Shine: Chapter 1

by Lilly, Grade 7

“MOM! Have you seen my other sock?!” I yell into the other room to my mother, who I hope is even awake before I head to school.

All I hear in response is some groaning and mumbling that sounds way too much like, “Five more minutes.” I sigh and begin my search. 2 minutes before I am supposed to leave, I find it in Bertie’s kennel. Soaking wet. With some chew marks. My poor, poor lucky socks. I sprint into my room, backpack bouncing around my back, and yank my drawer open to find the first pair I see. Two years too small. Another sigh. I catch myself and try to think happy thoughts. “Only 5 more days until the week is over?” Another sigh. This is NOT going well. Grab the socks and go. On my way down I attempt to wake up the sleeping figure that is my mother under a heap of blankets. She caught the hand that I shook to wake her and kissed the back of it. I smile, that kiss making my day. She rolls over to face me, deep blue eyes glazed over from sleep.

She yawns and my smile widens. “Good morning, sunshine. Glad you finally woke up,” I tease.

She rolls her eyes and pulls me into a hug on the bed, “Ugh. Teens. They’ll be the death of me.”

She is my best friend and a single mom. We spent the last few years being homeschooled, but that didn’t work out, so this is my secon- no, third year at real school, but my second at Malcolm Avenue Middle School. The days are starting to blur together.

I finally hear running water and muffled singing, so I hope my mom is in the shower. She sings sometimes just to let me know she is in the shower so I don’t walk in on her. She thinks it is a genius for it. I shout “I’m leaving now, love you!”

“I love you, my little Crow!” I roll my eyes. Ugh, my pet name. She likes to call me Crow because 1. My name is really Raven and 2. I would ‘crow’ whenever I won a tug of war with Bertie, our bulldog, (who is around my age and has been around for like… EVER) and whenever I won anything really. I pet and kiss Bertie, grab a bagel with loads of butter, and get some lunch money on the way out. I shut the door and sprint for the bus. I catch it just pulling up to our stop. I climb aboard, compliment the driver, Gus, who is 73 and still fit. He just pats my hand that rests on his shoulder and says, “Homework?”

I paste on a smile, “Gus, look who you are talking to.” He raises his bushy eyebrows and I smack his shoulder playfully. Technically, I didn’t lie, I just withheld the truth. So, I casually walk to my usual seat and as soon as I am out of his sight, pull out my binder and scribble down math problems furiously. I think that I might be sweating. As soon as I am done, I relax, smile, and look out the window. Then I remember science. I stop grinning, and my binder comes out. About 10 minutes later, I crash into the seat in front of me. We must have stopped. Hard. The kid who stands up is the one and only Everett. He turns around and I realize it's him. I freeze and I most look hilarious, because he laughs and comes to help me clean up my binder and homework. I thank him and mumble an apology for bumping into him. “No problem. See you in math.” HE KNOWS WE HAVE MATH TOGETHER! I feel dizzy. It's a good thing that I like to leave, because I need to recover. And I like to talk to Gus. As everybody leaves, I walk out of my seat and go to sit next to him. “So, how have you been? Anything exciting happen over the weekend?”

Gus looks sadly, “Linda left. You?” As you may be able to tell, he is a man of few words.

“Well, Linda never deserved you.” He smiles at this. “Nothing really. Oh wait! Yeah, Mom got a promotion!”

He looks confused. “Which job?”

“Waitressing. So, we are getting better, healing.” I try to grin but it was a half-hearted attempt, and he knew it. I try to add, “Like they say, ‘slowly but surely.’”, but I think I might tear up so I claim to hear the warning bell and sprint off the bus. I wave to Gus over my shoulder, but I don’t look back. I see Kaylie, my other best friend waiting for me and we both run to Homeroom. Kaylie would wait for me forever and call me if I was out sick. She is one of the best friends a girl could want. I remember one time, I asked her to come over to watch a movie, so she came over with 3 blankets, a container of ice cream and our favorite movie, Star Wars, A New Hope. I get to class on time and start to daydream. I remember it clearly. Three years back, Mom, as they say, ‘Hit rock bottom.’ Gus is the only person who knew. He is like my uncle / grandpa / family friend. She needed to work more so she sent me to school. Gus was good friends with my real grandpa and was a chauffeur. I think that the only reason he now operates a stinky school bus with cranky teens is because of me. I started to get suspicious and had a talk with my mom about why I needed to go to school and she told me about her finances and taxes and fees and… well, let's just say we were lucky Gus was there to comfort her. When he left, and everything had sunk in, I promised to get a job when I turned 16 and help out with everything. She grabbed me and started crying, so, naturally, I did too. We just cried ourselves into an uneasy sleep. We woke up, in her bed, pillows soaked, arms wrapped around each other, never letting go.