Chapter I

Two days before school... why me? I know it's that one hell hole wherein the long, long, long run it will benefit me and "guarantee me a bright future" in my mother's words, but it's still hell to me. it's Monday morning. "Tanis!" the loud bass voice of mom surrounds my room. Days like the, living alone isn't such a bad idea. "Yes?!" I said, rubbing my poor red eyes. Okay, why is she waking me up at 8 in the morning? 

I wake up lazily from my bed and stand walking through the corridor while barging into every room trying to find my mom's voice. "Ma, what's up? Who died?" I said. She starts laughing at my poor attempt of a joke. My mom is... what's the word? Strict, insanely strict. I never understood how she thought. I guess that's one of the many flaws of being a single mother of 3 kids.

But on a scale of 1 to 100 of crazy and paranoid she goes down to an 83 eve since she has been in committed relationship with my stepdad. "Nobody dead, dear. I was just reminding you f your day out with your granny. And please don't forget to capitalize," she says with a wink at the end. Yes people, I am not on the A-list of the richest people in the world. My family is just a middle-class family. "Oh... yeah," I said. That totally crossed my mind. In usual families spending a day with your granny is the best, but with mine it's different. My granny is a stuck up and has the whole discrimination policy amongst her grandkids. I don't know why and I really don't care. It turned into a norm a few years ago.

"Okay, what time is she going to pick us up again?" I asked while trying to hide my inner thoughts. I zone out while my mom was answering my question, wondering who would fetch my younger brother, James, and I. Maybe uncle Robert or my father. Well, my money is on the first guess. My father isn't a real fan of visiting his old family. I guess revisiting his past failures isn't his thing.

"Aunt Caroline..." As I begin to 'capitalize', "will you be able to buy stationary and more school pants for both James and I?" Unsure of the answer I might get. Old or not, my granny doesn't allow us to call her by her respectable title. She says it shows her age and here I thought the wrinkles under her eyes or the salt/pepper colored hair is the indication of her age. She's so annoying.

"Of course, dear. I forgot to mention how proud I am of you. You're finally a senior. Remember you are the captain of your ship, so steer it well," she says. I mentally roll my eyes at the start of the stupid "you are captain of your ship" line. She starts sounding like a broken record player. after a few hours of shopping for what I needed, I start counting down the minutes until I get home. Home is a boring place in a dull, old community but it's WAY better than being with this old woman who brags and compares you to everyone.

"Well do you guys need anything else?" Aunt Caroline asks. A time machine would be a great thing to have right about now, I mentally stated. School... how I hate it. And trust me, the feeling is mutual. I just hope that drama would be less compared to all the years in that shit hole and also the fact that I don't need to deal with Jason and friends. " No, Aunt Caroline. We have all we need," I answer with a polite smile as we all walked to the parking lot.