1 The Days

April 2015

The month of rebirth.

The start of the school year

The raven-haired girl was having a good dream, sleeping peacefully in her bed with a smile on her face as rays on sunlight crawled in the room through the blinds. Such a good dream apparently that she even pressed the snooze button of her alarm clock as soon as it rang, diving back into her land of fantasy and dreaming of her prince, the boy of her dreams, a boy she never met but already fell in love with. She felt that he was destined for her. Until now, her school life had been boring, so she was truly hoping this year would be better. And maybe it could start with finding the love of her life...

Of course, dreams don't last long as much as people want them to, and eventually the teenage girl woke up from the image of her destined loved, only to realise that she was late on her first day to school. In a crazy rush, she jumped out of bed, quickly put on a fresh uniform and prepared herself a piece of toast she didn't even have time to eat, instead putting it in her mouth as she burst out of the door.

"I'm laaaaaaaaa-"

...

"Oh, come on...." I muttered in annoyance under my breath, narrowing my eyes at the screen of my phone I held with one hand. Buffering, but I should have expected that from internet down here, so I just decided to give it some time as I paused the video with a sigh before looking around. There is time for everything, no need to despair over a video not working.

What? Don't tell me you thought that was me earlier. That's too... anime. Yeah, let's just leave it at that. Here, this is the true setting.

While it is indeed the first day of the new school year, it is a sunny day of September 2018 in busy London, which at least brings up my mood by 1% or so. My parents are too busy with work to attend the opening ceremony or at least drive me to school, so this explains why am I sitting in a crowded subway with a bunch of strangers. At least I was small and fast enough to grab a seat, though I think I might have accidentally hit a few people with my bag on my way there. I don't really need to apologise though as they didn't complain, or if they did I didn't hear them because I had my headphones on.

After taking a while to look at my surroundings, for the 100th time dragging my necklace's clasp to the back of my neck where it belong, I give the video another try, only to have it still buffering. Finally giving up on trying and getting a little too sick of the sound of the subway running on tracks, I open the music player and resume the song I paused to waste my time on a video that won't work. As soon as the tunes of my own choice blasted in my ears, covering the ambiental sound of underground London morning, I couldn't help but smile to myself and close my eyes. And thus, as usual, the routine would begin.

"These are the days we've been waiting for, neither of us knows what's in store. You just roll your window down and place your bets. These are the days we won't regret, these are the days we will never forget..." I started humming to myself, my foot tapping the floor while my hands kept the rhythm on my lap without a care if anybody was starring. If you couldn't tell by now, music is my... Passion?... Pleasure?... Addiction? Yeah, addiction is a better word for it. If I am alone or want to be alone, my phone and my headphones are my first idea, drowning away all my problems in the sweet tunes handpicked by yours truly. I can't say I have a favorite genre, song, or artist, for me any kind of music is just as good and it does the job just as well. If it is me, music and nothing else I would consider myself set for life.

The only thing that managed to get me out of my immersion was the subway reaching my station, at which I opened my eyes as I felt it stopping. Sighing, I got up from my seat, throwing my bag back on my back before I made my way to the exit as soon as the doors open. From there, go to school, attend the opening ceremony I have no idea why is even mandatory, then go my classroom to listen to a "debrifing" for the year done by the homeroom teacher.

"Lori, your necklace is being all stupid again." a girl with short, puffy red hair and mostly dressed in black that was sitting next to me pointed out at one point during that part of the day.

"Huh, this? Yeah, it has been like this since I put it on this morning. You know I suffer from chronic wardrobe malfunction, Poppy." I replied with a huff, slightly smiling as I fixed my necklace once more. It is true: every day, big or small, there is at least one problem with my outfit. A button falls off, a zipper breaks, I spill anything on my clothes, by now I got used to it, so I just turned it into a joke instead of making a big fuss about it everytime. It's not the end of the world, anyway.

Speaking of joking, that is my deskmate, Poppy. We somehow ended up sitting together since the beginning of highschool and for some reason we get along. I'll give more details about that later.

After god knows how much time of pure boredom passed, since this presentation was longer than the last years given this was our senior year, we finally were told the real importanr details, given our schedules and allowed to go out and do whatever the heck we want with our time until tomorrow. Tomorrow hell starts, so we should probably mentally prepare ourselves. For the rest of my classmates, it involved going out with the group to grab a bite or hang out. For me, it's simply going home.

So now, I am alone again, but it doesn't mean I am lonely. Me and my music, I don't need much more than that. Or, well... At least that's what I am thinking most of the times. Truth be told, I kinda got a little bored of doing the same thing every year, so I did think a few times of what it would be like if this year, given it is my last and all, would be somehow... special. Different. Amazing. I don't know, something! However, at that thought I can't help but huff and softly shake my head. I am not fooling anybody: if I really wanted this, I would have done something to achieve it, but I spent a summer procrastinating as usual. Things are not gonna change if I am not gonna change, that's how it works.

As I thought that I stopped in front of a shop window, taking a moment to look at myself. My classmates all look different with each passing year, but I am always the same. My messy light brown, or maybe dirty blonde, hair reaching down to my chest that can be called average at best, honey eyes that stare back at me with a bored expression, my black and yellow headphones covering my ears and a slightly fancier outfit because it is the start of a new year, and, according to mom, something new requires the best clothes... And my necklace being all over the place again, at which I fix it even if I know I will have to do it later. Why am I even bothering with it, I am busy with my thoughts, ok?

My name is Lorelei Ainsley, and this year won't suck as much.