The Impostor

My alarm blares from my night stand next to me. I groan as I slam my hand onto my phone, clicking the off button. I pull my rm back under the covers and drift back to sleep, ignoring the time. Five forty-five in the morning.

Fifteen minutes later, my alarm goes off once again, and just like earlier, I slam my hand down and press the off button. Six o'clock. A knock sounds from my door.

""Alec! You got fifteen minutes before I come in there! You better be ready before then!" Mom shouts.

"Okay!" I angrily shout back at her.

She knows I'm not angry at her. I'm just being stubborn about waking up on a Monday morning.

I lay in bed for a couple of minutes before I push myself up and out. I change out of my comfy pajamas and into a pair of gray sweats, a black t-shirt and a black hoodie. I pull on a random pair of dark red and black tennis shoes.

I finish up the rest of my morning routine, pick up my backpack, and walk into the hallway.

"Oh, good." Mom says from the end of the hallway, "I was about to come get you."

"I'm up." I smile.

"I can tell." She laughs walking towards me.

"How's your morning going so far?" I ask.

"I gotta be at work early today so I'm dropping you and your sister off at school." She tells me.

"Oh, Mom. You don't have to drop us off, we can ride the bus. You do know her bus is before mine. I'll make sure she gets on." I tell her as we walk through the living room and into the kitchen.

"You skipped school last time I let you do that. You're not doing it again." She states.

"Mom, for the last time. I didn't purposefully miss school. We stayed up cleaning the night before and I ended up falling asleep on the bench outside waiting for the school bus at the stop." I defend, "It's not my fault the bus driver didn't do anything. He could've at least honked before driving away."

"You could've asked the neighbors if they'd drive you when you woke up." She says.

"Mom, when I woke up, my shoes and left sock was gone and I had forty-five minutes of school let and it's a forty-five minute walk. The neighbors were also at work." I point out.

"Well, we can't have that happen again. So I'm taking you and your sister to school." She says.

"Fine." I groan, grabbing a bowl and fixing myself cereal.

"Don't you have that one test today?" My younger sister asks.

"Naw, that's tomorrow." I tell her, taking a spoonful of my cereal.

"How do you know?" She inquires trying to get me to stress out about it.

"None o my teachers do tests on Mondays. They're always on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and rarely on Fridays." I reply.

"Nora, stop stressing out your brother." Mom cuts in.

"Thanks, Mom." I say.

"But Mom" Nora says over top of me.

"No buts, Nora." Mom states.

Nora turns to me as she stands up, slamming her hands on the table.

"You're the worst!" She shouts, storming into the living room.

"There's Hershey bars at the top of my closet if you want one! Don't take them all!" I shout back at her.

"How do you know I'm on my period!?" She shrieks.

"Your's in after Mom's. Also, you've been having you period since you were eleven. After two years, it's pretty routine." I state.

A few seconds of silent stomping and a door opening and closing, Nora comes back eating some chocolate.

"I only took three." She mutters, just loud enough for me to hear as she sits back down.

"See how good of a brother Alec is? I wish I had a brother give me chocolate on my period. Now I have to buy my own." Mom laughs.

"I wish I didn't have a brother." Nora states.

I nudge her in the arm, "No you don't."

"Don't say that Nora. Without him, he never would've wanted a little you. You were his Christmas gift." Mom smiles.

"Ew, Mom. We don't want to know where you went on Christmas." I say.

It's not that big of a deal, guys. I just went to a--" Mom starts.

"Mom." Nora cuts her off, "We don't want to hear about you being injected with a sperm at the doctor's."

I chuckle at the memory. I was only four, Mom couldn't find a babysitter so she took me with her.

The doctor had asked me how my Dad was doing and if he knew my Mom would get pregnant from the procedure.

I looked at him dead in the eyes and said, "What Dad" Mom laughed and explained how she got drunk and had sex with a stranger on her graduation night and her last night staying in a form at her college.

The doctor wanted to do a DNA test to find my Dad but when I told Mom I didn't want to know my Dad, she turned down the opportunity.

Afterwards, we went out to have ice cream and Mom lectured me on how my choice means something and if I don't want to do something that isn't mandatory, then I don't have to.

"Alright kids, to the car." Mom says, taking my empty bowl and putting it in the sink.

Nora and I grab our bags and head out to the car. The cool fall air nips at my exposed skin while I walk. As usual, Nora and I sit in the back seat so Mom can put her giant work bag and three bottles of coffee in the seat next to her.

First was Nora's middle school, where Nora sat outside the side door with a couple of her friends. Next was the high school.

I wished Mom a good day and went inside. I headed straight for the library, hoping to get in some study time.

"Good morning." The old librarian greets me.

"Good morning." I greet her, as I head over to a desk and sit down.

Twenty minutes pass of me studying and the first bus full of students arrive. As the small flood of kids come through, an announcement is made through the loudspeakers.

"Good morning everyone!" The voice of the principle is heard all over the school, "This is an announcement for all staff so please listen. Please all staff come to the front of the school so that we may take staff pictures. Please, only staff gather at the front of the school."

Don't steal anything while I'm gone." The librarian says as she makes her way to the door.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I smile.

As the old librarian leaves, another student enters. Unlike my short, curly brown hair, she had long straight blonde hair. She also had bright blue eyes where I had dark green. Also, unlike me with my fair yet tan skin, she was pale.

She sat a few tables away and I turn back to my studies. Even though the class is easy, I just can't slack off. That's where people make mistakes.

I silently cringe to myself about me being a total study brat. My future college thoughts are really getting to me today.

A few minutes pass and all the alarms in the school go off at once along with the security door system, locking both the girl and I inside the library.