Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit.

Okay. So, I actually hated high school. I was the golden child held to a higher standard, which I pretended not to care about. (But of course I also drove myself mad trying to attain that near impossible image.) And then in junior year something happened, and I had to...conveniently not attend...school. The fallout of my decisions had been...decidedly not very cash money.

Gosh, I know I'm boring you, just hang in there.

So, I dropped out. It wasn't pretty. Suffice it to say that it was the most stressed I'd ever been. I lost my already dwindling friend group. I could sense my immediate family's disappointment. I didn't go to extended family events, for fear of having to expain. I dreaded the day I'd be put to that standard again, with excess catch up work to do.

Then, before the next school year, the old cliché happened. You know the drill. Boy meets girl, boy and girl have several babies, boy and girl value hard work and education above all, boy and girl suddenly move their family across the country to escape their middle child's blunder, boy and-

Okay, it's getting away from me, I'm talking about my parents.

Anyways! We'd sold our old home practically overnight, and my parents hauled ass in their light blue Honda Civic (not sponsored) to plop us into a giant, lush place in uptown suburbia, brimming with colors, life, and lights. Orchidland.

It wasn't quite a big city. That'd be too big a jump, my parents had concluded. It was somewhere in the middle of the tiny town with a population of 2,000 from whence we came and a slightly larger city. You know, like the ones that aren't quite New Yorkie, but they're where lower middle class people go for vacations, like maybe Alanis, if that's one of those places-

Sorry. Moving on.

My parents had found a special program for me. Concurrent enrollment at both Orchidland Community College and New Leaf High School. Essentially (as they'd drilled during the registration process), I'd do college classes for both college and double the high school credits. This time it went on my college record instead of my high school one. This time it was truly life ruining for me to fuck up.

Nevermind the fact that my parents had lied during registration, saying I'd simply started kindergarten later than most to get me into New Leaf, which had a strict no grade repeaters policy...

Which is why on the morning of my first day of mandatory orientation, leaving behind a hastily and half unpacked new bedroom, I cursed as I ran towards a bus that was already speeding away.

Shit.

I looked around frantically, searching for who knows what. Maybe another bus to pop out of thin air? Maybe a dashing, hot stranger to grab the same book as me (even though that would be weird because I only had my own orientation booklet, and if a stranger grabbed it I'd simply have to intervene), and then we'd teasingly fight over it, but I'd let them win because I'm nice like that, and-

Shit! Okay, sorry! Solution! I was telling you about the solution...

"...Mom?" I said, my voice shaky and my body going rigid as it registered the end of the dial tone.

"Kelita," she replied, and I could just sense her gritted teeth through the line, "If you're calling me for what I think you're calling me about, you better not be."

"...well you see, what had happened was-"

"KELITA!"

I flinched where I stood.

"It's not like that! See, the thing is..."

"Mhm?"

"..."

"..?"

"Okay, it's exactly like that."

"Don't move from that bus station. I'm coming."

She ended the call abruptly.

Gosh, what a sweet ol' mom, right? Love her to bits.

And yes my parents constantly track my location.

What, you thought a cute stranger would actually show up? What is this, a Lifetime movie? The only excessively hot person here is me.

In fact, I checked myself out in the window of the café behind me. Gosh, I was glad the new school had no dress code. I could finally be a thot in peace.

In a rush after telling myself "five more minutes", I'd thrown on some low waisted light blue bell bottom jeans and a lettuce leaf hemmed hot pink blouse patterned with several purple and aqua butterflies, which paired with my mismatched earrings. I wore pink gradient sneakers, because who says at 17 years old that Twinkle Toes (still not sponsored) aren't in? And as for the charm bracelet? Why, it's immaculate, I know, thank you, darling! I made it with my two little sisters before they were too cool for me, in their kindergarten and first grade year. Now they're ten and eleven. The adorable little brats.

My hair was perhaps my most favorite and high maintenance feature. Ever heard of Farrah Fawcett hair? Imagine that but a brown-black, shinier, and fluffier, on a melanated person. Dazzling, if I do say so myself!

Gosh, and my full lips, and my brown eyes, and the little black dot of a mole on my cheek, and my not-at-all-obsessively-upkept eyelashes, and okay I'm not exactly thick, but the curves are visible, and there's not a whole bunch, but there is some junk in the trunk and at the front, but that doesn't mean I won't feel insecure around my thicker family members, but I guess that's not a problem anymore, and-

I'm doing it again, aren't I?

Thump, thump.

I snapped out of my self-induced trance. A very confused employee was knocking on the glass he cleaned from inside the café.

Shit.

If that God forsaken Hello Kitty backpack hadn't been weighing me down, and if I'd had even a modicum of will to do more early morning running, I'd have sprinted away.

Instead, I stood there, blankly staring back. He pointed to my hair, and it was only then that I noticed that a crunchy Autumnal leaf had gotten stuck in it.

No suicidal shit, but I'm going to off myself.

I raked it away with my fingers, and I saw as the guy laughed before turning back to mop the café floors.

I could really use a knight in shining armor to whisk me away right about now.

Beep, beep!

"Bring yo' ass!"

Yeah, Mom'll do.

"Seriously? You tore me away from the comforts of my new home to pick you up at the side of the road? And look at you! Where did you get that shirt? I sure as hell didn't buy that! Got your biddies all falling out, I know you're cold!"

I zoned out as Mom lectured me on the ride to New Leaf campus, catching bits and pieces. She wore her emerald green pantsuit with her slicked back hair done up in a poof, likely having just begun her video conferences. The orientation would last a full school day, and the following week was when college classes would begin, with days off to adjust in the interim. I mapped out the day's schedule in my mind. Had I checked everything off of the list I'd made? Brush teeth, check. Fluff out hair, check. Admire hotness, check. Grab booklet and backpack, check. What was missing?

Suddenly, a bag and a pail plopped into my lap. I examined that it was my Hello Kitty lunch pail and-

"Breakfast. I know yo' ass forgot to eat," Mom explained.

I smiled at her, then nuzzled into her arm.

"I looooove yooouuuuu!" I said in a sing-songy voice, and I opened the brown paper bag to a fruit cup, half a thick waffle, an orange juice box, and a fried chicken leg.

"Good," Mom huffed, but I caught glimpses of her smile as I shoveled the food into my mouth, "Oh. And I need you to clean the bathrooms when you get home today after you clean your room."

"The bathrooms are already dirty?"

"No. But you obviously still need to learn some responsibility. You clean when I say you clean. Is that understood?"

I pouted, "Yes, ma'am."

"Fix your face," she commented, and the car stopped, "Now hop out, you'll be late!"

I wiped my face and hands with napkins from the bag, shoving them inside. I searched for a place to discard them.

"You don't have time for that, Kelita! I'll throw it away, get a move on!" Mom lectured.

I jumped out of the car, careful to remember to bring both my backpack and the lunch pail this time. Before I could turn away, Mom spoke again.

"Aht aht aht! Here."

She held out a jean jacket and a cold water bottle.

"Have a good day, sweetie," Mom smiled, and as soon as I collected the items and closed the door, she sped away, as if to never look back.

Okay. It had been a while since I'd been in school. A while since I'd had to socialize, to make new connections. I turned towards the vast campus after watching the car fade into the distance. I felt like a fish out of water.

Then, I took my seat on a bench, waiting for the sun to rise farther overhead, and for the cars with other students to drive up. I reapplied my glitter gloss.

Did I mention I'd been late to being early? That was a prominent standard in my family.

So, it begins. Turning over a New Leaf.