Chapter 1
"So you coming over on Friday? We can go to that small party being hosted" Oscar asked
I tucked my phone to my ear "Yeah of course." I shove my computer, charger, and lunch into my bag. "I'll call you back." I hang up and go downstairs getting into my mom's car. Things have been tense with my mom ever since I started a life skills program instead of going to school my senior year. I still have to do work for the school but I don't attend actual school. I am still able to participate in theater after school though. I stare out my window ready for my shadow day. Well not ready but I have no other choice. This is my last shot before my parents kick me to the curb.
"Are you ready for your first day?" My mom asked. I barely process that she is talking to me.
"Huh? oh, yeah I guess."
"Remember this is your last chance before you're out on the street. It's either life skills or being homeless. You understand?"
I groan, rolling my eyes. "Yes, mom I understand. You don't have to keep reminding me."
"Hey, don't roll your eyes at me. This is serious Scarlett." My skin prickled, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I wanted to scream at her "IT'S JAX!" However, I bit my tongue, swallowed my pride, and stayed quiet. Luckily for me, we couldn't finish this lovely conversation before we pulled up at the program's building. I quickly grabbed my backpack and got out not wanting to say another word to my mother. I got into the building and climbed the stairs to the second floor greeting the woman at the front desk.
"Hey, I'm here for life skills.''
She looked up at me. "Are you a student?"
"No well kinda I'm shadowing today."
"Have a seat, we let kids in around nine." I looked at my phone. It was 8:45.
"Thank you."
I sat down in one of the relatively comfortable chairs. In what felt like a minute a woman with pink hair came out. I remember her to be Stella. She was very nice when I went for my introduction to the place. She asked for my phone and I gave it to her, following her to the life skills area that also shared the space with the school. I signed in, washed my hands, and put my lunch away. The day went by at a snail's pace. I enjoyed jumpstart, we played Super Smash Bros and I played as my boy Ike, who's part of the purple hair gang. I won a few times. In the first group, I was in I had to list three emotions that did not include bored, hungry, or tired. I picked depressed, anxious, and fatigued. I talked about how I was stressed about learning my lines for the musical I'm in. I know my main lines, but not my understudy lines. I said I was depressed because I'm just generally depressed. I know, weep for me. I didn't go into much detail because I didn't trust the people there. "Fatigued" was just there because I couldn't say tired, and I'm mentally exhausted from everything going on. I just need a break and time to breathe. For lunch, I was put in the kitchen and got to know Delilah and Madison. We for some reason talked about feet a bunch. After lunch, we had a group called I'm worth it. It was a self positivity group. We talked about anxiety today and how it can affect our everyday lives. It was insightful but the TedTalk we watched was boring as all TedTalks are. I was able to complete some school work during the two study halls which took some stress off my back. I got to leave early that day because I had music rehearsals for theater. I hate music rehearsals. I know I'm in a musical but I was put in the tenor section. I think it was to train my voice to be able to sing one of my understudy solos. I just do the best that I can. It's worrying that we all keep forgetting our notes, not saying I'm not guilty of that. At the end of rehearsal, I had to haul my ass to tutoring where I had to take the math final since I wasn't in school when everyone else took it. I was rarely in school. My tutor helped me with it so at least I wouldn't fail. Then I had to go back to rehearsal where we blocked my scene. I only have like six lines and I'm just yelling and scolding people the whole time. It's pretty fun. It's sad though because it reminds me that I was supposed to graduate last year. Due to a one-month mental hospitalization stay in ninth grade, I didn't have the motivation to do school work so I flunked and had to repeat the year. Being in that high school reminds me of that. I can't do anything about it so I should just forget about it, right? I guess not. The honking of a horn brings me out of my thoughts and I see my mother's car parked. I quickly got in.
"What were you doing just standing there? You looked like an idiot."
"Sorry, mom. I zoned out." I say, putting my seatbelt on.
"Whatever." She rolls her eyes as she pulls out of the parking lot. "How was theater?"
"Good, I got to go over my scene today. It was fun."
"That's good."
'So how was your day?'' I ask, trying to be respectful.
"Busy. I did a bunch of taxes today."
"Oh, how fun," I say sarcastically.
"Yeah totally." She replied.
We rode the rest of the way home in silence which is how it usually goes. I'm tired from the long day and she doesn't have much to say to me. It was a pretty uneventful night. I took a shower, ate dinner, and went to my room. I played the sims before falling asleep.
