[center] Ved [/center]
	He awoke with a start, his alarm screaming into his ear as he reached for the "off" switch as quickly as he could physically manage. six-fifteen, the clock read, he had set it the night before at six o'clock, perhaps this wasn't the first time he had been awoken by the unholy screams of an angry alarm. Pushing away the thought, he pivoted himself in the bed so his feet were touching the ground, and sat up, Last nights pint still had a bit  of whiskey in it, so he took a quick swig, cringing at the piss-warm alcohol. He smacked the flies away from his empty can of soda that he used as an ashtray, and lit himself a cigarette, taking a long hard drag from it, and coughing a bit at the inhale required to stomach the smoke.

	After his cigarette was a shower, water that was just a bit warmer than the room he was in, more of an act of comfort than actually cleansing mindfulness. He washed his hair with some strange African shampoo his mom had gotten him under the pretense of it being [i]"Made for black hair, like yours!"[/i] See, he had been adopted at about 13, after his birth father had been killed in a police shoot-out his mother had been deemed insufficient to raise a child, so he was moved into the state foster system where he stayed for two years. His foster parents of spent their entire life trying to make him as comfortable with the racial differences between him and the others in the neighborhood as possible.

	After his morning routine at home, he made his way towards the school, seeing the same red car drive by that he saw every day he walked, although despite knowing of Alexis's existence for the past three years, he had never made an attempt to reach out to her, as he wasn't really too big on talking to other people. As he continued to walk, his phone rang with a loud buzz, he swiped open the phone to see an invitation to some party that was happening at the park. He responded affirmatively, confirming that he would be there, but that he just had to make it through the school day.

	Fourth block had just ended, and he was turning a corner when.
"Shit."
	He grunted as he hit the floor, some brunette chick standing over him, apologizing profusely as well as introducing herself. [i]Man this bitch can ramble.[/i] He thought as he picked himself up, ignoring her outstretched hand.
"Shit's cool man, call me Ved."
	He stated quickly, mainly just to stop her from talking. His voice rang with a deep accent, the type most people in the area would call 'Ebonics' or some other bullshit like that. He'd never been the greatest fan of the school system he was placed in, although he appreciated the chance at a fairly quality education, he was aware that it simply wasn't the fit for him. His plan was to be working-class, and support himself or his family through old-fashioned labor, not paper pushing at some corporate office and making more money than he knew what to do with.
"Just watch where you goin' next time."
	He continued as he leaned down a bit, picking up his last book to discover that he had landed on the book, ripping the spine down the center and causing several pages to fall out. And as luck would have it, the book happened to be the most expensive copy out of his entire library of textbooks. It would take a weeks pay just to replace this book, not to mention the price his parent's would make him pay for being so irresponsible.