I wake up with a throbbing pain in my head. I don't want to get up but my blaring alarm is making it so hard to just stay under my covers. With a groan and a scream from Miguel, I push myself up. Why did we have to have school today? Of all the days of the week.

"It's Friday!" Denise screams from her room.

"Shut up!" Miguel, Victoria and I all scream at her.

She starts singing some random tune she made up to annoy us before locking herself in the bathroom. Dang it. Now I won't be able to go in until they all leave.

"Shut that stupid alarm up!" Miguel screams again and I stand up. The cold air bites at my toes, my socks having fallen off throughout the night and now lay hidden within the blankets. Quickly I run across the wooden floor and towards my phone that has now started to recite the weather. With a swipe of a button, the horrible screeching stops and I'm able to hear again.

"About time," Victoria mutters underneath her covers. "Stupid alarm woke me up."

I roll my eyes at her. "Yours is about to start ringing as well."

"But when my alarm rings I'll know I got up because I wanted to, not because you wanted to." Victoria says. Seeing my confused face she elaborates. "Because I set my alarm and you set yours. I willingly decide to get up at the time my alarm rings because I set the time."

Arguing against Victoria is useless so I ignore her and her weird logic. Practically sleepwalking towards my mirror, I look at my reflection. My light brown eyes are all puffy from sleep and my hair looks worse than a bird's nest. The throbbing in my head tells me I did get a bruise, or some sort of injury from that fall last night. It's not visible or colorful like I thought but although I can't see anything, I'm willing to bet it's hidden beneath my thick, dark brown hair.

Moaning I turn back and bury myself in my bed underneath all of my blankets. For today I just want to stay locked under my blankets, hidden away from all the world. Alas, that's not possible for me. Victoria's alarm starts ringing not too long after I finally start to feel my toes again.

"See," Victoria starts talking again. "I woke up willingly, not because your alarm told me to."

"Don't argue, just don't argue." I mutter to myself. I pull my blanket over my head and close my eyes once more. Listening to Miguel and Denise scream at each other starts to turn into a soothing lullaby and I start to peacefully drift off, the throbbing in my head disappearing with each second closer to dreamland.

"Amelia! Get up! Don't forget you have to clean the kitchen before you leave!" There goes my good mood. With a groan, I close my eyes once more. But that's when I realize I need to go to the bathroom. I don't even need to get up to know that Miguel is in there taking his sweet donkey time doing God-knows-what to his hair. This is when I'm glad he's the only boy.

Laying down soon gets uncomfortable and I resort to sitting up, still wrapped in the warmth of blankets just rocking back and forth, trying to hold it in. "Just go downstairs lazy." Victoria comments when she sees me.

"But you just said it, I'm too lazy. Besides, it's freezing!" I complain.

She shrugs her shoulders. "It's your body."

My middle finger wants relief when she turns her back to me, but I know better than to flick her off. Victoria starts playing around with her hair and I know I won't be looking in the mirror for another good hour as well.

"Are you changed now?" My mom asks as she walks by our room. She's dressed in jeans and a shirt this time and her hair is up in a ponytail.

"They take too long in the bathroom!" I complain to her.

"Well congratulations, there's a bathroom downstairs too."

"But it's cold!"

"And it's only going to get colder." She responds before moving on to her room. Sometimes I really hate Minnesnowta but other times it's my favorite place to be - not that I've been many places before.

The door lock on the bathroom clicks and Miguel gets out, his hair not looking any different than it did before he went in. "About time." I mutter as I push past him into the bathroom.

After relieving myself of the torture and washing my hands I finally begin to get changed, forty minutes after my alarm rang. I don't even take that long to get changed, I just pull on the uniform which consists of khakis and a navy blue shirt. My hair though is a different story. I think the importance of having good hair runs in the family.

My head is still throbbing so a bun and ponytail is out of the question. Braids, although I love them, can A) Take too long or B) Get me all hot and bothered throughout the day as my hair just rests on one side of my face. Instead, I decide to do a messy half ponytail. It doesn't take much of my time and allows for my hair to both be down and out of my face.

I prepare my binder while putting my computer into the front pocket and putting all required homework assignments in their designated area. When I finish making sure nothing important is missing or left behind I leave my room - making sure I have my slippers on this time - and walk to the living room. The couches are filled with coats and backpacks and hats and mittens leaving almost no room for my belongings. Deciding I don't really care, I scoot Miguel's things over and put my things in the space I made myself.

"Amelia, I'm going to be leaving for work soon, make sure your siblings get on their bus and if the bus doesn't show up take them con tu Tia Evelyn." My mother says as she puts on her boots.

"Yup!" I nod at her before going back to my room to get my jacket and hat. I lost my gloves a week ago and haven't gone to check the lost and found yet. Heck, I still don't know where the lost and found is. I didn't even know we had one until last year!

After I set everything out I go back into my room to do my bed. I always make sure to leave my bed for last because Victoria always throws a huge fit when I make my bed at the same time she does. Apparently I throw her 'off focus'. Whatever that means.

"I'm leaving!" I hear my mother yell from the living room.

"Bye! I love you!" I call back to her. The door closing is my response.

It doesn't take long for Miguel and Denise to start going at it again. "Stop touching me!" Miguel yells at her.

"I wasn't doing anything to you!" Denise yells back. They continue back and forth again and again. I gave up long ago trying to shut them up.

Knowing my phone is on mute, I go turn the volume on in case someone calls. Last time Victoria didn't answer the four times our mother called her we got our phones taken away.

'It's Friday!' Faith had texted the group chat. 'Last day before the weekend!'

'We can sleep in!!!' Andy texted back. It looks like I had helped her after all.

'You can, I can't.' I type back. 'I have church school at nine tomorrow.'

I turn my phone off and slip it into the back pocket of my khakis. The one thing I love most about these pants are that they have back pockets, unlike other years where I didn't have them and I had to carry my phone around in my hand.

Denise is arguing with Miguel about something when I enter the kitchen. A glance at the clock has me widening my eyes. "The bus comes in five minutes!" I scream at both of them. That doesn't shut them up but it makes them scurry nonetheless.

"This is your fault!" Miguel blames Denise as he puts his coat on. "Why did you have to be touching me?"

"Me?" Denise points to herself. "I wasn't the one who took an hour in the bathroom with his hair!"

"Shut up!" I say to both of them. Victoria is on her phone so I can see why they hadn't shut up yet. "It's both your faults. Denise, you're slow either way. Miguel, shut up, Denise didn't do anything to you and Victoria, get off your p- THE BUS IS HERE!" I yell when I see the familiar numbers on a bright yellow school bus' window pull up.

"Bye!" Miguel calls out before slamming the door in Denise's face. She doesn't say anything before running out as well.

"Hey!" I cry out the door when I notice Miguel is missing something. "Where's your ha-" I get cut off with the bus doors closing. My phone rings before I can start cursing Miguel out in my head.

"Hello?" I answer the phone.

"Has the bus come yet?" My mother asks.

"It just left." I reply.

"Okay, don't forget to clean the kitchen and get to school safely! I love you." She says right before she hangs up.

I smile and put on a Pandora playlist before starting to clean the kitchen.

-----

"Heylo!" I greet Jenna when she arrives at the bleachers.

"Hey." She nods back. She puts her stuff down besides me and I look beyond her to stare at Andres. This time he is all alone as he's the first of his friend group to have arrived. Matteo takes the bus while Andres gets dropped off.

My mind drifts off to yesterday during band. He didn't do the band assignment on time - he literally turned it in at midnight, a minute over the due time - and so he had to perform in front of the band. One of the reasons I like Andres is because of his blushing. Whenever he plays his trumpet in band he always blushes and it's adorable. Yesterday was no excuse. Although his blushing is also the reason I embarrassed him last year . . . .

"So, are you ready for, what do you call it? Witch lessons?" Jenna questions.

Chuckling, I correct her. "Witchcraft."

She smiles and sits down on the bleachers. We look out and see the gym teachers 'washing' the gym jerseys. Apparently their definition of washing is spraying febreeze to make them smell good. Jenna and I sit in silence for a while, her doing some math assignment and I reading, until Faith shows up.

Silently she trickles in and I don't notice she's arrived until Jenna greets her. "Oh!" I exclaim when I look up. "Hey Faith!"

"Hey A!" She greets back and puts her stuff on the bleacher before standing up in a fourth position dance stance. Faith's been dancing since Kindergarten and whenever she stands, she's always in one position or another. 'True dancer right there.' Her mom would say.

"So," I start up a conversation. "Are you ready for the weekend?"

"Heck ya!" Jenna exclaims. "I'll finally have time to finish geography, or witchcraft, as you call it, missing work!"

"Same." Faith nods in agreement and switches her legs around.

"I like that color too!" I exclaims cheerfully when I see Faith's choice for eye shadow, a dark pink. The pink stands out among her dark skin and makes her dark brown eyes pop out in a good way. Personally I hate pink but on Faith it looks good. She looks good in almost any dark color. Yesterday I complimented the navy blue she had on.

She smiles a shy but proud smile. "Thanks."

"Hey bitches!" Emma announces her arrival.

"I'm not a bitch."

"Thank you."

"Hi."

Jenna, Faith and I all respond. We laugh as Emma rolls her eyes.

"Oh my gosh!" Jenna exclaims. "You dyed your hair again?"

I look up and that's when I notice Emma's hair has been dyed a dark red color. Well, it looks better than the light green she had. "It looks great!" I say and it really does. Once again, the dark color gives focus to her features. This time, unlike Faith's that drew attention to her dark brown eyes, Emma's now red hair stands out among her pale skin making her seem more petite than she already is. Don't let her height fool you though, she's really aggressive.

"Thanks." She smiles wider and prouder than Faith. While Faith is the quiet and shy one of the group, Emma is sort of the 'bitch' of the group, always letting someone know how she feels about them. She's generally a nice person though.

"Yup!" I smile and then the bell rings. "Time to get to class!" I exclaim and making sure that I have all my things, I leave and walk to my locker.

Time for a day of hell.

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