Today, my body naturally woke up by itself. The excitement of it being my first day of school has me feeling well rested and ready for the day.

The last week before school starts is always the hardest. My parents seem to ramp up their pestering as an attempt to show me how bad things can get if I do something at school they don’t approve of. They want me to know that however bad I may think I have it, things can always get worse.

Though with school starting again, it also means waking up earlier to prepare breakfast. Sure, it’s fine right now, but it leads to the days feeling so much longer.

With my mom being the one to drive me to school today, she came into my room to wake me up. But upon seeing me sitting up in my bed, already awake, she mumbled for me to do my morning chores. Which I do without any arguments.

Everything went about as normal for breakfast as it usually does. My mom watched me cook while my dad sneaked up behind me and sat at the table, waiting to be served. Not much conversation was shared between the three of us.

It’s always like this once school is in session. They don’t like the earlier breakfast time as much as I do, but they don’t have a choice if they want to eat a fresh meal. It brings me a small bit off joy to know how annoyed both of them get at having to be up early as well. Enough so that I don’t even mind having to rush eating and cleaning the dishes. I love the quietness that comes with the breakfasts when school is in session.

But as with all good things, the quietness ends once chores are done and it’s time for the ride to school.

When it’s my mom’s day to take me to school, it’s the complete opposite of the silence that comes with my dad driving me. She usually spends the whole time talking about my future. A future that just sounds awful. You know, with a husband and kids and all of that.

Today was no different. She couldn’t stop blabbering on and on about which of her friends kids would be a good match for me. All the while I’m blankly staring at the floor and only giving her one word answers. It honestly grosses me out how excited she sounds when she talks about pimping out her daughter.

Rides to and from school are bad no matter who takes me, just bad in different ways. I don’t know if I prefer the non-stop yapping from my mom, or the dead silence from my dad. All I know is that the drive from my house to school is the longest 20 minutes of my day.

Once my school comes in sight, I always let out a sigh of relief. I know that my 8 hours of alone time are about to start, and I get antsy waiting for the car to stop in the drop-off zone. I always make sure to hide that excitement from my parents though.

When the car finally stops, I swing the door open while my mom tells me she will be there to pick me up after school. No goodbye, no I love you. Just a cold interaction as if she were running a taxi service.

Oh yeah, and she hands me my phone before I get out as well. Not as good as it sounds though. The phone is really stripped down and basically only able to call my parents and emergency services. But just having it on me makes me feel like a somewhat normal kid again.

After she hands me it, she gives me her usual speech about using it responsibly. A speech that lasts all the way until I hear the warning bell that class is about to begin. As I usually do, I don’t say anything back before I close the door and run off to class.

My being dropped off that close to the start of class is deliberate of them. They don’t want to leave me anytime before school to mingle with the other kids. And somehow, no matter what time we leave, the bell always rings right as I get out of the car.

Now onto my first class, which happens to be a math class.

I always set up my schedule so gen-ed classes are first, followed by my more entertaining classes. Even though I generally have no say in which classes I take, I still tend to enjoy some of the electives. Like, yeah, being forced to cook every meal sucks, but I still enjoy the classes.

But this year, there is a glaring change in my schedule. The Japanese class that sits atop it as the last class of the day. For some reason, a class that I’m extra excited for. Excited enough that I don’t find myself being able to concentrate in any of my classes.

Good thing it’s the first day and the teachers don’t expect much from me. It’s usually all just syllabus reading anyways. But seriously, what’s up with me? Why am I letting a class I signed up for on a whim completely dominate my thoughts?

It can’t be because of the booth girl… could it? I already told myself it’s bad if I were to get close to her. Besides, the chances of us being in the same class is small anyways. I’m taking a beginners class after-all. She surely has taken this class already if she was at the booth signing people up.

I'm probably just excited to learn! Yeah, that's most likely it. Because it would be stupid of me to be thinking a random girl I just met would make me feel any sort of way. But even so, I couldn’t help myself but to think of her throughout the entire day.

In fact, I was so distracted that I didn’t even realize I was now at the end of the day! Somehow, I was so deep in thought that I can’t even remember sitting through any of my classes. That almost feels impossible! There’s never been a time in my life where I was this distracted.

Yet here I was, walking up to the door of my last class of the day.

Upon opening the door, I see the teacher already waiting there "Konichiwa!" she says when she sees me "I'll be your Japanese teacher for the year so just call me Sensei! I set the seating chart based on when you come into class, so why don't you go ahead and take a seat in the empty chair next to the last student that came in!"

She certainly sounds friendly. Though I’m not sure how to feel about the seating assignment. Usually I like to sit in the back and away from any other girls if possible. With her assigning me to a seat near the front, I don’t really have a say in who I sit next to. And with someone already at the shared desk, I need to put up my normal defenses that make me look unapproachable.

The way I try to discourage other students from talking to me, is that I always walk looking down and never make eye contact with anyone. Same as when I walk around on campus. Because of that, I never see what any of the kids around me look like. Not even the person who I will be sharing my desk with.

When I get to the seat, I kinda slump down in it. Walking and sitting like this is a good people deterrent. It's not like any high school kids want to talk to the shy, socially awkward kid. I've never had to worry about anyone making conversation with me before.

Which is why I was so surprised it didn't work this time "Hey, you're that girl from the fair!" the person who's sharing my desk says.