Morning

The water hits her face and chest. It’s so hot that she can feel goose bumps form across her bare skin. She keeps her eyes closed as she embraces the continuous stream of water and lets it calm her body. She turns around and wets her hair before lathering a huge glob of shampoo into her mop. Rinsing the shampoo out of her hair, she watches the soap fall down her curves and spiral down into the drain. She puts more cream into her hands and layers her tresses in conditioner. As she waits a few minutes for it to soak into her hair and scalp, she washes her face and shaves her legs. She hikes up her leg and lets the steaming water massage her calf. Gripping the blade, she skims over the contours of her leg and eliminates the burdensome stubble as she does every morning. She repeats this process on the other leg and curses when the blade catches, nicking her skin. She watches the crimson liquid drizzle down her calf for a second before the water thrashes over her leg, washing it away. Opening her bottle of Aveeno shower gel, she slaps some soap onto her body and rubs it around a bit letting the smell hit her nostrils and relax her thoughts. She rinses the conditioner out, and is excited by the new, smooth texture of her locks. She shuts the water off and covers her body with a large, fluffy towel. It feels good on her skin and she walks out of the shower into the spacious bathroom.
She unwraps the towel from her damp body and purses her lips as she takes a small glance at her figure through the mirror. Clouds of steam radiate from her body, and the warm air mixed with lavender and chamomile burns mildly in her nose. Large droplets of water splash to the floor from her drenched hair. She grabs the towel and shakes it over her head roughly, soaking up the excess water. She puts each of her ankles through the lace and pulls the panties up her calves and thighs slowly. Standing on her tip toes, she looks at her legs and butt in the mirror, the cheeks cup out slightly at the bottom. “Cute,” she thinks. Then she frowns, noticing a newfound layer of fat around her thigh. Sighing and clasping her bra together, she dares not to take another look at her body.
Reluctantly, she leaves the bathroom and walks into the cool confines of her room. She rummages through piles of clothes and finally chooses a pair of light, faded jeans with tears and holes all over them and a “Nantucket red” t-shirt. She pulls the shirt over her head and smoothes it out across her stomach and back. She glances at the white letters spelling N-A-N-T-U-C-K-E-T backwards in the mirror and smiles slightly, remembering her own journey down those cobblestone streets. She opens her mouth wide and lets out a large yawn. When she closes it again she suddenly tastes the peanut butter and chocolate from the cereal she ingested an hour before.
She runs cool water over her toothbrush and squeezes a bit of minty freshness onto the bristles. She carefully cleans each tooth, smoothing out their surface. Quickly brushing over her tongue and spitting a few times into the sink, she turns the water off. She wipes her mouth with a towel and walks out the door only to walk back in again a second later to retrieve her forgotten purple comb.
She combs through her hair roughly. There is no time for nonsense this morning. She untwines all of the tangles in her damp hair until her fingers can go through the strands smoothly. Squeezing a dime sized amount of cream onto her hand she works it through her hair gently to make her hair softer. “Beep. Beep. Beep.” That’s the sound her hair straightener makes when pressing the buttons to make it hotter. After waiting a few moments, the straightener is finally hot enough to smooth out her unruly waves. She calmly presses portions of her hair and listens to the steady clack of the straightener as she works. Looking at her work she smiles and sprays a layer of hairspray about her locks.
She grabs a pair of tweezers from her bag and scorns the mess her eyebrows have become. She plucks each unwanted, misplaced eyebrow hair as she watches the skin blush from the necessary pain. She lets out a small forced laugh as she thinks of her former hair dresser’s ranting, “The things women do for beauty. Beauty takes pain Noel!”
Happy to be done taming the caterpillars above her eyes, she turns to the mirror, stares at her pale skin, and pulls out a variety of makeup. She frowns at the shadows below her eyes, and smoothes on a small layer of concealer. She sweeps the beige cream over her face to cover all of her flaws. The cream is cool on her skin. She skims her face briskly with a loose powder on her skin, and brushes some tan bronzer swiftly about her cheeks. Moving her face closer to the mirror, she delicately lines the top of each eyelid with the black pencil, purposely going a bit past the outside corner of her eye. She does the same on the bottom lid, stopping at the end of her lid. A small gold case is lying on the floor next to her; she grabs it and holds the small brush in between her fingers. She layers the violet powder onto the brush and generously sweeps it across each lid. Pulling out a pink tube of mascara, she unscrews the top and pulls out the applicator with globs of thick black cream. Before wiping the brush on her lashes, she wipes the excess mascara off on the tube. She applies the black substance on her lashes and watches them lift and separate. Screwing the top back into the tube, she smiles at her work. She is finished “putting on her face,” as her friend Mary would say.
Glancing at her phone, she sees that she has time to warm up her car before speeding off to school. After putting on a warm black jacket she runs outside and unlocks the dark green door. Sliding into the seat, she blows hot air onto her fingers and shoves the cold key into the colder ignition. Making sure the doors are unlocked, she turns the defrosters and the heat to the highest setting and runs back into the toasty house. She runs through the house grabbing her sandwich for lunch, her backpack, her brothers, and pair of fuzzy fleece gloves. Finally, her brothers and her all pile into the car and speed off to class.