Plaid Pleated Skirts and Pale Green Shirts

10 annoying things about Lambston Secondary School;

1.       In order to get to school on time, I have to get up and 6:30am

2.       It is very rare to go a week without having any tests

3.       It specialises in sport and I’m not sporty

4.       They stuck me in the top maths group due to my exam result and now I feel really dumb because everybody else is actually smart and I’m always like a page behind everyone,

5.       The uniform is really sucky,

6.       School dinners are terrible (But I have packed lunches so it’s not that bad),

7.       There is terrible mobile signal in every classroom

8.       There is terrible mobile signal out in the school grounds too

9.       You get in trouble if you’re caught eating in the classroom, and in the winter, (when you freeze if you eat outside) there’s not enough space for everyone to sit in the cafeteria

And the most annoying thing about my school:

10.   It takes me almost 2 hours to get home from school in the afternoon.

It’s amazing.  There is one bus that goes from Lambston to anywhere remotely near my house.  ONE BUS!  And it doesn’t even start near my school!  You see, Lambston High is in the middle of nowhere, so I have to walk a ten minute walk up a hill from school, past the railway station, and turn on to another road in the middle of nowhere that has a bus stop. 

From there I have to usually wait roughly 20 minutes if I miss the first bus (School ends at 3:30 and there’s one bus at 3:38 that I can sometimes get if I sprint and teachers let us out on time) and then that bus takes me 10 minutes to get to a stop on Lambston high street, where I then have to wait 5-10 minutes for a bus that takes 50 minutes to get to the ‘Herbal Goods Store’ at the end of my road. 

What makes it worse is the fact that my school is only a 20 minute drive away from my home, but it’s really tricky to get to the second bus stop and the bus takes a route that goes around every possible road that it can.

Well, I’ve just arrived home, it’s 5:20pm, and I am already tired from lugging around a tonne of books that need to be covered for the next time I have those lessons.  I did the easiest thing I could do; drop my bag at the door, follow Socks (my cat) into the kitchen, fill her water and food bowl, decide to leave the litter box for my dad to empty, grab an apple from the fridge, my bag from the hallway and make my way upstairs to my room.

I love my room, it got re-done last year.  You see, the teddy bears that I had painted on my walls weren’t cutting it anymore so my parents said that if I could come up with the money, then I could re-do it.  There are like no jobs available for girls my age, so I ended up saving up birthday money and Christmas money for 2 years, and now I have replaced the whole teddy bear theme with four pale lilac walls, deep purple curtains, and a white bed with a bedspread that matches the curtains.  Inside is a white wardrobe, with a matching chest of drawers, a desk and like 3 mirrors (Not because I’m vain - because they came in a pack of 3 - full length, mid length and small and I wanted to make the room look bigger because it’s tiny).

You know what? I’m staring at my reflection in this full length mirror and I didn’t realise how terrible I actually looked at school.  Lambston Secondary School has the worst uniform ever - I don’t understand why anybody in their right mind would pair a pale green shirt with a plaid, pleated navy monstrosity of a skirt.  Not to mention the super ugly jumper (bright green with a black stripe on the collar) that just has to be the most hideous thing I have ever had to wear in my life.

I need to do something.....  My brush is in the same place - resting on my bed because I chucked it there this morning.  All I have to do is take my hair out of its slightly frayed ponytail, un-clip my fringe (Ever since Kelly went to the hairdressers and got a similar styled one, I haven’t worn it out to school) brush my hair out, shower, wash my hair, pull on my favourite pyjamas (They’re blue with snowmen on) and grab my blow-dryer from the bag in the corner of my room.

I know that it sounds kinda complicated but it’s pretty simple when you’ve done it a couple of times and I’m a big perfectionist so I LIVE by routines. 

Oh great.  The phones ringing.  The only working home phone we’ve got is the one attached to the wall in the front-room, and it’s so much effort running down to the front room every time someone rings the house.  I better answer it then,

“Hello?”

“Where were you?!” My mum practically screams down the phone, “I rang your mobile 9 times!”

I’m gonna write this in a dialogue because it’s easier;

Me: I was in the shower, I couldn’t hear anything.

Mum: Watch the attitude missy.

Me: Sorry, what did you want?

Mum: I wanted to see how your first day back went but you didn’t pick up your mobile and you weren’t picking up the home phone and I began worry! 

Me: Oh, yeah it was okay, I had an overall good day, can I talk to you when you get home?

Mum: ...What are you doing?

Me: Nothing, just talking to you why?

Mum: Then why are you so desperate to get off of the phone?

Me: Because I just washed my hair and there is water dripping down my back.

Mum: You need to dry that off!  You could catch a cold!

Me: I know that is what I was going to do, but then you rang.

Mum: Oh, well then I’ll talk to you when I get home, bye,

Me: Bye.

See, that is a typical conversation with my mum - whenever I don’t pick up my phone she assumes the worst.  It’s annoying, but at the same time, it’s great to know how much she cares about me.  You know, I should probably check my mobile, I mean my mum did say that she rang me 9 times. 

Well, there they are; the 9 missed calls, along with 2 text messages. 

The first from my dad; hey, how was your first day back?  Did you get home alright?  

Which I decided to reply with; Yh, I’m fine, I’m home, first day was Gd How r u??

And the second from Kelly; Hey, u alrite?  I tlkd 2 Megan in netball & she sed tht Becki heard Brooke & Macy say tht u were upset with someone??  Who r u upset with??  I won’t tell any1 Xxxxx

Huh.  Typical.  The only time Kelly ever texts me is when she thinks that there’s drama going on, so she can be the first one to know.  I’m not going to bother replying to her, I’ll just delete the text message and chuck my phone back on my bed where I had left it earlier.

Aww, Socks just tiptoed in, stretched on the end of my bed, and let out a small “Meow”.  I sat next to her and stroked her tummy with one hand while I dried my hair with the other, it’s taken six months, but she’s finally gotten over her fear of the sound my blow-dryer makes.  I felt my hand shift slightly as she climbed onto my lap and began purring.  At least she was, but the front door clicked open and my dad came in.  She practically leapt off of my lap and now she’s sprinting to the door.

 “You’re always here when I get home, aren’t you? At least SOMEONE met me at the door!”

He’s joking.  He’s not mean or possessive or anything, it’s just that Socks worships the ground that he walks on so we’ve got used to her meeting him at the door.  I probably should go downstairs and say hi though,

“Hi Dad!  How was work?”

“Alright, nothing special, I’ve got ten minutes to relax before I have to go and pick up your brother from his football practise.  So, you heard from your mum today?”

And now we’re both sitting in front of the TV watching the sports updates (well, he’s watching, I don’t really get sports so I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.  We do this every day when he comes home from work during school time. 

Phone is ringing again.  This time it’s mum;

“Hey, just got off the train, the bus home takes 5 minutes; will you put kettle on and take the instant coffee out of the cupboard?  Okay, see you in a minute bye.”

And she’s already hung up, better get started then.  Okay, I’ve filled it with water, now the kettles boiling, just need to find a box of instant coffee in the cupboard.  Honestly, you cannot find anything in this cupboard, plus half of these boxes are out of date anyway.  Let’s see, we have tinned tomatoes, tuna, corned beef, jerk seasoning, jam... ahhh, there’s the instant coffee - nestled between a tin of tomato soup and an ancient “Noodles - Just Add Water” packet.  Oh, and behind them are some De-Caf Cappuccino sachets.  I feel like some De-Caf Coffee!  Oh, but it’s an old sachet - and there’s no expiration date - just some faded squiggly lines.  Oh well, it’s probably good. 

Now my mum’s home and I am already halfway through my cup of what vaguely tastes like a Cappuccino.

“I’m home!  What are you drinking?  Is that coffee because you know that I don’t like you drinking so much caffeine!”

“Relax!  It’s De-Caf.”

Great, she’s grabbed my mug and she’s looking at the suspicious looking liquid inside, she’s gonna realise that it doesn’t even look like coffee.  She’s gonna make me throw it away.  It doesn’t taste good or anything, I just wanted something warm to drink and I don’t particularly want to throw it away.  Okay, she’s gonna say something, just gotta get ready to fight back and lie,

 “I didn’t even know that we had De-Caf coffee left in the house.  Did you check the expiration date?”

And now she’s giving me that look.  That evil, ‘I know way better than you so I’m gonna tell you what to do now and your just gonna do it look.

“Of course I checked the expiration date” That sounded relatively believable, I mean, it was the truth... kinda... I mean, I did check the expiration date; I just don’t have to tell her that I couldn’t make out what it said.  Just need to change the subject, turn the conversation into something else, “So how was work?”

“Fine.  How was school?”

Perfect.  Now all I have to do is keep the conversation on school until I’ve finished my coffee and then I can go upstairs.

“I’m telling you, I didn’t punch the guy, my tackle just went wrong!!” Max just yelled.  Great, now he’s coming into the kitchen without taking his trainers off, leaving a mud trail behind him.  Mum’s about to explode.

“You better clean that up!!”

So now they’re in full blown argument mode and I’m back watching sports updates with my dad.  As much as I love football...  Okay I don’t like football at all.  So I’m gonna go upstairs to my room, do some social networking.

Okay, so I got my own laptop for my 12^th birthday so that I could do all my homework on my computer and I keep it underneath my bed because my bed is the only place I use it (I actually hate sitting at my desk).  Max is 10 and he is counting down the days until he starts secondary school and can get his own laptop, because right now he is so jealous of the fact that I have one.

Let’s see...  What to do, what to do...  I guess I’ll go online, see what my friends have been up to.  I love having my own room.  I love the privacy, the peace, the serenity, the calmness...  

“I need your laptop!  Dad’s on the one downstairs and I have homework due in for tomorrow”

I need to get a lock on my bedroom door.  URGH what is Max’s problem?  Does he not understand that when my door is closed, he needs to at least knock!  And now he’s walked up to my desk and is fiddling with my biology folder.  He’s so annoying!

“Um, firstly can you not see me using it?  Secondly, don’t touch that, and thirdly, next time, instead of telling me you need it, why don’t you actually...”

“I don’t need you laptop that much; I’ll go ask dad for the family one.”

“Urgh you’re such a pig!”

“Takes one to know one!”

“That insult sucked!!”  I yelled as he was leaving my room, “And next time, close my door!  It was closed for a reason! I need my privacy!” 

Sometimes I hate my brother so much.  I wonder why he’s even born most of the time.