A Pirate's Life for Me - 1

Yo Ho! A Pirate's Life for Me!



1. Cast Off

The beeping of my alarm sounded at the same time it did every morning. Six-o-clock. Time to start the day bright and early. As always. Relentlessly, I pulled back my covers and quickly pulled them up again. It got colder and colder every morning. I looked back at the clock and stuck my tongue out at it, hoping it would take the offense and stop time. I pulled back the covers one more time and shivered. Turning to the side of my bed, I let my feet drop to the cold hard wood.
I shuffled over to the window and noticed that the rain last night left behind fog. A dreary, dull fog that covered my sometimes beautiful view of the lake. Usually, it sparkled in the morning sun with a rainbow leaking out of it. Trees surrounded the lake, enclosing it to make it my private area. I’d always love that lake. When the trees would bloom during the spring and the petals would fall upon the water. My parents always said I was born a mermaid and that’s why I loved it so much. But I loved it for it’s beauty and because, when I was little, my father would take me sailing with him and let me take the helm every now and then.
“We’re sea folk! We’re born in the water, and we’ll die in the water,” Grandad would always tell me. He was a fisherman in his good-ol’-days.
I jumped as my phone went off to the tune of the Chicken Dance. I hurried to the phone, forgetting about the cold flooring and how warm I was standing in one place. Opening the phone, I read the text message I had received from my mother downstairs:
                             
               R U up yet?

Why couldn’t I just have a normal mother who came up the stairs, pound on the door, and burst in without asking? But no, I had to have the one that knows how to use a cell phone. Yet, fearing my wish, I quickly dressed in my normal jeans and T-shirt, brushed the bird nest out of my hair, and ran down the stairs, nearly tripping at the base.
“Are you alright?” My mother looked at me as if I had was balancing an elephant on my head.
“I’m fine,” I turned away from her wide blue eyes and glanced over at Stan.
He was at his usual spot at the table, reading his paper as always, not saying a word. Stan never went out much so he always looked a little pale. My father passed away three summers ago the way my Grandad said he would, in the water. A storm flew in out of nowhere and he was stuck at sea, miles from the harbor. They say they found his ship about a mile away from the eye of the storm. So we figured he headed there for safety.
“Annabelle? You’re going to be late for school if you don’t get going.” Stan’s firm, small voice spoke from behind the newspaper.
I ate my breakfast in three bites and dashed out to door to towards my shiny black convertible. The engine purred as I turned the key and backed away from the house and onto the main road to town. The town really only had three roads that were crowded everyday. A little less then a thousand people lived here in Sybil, a town where you knew everything about everyone. We didn’t quit fit that loop yet, seeing as we only moved here a year ago.
I stared out the windshield into the half full parking lot and dove around Forecastle High for a spot. The school looked like a huge mansion complete with great white columns and a clock that looked like it was straight from the seventeenth century. A granite statue of Admiral James Silver stood outside the school with the company of the occasional pigeon that rested there. Admiral Silver was tall and brawny and seemed to look young to me. I figured that they sculpted him when he was in his twenties. He wore his British naval uniform proudly and stood with each hand on his hips. I parked in my usual spot in front of him, still feeling ridiculous for gawking at the statue.
Forecastle was swarming with students who sat at it’s steps and mingled, talking about the game last night or the new hottest fashions. I walked past the cliques and crowds and headed straight for the doors. Along the hallways and the doors, bulletins, flyers, and notices lined the walls. I pushed past a group of seniors, who were checking their scores of last week’s test, to the stairs to the fourth floor. Class room 4B6 was my first period, Algebra. I took my seat next to Henrey, who had befriended me on my first day here.
“Hey Annabelle!” Henrey beamed, flashing his white teeth.
His jet black hair fell across his eyes that he had to constantly brush them out of his way. He was about a few inches taller than I am, making me fell even more awkward about my height. A lot of the girls thought he was cute. Like “feminine” cute. I did think that also, but not as cute as Derek back in Regald, the city I grew up in. He was “the-guy-next-door” cute. We were friends since our diaper days.
“Hey,” I plopped my backpack on the ground and the classroom echoed the sound. “How was the party last night?”
“It was so much fun! You should’ve been there!” He was always kind and considerate. I liked that.
Ms. Gibbs entered the class and called out for order three times after catching a paper airplane and nearly dodging a spit ball. After the class settled and took their seats, she began her lesson. Two kids were already asleep ten minutes after she started and one was even beginning to drool. My mind strayed away from the lecture and drifted off someplace else.
I suddenly remembered that dream I had. It was the same one I’d been having for two and a half years now. The woman shouting orders, sailing against the winds, and me staring up at her while pulling the riggings to stable the sails.
“Pull harder. Stay on course ya scallywags,” I accidently whispered out loud.
“What did you say, Miss Gale?” Ms. Gibbs yanked me back down to earth.
“What?”I answered, dumbfounded.
“Would you like to add something, Miss Gale?”
“Uh...Well I...” I jumped when the second period bell rang. “I gotta go.” I left the classroom, leaving Ms. Gibbs awestruck.