Let Her breathe

Rain sat outside of Darnell's house on the porch. She had a pencil in her hand and notebook on her lap. She needed to clear her head.

Rain woke up around 5 in the morning because of the words flowing through her mind. Rain feeling inspiration to write something was rare nowadays. Mostly, because she was always busy with work now and she had nothing to bounce off of. But it felt like she was being consumed by the words, forcing her to wake up. She had to get them out.

Pressure Me Down For Life

By: Rain Love

I'm not fatal but put me down for these mind tests.

I can almost feel the emotions that roll off you, based on your mindset.

Diagnosis me crazy.

But I'm just confident.

My life wasn't mine until my spirit discovered it.

Call me a soldier but I'm just living.

A life for a life wasn't in my vision.

Save it for the survivors.

They've made their decision.

Pressure me down but don't lift me up.

If you keep saving me, how am I supposed to be tough?

Wound me with your words.

But never make it up!

I need truth and guidance to help build me up.

Ready me for my life and shower me with hugs.

When I'm solid as a diamond, you'll know you pressured me enough.

But if I crumbled under pressure, that means I was rushed...

Rain closed her notebook feeling satisfied. She got the words out. She didn't know where they came from but she knew they spoke the truth. She guessed she had her new poem for her English class early after all. Her teacher was going to go crazy over this one.

Rain yawned completely tired now. School started in like 2 hours and Rain needed her rest. So she tucked the pencil inside the notebook before grabbing in her hand and standing up.

Darnell lived in a safe neighborhood. Nothing really happened out there. So if Rain wanted to go outside at 5 in the morning, Darnell's parents had no problem with it. They were really chill. Which had to be one of the reasons why Rain loved them so much.

Rain headed up the stairs and to Darnell's room. He was still asleep on the roof and Rain didn't really feel like disturbing him. Rain decided to just sleep in his bed. She knew he was going to question her about when she left but she'll worry about that later.

She placed the notebook on the blue bean bag in the corner of his room before climbing into his king-sized bed. She snuggled under the heavy dark red blankets before closing her eyes and letting darkness once again take over.

~•~

Rain and Darnell were rushing. They both had overslept. Rain was digging through Darnell's closest frantically looking for her pink T-shirt while Darnell was beside her looking for his other shoe. Darnell personally blamed Rain for this. She was supposed to set an alarm clock for them to wake up but forgot.

But it was too late for them to even argue about it. School started at 7:15 and now it was 8:45. They knew that if they weren't there by 9 they couldn't go and Rain's mother was going to throw a fit. And nobody wanted to face her.

Rain had finally found her shirt and Darnell had his other shoe on. They hopped around crazily grabbing their backpacks and running out the front door. Darnell's mother waved them a farewell while laughing at their distress.

Darnell sped out of the parking lot and tried to drive as fast as possible to school without getting a ticket. Rain was trying to make herself presentable in the passenger seat. Her shoes weren't on and her hair was tossing around like crazy. She really should've set that alarm clock.

'Did I grab my ID?' Rain thought a little frustrated. She glanced at Darnell and noted how his collar was slightly crooked. She reached out an arm careful not to disturb him and adjusted it for him. Darnell threw a quick head nod grateful before focusing on the road again.

Darnell sped into the school's parking lot 5 minutes later. He quickly parked the car and hopped out. With a click of his keys, he locked the doors after Rain was out too. They rushed to the building to sign in and once they did that Darnell gave Rain a quick peek on the cheek and left for class.

Rain paid no mind to Darnell's harmless gesture since she was used to it. She was too busy sanding in the middle of the hall trying to remember what class she had next. Rain had been in school for about a good 3 months now, but her memory often made her look idiotic because of how short it was. She just hoped that it came back to her in time because she did not want to be even later to class than she already was.

"Oh shoot I got Ms. Hans today!" Rain thought in sudden realization and began to run to class. Ms. Hans was worse than Mr. Perry. She was Rain's teacher for Algebra 2 honors. She accepted no late work and if you were her honors class she gave no extra credit.

She was basically the wicked witch of the west reincarnated to Rain. Besides that, Rain could not afford to miss her class anyway. She already was behind and was close to a failing grade which by any means was not acceptable.

When Rain reached her teachers' door she cautiously raised her hand and knocked on it. Her heart was in her chest and her palms began to sweat. Rain hoped that she was spared from embarrassment.

Ms. Hans swung her door open roughly making it hit the wall with a bang. Rain flinched at the sound and struggled to maintain a nervous smile. "Why are you late?" Ms. Hands said while fixing her glasses on her face looking at Rain with a very intimidating glare.

Rain began to stutter lost for words. "Uh um, y-ya see I woke up late and," Rain was yanked into the classroom making her forget completely about her excuse.

"Save it! You wasted enough time!" Ms. Hans snapped while slamming her door shut and going back to the board.

Rain turned around slowly and turned around to see the whole classroom looking at her in amusement, making her blush. She quickly took a seat in the back of the class and tried to blend on for the rest of the hour.

By the time the bell had rung Rain had to swap phone numbers with the other kids just to get some pictures of the notes for later. She had a big quiz coming up, so Rain really had to be ready.

Rain was the last to leave the class after packing up. She was going to gym class now. It was my least favorite class of all because it includes 'exercise.' Her mortal enemy. But at least she had a pretty decent coach.

Rain's thoughts were cut short as she ran into a rushing crowd of students. She felt the wind leave her lungs as one there book bags accidentally hit her stomach making her double over in pain and fall. Rain clutched her stomach tight struggling to not cry. They really hit her hard.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked, sounding concerned. Rain's eyes were closed tight so she couldn't see who asked it. She felt someone's hands on her shoulders making her lookup. She saw a guy maybe around the age of 17 standing kneelings by her. He had golden-brown eyes, light brown skin, and curly black hair.

He was a looker, Rain would admit but her stomach really hurt right now. Rain shook her head, not making the guy kiss his cheek in frustration. Some students had stopped walking to look in on her situation making the strange guy glance up at them in annoyance.

"Let her breathe will you!" He snapped making them move along. He looked back at Rain in worry. "I'll help you to the nurse but you'll have to show me the way since I'm new here, okay?" He said making Rain nod.

He helped her stand, grabbed her bag, and helped her walk down the now densely crowded hallway slowly.