The sound of crying wakes me, as it does most mornings now. The sun has only just begun to rise outside, meaning that it is still pretty dark inside. I stumble out of bed and make my way towards the direction of the noise, feeling the wall for the light switch as I do so.

"Come here you," I coo at my baby who is crying in her cot. "You want your bottle now, don't you?" picking her up, and balance her on my hip before going downstairs to make her bottle. My eye catches the time on the clock as I leave her room and it isn't even six in the morning yet. I can already tell that this is going to be a long day.

Once I am in the kitchen, I begin heating up one of the already prepared bottles of milk; five minutes should do the trick. While I wait for the bottle, I bounce my baby on my hip, trying to calm her down so she doesn't wake anyone else up. It doesn't take long for that plan to fail and for floorboards to creek upstairs.

"Look what you have done now. You've either woken daddy or grandma up. Whoever it is, they won't be happy." I say though the two month in my arms has no idea what I am saying. Her blue eyes gaze back at me, staring at my face, blinking tears away while waving her little fists around. Each time I look at her, I love her even more and can't quite believe that she is mine.

"Morning Kris," my boyfriend, Cory, says to me while yawning. Immediately the baby stops crying as she hears the sound of her father's voice. "Do you want me to take Erin while you finish with the bottle?" he asks. I nod at him before handing the baby over.

"I was hoping that I would be able to get this bottle ready before her cries woke anyone up. I guess I was too late." I turn around and say to Cory.

"It's fine. I'm used to it by now." Cory says while placing a kiss on the top of Erin's head.

"Today's a big day though. I thought it would be best if at least one of us had had a good night's sleep." I tell him through my own yawn.

"Well that was never going to happen, was it?" he asks, his eyes staring at the baby in front of him. A brief silence passes before he then asks "how are you feeling about today?" lifting his gaze towards me.

The bottle heater beeps to let me know that it is ready so I grab it, glad for the small distraction. I turn my back so it is facing Cory before answering his question. "Honestly, the thought of school terrifies me but at the same time I'm ready for it. It feels so strange when I think back to this time last year though." I say and only once I have finished speaking, do I actually turn around.

"Tell me about it, I had just moved halfway across the country,"

"And I was running late to school. When I think about it, I think my life was foreshadowing what was to come." I laugh at myself before taking Erin back into my arms and feeding her.

"Very deep Kristen," Cory jokes back at me while stroking my hair.

Moments like this make me remember how precious life can be. Before having Erin, the thought at getting up at six would have never entered my mind, even on the mornings when I had school but now I quite enjoy watching the sunrise and listening to the birds chirp. Some days I still wish I could be in bed though.

I lift my head up slightly so that my eyes meet Cory's. "In all seriousness though, did you ever think this would be your life a year ago because I know I didn't?"

"Of course I didn't. It's crazy how one night can change your life forever."

"Tell me about it," I mutter out loud while watching the baby in my arms.

It doesn't take long for her to finish the bottle so I settle into the routine of winding her, then getting her changed for the day. Ordinarily, she doesn't put up much of a fuss when she is getting changed but of course on the morning I actually need to go somewhere, she screams the house down.

"What is wrong with her?" my mum asks, surprising me as I never heard her coming down the stairs.

"If I knew then she would be quiet," I say back, trying to avoid looking at the clock knowing I will only stress myself out if I do so.

"Pass her to me. You need to go get changed. Hopefully I can try and settle her down before you leave otherwise she might be like this all day." My mum says as she rocks Erin back and forth.

I bite my lip before eventually running upstairs to get changed. I am lucky that my mum has taken today off of work to look after Erin even though she was never keen on me having her in the first place. In fairness I don't think there would be that many mothers jumping for joy if they found out their sixteen year old was pregnant. At least my mum has always been there for me and I know that she is smitten with Erin; I can see it in her eyes.

By the time I get upstairs, I can hear the shower running so I know that Cory is in there. As I open my bedroom door, I kick a box of nappies out of the way and pick up some baby grows off of the floor. Somehow baby gear has taken over the whole house. Folding the baby clothes away I finally take a glance at the clock and see that it is now close to half past seven. The latest I can leave is in forty five minutes.

Plenty of time, unless you have a screaming baby.

Somehow, I manage to make myself seem somewhat decent as I scrape my blonde hair into a pony tail and find some clothes that don't have baby sick on them.

"Are you almost ready Kris?" I hear Cory shout from down stairs.

"Yeah, just give me a second," I tell him in return while searching around my room for my school bag.

I've not needed it since June, when I finished school for that year but now September has come once again and it is nowhere to be found. There are boxes and clothes all around my room, a room which used to be kept rather clean until Erin came along. I guess having a baby automatically makes your house a mess, or at least it does in my case.

"Mum, have you seen my school bag?" I ask while running down the stairs, giving up on looking in my room.

"No honey, I haven't. Did you not think to look for it sooner?"

"Obviously not," I mutter, searching through the living room with no luck.

"It's only an introductory session today so I think you should be fine with a smaller bag. You'll have to look for it tonight. Have you eaten yet? Either of you?" she then asks.

"I haven't," Cory says while I just shake my head at her.

"Both of you should get some toast down you before you go. Erin fell asleep so I laid her down in the back room."

"Thank you," I say to my mum before heading into the kitchen to make myself and Cory some toast.

"How are you feeling about today?" she asks.

Before when Cory asked me that I didn't feel nervous but now the butterflies have started to swarm around in my tummy. The first day of sixth form is certainly going to be different compared to previous years at school. Besides my friends, I have only seen my other classmates once since having Erin and that was when I went to collect my exam results just a few short weeks ago. I wasn't there for a long period of time so I never really had the chance to talk to anyone but today will be different.

"Nervous I guess but I'll be fine," I tell her, trying to reassure the both of us. "Anyway, we better be going," I say before grabbing a slice of toast and making my way into the back room.

It doesn't take long for my eyes to find what I am looking for. My daughter lays peacefully asleep in her Moses basket as if she wasn't just screaming the house down a few moments ago.

"I'll see you soon. Mummy loves you," I whisper, placing a kiss on her forehead being careful not to wake her.

"Are you ready to go now Kris?" I turn around to see Cory standing behind me.

"Yeah I guess so," I say to him, turning my gaze back down to Erin.

After a moment I get up from where I am crouched and take hold of Cory's hand, "we better find out what the new school year brings."

A/N: welcome to the first chapter of Handprints! It seems strange to be posting this now after I've had this chapter written for so long.

I hope you enjoy the story and it would mean a lot if you would vote and comment on it.

Thank you!