year, aka one of the only things that can tell you "hey, you did it". Everyone always can't wait for when they get to be a senior and finally graduate from school, or "hell" as everyone else calls it. It's something Skye Simmons saw as the next step to freedom. She longed to get away from everybody and make a living for herself. When you're surrounded by the most cliché cliques and just the average dumb shit of high school, you'd totally get it.

To show that she's finally made it, Skye decided a week before school started that she'd document her senior year, writing the highs and the lows then looking back at it years later. She wasn't sure if whether her future self would laugh or cry at these past memories, but that was just something she'd have to find out later.

On the morning of her first day of school, Skye woke up to the ever so annoying sounds of her phone's alarm at six fifteen, the same time she's woken up at everyday for high school. On any other day, this would annoy the crap out of her, but today it didn't bother her so much, and she even accompanied her morning routine with an upbeat tune.

The beat to Mitski's "Nobody" made Skye want to dance like her curly locks did with each pep in her step. Quietly singing along to its chorus as she figured out what to wear for the day. She always liked to dress to make herself feel good, not to impress anyone else. There wasn't even anyone to impress anyway. Skye hoped that could one day change, assuming there was in fact someone out there who could like her for her.

After finishing up her look, Skye ran down the stairs, wearing one of her signature outfits and her hair as curly as ever, clashing with her dad as he had his morning coffee before he had to go to work. "Incoming!"

Her dad laughed as she came down, noticing a bit of a pep in her step today, assuming it had something to do with being excited about her senior year. "You ready for your last first day of school, kiddo?"

"Kinda have to be, don't I?" Skye shrugged. Nobody really liked the first day of school, but since it was the last one she was ever going to have, she might as well be more excited about it than she ever would be.

"You got this, you always do." He smiled at her. "Are you gonna meet up with Nikki, by the way? Or are you two still-"

This is where Skye just had to interrupt him. The mention of Nikki was not what she wanted to hear right now. They hadn't been on speaking terms for the last bit of summer, and she really didn't want to talk about it further especially knowing that she'd most likely have to see her at school. "Uh, I better go! I'll be running late if I don't get going now."

"Okay." Her dad said as she walked out. Skye swung the door open, knowing he would stand by and say goodbye as she went away on her bike. "Don't forget your lock for your bike!"

"I never forget!" She yelled back, holding it up, although he couldn't quite see it from afar. "I love you!"

"I love you too! Good luck!" He waved, then watched his daughter head off to school.

Once Skye was off, it was smooth sailing. Typically she would go to Nikki's house that was on the way to school then bike the rest of the way to school, but she couldn't do that right now. She didn't want to admit it to her father, but she was gonna have to get through the first day alone.

You see, about mid-August, Skye, and Nikki had a bit of an argument over Nikki's boyfriend, Victor. Skye didn't like him from the start, her best friend knew that, but when it felt like he was getting in the middle of their friendship, her emotions got to the best of her. Of course, now she knows that she doesn't need to spend every second with her, but she was scared of being all alone more than anything. Now she was going to have to face these fears today, and maybe end up clinging on to anyone that talks to her, that is if they're not an asshole.

As Skye rode past Nikki's house, she saw a familiar car, one that belonged to Nikki's boyfriend, and then she watched her get into his car. She immediately looked away, but once she found her eyes back on the road, she saw a car coming towards her and getting ready to swerve. Without thinking, she jumped off her bike, falling on the ground and rolling over with no choice but to quickly get up, and ran to the sidewalk. When Skye turned around, she watched her bike get run over by the car that had swerved, which drove off carelessly. If she hadn't jumped off, she wouldn't be attending her graduation, that's for sure.

"Dammit!" She cursed to herself. Obviously, she was thankful to be alive, but now she was going to be stuck walking the rest of the way to school. Man, her dad definitely wasn't going to like hearing this later.

Skye pretty much wanted to scream her head off about this, but she had to keep her cool. She couldn't walk into school looking like a crazed maniac thanks to her bike being ran over. It was the last thing her mom ever gave her, but her mom wasn't a good person whatsoever so maybe it was in the cards for that to happen.

While she stood on the sidewalk collecting her thoughts, Nikki and her boyfriend drove by, not even giving her the light of day. She knew they weren't really friends at the moment, but human decency is still a thing.

Skye let out a quick grunt before walking the rest of the way to school, huffing and puffing as her backpack bounced up and down with each step she took. Maybe it was a good thing she left as early as she did. Walking meant it would take a longer time for her to get to school, but with the amount of time she has, she could definitely make it to homeroom with maybe less than five minutes to spare.

It sucked that Skye's positive energy only ended up being wasted because now she was going to be grumpy for the rest of the day when the day has hardly started. If she and Nikki weren't fighting she'd help her out, at least that's what Skye was hoping for. Lately, she's been kind of questioning if her best friend since forever was actually a good friend after all. She wants things to be okay but sometimes being alone changes your perspective.

The teenage girl had no choice but to let her thoughts flood her mind as she let the time pass until she got to school. Senior year was surely going to be a tough one if it's already started like this before she even stepped into the school. She didn't have a job, she was always going to be drowned in homework as she was in the top ten of her class, and because she didn't work she had no money to get herself a new bike. This was definitely going to suck major ass. If only someone or something could make everything a million times better, right? Now she really wishes she never argued with Nikki.

Skye headed to the school with five minutes left until homeroom, almost accurate to the prediction she made before she headed off to school on foot. She passed by the students, none of them saying hi to her, and looked around, trying to find wherever the hell her homeroom is. As she walked down the hall, she bumped into a male student that towered over her, simply saying "sorry" without even looking him in the eye, and moved along as if it didn't happen.

Once she finally found her homeroom, she walked inside with eyes on her as the bell ring in just the nick of time. She immediately went to an empty seat, sitting next to one of the chill kids and setting her backpack down next to her seat. The guy she sat next to gave her a small smile as they awkwardly made eye contact, then turned their attention to their homeroom teacher who welcomed everyone on the first day of school.

Skye's eyes scanned the room, trying to find any familiar faces and whether they were either someone who'd welcome her in open arms or scoff in disgust and tell her to walk away. She definitely made the right choice with her seating since the other side of the room was all of the popular girls and their boyfriends who weren't paying attention to a single word that the teacher had to say. Obviously, it was all the same old stuff, but it was worth listening to so she could avoid being called on for not bothering to pay attention. When you're a popular kid, however, nothing can stop you because your ego is too fat to care about anyone else.

Homeroom ended about ten minutes later, and Skye was thankful to get out of there the moment she could. Thankfully nothing crazy happened that would make her day worse. She couldn't have another adversity this morning, and if she did, she would probably lose her mind. Like she wrote to herself this morning; if she makes it through senior year, she deserves a big fat pat on the back.

Yeah, she was definitely going to deserve one after this morning alone.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

UM THAT'S THE FIRST CHAPTER?? I CAN'T BELIEVE??

i should mention that this chapter is over 1900 words so PLEASE don't complain about the page count, a hoe is TRYING here. honestly i wanted to aim for 2000+ words each chapter but we can't always make our goals 😔 chapters will be longer in the future, trust me.

i'm super excited to actually have a full blown original story out and i pray it doesn't get paid dust compared to me short story that i released earlier this year. if you didn't read it (chances are you didn't LMAO), it's called if the world was ending and it's guaranteed to make you cry! don't pay it dust like everyone else did xx

anyway, we haven't formally met levi yet, but he will definitely be in the next chapter! i'm not sure how often i'll update, but if you're from the future where this whole thing is completed, then congrats, you don't have to wait!

i would also like to note that character profiles for all of the characters are in my meet my oc's book (currently titled levitating), so it would be nice if you guys checked that out as well!

hope to see you all in the next chapter! and don't forget to vote!!