A Day In The Life (Open)

[Julianne Roberts]

Julianne was sick. It was the first day of her senior year, and she was running a fever. Yes, she came to school anyway. How could she miss the first day? It was simple--she couldn't. She drove up in her Range Rover and began walking to class, pulling tissue after tissue out of her purse. Julianne wasn't much of a purse-carrying girl anyway, but today she had one of her mom's large purses. In it she had her cough drops, Benadryl, tissues, hand sanitizer, cell phone, chap stick, iPod and a few other random objects. She even had in there somewhere her miniature Yoda statue, because of all days to need the Force, today would be the day.

The only makeup she cared about today would be eyeliner. That was as far as her poor weak little body would let her go. Driving to school was a chore. The loud chatter as she walked through the parking lot gave her a headache, so as soon as she reached the courtyard, she sat down, pulled a bottle of water out her book bag and grabbed the bottle of Advil and took three. Julianne, even on a regular basis, was known for carrying around large of amounts of over-the-counter drugs. Where ever the woman went, she had Midol, Advil, Benadryl, Motrin, Aspirin, and even Tylenol with her. At all times. And it payed off, because she never had to suffer a headache or cramp for long.

She stood and for the first time looked down at what she was wearing. A pair of nice jeans and one of her father's Yale sweatshirts that was twice her size. She sniffled.Was the karma? Had she done something wrong to the universe? It wasn't like she didn't recycle... she had been doing that since she knew what it meant, way before it was popular. She had done her summer work, she was always fairly obedient to her parents... what was she being punished for?

Walking to her first class, European History, was also hard. Her knees were wobbly and her book bag was heavy, though not as heavy as last year. Who would she be seeing today, when she looked a royal mess? She sniffled again. She tried not to care. She was sick, she had an excuse to look pathetic. But she kept walking, at what was a pathetic pace for her, until she reached her classroom. Like usual, she was one of the first to arrive. Julianne hated being late, and it bothered her that others were not ever punctual. But it was a public school. The hardest punishment inflicted was suspension. Who wouldn't want to miss school for a few days? All of the delinquents!

Julianne layed her head down on the desk. Her hair was in a ponitail and she looked sick. She sneezed, blew her nose, sniffled, and told herself that today she wouldn't work herself up over stupid things that stupid people did. Today she would be oblivious to everyone, and maybe even tomorrow if she didn't feel any better.