It was the same morning, except the sun was rising this time and birds were chirping. I took a hot shower, so hot the mirror was covered in steam and the window was dripping with water droplets. After stepping out of the tub, wetting the floor while walking to the sink to brush my teeth. I didn’t look any different from last year, the only difference is that my hair was even shorter because I had to chop off my dead ends. Looking at my closet was even more disappointing considering that I had only gotten two new shirts from my mom that she didn’t want anymore. Half of the jeans I had seemed to shrink, or I gained tons of pounds over the summer.

I hated waiting at the bus stop in the mornings, the humid air was only good at ruining my hair that I just straight ironed. Walking up the bus stairs again made me think about how this was going to be my last year being a student. Though, I wouldn’t have to be If I had a car and license. My mom says that I am too clumsy and don’t pay attention to things that are in front of me. Only half of that is true, but being on the road is completely different. Once I get to school I walk to my friends, We always sit in the corner in the back of the school where the restrooms are because there were times when some girls saw rats run across the stalls. The school claimed that they fixed the problem but no one wanted to take the risk. “Ruby your hair looks so cute on you!”, Selena says. “Thanks, I guess”. I wonder why she gave me compliments on things that I dislike about myself. The one time I thought my outfit and hair looked good, she didn’t say any comment. “Well at least your hair looks good, I woke up so early just to do my hair and it still manages to look bad.”, Jess said. Why does she hate her hair more than me? Jess has curly hair and it always looks silky, not to mention I have never seen it frizz up. “Oh please, try having wavy hair that frizzes up every time you step outside.”, said Natalie. Finally, someone who understands my struggle! “But it fits you though because your hair is thin so it gives you volume.”, I said. “Thanks, Ruby, you always get me through the day.” We talked about our schedule and what classes we had until the bell rang. Turns out I only had one period off because I needed to do more curricular classes to higher up my chances of graduating. I had History with Natalie, Art with Selena, and surprisingly we had lunch all together. 

I walk into my first-period class, which is English. English class first thing in the morning? I was hoping to see some new faces because I’ve been with the same people all school year. I don’t want to be here but my main motivation is finding someone to help me through the day. What I mean by that is getting a new crush or maybe a friend, whatever I find first. I know I don’t have the greatest appearance, even though I am now a senior and every other girl looks beautiful with their hair done and grown looks. I get to lunch early and find a seat that we can all sit at; while waiting I start looking around to see who is in my grade. Our lunch was separated by grades, which I am so grateful for because no upperclassmen want freshmen in front of them in the lunch lines. There were a lot of people I hadn’t seen before, but one in particular stood out to me. ‘I gotta get up close’ I thought to myself. I get up and walk towards one of the lunch lines. They had spicy chicken burgers with fries and a side of either an apple or orange. ‘People eat this stuff?’ I said in my head. A group that was in front of me decided to walk out of the line, which made me have a closer look at him. He was tall, with black short wavy hair that fit his style. Wore nothing but black and a white beanie with mid jewelry and a strong scent. I wasn’t paying attention when one of the lunch ladies asked which fruit I wanted. I wasn’t even planning on eating that day either since I was trying to work on my weight. I ended up asking for an apple and accidentally grabbed the same one as him. I apologized quickly with the fake sweet voice that I use when I start talking to someone new. Was this the start of something? Is this the person that is going to motivate me? No. No. No. I don’t even know this dude. I am now a senior acting like a kid after finding out that she has someone to go with to a school dance. I walk to the table where all my friends are at. “Since when do you get lunch?” said Natalie. “Yeah they have the same menu as last year, what made you change your mind?” said Jess. “Oh, I’m just hungry that’s all, especially since it’s the first day.” 

I got to my last period, Public Speaking class. Not many people take this class during their senior year because they have already done it. I don’t like speaking in front of people, especially in classes like presentations and group projects. They aren’t my thing but I love to share my opinion and thoughts of things with people I know. Being a defense lawyer was always something I was interested in. Documentaries and crime shows are my interest because I find people's POVs and sides of the stories engaging. Being in a courtroom and justifying someone's claims are like legal arguments. Lawyers getting to disagree with the other side in front of a judge without being stopped and getting heard is probably a dream of mine. Though, I don’t have the guts to do it in front of a class of students, not to mention a courthouse with jurors, a judge, attorneys, etc. By the time the bell rang for dismissal, I was focused on what the teacher was talking about of what we were gonna end up doing in class. 

My friends didn’t ride the bus, Natalie’s mom takes her and Selena home because they live close by and their parents are friends. Jess stays after school for soccer practices and games. I like looking out the window though because it’s so peaceful yet the bus is loud with the engine going and kids talking and laughing loudly. It’s as loud as elementary school recess time. When I got home, I took my shoes off and threw my backpack in the corner of my room. “Rube, clean your room, that’s why you can’t find anything in here.” said Mom. “Your room is the inside of a garbage truck” “I’ll clean it later, I just came home. Why can’t I just lay down?” “That’s all you do, Now get up and throw the trash out.” I hated throwing out the trash for many reasons and one of them is because I look ten times worse when I come home from school. My hair is even worse from sweating and I gain 10 pounds from eating right away. I start walking back inside until I see one of the owners of the new house that just got sold this summer. It’s a single dad who has a good job, just by looking at his nice suit and the newest car in the driveway. “Son hurry, we still need to get more stuff from the storage.” said the Dad. “Alright, Alright I’m going.”. It was him! I run inside, shut the door, and peek out the window. No way he was the new neighbor. I hoped they weren’t those types of people who give out a handmade dessert as their way of being welcoming. My heart was beating and that’s when I knew this was going to be a problem. After eating dinner, I took a shower that required me to wash everything ten times more. I washed my hair twice and scrubbed my body hard to make sure that every germ and sweat was off me. The next morning, I curled my hair and dressed a little more revealing to where my shirt was a v-neck and a smaller size than what I usually wear. I walked towards our spot and Selena gave me a look that said ‘What makes you think you can wear that?’. “I love your hair, Ruby, how long did it take you?” said Jess. “Oh no reason, just wanted to try something new”. I knew once I told them why, Selena would give me reasons on how didn’t know him, Jess would tell me to rethink because she didn’t want me to get hurt and Natalie would say I should focus on my school work instead. The bell rings.

It’s lunch, Selena sits down at the table first and asks “What made you change your style on the second day?” “I told you this morning, I just want to try something new.” “Yeah, but this is new. I mean, it’s not like I trying to hate on you or anything but it isn’t you.” “What do you mean?” Natalie and Jess start walking toward the table, making Selena end our conversation. “Hey Ruby, I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me and Selena this weekend,” said Jess. They know I hate shopping, why would she ask me? “We figured you would want to because you’re starting to dress like Selena.” “Well, I thought you’d already know that I don’t like going out to shop.” “Oh, well Selena said you would because she told me you like shopping now.” Why is she telling people stuff I didn’t say? “No, I never said that before.”

Since they thought that I was acting differently, I was now that time. It was the weekend and the first week of school had passed by. I went to the dollar store looking for cheap makeup I could easily do since I never put any on before. I had asked my mom for money and lied about me going to the mall with Natalie because since she is smart, she will think I will make smart choices.  I ended up going to thrift stores to find cheap clothing that you could find at malls. It was Monday morning and instead of going to the back where we usually sit, I went to the cafeteria where it was packed. I wanted to be confident like the girls he most likely likes, so I walked tall and found a seat that was in the middle. The bell rang. I can’t believe no one even looked at me, do I have to try harder? Lunch had arrived and had no choice but to sit at our table. “Where were you Ruby? You didn’t even answer our texts.” said Jess. “Well look at her, I’m surprised she even sat here, she’s been acting so capricious,” said Selena. “Who told you looked good too?” THUMP “Woah, Selena why would you say that?” said Natalie. THUMP “What? I’m saying what we are all thinking.” said Selena. THUMP I was embarrassed. I felt cheap. I felt weak.I wanted to give up right there and then. After that day I never sat in the back, I didn’t go to our table during lunch and I wasn’t scared to walk outside to take the trash out. I didn’t care anymore. My grades started to get low drastically and sometimes I wouldn’t attend class at all. My mom found out that I never went to the mall with Natalie because she called her parents asking if we had fun. Natalie was also disappointed when she was told that I used her to lie. Me and that dude, turns out his name is Rubio, ended up talking about how he moved here when I was throwing out the trash. We got along well and my crazy feelings went away due to my lack of self-care. 

“Ruby, can you stay back when the bell rings,” said the Public Speaking teacher. “Sure Ms.Monroe” “I noticed that your grades were falling behind excessively and you tend to dawdle in my class but now they’re getting much better. I know that at the beginning of the year, you were intrigued by what we were going to learn in this class, but now it seems like you don’t and just do the work.” I didn’t think she noticed, I mean all my teachers didn’t. All they did was tell me that what grades I got were going to stay like that for that week's report. “Yeah, but I’m trying again. I don’t want to fail but I’m stressed out since all this overdue work is catching up to me.” “I understand, we do have a presentation next week so I will try my best to help you out if you need it.” “Thanks, Ms.Monroe, I will.” I was grateful for that because it made me realize that I needed to find out what I was going to do once I graduated. My dream was to be a lawyer because it had all the wants I found interesting except being the center of attention. I stayed after school and studied at home, making sure I had above-average grades for all my classes and was ready for my exams.

It was now presentation day and I was anxious, I was rereading what I wrote to make sure I didn’t mess up any spelling or rewrite something I had already written. She called my name and I walked in front of the class, I couldn’t speak fast or skip some sentences because this was going to be my official grade. ‘You can do this.’ I said in my head. I take a deep breath and begin my opinion on official U.S. laws. 

I passed! I passed! I had caught up on all my work and passed each class. It was hard considering I had two classes with Natalie and Selena so I tried my best to ignore them and focus on my schoolwork and myself. I also got average scores on my exams and graduated high school. I went to college to pursue my dream of becoming a lawyer. Me and Rubio stayed as close friends because he was there to help me study when I didn’t understand something. My mom and I also got closer ever since I got higher grades which made her proud of me. That was something that I wanted to find between us because we weren’t always the best at understanding each other. I am now happy and accept how things ended. A new chapter of me has now started. The End!