Que Sera, Sera chapter 1

Que Sera, Sera: chapter 1
     The alarm sounded like a klaxon when it went off at 6:30 in the morning. Sera slowly opened one eye, and then the other, hoping that it was all a dream and that she could go back to sleep. She knew better than that, though.
     She let the alarm go for another minute or two before shutting it off. Her long, chocolate brown hair was nestled under her head like a silky pillow, and smelled of pine and tiger lilies.  She longed to lay there and relax, but an exciting day was about to unfold before her: her first day of high school.
     She looked back at the alarm clock. 6:40. Well, she thought, I better get up. She sat up and stretched her sleepy muscles before she actually moved out of the room. As she walked down the hallway, she tripped over a remote-controlled car and landed on her hands and knees. "Dammit, Max! Learn to pick up your frickin' toys!" she said angrily under her breath.
     After she finished her chores, she got breakfast. She sat in the living room, watching the news like she always did, but something didn't feel right to her. Thinking about it long and hard, she realized what was wrong. Susan wasn't home; she was away at college for her freshman year. She was no longer there to do menial chores like waking Max up (which took quite a while to do), or to talk to about what she felt from day to day. In her heart, Sera felt an emptiness and sadness where her sister had been. With Susan gone, Sera was now the oldest child in the house and had to pick up whatever extra chores needed to be done. That meant waking Max up.
     She washed her cereal bowl and put it in the dish washer, thinking about how to get Max up. Suddenly, something a bit devious came into her head. Pots and pans. She picked up a pot and a wooden spoon, and walked like a ninja to Max's room. His door slowly creaked open and she walked as close as she could to him.
     CLANG-CLANG-CLANG! Sera hit the bottom of the pot with the spoon, making a loud gong-like noise. "Time to get up!" Sera shouted over the din of the pot.
     "AHHH!!" Max screamed as he was awakened by the loud noise. He sat up so quickly that he lost his balance and fell on the floor. His pillow flopped over onto his head and the blanket was twisted around him. "What'd you do that for?!" he asked, his voice cracking a bit. Puberty was already rough on a twelve-year-old boy, but every time he spoke, it just reminded him more of his suffering.
     "Good, you're up. Start your chores, Max. You don't wanna be late for your first day of middle school," Sera said in a singsong voice. When she knew he was permanently awake, she left the house.
     She walked next door to Josh's house. Josh was her best friend ever since they were born. He was always her protector, and she could trust him with everything. She waited on the front steps for him, looking at her watch. 7:30. In a half hour, school would start. She began to think of all the stuff that she had heard about high school. The more and more she thought about it, the more she became anxious and nervous.
     She started rocking back and forth gently, trying to cope with the anxiety. Rocking back and forth was just one of her comfort mechanisms. She didn't cope like everyone else did with anxiety and nervousness, and she knew and accepted it. Sera had Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder that handicapped her in social interactions and made making friends difficult for her. She was just like every other teenager, but she didn't look people in the eye most of the time and was awkward, shy, and had trouble with keeping up conversations. Luckily, she had her friends Josh and Ezzie to help her.
     After about ten minutes, Josh emerged from the house and bumped into Sera. He noticed she was rocking and sat beside her.
     "What's wrong, Ser-Bear?" he asked, using her nickname he created for her. He only used that name when he was trying to make her feel better.
     "High school," she said tersely, not even looking him in the eye. She was always short with people when she was stressed.
     "What about it?" He scooted closer to her. When their knees touched, she blushed a bit. Josh had been her crush ever since seventh grade, but she never mustered up the courage to tell him that.
     "Starting a new school is stressful and I'm just nervous and anxious and I don't know if I can do it," Sera said quickly. Suddenly, she felt his hand stroking her back, trying to calm her down as much as she could. She started to relax a bit and took several deep breaths.
     "I know it's a scary thing, but we've been through this before. Remember when we started middle school? You were a mess," he chuckled. "I know you can do it, Sera. I know it." And with that, he hugged her. It wasn't a romantic hug, but it was just reassurance that she could get through this.