One, two, three, four…  A small walk down to the streetcar stop kicked off Laura’s daily routine; her mind acted as its own entity and counted each one of her steps, avoiding the cracks in the pavement altogether. Specific holes in which dying weeds protruded evoked a frown from the peculiar girl, one nuisance of many that she would come across as the day proceeded. If she could somehow sweep and scrub the sidewalks of her town and keep them squeaky clean, she would.

 

The trolley nearly made her head spin, Stranger after stranger gripped the rusting poles and sat upon the wooden seats as if they could not feel the germs crawl over their bodies. Each morning, she equipped herself with a pack of sanitary wipes and hand sanitizer, using it religiously throughout the day. Albeit these did not mean as much to her as her bullet journal, she kept them close by her side with an unbreakable ardor.

 

The streetcar’s rickety path did not hinder Laura from further organizing her journal. She kept a itinerary that was set in stone; she’d guard that schedule with her life. A normal first impression of the uptight girl came with a sense of intimidation. Just watching her as she smoothly wiped down her seat before sitting and began to scribble neatly onto the pages of her journal left the other civilians with a nagging feeling that their life was an absolute mess, or at least, compared to hers it was.

 

Within the walls of each classroom, Laura’s professors looked upon her with great pleasure. They felt as if they had accomplished many things with her in particular, even though she had been this high-strung prior to middle school. The other students, however, developed the opposite perception of the young girl. Jealousy was the best word for it. As Laura recorded her sleeping schedule each day before the lecture began, squinted eyes and jutted out chins watched her, knowing smirks and snickers exchanged throughout the room.

 

Laura was not completely isolated and antisocial, but her close friends knew to keep their distance and abide by the tenets of her busy schedule. At a request for her to attend any type of social gathering, her fingers would flip through her journal and slide down to the specific date, followed by a solemn head shake, pointing to her plans which were mapped out months ahead. Study, exercise, study, sleep. Her guard was never let down.