I woke up to my mom saying, "Hey, Maddie, it's time to wake up. You have to go to school today, you've been out of school for way too long. Take a shower and get some breakfast okay?"

I mumbled, "Okay, okay. I'll get up later."

My mother used a sterner tone, "No Maddie. Get up. Now." She put some force into the last word that only a mother could. I got up. I grabbed my clothes and stumbled to the bathroom.

When I finished my shower I went out to the kitchen and Jace was making pancakes. "Good morning Maddie. I hope you're hungry. I made breakfast for you."

My stomach growled in reply. I looked around the kitchen and saw bacon, sausage, eggs, and some pancakes on the table. I looked at Jace, "You made all of this? For me? Why?"

To this, he replied, "You're going back to school, you're going to need the energy to stay awake." He stayed completely deadpan. As did I. I turned and walked back to my room to pack my bag for the day. It was only then that I realized that I hadn't seen Jace around very often. I walked back out to the kitchen, "Jace, why aren't you here very much? I haven't seen you around lately."

He replied, "I've been at football practice, staying after school to study, and been going to friends' houses to study. I also have marching band practice. Colleges aren't going to take just anybody and getting started on working towards that in our Freshman year is going to help a lot."

"Oh. Ok." I was kind of startled. I didn't really know what to think. He was planning for college already? I don't ev-

"Breakfast!" My thoughts were cut off for now.

"Hey Maddie, I have to get to work so you guys are taking the bus to school, okay?" My mom hollered as she walked out the door.

"Yep, perfect. I'll see you later. Bye mom, love you!" I shouted back.

I quickly finished eating breakfast and went and brushed my teeth. The toothpaste tasted weird after having syrup on my pancakes. I involuntarily shivered from the taste. I almost gagged, I finished brushing my teeth, got my coat and backpack and went outside with Alex and Jace to wait for the bus.

The bus finally came after 10 freezing minutes of waiting outside in the cold December air. I got help from Alex and Jace while getting on the bus and then got helped into an empty seat and then Alex sat with me. I wondered who all of these people were, I probably knew them, or at least some of them.

"It's about an hour until we get to school, so why don't you take a nap," Alex suggested.

I shrugged and put my head on her shoulder. She smelled like cinnamon and vanilla, I breathed it in. "You smell good."

"Umm, thanks? I think? Is that the correct response when someone smells me?" She said.

I laughed, shrugged once again and went to sleep. I woke up, an hour later, to Alex shaking me awake. I shot up and looked around, alarmed. I realized where I was and relaxed. Not a strange place this time. There was one more person just stepping off the bus. Jace took my walker and Alex was behind me to help me off the bus so I wouldn't fall. It took a while, taking it one painstaking step at a time. My unused muscles screamed in resistance. I winced and Jace saw.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My muscles just are a pain in the butt. Literally. They all hurt." I replied.

When we finally got off the bus and into the school, both of them took me to my first class of the day. Chorus. They checked in with my chorus teacher, Mrs. Vasquez, and made sure that I was all taken care of. I rolled my eyes and sighed. I don't really need to be babied. It's just annoying.

"Good morning Maddie. How are you feeling today?" Mrs. Vasquez asked.

"Great actually. I feel like nothing ever happened. Except for my unused muscles. I don't recommend breaking both of your legs. It sucks." I replied.

She laughed, "Yeah, you're right about that."

She handed me the music that I missed before the bell rang. When the bell finally did ring, she began class. We started with some warm-ups and eventually moved on to our Christmas songs. The first half of the day flew by. I barely remember what happened in chorus. Or any of my other classes for that matter.

At lunch, I sought out my sister. I sat with her, Lucy, Ruby, and a couple of other people that I don't know.

"So, how's your day going?" Alex asked.

"It's going great. I don't really remember what happened in my classes though," I replied.

She frowned, "Should we be worried about it?"

I shook my head, "No. It's nothing. Do you remember anything that happened in your classes?" I looked around the table.

They all shook their heads. "See," I said, "Perfectly normal. Even you don't remember anything."

She shrugged and kept eating her pizza. I wasn't very hungry so I drank some water and offered my tray to the people at my table. Ruby took it and ate my pizza. I laughed.

"Is this an everyday thing? Do you always take my food?" I wondered.

"Yes and I have been starving without you," she replied.

We all laughed. The bell rang and we all went our separate ways. I went to math class. I was in geometry. It is the worst possible subject ever. Whoever created it is the worst. I don't really remember anything that happened in my last few classes either. It's really weird. I met my sister by the front doors and we went out to the busses. We were the first ones there. I noticed that this was a different bus and it had a handicap lift. Alex noticed it too.

"Hey Judy," apparently that was the bus driver's name, "Could you extend the handicap lift for Maddie?" My sister asked.

"Sure thing, Miss Alexandria. Not a problem." She replied.

The lift was lowered and I stepped on. I was able to get on the bus easily and get into a seat without any trouble. Alex came and sat next to me. Soon the other kids were piling on the bus. Some wondered why we had a different bus. Others wondered why I was even at school. I ignored them all and leaned my head on Alex's shoulder and fell asleep. Once again I woke up to Alex shaking me awake, but this time it was because we were getting dropped off at home.

When I walked into the house I announced, "Hey mom, we're home. I'm going to bed! I'll see you in the morning!"

"Do you have any homework?" came the reply.

"Nope, I don't," I answered.

"That's fine. Holler if you need anything!"

I walked into my room, laid down on my bed and immediately fell asleep.