We all get in Greyson's car with Greyson and I in the front and Dad sandwiched between Dani and Joshua. He blasted Frank Sinatra's 'Let It Snow' and got on the road. With the beautiful, cold weather, the coffee aroma filling the car, and the classic, old timey music, it was a pleasurable car ride. The frost on the side of the road was making me wish we had snow to play with and the decoration all around made me so fuzzy and warm on the inside. I looked out at the city and was in awe.

We got to the hospital around 10 minutes later. Dad, however, was not ready for work. He fell asleep on Joshua's shoulder, drooling again. We made a complete stop, but he was still out of it. Joshua was giving a questioning look. I just looked at him. He started to shake Dad's shoulder but an idea that was too good to miss came to my head; I shook my head no and pointed a finger towards myself, telling him I would do it. I wanted this last piece of bittersweet victory.

"DAD!"

He got up abruptly, looking so confused and lost. He gave me a "What?!" look. I pointed out of the window and said, "We are here." He looked outside and saw his workplace.

"Right," he rubbed his hand over his face and got some saliva on his hand. He wiped it on his pants and sighed. He got out of the car and started to walk towards the door. Dani was tapping my shoulder though. I looked back and nodded to her silent request. She handed it to me.

"Dad!"

"What?" he asked, a bit irritated.

I held his bag out of the window. He looked to his side then back at me to see his missing accessory. He looked annoyed and started to trek back to the car. The smile that was fighting to come out finally did, spreading from ear to ear. Dad saw my face and it transferred to him too. I stuck my head and dangled my arms out of the window to talk to him.

"Sorry if I was a pain in the butt," I said, looking up at him.

"I kind of deserved it," he said, grabbing his stuff.

"Be home early."

"Yes ma'am."

"Love you."

"And you," he pinched my rosy cheeks. "Bossy."

"Go or you will be late."

"Yeah. Bye."

"Bye."

Greyson waited until he was inside then left. He switched the music to a much more modern taste. It was an early morning rave contained in a car. We were singing randomly and acting like dum dums. Traffic continued to make us look like idiots as we were sitting at red lights, laughing and dancing in our seats. 

We actually got to school 5 minutes late because of a wrong left turn. Greyson had to take the back way and basically had to drive around the school to the seniors parking. He found his spot, parked, and got out of the car. We were having a friendly bicker as a way to show our hatred for tardiness. But it's like the famous movie said, "Tardiness is not something you can do all on your own." If you know, you know. 

"You ruined my perfect attendance streak!"

"You literally did not come to school last week."

"Always blame the cute one."

"You know we are blaming Greyson, not you Daisy."

We all walked inside, laughing maniacally. We tried to subdue our laughter as we signed in, but we failed with a F minus, making it look suspicious. I promise we do not do drugs. Well, I can promise you I don't do drugs. 

We walk past the main office and are just wandering the hallways right now. The library doesn't open until 9:30 so the waiting game is imminent. As we were taking a lovely stroll down the East Hallway, Greyson and Joshua were making plans to see the new Spiderman movie, I saw a new sign added to the senior's notice board.

                                                                          GRADUATION MEETING!
                                                            MEET WITH YOUR COUNSELOR TODAY!
                                                                *Individual times are listed below*

"Hey look," I pointed to the notice board.

We walk over and read the mile long pink sheet. We all tried to find our names in the vast sea of seniors. My meeting was with Mrs. Melissa. I internally groan. Why do I have it with Mrs. Preppy?

"Uhm, Dani?" Joshua said.

"Hmm?" she said as she was pulling gum out from her bag.

"Your meeting started 5 minutes ago."

"What?"

She looked for her name - it was one of the first ones - and started to run in the direction of the counselors' wing.

"Curse you, Greyson!" she yelled at the end of the hall, her backpack swinging ferociously from side to side. I let out a giggle as we turned around. We walked around more for a bit, talking and laughing, and was stopped by a hall monitor multiple times but was saved by a stolen stack of hall passes procured by Greyson.

Around 30 minutes later Dani and a stack of papers came back to us. She found us at the table near the back of the library, grumbling madly. She was staring hard at the papers and was rolling her eyes around the world.

"Are you okay?" Greyson asked hesitantly.

She set her papers back on the table rather lavishly and replaced her frown with a smile. "Oh nothing, just Mrs. Wonderful is just so wonderful." She mimed throwing up on her papers and was frowning once more.

"What happened?" Joshua asked, putting his pen down.

She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, exhaling. "She basically said in the most cheerful way that I should consider working at McDonalds."

I accidentally let my laugh escape again and immediately apologized for it. That is Mrs. Melissa for you. She will manage to say the evilest, twisted thing ever without tweaking her perfect smile. She-devil.

Passing her muffin across the table, Joshua said sympathetically "You know, they are hiring at the McDonalds at the mall." She gave him a death stare which only made him smile. She pulled out her homework and scoffed. He looked at her and returned back to his work, still smiling. She got up to grab a book from the cart over there. On the way back she smacked the back of his head lightly, taking him out of focus. They stared at each other for a second before looking away.

We were sitting quietly for a while doing our work. Dani was finishing her homework for government class, Joshua was trying to perfect his already- perfect-application for Rice University, Greyson was looking at colleges who wanted to recruit him, and I was doing anything that would keep me busy. Strangely there was something keeping me busy- beneath the table.

"Joshua, that is my foot." I said, looking up.

He looked under the table and saw that his foot was tapping my foot. He rose from the bottom of the table and was blushing quite cutely. Dani looked up giving him a tiny smile. I looked at the 2 crazy kids and let them know their antics. Greyson decided to get a bit of sweet revenge though; he kicked Joshua hard on the leg, which made his eyes water. They looked at each other and tried to size the other. The strong man competition fizzed out though and the quietness resumed again.

Too soon it was time for Home Ec. The others bade me goodbye and safe travels then I made my way to class. There was the usual rush of people going to their lockers to get their stuff and enjoying the 7 minutes of break time. It was causing a lot of chaos. I barely managed to get to class just before the door closed.

As I walked in and got to my table Mr. Pierre, the Home Ec instructor, began his opening act.

"Good morning, Mesdames et Messieurs," he said to the class. He had his arms wide open and stared at the class ferociously, igniting the French in him.

"Good morning, Mr. Pierre," we chanted back at him.

He looks so content with the world right now. "Ahh, the greeting of a good morning is the best way to start the day." He clapped his hands which is supposed to wake something in us. "Now, we have work to do." He went to his desk and fixed his perfectly laid notes.

"As the holidays are fast approaching us, we will begin the true festivities!" He pulled out a little golden box from his drawer and held it up for everyone to see. "Here are the names of your peers. You each will come up and pick a name out of said box. Then you will create an ugly sweater, from scratch, for your peer as a present!"

There was a mixed reaction. There were groans and sighs as well as cries of excitement. As for me my face fell off the planet. Ugly sweaters? Why ugly sweaters out of everything? You know, the last time I tried to make an ugly sweater I strangled Dad with the lights by the end of it. It may have been considered second degree murder.

"You must plan, prepare, stitch, and sew everything yourself. You may use the sewing machine and hot glue if needed. You must make the measurements to fit your peer. I will be grading it by the 3 Fs of clothing: fit, flow, and flare! This will be due at the end of the week. As for extra credit, you may make accessories to go along with it. I think that is all that needs to be said. If there are any questions-" there were none "-you may begin!"

There were crickets chirping for a second then utter chaos happened. We all shuffled to Mr. Pierre's desk and pulled out a name to give a gift to. When I got to the box it was about three quarters empty. I pulled out a name then went back to my desk. I opened the little note and stared at it for awful handwriting. After I was able to transcript to modern day English, I figured out it who it was. It was Grease. Great. Just great.

Grease is that kid who is popular for no reason. Probably because he has the most detentions in this school or maybe pulled the most audacious prank on all the teachers or held the craziest party of the year which led to the cops being called. But whatever the reason may be, he is what he is. He is friends with all the jocks, hits on all the cheerleaders and higher ups, and is the type of person who would want to call their friend. Or at least every person who doesn't have a brain. You could plainly see that he is a big fake from his freshly polished "branded" shoes to his oil slicked up. His real name isn't even Grease, it is Gilbert. But nobody is allowed his name, "or else".

"Who did you get?" the girl who I have no memories asked.

"Grease," I said miserably.

"Lucky, I got Jackie." she acted like she missed the most perfect opportunity.

"Want to trade?" I ask her plainly.

"No! Chelsea would never let that happen."

Chelsea is Grease's "girlfriend", but she only holds that title when either no other girl wants him at the moment or another guy tries to hit on her. She keeps on getting heartbroken, but she is stupid enough to keep going back to him.

I left the conversation and went to get my sketchpad from my box. I flipped the pages, thinking of a design. I thought of a red sweater with a scene of the North Pole, a blue sweater with a beautiful reindeer, a white one with a cookie recipe for Santa, and every combination possible for an ugly sweater. All I did for the next 45 minutes was jotting down my thoughts and going back to step one, hating my previous design. Though I hated Grease, my grade depended on it.

As I was silently being tortured a shadow was casted over me. It was a tall, brooding figure and the smell of very strong cologne hit me. "Word has it that you got me," said the fakest "cool guy" voice above me.

"Why are you here Grease?" I looked up at him.

He bent really close to me and moved his hand towards my cheek. I grabbed his hand before he even touched me and moved it away. He laughed and held onto the desk, looking at me. I tried to ignore it and finish working. He kept on trying to do something but every time he did, I slapped his hands away. By the fourth or fifth time I could tell he was angry. He stood up straight and said a bit angrily but still with a cocky smile, "Look, do you want my measurements or not? I know you don't like to disappoint." 

Though I regretted getting nearly 10 miles near him, the opportunity was here and was also my only chance to do it. Unwillingly I picked up the measuring tape and began to take his measurements. At the wrist he tried to grab my hand, at the arm he was trying to show off his "muscles", at the neck he was trying to get close, and all the while making comments I thoroughly ignored. When I was taking his chest measurements I tripped over his gigantic feet. I was about to fall but he caught me by the waist. I got up and was fixing myself while he kept his hand there. He tried to put his hand lower. I grabbed his hand and tried to move it, but I could not. He had a firm grip.

"Get your hands off me," I said quietly menacingly, still trying to move it.

"Why?" he had put on a fake pout.

"Get your hands off of me," this time I sounded more scared than the first. He smirked and was pulling me closer to him. I tried to keep him away without causing a scene.

"Trust me darling, it would be fun." He whispered this lazily into my ear and I felt goosebumps all over me.

I kept trying to pull away from him all while he had a firm grip on my waist.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Pierre asked. He was standing in the middle, his arms folded.

Grease finally let go and I instantly retreated to my desk, trying not to panic.

Grease put his hands behind him and put on a charming smile. "No sir, she just tripped while taking my measurements." He was trying to suck up but I am not sure it worked. Mr. Pierre looked at me then at Grease with increasing suspicion. He kept on looking back and forth between us, Grease at ease and me trying not to cry.

My phone buzzed loudly. In a different kind of panic I dived for my backpack to turn it off. It did serve as a reminder though. I stood up and started to get my things together.

"Mr. Pierre, I have to go," I said.

"Why?" he had that surprised, confused French look on him.

"I have my meeting with Mrs.Pre- I mean with Mrs. Melissa."

"Alright, you are excused," he said. He bent over my desk and helped me get my stuff together. He was looking at me, but I ignored him, trying really hard to not let the tears spill. I put everything up then left.

Once I made sure I heard the heavy oak door close I hid behind a random corner. I caught my breath and tried not to lose it. My chest was rising and falling with each breath I consumed. I fisted my hands to stop them from shaking.

I hated him. I hated everything about him. The saddest part is that I hate that I keep failing for it.

As soon as this feeling came it left. Everything stopped and was long gone. Not the time, place, or person. I was not going to waste my time and my energy on him and his petty self. I took a deep breath and got myself together. Once I could tell my left from my right, I made my way to the counselor's wing.

I finally made my way to Mrs. Melissa's office. I knocked on the door and heard the sugar coated "Come in!" being said lightly. I grabbed the handle and hesitated. As I was gripping it, I imagined myself in a suit of armor. This is a battle I am going into, and this would protect me from any wounds I would get. Who knows how well it is going to hold up once on the field, but I know that at least I am geared up and prepared. 

...

Make sure to vote and comment! Love y'all!