"Morning, hunny! Time for a new year of school!"
Nyg . . nm . . next year . .
"Darling! You wouldn't want to be late for a new yeaaar of school!"
Mm . . ahmm . . this tastes funny . . .
"Young missy! You do not want me to have to come up there and wake you up again! I thought I told you to get that nasty sleep schedule of yours under control!"
Hmnn . . pepmm . . hair in mouth . . .
"Alright! That's it! I'm coming up there, missy, and you'd have better have a good reason for all of this nonsense when I wake you up!" Door-slam. Rattle. Rattle.
Eughhh . . face-in-leather . . is it storming ? . .
Door opening. Gasp. Exaggerated and audible second gasp.
I open my eyes, but I'm just staring into the leather of my sofa and the clumps of my hair between me and my sofa. There's a hand on my shoulder, rolling me over, and I just roll with it.
Momma looks like she's seen a ghost. I wince. There's rings under her eyes that I haven't seen since the first weeks after Dad left. But it's her overall paleness that gets to me. Did I really look that bad--ow! She jabs me with a hot and wet hand towel, putting it over my forehead. I try to turn away, but her grip has turned to steel! . . ! I'm trapped here while she jabs me with this wet towel!
Jab! "Mom!" There's a moment's reprive. Has she decided to let me go. . ?
Jab! "Momma!" No! It was just a false sense of security--wait. She's stopping. Maybe I can--
jabjabjabjab . .
. . jabjabjabjabjabjab--"Momma!"
--jabjabjabjabjab. Her wet towel assault is too much! My defenses are failing! Nnygh . . this indignified attack on my character . . this won't stand! Hands away from head! No more defense!
While she--
jabjabjabjabjab--barrages my face, I roll my shoulders. Hand back. Pillow I kicked down the bed in hand. Yes! Weapon acquired. Endure the jabs and
pfwoosh--I swing the pillow! My deliverance is secured! I can't see with the wet towel jabbing into my face, but--the jabs stopped! Yes! I did it! I can see again! I open my eyes and see Momma collapsing to the floor, wet towel in hand and a giggle on her lips. I can't help but smile at the sight too.
Momma is such a
weird woman. I mean, we all knew that already, but just staring at her with "southern comfort" golden locks and her faux school girl outfit--honestly, looked like she was the one going to a new school today, not me--and that aged prankster smirk that was always on her face. Well, almost always. Right now, all I could see of her face was rows of rows of dimples and the freckles that God gave her. She was starting to get back up, now, and I guess I was starting to stand up now.
I could lord my victory over her later. First I had to get to sleep. . . er, school. School school school. New year, new school, new me, right? Not just new me. I should be a better me, right? That starts at home. I won't be lording this victory over Momma. She's opening her mouth to say something that's probably dumb, feelsy and
way too sweet, so I hop forward from my sofa and
glomp onto her. That shocked gasp that left her is all I wanted.
Yes,, ! I have done it. I have bested my Momma. I am the sweetest daughter in the world. For sure. Wait. Why is her hand in my hair? Why is she brushing out my curls with her warm fingers? No! She's going to be sweet again!
"Momm," I manage out, opening my eyes again and looking at her. Oh no. Is that a tear in her eye? I can't compete with that . . oh no . . she's going to say something
really sweet now . .
It's coming . . any second now . . eyes closed for impact, brace yourselves soldiers . . . . . . eh? I open my eyes. She's just beaming me with her eyes and that goofy grin of hers. Did she break? I open my mouth to ask what's up and she
strikes! She leans forward! I'm locked in her grip! She--she--she kisses my forehead! Ack!
Then she lets me go. This is new. I haven't seen this sweetness protocol before. She's messing with the whole script and I don't know if I can handle these sort of switchups. I steal a glance at her again and she's still just
beaming me with those eyes and that g
oofy grin. Eugh . . Momma is such a weirdo . .
"You should get ready for school, hun. I'll have breakfast ready when you're out of the shower, okay?"
I'd protest, but I . . do probably need a shower. It's been a hot minute since I took my last one. I smile, throw my hair back to get it out of my eyes, and head off to a shower. From there, breakfast--school--more sleep after school--no. From there, the world awaits!
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Today's vote!
[ ] Choose your name!
You're an American immigrant to wherever it is you are, and after your Dad . . left . . you took on your Momma's last name. Irvine -- pronounced IR-vin, and you're not looking forward to having to explain that to everybody you meet.
[ ] Choose your Academic focus!
Are you a math wiz? Do you want to start a literature club? Does history just
get you? Will you make the world a better place
for science!? Or maybe you don't have an Academic focus. It's okay too! Some people just want to focus on the party. Or maybe you just want to focus on some cute boys--that's okay too!
[ ] What's your favorite thing about yourself?
Do you have a cool and unusual talent? Can you do magic tricks? Are you a code monkey bestowed with TV-show hacking skills? Do you have some unnatural beauty? Is your hair
truly divine in nature? Whatever it is that makes you
happy to be who you are, here's where to put it.
[ ] What's the name of your best friend from back home?
He/she means a lot to you, and you mean a lot to them. For a lot of your life growing up in the rural south, the only thing you two had was eachother. Moving away like you did . . sometimes you think it would've been more humane just to kill them.
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Updates should be fairly regular for the next couple of weeks. Once I'm back in college, I'm unsure how the update schedule will go and there may be a short break while I get back into the swing of things, but I should get back to some consistency fairly quick after that. Will try for shorter updates and more frequent updates this time, as I think one of the failings of my previous quests was I tried too hard to write in a certain style and it killed my enjoyment. If you have any questions / see any outstanding errors in my writing style / have any suggestions, feel free to PM me! I'm welcoming to any constructive criticism and hoping to improve my writing through practice.