Song of the chapter - 'Best day of my life' by American Authors

'I had a dream so big and loud, I jumped so high, I touched the clouds...
We danced with monsters through the night'

A shrill piercing squeal jolts me awake, every joint of my body groaning at the realization that it's already time to get up. I shut and open my eyes several times in an attempt to feel more awake but to no avail.

The alarm clock persistently keeps ringing, until I hear a crash which seems to have silenced the clock.

I smile, knowing it's my sister Vanessa. Van always knocks the alarm clock off the table in an attempt to silence it. Luckily, the clock is covered in thick tape so it doesn't break. I added this precaution after Van broke numerous clocks this way.

"Van, get up," I say, stretching.

"Right back at ya," she replies.

We keep bantering back and forth until Mom comes in to check on us, and yells at us for not being up yet. We apologise and run off to the bathrooms, Van to the general one and me to the one which is attached to our shared bedroom. Ten minutes later, we're both seated at the table, ready to leave.

"Mom!" we both yell.

"Coming in a few seconds!" she replies.

After what seems like a kabillion eighty seconds later, she walks in carrying two bowls with our breakfast. We gobble down our breakfast and tie up our shoes. Giving Mom a kiss on her cheek, we leave after I remind Mom not to forget Vi like the other day. Mom scowls and tells us to be on our way.

Van and I walk to her school, chatting and laughing loudly. When we reach her school, I bid her adieu. My college is a further two minutes away. Two minutes later, I enter and walk to my locker.

Grabbing the books I need, I check the time. There's still 20 minutes 'til my first class. I wander around the college for ten minutes, randomly chatting with everyone I see, irrespective of age and/ or profession. I can't help it- I'm a very genial person...

When the first warning bell rings, telling us that we have ten minutes, I immediately make a beeline for class.

I walk in, finding a couple of people here and there, mostly occupying front seats. I pick a seat in the middle of the class and settle down. Soon, the class fills up, and the teacher walks in.

I look in alarm at the two empty seats to my two sides and the empty one at my back. I tap the shoulder of the girl who is in front of me, Cynthia.

When she slightly cocks her head to the side, I ask her if she knows where they are. She just shrugs and turns back front.

"Sorry!" Rosaly and Natalia yell as they burst into the class minutes later.

"Ms. Walter and Ms. Jones, when you're sorry, you don't yell at the person you're apologising to, which makes it seem like-" the teacher, Mr. Ertiga, stops and points at me.

I finish his sentence, "You're demanding an apology from them."

"Exactly," he says.

"Sorry sir," they say, sounding more apologetic.

"Fine, go sit," the teacher says.

Ros and Nat walk up to me and plop down on their seats, Ros behind me and Nat to my left.

"Lau?" I ask Nat, who shrugs in response.

We tune back into the class, me taking notes and Nat staring at me like I'm a wild animal. She might disapprove of me taking notes, but she needs it too.

When the teacher pauses for a break, I turn to Nat and say, "This time, you're not getting my notes; Neither Thia nor Ros even."

I hear groans from my back and front seats.

"What about Lau?" Nat asks me.

"Well, depends on how she acts the next class she's here..."

"Come on, Val, it's the last exam!" Ros pleads.

"Nuh uh," I say.

I smile internally, knowing that I'm just joking now. We tune back into the class. Ros is right; it's our last two months in college and we have only one more exam next week.

But, come on, I should be depending on them- I'm the one who's twelve here! Oh yeah, I'm twelve and already in college; I happened to skip a couple of years, so I'm here. Yet all these nineteen-year olds (and one eighteen-year old (Lau)) around me need my help. But I'm happy to oblige with them.

The day just goes by like any other normal college day for me. At the end of the day, I chat with Ros, Nat and Thia for a couple of minutes and then make to leave when Thia speaks up.

"Hmm, turns out Lau's sick," Thia says.

"Send her my best wishes to get better," I say as I walk away.

On the way to Van's school, I make a mental note to call up Lau and ask about her. I pick up Van and our younger sister Vi from their school.

School starts later for Vi than for Van, making the latter extremely jealous of the former (that she gets to get more sleep). As usual, we walk home, chattering away at the top of our lungs.

When we reach home, I walk into the kitchen, where I see a note.

"My girls V,

I've gone out to the grocery store to shop. I'll be home by 7:00.

Spicy buns for Val, potato buns for Van and cream buns for Vi in the fridge. Heat and eat!

Love, 

Mom XX "

I look at the huge clock on the wall. Hmm, three more hours 'til Mom is home...

I open the fridge and see the buns Mom wrote of. I take out the buns, and pop them in the oven to heat. While I wait for them to be done, I walk out and see that Van and Vi have plopped down on the couch and are fighting over what to watch.

Van wants to see some cartoon, while Vi wants to watch another. They're so engrossed in their fight that they don't even notice when I take the remote and switch to Vh1. I listen to a couple of songs, and yet they still haven't noticed.

Deciding that they've argued long enough, I clear my throat, leading them to turn to look at me. I gesture to the tv with my eyes.

"Val!" both of them protest.

I chuckle and change the channel to the one Van wanted to watch.

"Vi, Mom's left cream buns for you!" I exclaim.

Vi immediately jumps off the couch and follows me to the kitchen, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Well, she does love her cream buns!

I lift her and seat her on the countertop until the oven's done and give her her buns. She squeals with joy. I laugh as I lift her in one hand, the other carrying a bowl with Van's buns. I drop Vi on the couch next to Van and hand Van her bowl.

Van's face immediately lights up and she says, "Thank you!"

What can I say? We Tyler girls love our food!

I ask Van to keep an eye on Vi, in response to which she scowls but agrees. I sit down by the window in the living room and slowly eat my spicy buns as I read a book.

How comforting!

This is how things have been since, since, well, never mind. There's no point thinking about it now and getting all flustered when I can see the possibility of returning to normalcy nearing us. This day, until now, has been nothing short of our 'normal' day. I sincerely hope nothing occurs to interrupt it.

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Hey y'all! Love ya! Yup, Val's a genius!

The next update is a bit away...

Also, just to clarify, college here means whatever the nineteen-year olds wherever you live study. This might have confused people, so I'm sorry about that. When it comes to the education system, the one I'm in is literally the only one I know properly about.

And, all of the 'song of the chapter' tracks will not be related to the chapter four out of five times. They're basically songs I listened to while writing the chapter and my favourites (I do listen to some contrasting music sometimes). So I apologize in advance if you were looking for songs that match the tone of the chapter. Here is where you can help me better the book- read the chapter and if you know of any song(s) that match the chapter, comment the title(s) and artist(s) in the same chapter. Thank you so much in advance!

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