My phone wakes me up at 6:45. There’s no hope of me ever getting up at that ridiculous time, but I can always try. I’ll put the alarm on snooze so it goes off every five minutes until I finally get fed up and crawl out of bed. I’m actually not that bad in the mornings; it’s just that I’ve learnt to hate the sound of my alarm because I know I can’t stay curled under the warmth of my duvet.
I’ll jealously wander past the other rooms in the house as I hear the snores coming from within, knowing that inside them Mum, Shaun and Jon are still fast asleep, dreaming, as I get ready for school.
Downstairs, I let my dogs – Hatty and Morris – out into the garden. Their paws draw out patterns on the wet grass as Pru, the cat, streaks up a tree out of sight.
I make no effort to get dressed quietly – if I’m up, then so should everyone else be! I then do my makeup, but I have so many different colours of eyeliner it’s mad and I can never choose; I like my blue, black and orange the best.
At 8:10 Ben will knock on my door even though I am never ready. Nav will turn up a few minutes later; I’ll check my bag for books, keys and everything else and then start walking. I really like going to school with Nav and Ben because I know them so well. They were both in my form in high school, so that’s four years. I think that friends are one of the most important things that you need to live, and I feel really sorry for people who don’t have them, without friends it would get so lonely and you would have no one to turn to when life got you down.
When we get to school I always seem to be the last one into the form room. I sit with Sarah, Ellie, Leo, Hannah and David. We talk for the time we have and then David, without fail, will ask ‘Joss, do you have any gum?’ He says it every morning. I wonder if you can become addicted to chewing gum…
I’ll struggle through my first lessons in a sleepy daze, like a hedgehog that has just woken up from its winter hibernation. I’m probably as hungry as one as well, seeing as I was too late to get breakfast and I’ll have to wait for lunch now.
I love food and I eat anything. I like exotic flavours and things that people don’t normally eat, but I refuse to touch bread sauce – it is officially the foulest thing to have ever entered my mouth.
I remember watching Jamie moan about how teenagers don’t get enough fruit and vegetables, but not everyone is like that; in our house the fruit bowl is always full and we get at least 5 a-day, if not more. I think that that is the best way for life – exercise and good food. It really worries me when you hear about girls who starve themselves just to stay skinny. Not only is it scary to think that people do that, but also, isn’t it going against human nature? To eat is to live and that is a basic human need. Society must be wrong if we portray skeletons as beautiful.
After lunch, depending on whether it is early or late, I’ll have one or two lessons to go. These seem to go so fast because I’m looking forwards to going home. Don’t get me wrong – I love school and I like to learn. My brain is a plant that needs looking after to thrive, it has to be used and that is natural for it, just like a plant needs water and sun to live. I also like school because of the people here. I like how one person can be friends with so many people and different aspects from each of them merge together to make a wholly unique individual. Basically I find people interesting.
At 2:50 I get to go home. I’ll make my way to the front of Beauchamp where we all just talk until we want to go home. I nearly always end up walking with Ben, Eugene or Tim. Since I’ve been at Beauchamp I’ve met so many more people who I get on with. At my school everyone knew everyone and there were groups of people – the ‘skaters’, the ‘emos’, the ‘chavs – and it became boring being labeled all the time. Beauchamp really was a breath of fresh air.
When I walk in my front door, I take my shoes off, put my bag in my room and go to watch some TV. My pet rats Evie and Dudey will always get carried around on my shoulders.
Rats are really intelligent, sociable creatures that love to be around humans; they come when you call their name, they follow you around and bring you things that they find.
I’ll watch Hollyoaks at 6:30, then Skins on Tuesday nights, Heroes on Wednesday. I honestly think that those two series’ are the best thing ever to be on TV (unless Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings is on - I love fantasy, and how you can just get lost in totally made up worlds).
The dogs will come in to sleep now. They sprawl across their sofa in the conservatory, because I don’t like cages – no living thing should have to be caged and it’s my worst fear to be trapped inside one.
When I go upstairs I have to close my windows so the Daddy-long-legs don’t fly towards the lights in my room. They give me the creeps.
My room is so filled with posters and tickets from gigs I’ve been to and photos of me and my friends and drawings that you can hardly see my walls. I love reading, so my cupboards are filled with hundreds of books – Anne Rice, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Stephenie Meyer, Meg Cabot, Phillip Pulman… the list goes on. It’s my favourite place in my house, I go there to relax, to de-stress, to have fun, to listen to music (Blue October, Paramore, +44), which is normally very loud!
When I want to go to sleep, I lay on my bed and think about my day. I’ll sort out things that have been worrying me so that when I finally close my eyes it’s a good sleep.
Listening to the noises coming from outside I’m reminded that I am just one of millions of humans on this planet who are destroying everything. I don’t want to ruin this world.
I want to make a difference with my life.