Monday Morning

[koalabear07]

Monday Morning
​

“Lauren!” my mom called. “You’re going to be late! Come on down and get you some breakfast before the bus gets here!”

It was an early Monday morning in mid-September; my fifteenth birthday. I really didn’t want to go to school today. I wanted to get my permit like the other kids, but I couldn’t even ask mom for that. You see, I’m having a bit of a home problem. My parents divorced when I was six and my mom doesn’t make a whole lot of money. I live with three of my cousins and I have two older brothers. Grandma came to live with us last year, after Grandpa died, but things haven’t gotten any better. On top of all that, I’m a little person. My legs are a little short for my age and I’m a little overweight. So for now, getting my permit is out of the question. I had to go to school and face the horrors whether I liked it or not.

I slowly got out of my bed and stumbled across my room to my closet for my bath robe. Then I headed down the stairs. The smell of bacon, eggs, and burnt toast filled my nostrils as I hit the kitchen. Ummm… Burnt toast, just the way I like it.

“Good morning! Do you want breakfast?” Mom asked.

‘What? No happy birthday song like normal?’ I thought. But I kept quiet about that.

“Yeah, I want a piece of that toast!”

Mom gave me the blackest piece. That’s my favorite! I ate it quickly so that I might have time to get dressed. I don’t have much of a wardrobe, but what I’ve got, I love. That’s the way things are you know. You may not have much, but you should love what you do have.

When I had finished my breakfast, I went back upstairs and turned on the shower. Immediately steam filled the room.

Usually I have to take a cold shower because of all the people in the house. A hot shower was a great birthday gift! I hadn’t realized my socks were still on until I felt them get wet. Then it was too late. This may be the beginning of one of the worst birthdays of my whole life, I told myself as I bent down to take them off. I knew I was in for trouble.

I was stepping out of the shower when I heard a sound. “BEEP!”- It was the bus, here to pick me up and I hadn’t brushed my teeth yet. I got out of the shower as fast as I could, and ran to my room dripping wet only a towel covering me. I pulled on a pair of jeans, buttoned up my blue stripped shirt and slid into my flip-flops, hoping no one would notice that my teeth were un-brushed. I grabbed my hairbrush from the vanity and a piece of gum from the kitchen. Then I ran out the door and jumped off the porch. Usually I forget there aren’t any stairs on our porch so it’s a good thing I remembered this time. As I watched the bus pull away slowly, mom came out the door holding my lunch.

“I’ll take you to school,” she said.

I crawled back on the porch and up the stairs where the shower was still running. The bathroom had begun to overflow. With the door open, the water started out into the hallway. It touched the tips of my toes. Terrified, I ran back downstairs to get the mop.

“Hurry!” I told mom. “The bathroom is flooded!” Mom hurried upstairs following me to the bathroom. Every cousin and both brothers, who are all out of college now, came running after me. Crowded around the bathroom door with mops, towels, and sponges, we attempted to sop up all the water from the bathroom. We did this for about ten minutes until Jonathon, my oldest brother, noticed the water was still on.

“Turn it off! Turn the water off!” he yelled to the room of busy workers. Christina, the youngest cousin, hurried over to the tub and turned the water off as fast as she could. Meanwhile, I went searching for new towels. With dry towels and the neighbors’ mops another ten minutes passed. Finally the mess was cleaned up. I returned the mops back to the houses they came from and left a gracious ‘thank you’ with the owners.

I went back to the house and to the bathroom where I turned the sink on. I waited for the water to run hot, but it never did. I needed hot water to clean my tooth brush. I would just have to use cold water today. I filled my toothbrush with Colgate and brushed gently but efficiently. I grinned into the mirror. Satisfied, I headed back downstairs where my mom was waiting for me.

“I can’t take you to school. I have to be at work in fifteen minutes. Jonathon is going to take you.” But Jonathon was still in his bedroom getting ready. I knew I was going to be late, really late.

“Jonathon! Hurry up! I’m going to be extremely late!” I yelled up the stairs.

“Oh shut-up! I’m doing my best! You should have gotten out of bed when your alarm went off!” But I didn’t remember hearing my alarm. I went back to my room and checked. Had I forgotten to turn it on last night or was I in a really deep sleep when it went off? The volume on my alarm/radio was turned all the way down. I didn’t remember turning it down, ever.

“OK! I’m ready!” Jonathon yelled. “Get in the car now or I’m going to leave you here!” I ran back down the stairs and once again jumped off the porch.

“Wait! I forgot my books!” I went back into the house and up the stairs again. ‘Where is it? Where’s my book bag?’ I looked everywhere. I checked under my bed, in my closet, in the bathroom, and under my desk. Finally I found it in the most obvious place. It was beside the door downstairs. I grabbed it and flew off the porch again. I was just in time to get into Jonathon’s car before he drove off. I opened the door to the little Honda he drives and jumped in. I was completely out of breath. I huffed and puffed but I just couldn’t breathe.

“Stop that!” Jonathon said. “It’s starting to get on my nerves!”

“I – can’t – help it,” I strained. “I’m – out of – breath!”

“Come on. You weren’t running that fast on those stubby little legs of yours.” Jonathon isn’t too sympathetic of my disability. He makes fun of me just about as much as the girls at school.

Finally at school, I headed to my second period class. Late already, I somewhat ran. The second bell rang while I was still in the hallway so I decided to slow down. ‘Maybe I should go to the office now’ I thought.

Just then I saw one of the other girls in my class. She was in the stairwell kissing her boyfriend. She must have heard me coming because she looked up and began picking on me.

“Lauren, why is the gap in your teeth so big? Can’t your momma afford braces or is she still paying for that beat up thing she drives?”

My head down, I listen to the sound of my flip-flops as I walked down the hall. Once I made it to the office, I told the secretary why I was late.

“Missing your bus is not a good enough reason for being late. I will have to make you this pass and your teacher will mark you tardy.”

Again disappointed at my abilities, I again began searching for my next class. When I finally got there, one of my class mates was standing outside in the hall.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Ummm… Nothing.” He said quickly. “But you can’t go in.”

“Why not?” confused, I stood on my Tipp toes to see through the window. Unfortunately, being so short, I couldn’t see.

“You just can’t okay? You have to stay out here!”

Just then, Mrs. Crabtree came out of the class room.

“There you are Lauren! Come on in!”

Mrs. Crabtree led me into the classroom. There were streamers flowing from the ceiling and so many balloons, I couldn’t see the floor. In the back, there was a long banner that read, ‘Happy Birthday Girl!’ and standing under it, was my mom. She was grinning from ear to ear and taking pictures of everything.

“Happy Birthday!” Everyone yelled.

“A surprise? For me?”

“Yep!” Mrs. Crabtree said. “Happy Birthday Girl!”

“I – I don’t know what to say. Thank you all.”

I looked down. I could feel my nose beginning to tingle. Normally that’s what happens when I’m getting ready to cry, but instead, I laughed! This wasn’t the worst birthday of my life after all!

 

[koalabear07]

Please comment!!! PLEASE?????

 

[bornagainkt]

thats a kewl story! i loved it! its...just so different to what im used to. but im not complaining!! its was great stuff!!

 

[koalabear07]

Thanks! I worked very hard on it. The kids in my creative writing class told me it stunk. They thought the ending was a little weird. What do you think about the ending?

 

[bornagainkt]

well personally i liked it. i thought that was a good ending...but like thats just my opinion...

 

[thenewageriseth]

I saw episodes that were similar about the ending. Good job.

 

[koalabear07]

thanks guys. I appreciate that.