"Ariel! Get out of bed this minute! You've got a half an hour to get ready for school!" the living alarm clock,know to me as mom, yelled up the stairs one Thursday morning. Of course this was no ordinary Thurday. It was the first day of 11th grade(you can just imagine me leaping for joy). My Grandmother once told me that your high school years are the funnest. But unless this 'fun' is disguised in some way, I didn't plan on finding it anytime soon after already spending two years at Scottsdale Acadia High School. With my clothes draped over my arm, I attempted to get a turn in the bathroom. "Audra! Hurry up! You've been in there for almost an hour!" I yelled at my sister and pounded on the door. After a series of muffled complaints, the door swung open and a burst of steam rushed into the hallway. Out stepped the most obnoxious and arrogant 9th grader to ever walk the planet. Audra Brooke Dougherty: the name has haunted me since my earliest memory. When I was eight, instead of learning my times tables, I was thinking of how big of a box it would take to mail my 5-year-old sister to China. Audra has always managed to ruin anything that gives me attention or makes me happy. To put it in the the most basic terms: I hate her. "You're wearing THAT on the first day of school? My God Ariel, sometimes I think you're turning into a guy," she snickered and flipped her long hair to the other shoulder. My hatred towards her still didn't change the fact that our looks were indentical. We have the same long brown hair, the same blue eyes, and even our noses are shaped exactly alike. I scowled at this thought. "So Audra, your first day of hell. I'll make sure you get beat up and if anyone asks if we're related-you lie to the best of your ability," I told her with an evil grin.
"...Brad has his game at Linden Field tonight so that means he'll be coming here after school and I need you to look after him- that means you Ariel- so he doesn't get into trouble again," my mother began her morning instructions to us, well actually just me. "Oh, and before I forget, you have to pick up Kalle when you get out of school. She's going for her special classes at the Fairbrooke Social Center today and for the rest of the month. I want you to look out for Audra today The first day of high school can be confusing so I expect you to give your little sister some help if she needs it."
It was another normal morning at the Dougherty house: mom skipping around in high heels and a business suit, the morning news blaring over the TV, coffee brewing, and Audra and I bearly tolerating eachother so far. I shoved my lunch into my bag and prepared to leave. "Oh Ariel, would you give me a ride to school today?" Audra asked politely and smiled her sweetest. "No," I said flatly,"I'm picking up Neil and Senica- there's no room for you." I waited for my mother's interjection. "Why can't you ever do anything nice for your sister?," she seemed to whine as a two-year-old would. "Because hell hasn't frozen over yet," I muttered under my breath. Before they could bother me anymore, I hoisted my bookbag onto my shoulder and ran out the door. I hopped into my car and headed towards my friends' houses.