The mistake

I woke up to my alarm blaring in my ear, a sound I just can’t ever seem to get used to. Tapping the button on the top of my clock to turn off the repetitive beep I climb out of my bed and start my day. I put on the same boring blue polo shirt paired with a mute beige skirt that I seem to wear just about all the time. I walk out of my room to see my sister, Anna also in the same outfit sitting at the living room table eating breakfast. I wish I could say watching the news brought some sort of valuable information to us, the viewers but it’s government ran and has been broadcasting the same topics for weeks. I stare at the screen just like Anna, watching the news anchor discuss the new ban on practicing Christianity outside of your homes. This is one of the more relatively new bans, last month it was regulating curfew and prohibiting the people in my city from petitioning against our new dress code. Nonetheless, I was not surprised to see the new ban.

I grab my backpack and call for Anna to follow me out of the house. My parents went to work early this morning, so I take my house key and Anna’s hand and leave for school. As we’re walking down the sidewalk I watch one of my neighbors pulling out their signs protesting against the new petition ban from their freshly cut grass. I bet they told them to take it down, I think to myself as I walk by.

Anna is three grades below me so I walk with her to her school and then catch the public bus to my school. As I sit on the bus, we pass by vendors. One of the vendors is yelling about newspapers that he and I both know nobody is going to buy. I catch the bright blue government seal in the corner of the paper before flying past.

I make it to school on time and head to class in a crowd full of girls wearing the same boring blue polo shirt and that wretched beige skirt. My teacher writes our assignment on the board and we begin. I notice two girls in the back talking about the news, their opinions on it being heard throughout the room. Before I can go back to my assignment, the door opens and the girls look up, realizing their mistake.