The Girl With The Tattoo

16. stress

Sophie

As soon as I get to school, I walk down the long corridor towards my locker. I have so much to do today and I'm honestly really stressed! Mom is having me study non-stop as my exams are only in a few months. And as soon as they're finished, I'm off to college!

If I get in that is...

And as I'm making my way down the halls, I meet eyes with my best friend, Hailey.

"Hey, girl!" She smiles as she sees me "You're late today. We're about to go to homeroom right now. They said we have five minutes, where have you been?"

"Sorry, I was actually studying for the bio test we have this week." I tell her, which was the truth because I was up all morning studying for it.

And then she says to me "You're so prepared! I haven't even opened up my textbooks let alone started studying! You really gotta turn me into you so I can get through these exams!"

"No, my mom makes me study every night for two hours!" I tell her, which isn't news to her "She even comes in to check on me! And if I'm not studying she takes my phone! She's actually insane!"

Hailey's eyes widen slightly as I tell her about my mom's rules and how strict she's getting with me "Jesus, my mom couldn't give a crap! I mean, she wants me to do good and all but she gives me my own space."

I sigh "Well I wish my mom could be like yours. Honestly, I think she's stressing more than I am."

And then, finally, she turns the topic of our conversation onto something else which is a relief because I honestly don't want to talk about my mom and studying right now. I'm already stressed enough.

"Anyway, how's your mum doing?" She asks me about mum "Any signs of baby coming? Sorry, I was meaning to come over last week but my parents took my brother and I out of town and I just forgot."

I make sure she knows that she doesn't have to apologise for having a life "No, it's fine! I get it, don't worry. And no, my sister's not coming anytime soon. The doctors are saying she's like 30 weeks so we have awhile."

"No way! I thought she was coming sooner than that!" She looks sad as I tell her that she's going to be waiting awhile to meet my little sister "Sorry, you know how I am with babies, I'm like dying to meet her!"

I giggle at her "Yeah, I know. But when she's here you'll be the first person I'll tell and you can come and visit right away, you know that."

She smiles brightly to show that she appreciates that, as she says "Thanks."

Hailey and I have been friends for a long time now. We both met each other in middle school when she moved here with her family and we bonded straight away. And then we decided to get into the same high school together and we've never been apart.

My parents treat Hailey like a daughter too and she goes almost everywhere with us. They even let her come to a holiday resort for almost two weeks with our family.

And then I get startled slightly as the bell above us begins to ring loudly.

"Ah, crap!" She rests her head in her hands to show that she doesn't want to go to class "Why does that have to ring so damn loud?!"

And when it rings again, she shouts "Okay, I'm coming!"

And she immediately begins to walk towards the direction of our homeroom class, but she stops as she realises that I'm not following her. She turns around and she has a confused expression on her face.

"You not coming or something?" She asks me.

"No, I have tutoring." I reply with.

She seems even more confused as I admit that to her "You're studying again?!"

"No, I have to tutor the younger kids, remember?" I remind her of how my mom is pressuring me into spending my mornings tutoring the kids in the grades below me.

She says that if I spend my time helping others it will prepare me for a career. Mom wants me to have a job as a teacher or a doctor, something like that. Me, on the other hand, would like to do something that I enjoy such as dance. I'd like to be able to have my own studio somewhere in the city.

Even though that's basically her job too, she doesn't believe that it's a real job. She wants me to make a lot of money and be successful and she tells me that teaching dance won't give me that.

"Oh, yeah!" Hailey seems to remember that I'd mentioned it to her before "Good luck with that, I guess!" She giggles to herself.

"So I'll see you later?" I decide to say goodbye to her because I really should get going or mom would kill me if I was late.

She continues giggling to herself "Yeah, you go and teach some fractions! I'll be sleeping in homeroom!"

"Good for you!" I roll my eyes at her, playfully, slightly jealous of the fact that her morning is stress-free.

And then she holds me up even longer, as she decides to embarrass me by shouting "Everyone, Sophie Baldesarra is boring!"

"Shhh!" I say, in disbelief "Okay, I'm going. You go and enjoy your sleep!"

"Oh, I will!" She laughs even more "I'll see you later, loser!"

I roll my eyes at her and her childish behaviour, before I turn around to begin walking to the room where I tutor in. Even though it's terribly boring to have to do something like this, I actually enjoy spending my time with some of the kids.

There's this 9th grader who's really chatty and asks me about my life and what I'm getting up to. So instead of spending the hour talking about things such as fractions and the alphabet, we talk about dance and my family.

So I walk up the stairs towards the library where a little boy called Billy should be waiting for me. And as I enter the room, I see him sitting down at a table.

"Hey, kid!" I smile as I see him "You ready to get going?"

"Yeah, mom says I need to work on my spellings." He tells me, looking slightly down as he admits that he's not so good at spelling "She says I'm dyslexic so I don't know how to spell very good..."

"Oh, it's okay! Some people are just a little different and take a little bit more time but we'll work on that together." I try to make him feel as comfortable as I can because I know it must be hard to be a little different in a school like this.

Some of the kids here are cruel, especially ones in my year. I still often get bullied about having two moms but I try to block it out and I don't let it bother me. I've also been made fun of for my hair but mum says it's because they secretly want curls just like mine.

If I didn't have Hailey I honestly don't think I'd of made it through the years here.

"Okay, let's get started then." I tell him, opening up a book.