Six Forty-Five Part 1

The day before everything went crazy, I lay in bed, watching my alarm clock as it hit six forty-five. I knew that in five minutes my alarm would be going off, so it was useless to try and fall back to sleep, and yet I was in no hurry to leave the warmth of my bed. I know that for most people, it would be pretty weird to have your alarm set for ten to the hour instead of on the hour or on the half-hour, but I have a lot of little quirks like that, and most of them dont make any sense, even to me.

Finally, I sighed, and got out of bed.

I started getting dressed, which for me involves a very specific routine I HAVE to follow, or I get super-anxious. I always get dressed socks first, then underwear, then pants, and lastly shirt. I cant seem to mix up that order if I want to stay calm.

I do my teeth, and go down to the kitchen to make myself breakfast. As usual, nobody else is around, so I just have cereal. My mom and step-dad both have jobs that start early in the morning, so I take care of myself, like I’ve been doing for the last couple of years.

“You’re a big boy, sweetie. I trust you to take care of things.” Is what my mom told me, and I dont ever want to let her down.

I do that often enough.

Once I’m done, I put back the cereal and milk where they belong and rinse out my bowl and put it in the sink. I do a quick check to make sure I haven’t left a mess, and then I grab my jacket and start heading toward school.

As always, I’m the first one there. Sometimes, I have to wait until the janitor comes to unlock the door, but I dont mind.

He never says much to me, just unlocks the door and goes in, and lets me do my thing. We’ve been doing this routine since I was in grade seven, and so by now, two years later, there aren’t a lot of surprises in it for either of us.

I’m not fond of surprises.

Once inside, I do a circuit of the whole building. I go down the hallways, and into some rooms. One of the rooms I always go into is the girl’s change room to get to the gym, even though I’m a boy.

The first day I was here, I was afraid I’d get in trouble going where no boy goes, but not going through the change room made me hyperventilate, and in any case there’s nobody here to get mad at me anyway, so I just go in.

Its honestly not anything special, not really different from the boy’s change room I use for gym, except that there are spare cheer uniforms hung up inside. I touch the skirt of one, feeling the fabric, and then put it back on the hanger.

I ache to put it on, but I cant.

Bad things happen to boys who wear skirts.

I do a circle of the gym, and go back through the girl’s change room to get back to the hallway.

I never visit the boy’s room except when its gym time.

I go back down the hall, and stop at the door of my first class for the day. I sit down with the door to my back, and pull a book out of my bag, and start to read.

I read until the teacher comes to let me into the class. I love reading, especially fantasy and science fiction books. I have a special library card that lets me use the adult section of my local library, and I’m working my way through their entire collection.

Again.

The day before everything went crazy was a pretty typical day for me. I get kicked, punched, and tripped pretty much every time a teacher isnt watching over me. I also get reminded how much of a sissy freak fag I am, in case I might have forgotten since yesterday.

At lunchtime, I sit in my little corner of the lunchroom, near the teacher responsible for watching over us. As always, no one sits on either side of me.

Whatever I’ve got, apparently they think its catching.

The day drags to an end, and I quickly walk home, and for once I make it there without getting beat up.

At suppertime, my step-dad does his usual, and yells at me for not being more manly.

Like I hadn’t tried.

Like I enjoy being a sissy fag freak.

Finally, I stared crying, and run to my room. I shout “I wish you all would just GO AWAY!” and slammed the door.

I cried myself to sleep, not realizing that the next day would be the day everything went crazy.

*****