“Tristan wake up,”....”Tristan!” My eyes spring open, “I’m awake, what’s wrong?” “It’s time to get ready for school,” She says. She exits the room muttering under her breath. My mind fills with thoughts. I have to shower, eat breakfast, get my football equipment together, wake up Father, do my chores, walk the dog, and be outside for the bus in one hour. I sit up and try the rub the sleep from my eyes, a yawn of defiance flows from me as I collect my clothes for today. Black matches blue right? Yeah black matches everything, man. I just don’t want to be told I don’t match today, last time was embarrassing enough. I still think blue and red go together, but i guess i’m just more insane than I thought… go figure.

On my way to the shower I trip over my cat, Meatball. Meatball is a very large black cat, he’s extremely cuddly and almost never becomes angry. I get back up and Meatball waddles on toward me and starts to rub himself against my calves. he’s so large that it makes me rock every time he slides against my leg. I scratch under his chin and he emits an obnoxious pur. I make it to the bathroom and look in the mirror, oh yeah I forgot the girls at school said I should shave, my beard has gotten too long, even though it’s mere whiskers. After shaving I realize I look like I should be in a boy band, I am handsome. I don’t feel like it though, that’s probably why I don’t have a girlfriend. When I do gather enough courage to ask the girl out they always turn out bad, why do I attract girls that just want to hurt me. I’m not just looking for a one night stand, I’m not like that. I want someone who cares for me, that would always encourage me to do my best everyday, a person that believes in me when everyone else turns their back. All done in the shower, now I don’t smell I can eat. Same thing as yesterday, Honey Bunches of Oats. Time to wake up Dad. I step into the bedroom, it’s freezing in here. “Dad, it’s time to wake up.” “Ok, I’ll be out in a minute,” the man replies. I check my duffel bag to make sure I have all of my football equipment. Where are my football pants. The Drier, I forgot I washed them yesterday. After filling water three water bottles so I don’t drop dead at football practice I search for my husky. Not in the living room... not in her kennel… oh there you are, I catch a glimpse of a puffy tail sticking out from under the pile of dirty clothes. “ How’d you get under there?” The dog grunts in reply. I come back inside, time to go out for the bus. As I wait outside many cars pass by, each holding a person, each person with their own life own past own future and own reason for being there.

I step onto the bus and look up, why is everyone staring at me? I find the nearest empty seat and drop into it. I pull out my phone, plug in earphones and listen to my music, loud enough so I can’t hear the kids around me cursing at each other. “Just Around The Corner” by Simple Plan, I love this song. I can relate to most of the songs by this band. We pull into our parking spot at the school and begin to unload passengers. I see that girl again, gosh she’s beautiful. She has dark hair that she always has down, each inch styled to perfection. She’s so amazing she probably woke up that gorgeous. Her eyes sparkle like bright blue stars in a night sky. Every time she glances in my direction I freeze. I suddenly forget all the practice of trying to look cool in front of her, we’ve made eye contact before but I’d look away quickly. Gosh man your an idiot, you should’ve smiled at her at least. Maybe next time I’ll remember. Whenever I try to speak to her I always feel awkward, in the back of my mind something whispers: she’s not even paying attention to you, no one does. That’s when I go back into my shell, and I won’t say anything for the rest of the day. I have class with her in Chemistry, I sit right behind her. I wish I knew where I keep messing up, Why do I feel like she doesn’t pay attention to me, how do I get her to pay attention to me? Someone in the class cracks a hilarious joke, even her laugh is cute. Next block, Spanish. On my way down the hall I see my friend as we pass each other we hold out our hands and do a handshake. Spanish 3H, last year I was in Spanish 3R the teacher said I’m not ready for Spanish 4 yet so she put me in the honors class with the grade below mine. We’re taking a pretest, today it’s the writing portion, the part I hate the most. I have to write one letter to a pen pal about how my summer vacation was and then write about what country I wish to go to, both have to be a minimum of one hundred words… terrific. After the torture I’m set free for Lunch. Ham and cheese melt with corn and applesauce, to drink I chose Chocolate Milk. I didn’t realize I was so hungry. Then Creative Writing, the only class where I’m not scared to speak my mind… well not speak but write. I didn’t choose this class last year but from day one I felt a strong need to be here. I really like this class, It’s very… open. That’s when I was assigned to write this paper, sounds pretty fun, I figured I’d probably fly through the 2-3 page requirement. Last block, Today In Business. This class can be a little boring sometimes but it’s useful information so I try my best anyways. We have to write a paper about if the government should privatize their monopolies, such as AMTRAK or the USPS. We just learned about it last class so it shouldn’t be too hard. I sit in front of the computer the first twenty minutes trying to remember what it was they said in those interviews, I should’ve taken more notes. I eventually complete the paper, and I actually feel pretty confident in it. Football practice. I change into my practice clothes, make sure I have water and a sweat rag. First we stretch, I didn’t even know my calves were that sore. Then we do Suicides, a suitable name for these sprints. I glance to my left, my friend and twin running back is going faster than me. Come on Tristan you could do better than this, faster, wider strides, move quicker. Last Stretch!... I finish before him! I actually beat the fastest guy on the team for once, finally. I lumber over to my duffel bag of football equipment, I dig about… there it is, I yank out the most valuable thing I brought with me… water! I take a few sips, too many and I’ll be rewarded with a horrible stomach cramp. I head back out, time to learn some new plays. I discover my new position, Outside Linebacker. I’m also fourth back on offense. Each play I tell myself: faster, stronger, head up look for open holes, be prepared to hit and be hit. Time to go home, I’m drenched in sweat. First thing I do is take a shower and I also shave my beard, time to change my look a little bit again. Then I eat dinner fried potato slices, green beans, mac n cheese, and chicken legs. It taste AWESOME! thank you so much Dad. afterwords I work more on the paper from Creative Writing.