Hera woke to the smell of leather. Leather shoes, and the leather binding of the old books and albums she kept in her closet. She sighed and stretched, immediatly finding a crick in her back.
      Forcing herself to stand up, she wobbled shakily over to the vanity set in her room and looked in the mirror. Bruises and dried blood. My wasn't she a prize. She felt her bottom lip tremble but refused to cry. Not in front of herself, and not for herself. She would not cry.
      Turning away from the mirror and looking out the window, she found that the rain had stopped a long time ago. The ground and air was still thick and damp with its moisture and a few rays of sunlight were brave enough to peak through the clouds and shine their light upon Tulsa. The trees shimmered in the radiance and their leaves danced with the light.
      Her watch beeped on the hour and out of instinct, she looked at it. It was Eight o'clock in the morning. She had slept in her closet.
      But eight o' clock meant that her Dad had already left for work.
      She lazily opened the door and dragged herself down to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. It was a Saturday. And Saturday meant skateboarding.
      She showered quickly and stepped out into the comparitively cold air before wrapping a soft green towel around her thin body and heading into the adjacent room containing the sink and mirror.
      She picked up a brush and ran it through her long black hair before setting it down and grabbing her toothbrush. Squirting a little bit of the green and white paste on the bristles, she ran the brush overf her clean white teeth and brushed he tongue before spittiing out the foam and rinsing her mouth.
      When she looked back up at the mirror, in full light, she realised just how bad her face looked. It was going to be another foundation usage this time. Hera hated that stuff, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
      She walked quickly back to her room and pulled the curtain shut before changing into her baggy khakis and huge black t-shirt. She pulled onsome long socks and slipped her Airwalks on over those before heading towards the bathroom once again.
      She grabbed the peachish bottle of gook and started smearing it on her face. Soon the bruises were hidden behind layers of foundation.
      Hera ran back to her room and grabbed a ponytail holder and her black and flame skateboard.
      She stepped out the door and hopped on her skateboard, boarding it towards the weekly "Tulsa Skate Out".
      She was going to win this time.