10 State of Elation

"Bye! I'll see you tomorrow?" I wave back to Jun.

"Yeah." He reciprocates my wave and turns away after.

I skip over to the front steps of my house and let myself in.

I'm actually glad I went to meet up with Jun; it went better than I thought it would. I also didn't expect that he asked me of all people to eat with him. Now that I'm thinking more about it, that's not the Jun I took note of earlier in school - or maybe he's not and I just never paid attention.

I walk through the front door and spot my mom cleaning the dinner plates and storing the extras away into the fridge. She turns to the front door after hearing me enter, observing me as I kick off my shoes to the side.

"Are you going to tell me where you went now?" She looks at me in anticipation.

I'm not too sure why but whenever I get interrogated like this, I freeze up, even if I didn't do anything against the law. If I have to be honest, it makes me question whether what I did was illegal or not.

"I had a friend text me over to meet with them."

"Ah, well, I packed your leftovers for tomorrow. You can either eat them for breakfast or lunch at school." My mom darts her eyes back to the sink and continues cleaning the dishes. I only nod in response, heading for my room.

I race towards the door of my bedroom like it's my salvation, ready to collapse, only to realize I can't just yet though as I need to address the fact I'm still fully clothed and haven't even gotten ready yet. I groan and start changing into a tank top and underwear.

People find it weird that I don't wear PJs, but rather, keep my underwear on and slap over a tank top. On the flip side, I find it weird why people don't do the same; it's honestly so much more comfortable than some itchy pair of PJs. For another thing, who even wears things like leggings or t-shirts to bed? I can't imagine how that'd feel and I truly don't want to.

I unbutton the blouse I was wearing, allowing one of my arms to squeeze their way out of the sleeves as the other pulls the garment off of me. I chuck it to the side for later, beginning to zip my pleated skirt and shimmying it past my hips. Grabbing onto the edge of my stockings, I pull them off, proceeding to grab the skirt and blouse.

I toss my clothes back in my dresser and make my way over to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and dousing my face in water. I let the tap continue to run over my beaten hands, the cold sense tingling at my nerves. I'm tempted to keep it running, but the water bill says no.

I dash back to my bed, launching myself at it. It feels like it's been days since this morning but it's only been 12 hours. I toss a corner of my covers open and wiggle myself in. I reach for my lamp that was still on and turn it off. Closing my eyes, I get in a comfortable position and start drifting to sleep. The productive side of my head doesn't argue with my tiredness as I fall asleep at the early time of 9 pm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Get up! It's time for school!" I hear chipper sounds from my mom as I slowly open my eyes. "Happy 16th birthday! I'm saying it to you first thing when you wake up so that I can be the first one to say it to you."

I squint while rubbing my eyes to fix my hazy vision. As my field of sight becomes clearer, I see my mom sitting on the edge of my bed, stroking my arm.

"Alright, you get bragging rights this year." I poke back while mustering as much of a smile as I could within seconds of waking up. I take note of the fact my voice still sounds like I'm half-dead. My mom says nothing and just smiles back, patting my head and taking her leave.

I brush back my hair and sit up from my bed. I felt oddly moist on my back, arms, legs and face as if I was sweating all night. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened, but I've never had it like this before. It really has to be like that, huh? I might as well take a shower since I've apparently been sweating the entire night.

I stand up from my bed to glance at the time. My clock spits back the time of 7:12 AM. I think I'll have time to both shower and dry my hair today, which is always a plus. I take my sleepwear off and place them on my bed, then hopping into the shower.

I sometimes get anxious whenever I shower in the morning because I wonder if the sound from the shower is too noisy. You usually can't hear it from downstairs, but even then, the anxiety persists. It's not like showering is anything loud, unless you sing while doing so.

I turn the shower handle on, expecting the water rush down onto me in swaths of warmth. This time, however, I'm greeted by water that smells and tastes exactly like ocean water. How did I taste it, you may ask? Well, it came barreling straight down for my face, that's why. The water wasn't even warm!

Even still, the shower felt nicer than any one I've taken before. My muscles twitch at a surge of energy as I try to keep myself from spazzing. I allow myself to collapse to the tile wall, propped up by my arm. My body slowly stops convulsing as a cold tingling sensation begins travelling from my head all the way to my toes.

Is this how drugs feel like? I freeze, not from discomfort or anything, but from the euphoric state I was in, making me forget what I had initially even came into the shower for. My head was screaming at me to not waste water but no inch of me wanted to budge.

Using all my will power, I force a hand up to the control handle and furiously crank the water down. I stumble around after, feeling the water lessen across me. The sensation from the water was indescribable. It felt magical and empowering yet dangerous and risky.

I instantly step out of the shower for many reasons, the prominent one being that I felt tempted to turn the shower back on. There was also the obvious pressing issue of the water being ocean water. Did no one bother to do anything about it? I let out sounds of conflicted frustration before I take a towel to dry myself off.

Not to be dramatic or anything, but that shower was a memorable one.