Categories > Original > Romance > Hot for Teacher

Moving and Morning Rituals

by Miami 0 reviews

Clover's first day at her new school.

Category: Romance - Rating: PG - Genres: Angst,Drama,Romance - Published: 2014-07-12 - Updated: 2014-08-06 - 1546 words

0Unrated
Clover leaned against her new balcony with a heavy sigh. Nothing was going how she imagined it. Her friends, her extended family, everything she grew up knowing and loving was now an image of her past. Tomorrow was going to be the beginning of a new chapter in her life. Tomorrow is the first day at her new school, in a new town all the way across the country from her hometown.

Clover gazed up at the starry, Florida sky hopeful that maybe, just maybe, tomorrow could be the start of a happier chapter in her life, though she was very doubtful. She sighed one last time when she decided it was time to get some sleep. The rest of her boxes could be unpacked after school tomorrow. She turned away from the railing and walked into her bedroom, closing the white French doors behind her. She walked midway across her room to one of the only things that was completely set up and ready to go – her baby blue and white, starry, king-sized canopy bed, the only thing she kept from the old house. She grabbed the universal remote from the empty side of her bed and turned off her lights, then turned on her side, pulled her body pillow in close and tried to fall asleep. After 2 hours of thinking, and crying, she finally managed to fall asleep at around midnight.

The next morning Clover awoke to the alarm clock on her phone playing A Day to Remember’s You Had Me At Hello. She sat up in bed and let the song play out, smiling slightly through the entire thing. This song always made her smile, but not as much now as it used to. Her father used to sing this to her to wake her in the mornings. But that was the past, he couldn’t do that anymore. Her smile faded to gentle tears as the song neared its end. After, she sniffled and gently wiped the stray tears from her eyes just moments before her mother walked in, offering her a slew of morning food she bought from the pastry shop up the road. Her mother wasn’t oblivious to the tear-stained cheeks of her eldest daughter, but she knew that if she said anything about it, she’d only be shoved out of the room and given the silent treatment for the rest of the day. Clover was very private with her emotions – she kept everything bottled up inside and only her pillow knew how devastated she truly was. She pushed away anyone who tried to get her to open up emotionally. She’d always been like this, and recent events only made it worse.

Clover took one of the chocolate muffins out of the bag in her mother’s hand and politely asked her mom for a glass of milk. Once her mom left the room, Clover walked to her closet and placed the muffin on top of her dresser before beginning to decide what she was going to wear to school today. A lot was riding on the outfit she chose, being that she was the new girl starting classes a week late. If she walked into class in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, appropriate given the rumors that the classes were ice cold, she would immediately branded the school’s new lazy slob. If she wore the new designer dress with matching handbag she got as a gift, she’d instantly be known as one of two things: the wannabe popular girl who’s trying too hard to fit in, or the girl trying to come in and take over the school. Given where she now resided, it would be the latter and she would start a turf war with the popular crowd before she even met them face to face. She went for the “average girl” approach and chose a simple blue top with a black skirt, being sure she was revealing too much or she could be branded the new school slut. Shoes were another battle all of their own. Heels were trying too hard, wedges would’ve been social suicide, and as comfortable as tennis shoes were, they didn’t look right – big, fashion “don’t”. So the choice came down to her vans, converse, or her black flats.

Her mother returned with the glass of milk and stood in the doorway to Clover’s room. She eyed her daughter’s outfit lying on the bed and, without a word, walked to Clover’s closet, grabbed the converse and set them at the foot of her bed. Clover nodded and smiled in agreement as she gave her mom a side-hug. After setting down the glass of milk, her mom left the room with a smile on her face, glad that she could help her daughter with something, even if it wasn’t the emotional support she felt Clover needed. Satisfied with her decision, and her mom’s aid, Clover grabbed the muffin off her dresser and sat on the floor to eat it. Usually she ate breakfast at her desk in the mornings but seeing as it wasn’t set up yet and that she didn’t want chocolate crumbs in her bed, she decided the floor was her best option. After she finished eating, she threw the wrapper and crumbs in the trash, placed the empty glass of milk just outside of her bedroom door, and walked into her private bathroom (each of the 3 main bedrooms had their own private bathroom) to begin her daily morning ritual. It wasn’t too extensive, but did take a bit of time.

First up was the shower. Clover let her red-brown hair down out of the ponytail and brushed it thoroughly while the water warmed up. She then rid herself of her clothing and stepped into the mildly hot water. She soaked her hair before applying shampoo. All of her friends back home wanted to know her hair-care ritual because they loved how soft it was. Clover’s trick, which she only divulged to them upon her departure, was to leave the shampoo in for a good amount of time to actually strip the hair of all oils and dirt. Then apply conditioner and let it sit for the remainder of the shower, only rinsing it at the end. And if, by some chance, throughout the shower her hair began to feel dry, she’d apply more conditioner. While the products sat it her hair, she occupied her time doing normal girl stuff in the shower. While the shampoo set, she thoroughly washed her face with her acne cleanser and shaved her armpits. While the conditioner set she’d shave her legs, arms, chest, and other places she felt deserved to be hairless and washed her entire body after, simultaneously checking for any missed hairs. After her shower, she decided not to brush her hair to make it straight. Instead, she separated it into about 30 sections, and twisted them up to her scalp, pinning them there with bobby pins. While she waited for her hair to dry, she applied her acne treatment, brushed her teeth, plucked her eyebrows, and picked out a necklace to wear. She decided on the heart-shaped locket her parents gave her for her 13th Christmas. She went back into her bedroom to get dressed, then she let her hair down and shook her head violently to get her hair to fall exactly how she wanted it, loose beach waves. Next was the hairspray and she was done. She put on her shoes, grabbed her book bag and new Surface 2 tablet/laptop, her Nokia Lumia 1520, and then misted herself with her favorite perfume: Ralph Lauren Polo #2 for Women.

When Clover looked herself in the mirror to put on her makeup before heading downstairs, she sighed. She didn’t realize how much she missed her friends back home until that very moment. She missed Kaylee and Kellyn, her best friends and neighbors, getting ready with her in the morning. She missed her dad making them homemade pancakes and waffles. She missed walking to school with them by her side. She missed being happy. She applied a touch of blush, plum colored lip-gloss, and mascara and decided that’s all the makeup she needed that day. She slung her bag over her shoulder and went downstairs to find younger sister waiting by the garage door for her. Neither of them spoke that morning. They didn’t know what to say to each other. Nothing seemed… right. Wordlessly, they climbed into the car and their mom drove them to their new school. A new adventure awaited them now. The only question left was: How are we going to survive this?

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Author's note: I want this to be as perfect as possible so I'm open to all sorts of criticism. Please, if you find any grammatical errors (mainly due to the fact I wrote this between the hours of 3am and 7am) please let me know so I can correct them. Anyway, let me know what you think so far. And yes, I will be updating this soon. I have a majority of this worked out in my head already. :)
Please, R&R if you see fit. :)
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