Free Torn Souls by crystal Cattabriga

leave my bathroom. In my old house, our shower didn’t have great water pressure, so most of the time it trickled down you. This shower literally cleansed me from head to toe. Holy moly!
     
    I had asked Mom before heading to bed who was taking me to my new school tomorrow and she said that Dad would because she’d be gone early. My parents were lucky. Neither of them had to go back to work until the following week. It wasn’t fair. As I looked for something to wear on my first day of school, my stomach started to hurt and panic was setting in.
     
    Ugh, why me? I didn’t want to stay up freaking out and not be able to fall asleep, so I put off trying to find something to wear and climbed into bed. It still took a while to fall asleep. Tossing and turning I was driving myself crazy. I decided to rock back and forth for a few minutes and it worked until I felt like I was going to throw up. The only thing that seemed to calm me was turning on the TV and listening to it.
     
    The following morning I heard a knock on my door and my dad telling me it was time to get ready for school. God, I hated that word school . I couldn’t wait until I graduated high school. I had three and a half years left and I was done. Instead of getting up right away, I threw the pillow over my head and laid there for a couple of minutes, then finally decided to climb out of bed and get dressed.
     
    I wasn’t even sure of what to wear. Some of the people I saw yesterday when I was out dressed a lot differently than what I’m used to. In any case, I had to throw something on, so I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, a plain light blue t-shirt and my sneakers. I wasn’t sure if the school allowed phones, but I took it anyways making sure it was on silent so I didn’t get in trouble. It wasn’t like anyone had the number except my parents, so I was pretty much safe.
     
    Before Mom left she had made banana muffins, so I would have breakfast. Dad said because I had lolly gagged I’d have to take my muffin to go because we were running a bit behind. It was only a little past seven, so I didn’t see the rush. I was pretty sure school didn’t start until eight, but what did I know? In New York, it could be different.
     
    “What’s the rush, Dad? What time does school start here?” I asked, which I knew was probably a dumb question.
     
    “It starts the same time as it did when you were back in Ohio, Julia,” Dad said while laughing at me of course.
     
    “Then why do we have to head out now?”
     
    “Julia, your school is about fifteen minutes away, but with everyone in New York City rushing to get to work it’s going to take me longer.” I could tell I was getting on his nerves, so I thought it was best that I kept quiet.
     
    I couldn’t believe how bad the traffic was. It was just a little after seven in the morning, and there were so many were people yelling “Taxi,” as they waved their hand franticly in the air. I made it to school with just five minutes to spare. While I was getting out of the car, my dad told me he’d be back just before three to pick me up. Before walking inside the building, I stood outside staring up at it. Across the building read “ John Ewings High School.” Itdidn’t look much different than my old school back home. After fixing my shirt and smoothing my hair down, I walked up the stairs and pulled open the door.
     
    As I walked straight ahead, I noticed on the left a door that read, “ Front Office ,” so I headed on in. There sitting behind the counter was a well-dressed woman on the phone. Covering the mouth piece she said, “Honey, I’ll be right with you. If you’d like, you can take a seat over there,” she instructed as she pointed across the room. There was no reason for me to stand, especially not knowing how long she’d be on the phone, so I took a seat and waited.
     
    I was getting a little nervous knowing I was now late to my first class. It was eight twenty and I was still waiting