Alina's Highschool Life

I wake up full of joy and energy, and immediately grab my phone to scroll through social media before getting ready for my day. There's nothing different today, Selena posted another collage of pictures of her and her boyfriend kissing, Jeffrey posted twenty more memes, Jennifer posted one-hundred stories about how proud she is of being a single and independent lady who 'don't need no man.' I'm happy for them and all, but the only things I'm interested in checking out is if Knox posted anything while I was asleep. I do have post notifications on for him, obviously, but there is still the chance that I somehow didn't get notified. I go to his profile and see nothing new, the only people he's following are me, his brother and his sister and his followers are still the same as well, a few of his fans from his streams, his siblings, and me. Knox refuses to accept a request from anyone in our school or may have a connection to him in any sort of way. I don't blame him, these kids are ruthless. Just last week Ken was bullied into quitting music and giving up on rapping, granted he wasn't good, but he was still trying, he just needed some more practice and to use less autotune. His lines weren't that bad either, I listened to one of his songs with the least autotune since I could actually understand it and one of the lines went something like, 'I'm chilling in the den with another Ken, we're like brothers and I would never trust another.' That line would be amazing if he didn't overdo the autotune.

I finally get off of Instagram and put my phone down. Launching myself out of bed, I get ready for my day. I'm really excited for my presentation today, I've been working hard on the script and making sure that it's perfect for everybody. I had to make a ten minute play for drama class that can be about any topic. I originally wanted to make it deep and meaningful, like the moments of a daughter and mother playing through the daughters head after her mother passes away. But my classmates didn't feel comfortable doing that story and just wanted it to be about someone coming home from work and then getting ready to go to bed. I absolutely denied that because it's a lazy idea and we had a while to prepare so we should at least put effort into it and get an A. After that I suggested superheroes and at first everyone was on board until someone mentioned how stupid everyone would look like acting like they're flying around and punching air, so everyone ended up rejecting that idea as well.

The very thought of all the arguments starts to stress me out and I start thinking about something else. Seeing Knox in a few minutes, him and his messy pre-brushed hair. Seeing Keita and his… no. Bad. I wonder what we're going to do for our birthday. Knox and I were born on the same day just a few hours apart from each other, so other than the fact that we're not related, we're basically twins.

I finish brushing my teeth and washing my face, now I need to deal with my Rapunzel type of hair. At one point it was even difficult for me to reach the bottom of my hair to brush it. I think my arms grew longer at some point or something because it's no longer that hard.

I finish getting ready, then I pack up my bag and throw my shoes on. I sneak into the kitchen in order to not wake my mother up and grab a banana and I walk out the door. After shutting the door I can hear Cerberus barreling towards it, his paws clamping all over the floor.

Eating my banana on the way to Knox's place, I get more and more excited with every passing step. I toss the peel into a trash can and skip up to Knox's door, well not skip, but the energy was still there.

I knock on the door and a few seconds later Knox's greets me, "Morning." We pull each other into a hug.

"Goodmorning," I greet him, a smile beaming across my face.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" He asks me with a happy yet confused look on his face. His hair is a beautiful mess and it's so funny to look at, he looks amazing with his hair so wild. "Did your mom let you sign up Cerberus for that purebred breeding group?"

I slump down and put a mopey look on my face, "I wish." I perk back up and smile again, "But no."

"Then what has you in such a good mood?" He asks me. His confused smile is so uplifting and funny, I could stare at it all day.

"I have a group presentation today!" I shout, letting my energy and joy show from every part of me.

"You're so happy because of that?" He grins and gives me a judging glance.

"Of course!" I jump up and let my smile grow wide. Keita appears by his side with a smile on his face, he looks… no. Stop. I choose to ignore how good they both look today. "You know I love presenting! It's the best part of group projects!"

"Nerd," Keita snickers and walks past us with a smirk on his face.

"At least I do my work," I fire back. Keita turns and raises an eyebrow, his smirk being slightly subtle. I continue to fire at him, "Instead of making my group mates do it all."

Keita jingles his keys in front of me and asks, "Want a ride to school or not?"

"I'll drive!" I yell after grabbing the keys from his hands and start to sprint towards the car.

I can hear the two of them running after me, their feet stomping heavily on the ground. Keita yells, "No you're not! You're fifteen!"

Keita manages to catch up to me right outside of the car, he wraps his arms around me and yanks the keys out of my hands, his lean muscles and deep laughter comforting me. He let's go of me and I frown, "Aw man, please."

"No," Keita rejects me and gestures to the car. "Get in." I roll my eyes and laugh while getting into the back seat, Knox gets into the front seat.

Keita turns on the car and my phone starts to blow up. It's my group mates, they're chickening out.

'OMG, guys I'm so nervous for today,' Breckin types into the chat.

'Same here,' Steven adds on. 'I think I'm just going to call in sick today.'

'Dude, that's an amazing idea!' Brad agrees with him. 'I'm going to do that right now.'

'Guys, calm down, don't do this,' I type, trying to convince them to show up. 'This is worth a huge chunk of our grade, you can't just skip school.'

'So?' Steven asks.

'I've worked so hard on the script!' I respond. 'I've tried to make it to everyone's liking, and I know for a fact that my original idea would've been a sure A!'

'Well maybe we don't want to act out some stupid story and look stupid while doing it!' Steven adds, getting on my nerves.

"I don't have anything to do after school today so I'll be driving you guys home," Keita says over the radio and distracts me from the messages.

"I have band after school today," I mention and go back to the messages. 'Then what was the point of making me change the script if you're not even going to show up?'

"What time do you finish?" Keita asks me. Breckin and Steven leave me on read, Brad is typing.

"Around four," I answer, watching the three dots appear and disappear constantly.

'Look, I know that you've worked really hard on this, but we're not like you,' Brad sends in the message and types another. 'We don't have the confidence to act and be proud of everything we do, not everyone is like you.' I twitch.

"I can wait till then, it's only an hour and a half," Keita shrugs, taking a sharp turn. "Do you have a concert coming up?"

"Yeah, I have a Valentine's day concert," I respond, trying to keep myself calm from the messages. 'I know not everyone is like me, which is why I was fine with changing up the original script so much!' Steven and Brad leave me on read, Breckin is typing.

"They're making you perform a concert on Valentine's day?" Keita asks me. "Are they aware that a majority of the students may have dates?"

'I actually really like the original script,' Breckin mentions. Bitch, you were one of the people who constantly dissed it! 'Maybe we should switch back to that one.' We are presenting today, there's no time for everyone to memorise their lines!

"The band teacher threatened a few students that said they couldn't go because they have dates," I mention, not looking away from the chat.

'Breckin, you fucking idiot!' Steven jumps in before I can respond. 'We're not doing that stupid fucking script!'

"Seriously?" Keita asks with an amazed tone. "What do they say?"

"They'll fail if they don't go to the concerts," I utter. 'Steven, chill the fuck out and come the fuck to fucking class before I kick your fucking ass!"

'Come at me bitch!' Steven responds then leaves the group chat.

"How much of a bitch is your teacher?" Keita asks me with his voice sounding like he's freaking out.

"She's only like this around concert time," I respond. 'See you guys in class, hopefully.' Keits pulls into the school's parking lot, and we all get out. "Thanks for the ride, see you after school." I ruffle Keita's hair and Keita and I walk to our first class together.

"Everything okay?" Knox asks me. "You seemed a little off today, not as connected and energetic as usual."

"Yeah, everything's fine," I respond, watching hell break loose in the group chat. Brad keeps adding Steven back and Breckin is screaming at him in all caps. "My group mates are just being annoying is all."

"They're being all nervous and doubtful," Knox assumes.

"Exactly that," I add. Trying to ignore all of the messages being sent into the chat. "Two of them are also planning on skipping today so they don't have to present."

"What class is it for?" He asks me.

"Drama," I mumble, I twitch slightly because now they're yelling at me and insulting my writing again. "We were supposed to make a ten-minute play then present it in front of the class."

"I can see why they're nervous," Knox looks from their point of view.

"Yeah, but I worked so hard on it as well!" I shout, clearly irritated. "I spent entire days working on it, and I had to change so much of my original idea just to make them happy, and now they're not even going to show up!" I take a deep breath and Knox places his hand on my shoulder, "This was going to be an A for sure as well."

"I'm sure that everything will be fine," He attempts to comfort me. "Just wait and see if they show up, and if they don't then show the teacher the messages."

"I ain't no snitch!" I yell then break into laughter. "I guess I'll just wait and if they don't show up then they don't show up." I turn my smile mischievous and in an evil whisper I say, "And if they don't show up, then they'll never be seen again." I laugh maniacally.

Knox laughs quietly under my maniacal laughter, "What are you going to do to them?" His smile is so comforting, I love having him around.

I smirk at Knox with malicious intent riddling all over my face, "If I tell you then I'll have to kill you." I smile broadly and place my hand on his shoulder excitedly, "Can I tell you?"

Knox beams, "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

I cock my head with a confused look on my face, "Not going to tell anybody that you're dead?" He's so adorable.

Knox laughs as he speaks, "Well I mean, obviously."

The bell rings and scared freshmen sprint past us, meanwhile, the thug wannabes stand in a small circle with their vapes and talking about how much they hate the school, Steven among them despite not being a freshman. I guess he didn't have the balls to skip afterall.

I pull Knox into a hug and say, "See you after first period."

"See ya," He responds as we break the hug. I wave goodbye and we split ways.

I go straight to my class, I don't need to get anything out of my locker anyways. Plus, I like carrying my bag full of textbooks with me everywhere, it's a good workout. I enter my classroom and see that I'm the first one here, even before the teacher. I take my spot in the back corner and wait for everyone else to arrive, which doesn't take long. Second to arrive is a guy that always talks about hockey, and the third being the teacher.

Eventually a majority of the students pile in and the teacher, Mr. Shuck, starts the class, "Everyone let's warm up quickly and then get into the plays."

Breckin raises her hand as the rest of us come together to form a circle, "Um, Mr. Shuck, what if your group mates didn't show up?"

"Yeah I knew this would happen," Mr. Shuck scans the room and looks over his attendance list. "I've already contacted Steven and Brad's parents, they'll show up today." They're already here, they're just purposely going to show up late.

We spend about ten minutes doing our warm ups, facial expressions, voices, actions. One guy is even breathing heavily from the warm ups despite doing little to no movement.

I toss the guy my water bottle and smile, "Try to pace yourself a bit."

"Thank you," He says, pretty much downing my water.

"Alright, everybody, get into your groups," Mr. Shuck calls out to the class. "Breckin, Alina, come up front." Breckin and I share a quick glance then walk up to his desk. "It seems that Steven and Brad haven't showed up yet." We both look around the room and then nod at the teacher. "Well, I've already read the script, so I'll just grade you guys on that, meanwhile, Steven and Brad will get an R."

"So we don't have to do anything today?" Breckin asks excitedly. I covertly roll my eyes, at least try to hide how happy you are.

"Other than the homework, nothing," Mr. Shuck responds and I go back to my corner.

I stay zoned out for the rest of the class, just mimicking what everyone else was doing. Clapping at the end of a performance, asking questions about their play and characters despite not actually caring, and acting like I'm paying attention to whatever the teacher is saying. If only Knox was here, everything would be so much more interesting with him by my side. It feels like whenever he leaves so does my interest in almost anything.

About five minutes before the bell rings Steven shows up in the front door. Everyone's heads bolt over to him and the teacher crosses his arms.

"Where were you, Steven?" Mr. Shuck asks him with a stern look.

"Around," Steven answers, taking a seat on the carpet.

"You were absent all class, I've already contacted your parents," Mr. Shuck says to him in a half-lecture, half-annoyed voice.

Steven throws his arms up in the air, "But I was at school, you can't mark me absent!"

"You weren't in class," Mr. Shuck pinches the bridge of his nose.

"What time does class start anyway?" Steven asks, changing the subject.

"Nine," The entire class says in unison.

"What time is it?" Steven asks.

"10:30," The teacher answers in monotone. The bells rings and Steven nearly sprints out of the room, only stopping when Mr. Shuck calls out to him, "Steven, get back here." The rest of us leave the class while Mr. Shuck lectures Steven, and I speed walk to my next class, to Knox.

He hasn't gotten here yet by the time I get to the locker room doors. Although, it doesn't take him long to show up. The sight of him makes my eyes go wide and my mouth nearly drop. He looks like a damn porcupine. There's probably around fifty pencils sticking out of his afro. He looks clueless to it as well, some girls were probably messing with him again.

"Everything okay?" I ask him once he catches up to me.

"Yeah, girls in my math class are just crazy," He says, nodding.

My eyes don't leave his hair, his pencil infested, porcupine looking hair, "Yeah, I can see that."

"What are you looking at?" He asks me with confusion all over his face.

I reach my hand up to his hair and start pulling out the pencils one by one, there must be around twenty here. "I think they might not know what a pencil case looks like." I look at him with confusion, "How did you not notice?"

He rolls his eyes and takes half with a smile, "Well, at least we won't have to worry about running out of pencils." He shrugs his shoulders, "I honestly have no clue."

I laugh out loud and put my half in my bag, "See you in a few minutes."

"See ya," He responds and we head into the locker rooms.

When I get in nearly all of the girls are already here and one is already going into the gym.

One runs up to me with a hair brush and hair ties, "Alina, you're amazing at ponytails, can you do one for me?"

I smile, shrug and take her brush, "Of course." While I'm putting her hair up a few of the other girls are talking about their boyfriends and the plans that they have for Valentine's day. One girl however, is planning on breaking up with her boyfriend the day after Valentine's day. Not because she's a hoe or anything. But because her boyfriend stopped trying a long time ago, so she's waiting to see if he'll actually try on Valentine's day and if not then she's leaving him.

I finish the ponytail and the girl checks herself out in the huge mirror, "I look amazing!" She turns around and pulls me into a quick hug, "Thank you so much, Alina!"

"No problem," I smile at her and go back to my bag to change my shoes and do my own hair.

"So, Alina," Another girl asks, sliding up next to me. "What are your plans for Valentine's day?"

"I have a concert," I respond, not looking away from my shoes.

The girl gasps and smiles, "You mean you actually have a boyfriend?" She must've thought I meant a different kind of concert. "And he's taking you to a concert?" She and a few other girls start to get excited, "Who is he? Is he that boy that you're always hanging out with?"

"I meant band concert," I correct her and start on my ponytail. "As in I'm in the school band."

"Oh," All of their smiles disappear. "But you do have a boyfriend though, right? Like that boy?"

I shake my head, "No, we're best friends and I don't have a boyfriend." I finish my ponytail and chuck my bag into a random locker.

A few of the girls wait for me at the exit and we enter the gym, "Maybe we can set you up with a guy then."

I laugh, "No thanks, I like being single." After all, if I had a boyfriend then he might end up getting jealous or uncomfortable by how close Knox and I are.

"That's just sad," A few of the girls laugh. "Well you're really cool, I bet there's no guy good enough for you anyway." One of the girls look me up and down, "By the way, you look amazing in a ponytail."

"Aw, thank you," I smile and split ways from them, taking a seat next to Knox. "Any other pencils?"

"No," He responds, slowly getting more energetic. "But I think I found your knife." I place my finger to my lips for a few seconds then laugh, Knox eventually laughs as well.

Class starts and nothing out of the ordinary happens. The gym teacher plays music over the speakers and Knox and I play badminton together. I sing and dance along with the music while Knox smiles and laughs at me. Then I had band practice during lunch, Knox sat in one of the practice rooms and watched anime. The teacher told a few trumpet players to stop being late, even though this practice was pretty much called last minute. Then we had science, there were a few girls whispering and pointing at Knox the entire time while I worked on our project and Knox watched anime. Lastly, we had history together. I participated the entire class, answering questions, reading aloud, and finishing all of my work almost instantly. I also made sure to keep Knox up with the class reading.

The last bell rings and Knox and I walk to the band room. Keita's perched outside with a huge smile on his face.

"See you at four?" Keita asks me as we stop outside of the band room.

I smile widely and nod, "Yeah, try not to kill each other."

"No promises," They both say in unison. I laugh and turn into the band room, about six of my band mates cheer when I walk into the room.

I go straight to my euphonium and grab it from the shelf. I originally started with trumpet earlier in the year but we have a lot of trumpets and we needed more low brass. So the teacher switched me to euphonium, and I learned it instantly, it was especially easy since the fingerings are still the same, breathing differently was the hard part though.

Before I get to take my seat one of the lower level trumpet players walk up to me, "Alina, where is the valve oil."

"I'll get it for you," I answer. I set my euphonium on the chair and walk over to the cupboards. I would've just told him where it was, but he's short and definitely wouldn't be able to reach the cupboards. I grab the oil and hand it to him. With a smile I say, "Here you go."

"Thank you!" He responds and heads off to his seat.

Band practice is no different. Scales, teacher lecturing us, first piece, teacher lecturing us, second piece, teacher lecturing us, third piece, teacher lecturing us, and we're done. Of course there's a few sprinkles of the teacher talking about how good the experienced players are and how quickly I was able to learn a new instrument. Sure, it does feel amazing to always be used as a good example, but I'm sure that a few of the other students are getting annoyed by that.

Band practice finishes and I help with cleaning everything up while everyone else sprints out of the room.

I eventually finish and wave goodbye to everyone else while leaving, "Have an amazing rest of your days, everyone!"

"You too!" I hear voices call out from several different rooms of the band room.

I swing my bag over my shoulder and walk out of the band room where I see Knox and Keita waiting patiently on the ground. They both jump to their feet at the sight of me. I smile and laugh, "Nice to see you guys lived." I notice the food in Knox's hands, "Damn, is it my birthday now or something? Over twenty days too early."

Keita snickers, "Come on, let's go home." I grab the food from Knox and start inhaling it. Keita looks back, hiding his smile, "Try not to destroy my car."

Knox and I look at each other then back at him. In unison we both say, "No promises." We all laugh as we head to Keita's car. Today is good.