Hiding in My Head - Chapter One

Hello. My name is Magnolia. Call me Maggie. This is the story of the summer my entire life changed. 

My summer started out fine. It was a typical summer, days spent at the pool or the park, nights spent stargazing or biking around the neighborhood. 

I was fourteen. I'd just turned fourteen in April, and I was still getting used to the feeling of having graduated middle school. Three of the best years of my life, all behind me. High school would be a new beginning. But I'd only think that until, well, let's not talk about it yet. 

June started out with me and my best friends, Daisy and Khloe, at the city pool, where we could always be found during long, hot summer days. Daisy, as always, was just dipping her feet in. Khloe had her tan arms resting on the side of the pool and was lazily kicking the water behind her. I, of course, always being the adventurous one of my friends, was diving down to the lowest depth of the pool, all the way down to ten feet, while I tipped my head up, felt my hair flow, or opened my eyes for a second to see Daisy's painted toenails and Khloe's long brown legs. I'd always been jealous of Khloe's physique. She was muscular and athletic while I, even being the most adventurous and outgoing, was skinny and, as much as I hated to admit it, out of shape. Needless to say, my adventures weren't always physical. But I did love the occasional hike or whatever. Most of my "adventurous" title came from being the first to go on scary roller coasters, first to scale the tallest wall at the local rock climbing gym, etc. Simple stuff like that. 

I kicked my legs until I popped the surface of the water, splashing Daisy with water, making her squeal, and taking a deep breath. "What are you guys doing tomorrow?" I asked. 

Daisy looked at Khloe. "We're going to our soccer tournament, remember?" 

I nodded. "Of course. I forgot. Well, have fun. I don't know if I'll come to the pool or not, though." 

Khloe laughed. "And suffer the embarrassment of swimming without your friends? I wouldn't either." 

"Yeah, right. You know she would." Daisy narrowed her eyes at Khloe in a playful way. And that's why I loved the two of them. The three of us were always teasing each other, no matter what the situation. But we all enjoyed it, so it was fine with me. 

Daisy tipped her head back, closing her eyes and letting the sun warm her face. "I love coming to the pool," she said, and Khloe and I exchanged glances with each other. 

"Yeah, Daisy, you love it until there's real, actual water involved," I said, splashing her with a bit of water. 

Daisy rolled her eyes. "There is actual water involved. My feet are in it, remember?" 

I nodded and raised my eyebrows. Daisy and Khloe could be so dramatic sometimes. But then again, so could I. 

"On another note," Khloe added, "I canNOT believe we're going to be in high school in three months! Isn't that crazy?" 

Daisy and I nodded, agreeing. "Crazy," I said. 

"When are you going shopping for school clothes?" Daisy asked. 

I was about to answer but then I looked at Khloe. She was looking away. I knew her family didn't have a lot of money, so sometimes she couldn't spend money on things like back-to-school clothes like Daisy and I could. 

"Um," I said, "I don't know. When do you guys want to go?" 

Khloe pursed her lips. "Maybe later in the summer, like August. We might grow, or maybe not," She whispered the last part, looking at me. I stuck my tongue out at her. "And, I think I'm going to be babysitting for one of my neighbors this summer, so I'll have more money then." 

Daisy nodded. "Seems logical. Plus, we never know what new trends could reveal themselves over the summer." 

"Of course!" Khloe cried. "Are you even kidding me? Last summer, there was the black sneakers that we ALL had to have, Ulli's at the mall that opened in July, and THEN everybody started wearing stuff from there, and oh, my gosh, it was crazy." 

I rolled my eyes at Daisy. "Yup, Khloe, just like that." 

Khloe gave me a bored look. "And what are you going to buy? Adidas? Nike? Under Armour?" 

I shook my head. "Actually," I said, "I'm changing my style this year. No more athletic clothes and stuff like that. I'm going to wear nice clothes to school. I'll look classy."

"Classy," Daisy repeated, looking up at some birds that were flying by. "Classy. I like it. Very Maggie-like." 

"Just you wait and see," I said, "You'll see. It'll suit me." Then the whistle blew to signal the end of free-pool time, and Khloe and Daisy and I made our way to the exit. 

"I'll see you on Monday!" I waved goodbye to Daisy and Khloe, who would be competing in the soccer tournament for the city soccer team that weekend. We blew each other kisses, our standard farewell, and I kicked the kickstand back up on my bike, heading off to my house. 

"WAIT!" I heard from behind me and I turned around, stopping my bike. I sighed and saw it was my ten-year-old brother, Atticus. He was on his own bike with his towel slung over his shoulder. Mine was atop my head, tied around my hair in a turban-like style. I waited until Atticus had caught up to me and then I kept going. 

"Guess what, Mags?" Atticus asked. 

"What?" I replied, keeping my eyes ahead. 

"Today in the pool, one of my friends actually stayed underwater for a minute! A whole minute, can you believe that?" 

I nodded. "Yes, I can." One time, Khloe had stayed underwater for fifty seconds. I'd counted. I knew a minute was reachable, but I'd never tried it myself. Too scary. I could see myself passing out and then drowning. 

When Atticus and I reached home, we shoved our bikes up against the edge of the garage wall so our parents' cars could fit in when they came home. My mom worked as a nurse at the local hospital, and my dad was a teacher preparing for the coming school year. 

Atticus opened the front door with his house key and our little white Pomeranian dog, Sasha, greeted us with many kisses and a lot of jumping. Atticus bent down to pet her hello, and I went upstairs to shower and change out of my swimsuit. I could hear Atticus in his bathroom downstairs, singing a Beatles song at the top of his lungs, and I rolled my eyes and shut my bathroom door. I turned the shower on and tipped my head down, letting the warm water run over my hair and my body. 

I got out of the shower and quickly changed into shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't really care how I looked, as I'd just be staying home the rest of the night. 

When I got downstairs, Atticus was sitting on the couch, reading one of the books from the Hypnotics series, his new obsession. I'd read them once. They weren't enjoyable. 

I went back up to my room and logged into my computer. I went straight to Instagram to check my new pool posts from a few days earlier. Khloe and Daisy and I'd done a pool "photo shoot" with my new camera and we'd all posted some of the pictures on Instagram. 

I smiled. The picture I'd taken of Khloe by the side of the pool had received 203 likes. The picture of Daisy's feet in the water had 178 likes. And the one of me underwater had received 256 likes! I spun around in my desk chair. I was so grateful to have so many friends going into high school. Yes, I'd been one of the more "popular girls" in middle school, but it's not like I was mean or anything. The other girls just liked my Instagram pictures, sat by me and some other "popular" girls at lunch, and texted each other a lot. Yeah, there'd been girls in my grade who were more "excluded," like Darby Meyers or Kalina Ericks, but they were honestly weird. 

I logged off my computer and shut it when I heard the garage door open. Either this meant Dad had come home early or Mom was home to cook dinner.