The Planner

“Ellie, Mrs. Madonna would kill me if she saw you here after hours on a friday.” Leo, My best friend moaned again from the checkout isle of the library. The meticulous beeping of the register had become like a pattern to me. Leo looked around worriedly to check if his supervisor had seen him like he was committing a crime.

“Sorry, the high school reunion took longer than anticipated. My schedule did not consider that Ivy Lillis would corner me at the buffet and make fun of my planner like she did in grade school. It also did not consider that I would have told her that I had scheduled my planner so I had no time for her b-” I was cut off by Mrs. Madonna clicking her tongue at me. She glared at me with her cold, calculating, squinted eyes. Shifting her gaze to Leo as he looked at the books as if not knowing the time

“Leo, I thought I told you not to let anyone after hours, like a friend.” she lectured motioning her arms violently to me.

"It's after hours?" He asked, as if surprised.

"Yes, I even told on the announcement system." She said pointedly, not believing Leo's excuse.

"Somehow, I don't believe your excuse." She said in an interrogational style. You could not fool the old woman. She was deceptively smart and quite savvy.

“It’s not Leo’s fault,” I started but was cut off by Leo, placing the pile of books he had just checked out for me into my hands, and Mrs. Madonna pushed me outside before I could finish my words. She closed the door, locking it and me outside the creaky library. I shivered, slowly inching towards my car. Why did they have to close at 5?  Opening my journal, I checked out going to the library. I walked towards the car. It started revving up loudly, as it drove around the block. Twisting around the curb, my car slowed down at the closest coffee shop. The door was a dark green and jingled slightly. A blonde girl brimming with pep greeted her. 

“Hello! Welcome to Cafe Rosé! How may I take your order?” she peeped.

"I would like to get a Mocha, Please," The girl smiled at me.

"will you pay with card or cash?" She asked

"Card." I said swiping my credit card as it beeped in approval.

After I ordered the drink, I sat at a table the leather of the chair (which was vegan as the coffeehouse was vegan) was cracked. It looked genuine. As I payed attention to the leather, I was called up to the bar. A commotion sounded from behind me, and as I turned around. I saw my planner. Coffee had found its way through. A boy ran back and forth placing paper towels on the mess. But the damage was done. The coffee had soaked through leaving the paper destroyed and scrambled. 

“Excuse ME!”I yelled at the top of my lungs, the coffee house turned to look at me. “I was gone one minute! And I come back to my journal destroyed!” I started to rush past the table to my purse and novel. Which thankfully were not destroyed. 

“I’m sorry!” He said “I will replace it. Here how much did the book cost?” He said. 

“32 Dollars.” I said.

“Why would it be that much?” He said skeptically.

“I bought a pretty one, because I expected that someone would not pour their coffee on it.” I said pointedly to which he opened his wallet and gave the dollars. I took it and walked out. 

At work that week, my boss gave me work overtime, to the amount where I had enough energy to eat and go to sleep after work, so getting the planner was out of the question. One day I came home to a blackout. At which I groaned and lay on the floor. Pain swept through my bones. I felt so tired. My sleep had been lack luster, and my diet had surprisingly, a lot of pickles.

Night bloomed over the city like a dark flower watching and towering over. All that was left was the noise of traffic. I took this time to reflect on myself. What could I change? What did I need to change? Ivy Lillis’s words filtered through my brain you still aren't off that silly little planner. Tears poured through my eyes. I was always bullied because of it. It seemed against my morals to change for a old bully, but what Ivy would never get is that it hurt me emotionally and changed the way I perceived the world. But I never wanted to admit that I needed to get off of it. Excuses for it, piled higher and higher until I could not see the light of day peaking through all of the words. I sat on the floor pain sweeping through me. I had to get rid of it. My heart tightened. Without it I was nothing. No. I could get out of this. I admit it might be hard, but you are good at hard things. You can do it. I believe in you and soon the excuses turned into inspiration. No longer will I be held back by this. I can get out. I pulled out my phone and texted Leo.

…

“Wait, so you are going off your planner?” Leo asked while slurping his hot chocolate, eyes wide open.

“Yeah!” I said.

“I am so proud of you. You have come so far. I believe in you. Good Job!” He congratulated me. And I smiled, happy for a new beginning.

To be honest the transfer to a life not based on a book was hard. I sometimes wondered how it came to this, but I realized I was proud of what I had done so far. Now 2 years in the future to the moment, I live my life to the fullest, I have started a new chapter. I am proud of my accomplishments so far.