Month: June 2015

Chapter One

 

Grace Cook and her sisters, Sadie and Ellie Cook had been best friends since the day that Grace had been born. They didn’t really fight. Even though Ellie was ten years older than Grace and Sadie was five years older, the trio acted in unison. But all of that was about to change on October 1st, 2010.

 

Grace left for school at 6:30 to catch the bus. She ran across the street with her long red pigtails whipping in the wind. She got on the bus and her friend Alyssa called out from the backseat: “Gracie, Happy Birthday!!! You’re finally ten!!”

“Thanks! And you know that you only turned ten, 21 days, 3 hours and 2 minutes ago, Alyssa.” Grace slid into the seat next to Alyssa, next to the window.

“That’s still 21 days, 3 hours, and 2 minutes ago!” Alyssa bragged.

Grace sat the rest of the bus ride listening to Alyssa talk excitedly about the six-person sleepover Grace managed to talk her mom into doing. Grace sat very quietly and stiller than a trash can when no one is in the room. She looked out the window and wished that Ellie and Sadie were here. Her favorite part of her birthday was going to be the secret feast that she was going to have with Ellie and Sadie at midnight. They had done this when Sadie turned ten. Grace couldn’t remember what they had done when Ellie had turned ten because she had just been born two months ago. The sleepover wasn’t it. It hadn’t been hard to get. She had just asked for The Feast. Ellie, Sadie, and Grace would be breaking a couple of rules.  a) They weren’t supposed to be up at 12:00 b) No food was allowed in Grace’s room and c) There was no c.

“Grace!!! We’re at school!” Alyssa shouted, shaking Grace’s arm.

They got off the bus and Alyssa skipped off to find their friends, Ela and Chloë Ledger, her strawberry blond hair bouncing back off her shoulders each time she took a skip. Grace ran after her, flying like the wind. She had been told that she was as graceful as wind when she ran. She flew to the school steps and sat down. She was feeling really lonely and wished that she could go to middle school with Sadie. Even if she still had few friends, at least she would be with her loving and kind older sister.

“I hope that the birthday girl doesn’t plan on sitting on the steps for the whole day,” a voice said over Grace. Grace looked up into the smiling face of Chloë Ledger, “Mind if I sit with you?” Grace shook her head. Chloë sat down and looked straight into Grace’s purplish-blue eyes and Grace stared right back into Chloë’s sea-blue eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Chloë asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Grace sighed and dropped her gaze from Chloë. “Where’s Ela?”

Ela was Grace’s best friend from first grade. That was when she had also became good friends with Matilda. Even though Chloë was Ela’s twin, she had only became good friends with her in 3rd grade, same with Alyssa.

“Ela’s inside. It’s almost 8:15. We should get inside as well.”

Chloë stood up. Grace got up too and as they walked in their school doors, Chloë took Grace’s hand.

“lt will be okay,” Chloë whispered into her ear.

They ran to the door and were sitting down at their wooden desks when the morning bell rang and their teacher, Ms. Kate walked in with a clip clack of her gold high heel shoes. She walked to the front of the room, sat down at her polished white desk, and turned to face the class.

“Good morning, ladies,” Ms. Kate said, and started the longgggest school day of school in Grace’s life.

Seven hours later (only it felt like seven hundred hours to Grace) Grace walked out of Elm Elementary and searched for their car that was going to pick Grace up.

“Over here, Gracie!!”

Grace whirled around and saw her sister Ellie standing by their Green Subaru.

“Ellie!!” Grace shouted, and ran into Ellie’s arms. Ellie laughed and ran a hand over Grace’s red pigtails. Grace looked up into Ellie’s warm brown eyes, and the loneliness melted away inside of her.

“How are you, Ellie?” Grace asked.

“How am I? How is the Birthday girl?” Ellie asked.

“She’s fine.”

“Hop, in the car, kiddo.” Grace got in the car and buckled herself into the seat. Ellie put the key in the keyhole, pressed the pedal, and the sisters set of home.

 

Chapter Two

 

At 7:30 in Grace’s apartment, Grace and her Family were eating 3-Cheese Mac-and-Cheese (Grace’s all-time favorite meal) and were having a nice conversation when Grace’s Mom, Sara, asked the question that would change Grace’s life forever.

“Did you get a letter yet, Ellie?” Sara asked Ellie. Grace looked at Ellie for an answer.

“What letter? Tell me, Ellie!” Grace demanded, looking Ellie straight in the eye. Ellie wouldn’t meet Grace’s eyes.

“Um, well, Gracie, I have to go to college and, well, I applied to Harvard, and umm, err, I got accepted there,” Ellie mumbled, looking down at the marble table. Grace stared at her sister in horror.

“You got accepted at Harvard!” Sara and Grace’s Father, Leo exclaimed, “That’s great news, Ellie!”

“No it ISN’T!!” Grace screamed, “How will I SURVIVE without my older sister???!!”

“I think you’ll manage,” Leo said. Leo didn’t understand Grace’s friendship with her oldest sister.

“Well, I just got an email from Boston School of Arts,” Sara said, “And they want to take you in. It would mean that you would move to Boston with Ellie.”

“Oh, Yes!” Grace cried out, “Thank you-”

Grace stopped and saw that Sara had been looking at Sadie. The email had been about Sadie not Grace. Sadie looked at her sister. She really wanted to take the spot but she knew that Grace would never be able to handle it. She would fall apart. She felt like she should be there for Grace. But on the other hand, not everything could revolve around her little sister. And being an artist was Sadie’s dream.

“I don’t know,” Sadie said.

“Come on, Sadie,” Ellie pleaded, “We would have so much fun! Boston wouldn’t be the same without you.”

“Maybe…” Sadie shrugged.

“My WHOLE world is about to FALL APART!!! And on my BIRTHDAY!” Grace screamed, got up from the table, stormed down the hallway and into her bedroom.

She got onto her warm bed and began to cry. Grace lay down on her back and looked up at her ceiling which was black had all of the constellations painted on it in gold. The rest of walls were royal blue. Grace got out her pillowcase (where she hid her diary), pulled out her diary, turned to a page, pulled out her favorite flow pen (red), and begin to write.

Dear diary,

My world may be about to end.

The next thing Grace knew, she was being shaken awake.

“Gracie Bear, get up!” Leo started to tickle Grace and her eyes flew open.

“Dad!” Grace groaned.

“Kiddo, you got to run! The bus comes in 20 minutes!” Leo said, pushing Grace around. Grace jumped up, very awake, and ran down to breakfast. 20 minutes later, Grace was once again running to meet the bus. She got on and thanked the bus driver for waiting for her (again).

“No problem, kid,” the bus driver said.

“Grace! Over here!” Alyssa shouted from the middle of the bus. Grace made her way towards her.

“Slept in?” Alyssa ask, “For the first time in forever?”

Grace grinned and said, “Yep. For the first time in forever.” Grace sat down next to Alyssa and said “Ready for school?”

“Ready to Fly.” Alyssa and Grace shared a secret smile.

They were doing their secret pumper-upper. Grace looked away from Alyssa, out the window. She then remembered what she had been thinking the morning before. The secret Feast! They had never done it last night. Grace felt hurt. They had done something for Sadie but not for her? Of course, Grace had noticed how close Ellie and Sadie were. They shared a room. They most likely had billions of whispered talks after they turned out the light and Grace could never know what they were about. They had forgotten. That was it. It was the most that they had ever hurt Grace. She felt like crying.  Soon they might be living in Boston together for 4 years. Grace knew that Sadie wanted to take the spot at Boston School of Art. What if their friendship fell apart? Grace thought it might. Sadie and Ellie had been distant for a while. Suddenly, the bus jerked to to a stop in front of Grace’s school. Grace got off and found herself head to head with Chloë Ledger.

“Chloë,” Grace said, looking into Chloë’s trusting eyes, “I’m about to be an only child. My world is about to end.”

 

Chapter Three

 

One month later Grace and her family were at Elm Tree Airport, so they could tell Ellie and Sadie (who had decided to take the spot) goodbye before they flew to Boston for 4 years. They had rented a little house near Harvard and was also close to the Boston School of Arts. Grace was heartbroken but she tried to put on a brave face as she hugged Ellie and Sadie goodbye. She was going to miss them more than they could imagine.

“Plane 3444 Boarding now. Please report to gate 5 if you are on plane 3444,” said a woman’s voice over the speakers. She sounded bored like she couldn’t believe that all she had to do was say the number of the planes and their gates all day.

“That’s our plane, Sadie,” Ellie said. “It’s showtime.” Sadie and Ellie gave everyone one more big last hug and took off running towards gate 5. Grace kept her eyes on them until they were out of sight.

“Gracie Bear,” Leo said, “We need to go back home.” Leo gently stirred Grace back to the car and drove home. When Grace got home her mom said:

“Grace, would you like me to make you some cookies?” Grace knew that cookies wouldn’t help the space left by Ellie and Sadie but cookies are never something that you want to miss on.

“Sure,” Grace said sadly. She ate the cookies wishing that she had been eating them with Ellie and Sadie at the Feast they had promised but had never happened

The next day at school, Grace felt even more lost than before. The gap left by her sisters was bigger than before. She spotted her friend Ela standing by the biggest elm tree in the schoolyard. She walked up to her, planning on telling her how she was feeling and hoping that Ela could help her.

“Hey Ela,” Grace said.

“Grace!” Ela cried and threw her arms around her.

Grace pushed Ela’s arms away and said, “I have a problem.”

“What is it?” Ela asked. “You know you can always tell me everything.”

“Well, it’s about my sisters,” Grace muttered looking down.

“Oh no! Not about them again! You know you’re supposed to fight with them sometimes in your life, Grace. You’re like the perfect family on a reality show!” Ela practically shouted.

Grace looked hurt and walked away. She thought that she could tell Ela anything, but that was obviously not the case. She knew that her friends thought that she and her family were perfect because they didn’t fight. Obviously, they didn’t know that Ellie and Sadie had completely ditched her.

“Hey girl,” Matilda said, walking up to Grace. Grace jumped in surprise. She hadn’t seen Matilda lurking right nearby.

“I hate to tell you this, but it’s true. You are like the perfect family on a reality show, Grace,” Matilda said sadly.

Grace shouted, “Oh no, not you too! I am not the perfect family! You don’t know the half of it! Ellie and Sadie just completely ditched me! They left for Boston for the next four years to have tons of fun without me!” Matilda looked doubtful. “It’s true!” Grace screamed and stomped away.

She stomped off to the school steps where she had sat just one month and a day ago. She couldn’t believe that one month ago she was worried about missing Sadie and Ellie for an entire day. Now she was worried about missing them for four entire years!

Just then, the bell rang. Grace ignored it, though. She put her head in her hands and started to cry into them. Her sisters had only been gone for a full day, and already she was missing them like they’d been gone for five years.

The school door opened and Ms. Kate came clickity-clacking out. “Grace,” she said. “Where have you been?”

Grace fiddled with her hands and nervously looked up at her teacher. “Okay, I’m coming inside, I’m coming inside.”

Grace had many days like that. She got through a month of school with her grades keeping up and keeping herself together. But one day, Grace completely fell apart. Her grades started to go down. First Bs, than Cs, then Ds. She couldn’t take her report cards home. She threw them out in the trash. She cried herself to sleep every night. And worst of all, her parents barely paid any attention to her. They didn’t do anything to make it better or worse. One day before school, Grace completely fell apart. She sat down with her back against a tree. She put her head in her hands. She felt someone slide down next to her. She looked beside her. It was Chloë.

“Grace,” she said sternly. “I know nothing’s okay right now.”

“Well, I miss my sisters,” Grace sighed.

“I know,” Chloë said gently. Grace looked up in surprise. Whenever she tried to talk to someone, they shouted at her, screamed, or said she wasn’t even trying to get through it. But Chloë’s behavior was different.

“What if I become your replacement sister?” Chloë asked. “It might help you get through your situation.”

Grace brightened immediately. “You would do that for me?”

“Of course I would!” Chloë said, smiling as bright as the moon.

From then on, Chloë and Grace became best friends. They had sleepovers every weekend. Chloë stuck with Grace whatever Grace was going though and Grace did the same for Chloë. The two acted like sisters. Grace’s world was put together again. Chloë helped Grace get though missing her sister and little by little Grace got used to Ellie and Sadie not being at her house. Chloë saved Grace from falling apart. She stitched Grace’s world back together. Chloë was Grace’s Saving Grace.

 

4 years later

 

“See you later!” Grace called over to Chloë.

“The sleepover still on?’ Chloë asked.

“You bet!” Grace said, looking over her shoulder as she got on her bus, M 91910. She sat down on a seat and pulled out her copy of the Iliad. She had just started to love poetry when she turned 14. Her mother had given her Homer’s poems and she loved them.

She thought back to four years ago when Ellie and Sadie had first left. She had been a wreck. She couldn’t handle not having them around. Now? It was better. She still saw them over summer break and spring break but their relationship was strained. They also seemed to be giggling to each other or they seemed to know something about Grace that she didn’t know. They texted their friends in Boston a lot. They stilled played with Grace but she knew that they were growing up and didn’t really want to play anymore. But they still had fun. They would talk and have fun hanging out with Grace. Once they left; it was always hard for Grace. But then she would get over it. All because of Chloë. They were still best friends today. Grace was still friends with Ela and Matilda but she thought they were shallow and silly. Alyssa had moved to India to help her mom and aunts out with their grandpa, who was king of India.

She even now had a little sister, Maddy Cook! Maddy had brown hair and brown eyes. She was the light of Grace’s past 2 years. Grace made a friendship with Maddy, just like her one with Ellie and Sadie.

Grace realized that it was her stop and got of the bus. Two people were waiting there for her. One was taller and the one next to her was smaller. They both had fire red hair and kind, warm brown eyes. They looked familiar.

“Hey, Gracie,” one said.

“Ellie!” Grace exclaimed and flew into her arms.

“We’re home.”

 

Horse Academy

 

Chapter One

 

My name is Scarlet Brook. I have been waiting all school year for this day. Summer! All school year, it’s all about work, work, work! But in summer, just do whatever you want! Well, at least that’s what I thought. The first day of summer, I thought I would be going to hang out with my friends or something, but instead my mom forced me to babysit my annoying little sister, Sydney. Sydney wasn’t too happy herself.

“But, Chelsea! I want Chelsea to babysit me! She’s better!!” she whined.

“I told you! Chelsea is going on her honeymoon!” mom said.

“Can I at least hang out once today?” I said.

“Of course! The whole summer will be fun. Remember? I signed you up for riding camp!”

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I live in a magic land: a place where there are unicorns, wizards, and dragons. Usually normal people don’t have flying piglets as pets. Well, those normal people don’t live here.

 

Chapter Two

 

The next morning, I woke up still exhausted from what happened last night. First Sydney wanted water, then milk, then orange juice, then candy, and finally she wanted to watch a movie. But she wasn’t finished yet, then she wanted popcorn, and to go with popcorn she wanted soda. How does Gabriela do it? Well, she had ruined the first day of summer but not all the days! Then I just remembered. I had riding camp today! I hopped out of bed and into my riding gear. I brushed my teeth and brushed my hair. Then I ran out of my room and I thought, Wow! Am I doing well today!

 

Just then, I spotted Pip, my flying piglet’s mud footprints splattered across the floor. Uh oh, I thought. Then mom came out and screamed.

“Take Pip into the bath tub! Stat!!!” I slipped on the mud and grabbed Pip. I put Pip into the bathtub and ran out. I grabbed paper towels and slid them across the floor. When I saw mom slip, I couldn’t help but laugh. With her hair all tangled, her body all muddy, and veins popping out of her forehead, she looked just like an angry witch! Mom glared at me and made herself calm down. She sighed. “Wow, what a great start of a day!” she said sarcastically.

“Umm…mom?” I said, “Don’t I have riding camp today?”

My mom nearly fainted. “Go! Go! Go!” she screamed.

I ran out the door. “Wait!” she ran after me. She handed me my lunch and gave me a map to the camp. I ran all the way. On my way there, I thought to myself, Wow, I’m late on my first day of camp!

When I got there, I saw a bunch of riders on their horses. I ran to the coach and explained what happened. I could hear people whispering about me. The coach told me to take a seat on the line. I sat down.

“Listen up, kids! my name is Betty. Get a partner, we will be practicing jumps on our horses,” said Betty. Betty paired me up with a boy named Henry.

“Hi,” I said. He didn’t say anything to me. He just hopped on his horse. I looked at him.

“Well?” he said. “Don’t just stand there! Get on your horse!” he yelled. I jumped. I don’t know why, but I felt mad. “I don’t have a horse!” I screamed. Henry must have been frightened because he started backing away from me. Betty came over to see what all the commotion was about.

“What’s going on here?” she asked.

“That girl’s crazy and she doesn’t even have a horse!” Henry cried. He bumped into a girl that had dirty blonde hair worn in a low ponytail.

“Ow!” she said, turning around, “What was that for?”

“She made me!” wailed Henry.

“Calm down, riders!” Betty yelled.

“She’s not even a rider!”

“Quit screaming!” yelled a girl with brownish hair held in a tight ponytail. I had a feeling today was going to be a long day.

 

 

Chapter Three

 

When I came back to riding camp the next day, the girl who had screamed “quit screaming!” came over to me.

“Henry’s such a jerk,” she said to me.

“Tell me about it,” I said.

“I’m Bryn,” she said. I smiled.

“Thanks for being the first one to tell me their name. Well, besides Betty.”

Bryn laughed.

“Emily!” she called. The girl who Henry bumped into ran over.

“Hey, aren’t the one who got into the fight with Henry yesterday?” she asked. I shrugged.

“Nicely done!” she said, smiling.

“Huh?” I said. Emily and Bryn started laughing.

“Henry’s a pain,” said Emily. I joined in the laugh too, even though I didn’t know why we were laughing. When I got home I told mom all about it. Mom said she was happy I made friends. But I left out the part with Henry in it because I knew mom would ask all about it, or she would get mad at me for getting into a fight or call Henry’s mom telling her what happened.

Mom told me someone moved in next door. I was so excited! Maybe she would become my best friend! We could send flashlight notes to each other at night. And we could have sleepovers whenever we wanted! Oh. What if it was a boy? My heart dropped. I crossed both of my fingers.

“Mom,” I asked, “is it a girl or a boy?”

“A 13-year-old boy.” I felt like someone had dropped a heavy ball on me.

“And a 12-year-old girl named Jane.”

Yesss!!! I thought.

“They also have a 3-year-old named Taylor.”

“When are they coming?” I asked excitedly.

“Oh look! There they are right now!” she said, while pointing out the window.

“Moooom!” I moaned. “I wanted to greet her when she came!”

“Oh, doesn’t matter! Go!” she said. “I wanted to make her cookies!”

My mom sighed. After we made cookies, I fixed my hair and put on a blue blouse and a white frilly skirt. I walked out of my house to their house they had a porch that had white paint that was peeling off. I rang their doorbell and a big jolly lady opened the door.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hi!” I almost screamed. “I live next door. I came here to give these cookies to your children.” Hey, I know it was cheesy, but I was trying to be friendly!

“Oh, my!” she said.  “That would be lovely!”

Score! I thought. Just the response I was looking for.

“Right this way,” she said. “Jane! Someone’s here to see you!” she yelled.

“Really?” I heard a girl’s voice yell from upstairs. Then I heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Then I saw a girl with brown hair held in a braid on her shoulder.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi, I’m Scarlet. I brought cookies,” I said, feeling kind of stupid wearing my Hello Kitty bag.

Jane’s eyes lightened up when I said cookies. “Cookies!” she repeated. She grabbed my arm and brought me to the kitchen. There I saw a little girl with light brown hair with a butterfly clip in her hair, smashing a toy against the table.

“Taylor, stop smashing your toy against the table!” Jane looked at me. “Little sisters are so annoying,” she said, glaring at Molly. “Oh, and that’s not all. My older brother Henry is such a pain. He just started riding camp.” Just then a boy came out of a room. My jaw dropped. It was Henry.

 

Chapter Four

 

Jane showed me her room with her adorable little sparkle bunny. Sparkle bunnies are bunnies that can jump super-high and sparkle when they are happy. It started shooting sparkles everywhere. My mom said I couldn’t get one because they are too messy. But I love Pip. She’s the perfect pet for me. Okay, well, you didn’t get a good experience of Pip on my first day of camp, but she is a wonder to have around.

Her sparkle bunny was named Fiona and was light brown. Whenever I looked into Fiona’s eyes, she was squinting. Then she would bend down and put her paws on her head like she was trying to scratch her eyes. “Why is she doing that?” I asked after the third time she did it.

“I think there’s something wrong with her eyes,” answered Jane, while planting a kiss on top of Fiona’s head. Fiona looked at me with her sparkling deep-hazel eyes. But when I looked at her, she did it again: squinted and then rubbed her eyes.

But then I noticed another cage next to Fiona’s. Jane must have saw my reaction because she said, “That’s Millie’s cage.” She put her hand on top of the cage.

“You have another bunny?” I asked. She opened the cage and pulled out a white bunny with it’s eyes closed. Fiona jumped on Jane’s shoulder and looked at Millie. Both of them sparkled.

 

Chapter Five

 

Henry came into Jane’s room. “What are you doing with that, crazy girl!” he asked. Jane looked hurt. “What do you mean?” she asked, signaling for him to go away. Then a tiny spike dragon came out behind Henry. Spike dragons are dragons that can protect you by shooting fire spikes from their mouths. They never turn against their masters. They can also fly. They are awesome! But they are also very rare. “You have a spike dragon!” I exclaimed without thinking.

“You mean Rex? Nah, he’s a thorn dragon.”

“Oh,” I said. Thorn dragons can turn invisible. They turn into a thorn when they sleep.

“Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“I live next door,” I said. His face got big.

“What?!” he asked like the world was ending.

“Umm…” I said. “I should go home.”

“Yeah, you should,” said Henry, kind of doing a sideways smirk.

 

Chapter Six

 

The next day at riding camp, I finally got a horse! It was light brown and had a beautiful brown mane. It had strong silver wings. I named it Miracle because it was a miracle that I got such a beautiful horse. Henry had a black horse with a black mane and black wings. It was ugly. He named it Spike. Bryn had a white horse with silver wings and had a beautiful brown mane. She named it Lucky. Emily had a brown horse with a brown mane and big silver wings. She named it Beauty. She was a beauty. The first time I got on Miracle, I felt like I was flying. I felt like Miracle was talking to me. Like she was telling me I was going to be okay. A couple times I got nauseous but when Miracle looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes, I felt like everything was going to be fine.

 

Chapter Seven

 

I didn’t even know we were going to have a competition! But I was totally surprised we had a competition in three days! I mean, who would do that? Just put a competition six days after the camp even started! We practiced what we were going to do in the competition. Betty said we were competing against other riders too. We were going to race. I had to memorize the obstacle course. I thought I thought I was going to win.

When I got home I thought I was home alone because it was so quiet. It is usually very loud. Since I thought I was home alone, I started freaking out.

“Momm!!!” I screamed. “Where are you?!”

“Booo!” someone cried behind me. I felt like I had a heart attack. I turned around and saw…

“Aunt Audrey!” I screamed. I hugged her.

“Hey Scarlet! I’m taking you out for dinner today!”

I squealed.

“With Sydney!”

I stopped freaking out. “Awww…” I said.

“Hi auntie Adwey!” Sydney said. Aunt Audrey took us out to my favorite Japanese restaurant, “Tatany.” I ordered my usual (udong, dumplings, and miso soup). Sydney ordered her usual  (miso soup, and tofu teriyaki).

 

Chapter Eight

 

The day of the competition, I had my riding gear on and we were playing in a stadium. I couldn’t believe we were going to be on TV! My family was here. So was my aunt Audrey, in her “I love NYC” shirt, my uncle Tim, my other aunt Mary, and my uncle Jeremy. I was surprised to see my cousins, Salina, Curtis, Alex, and my baby cousin, Molly.

We took our places in the stadium. I looked at the guy with the gun. I held Miracle’s mane tightly and she looked at me. I looked over at Bryn and she winked at me. I looked at Henry, and for the first time ever, he smiled.

“Ready, set, boom!” went the gun. Everyone went, including Miracle. I think Miracle was startled because she almost tripped when the man shot the gun. We flew up a hill. I passed a rider on a brown horse, then a black horse. I could see Bryn and Emily behind me. Then came the big hill. Miracle tried going up the hill but when a couple horses passed us, Miracle fell down the hill. “Miracle!” I yelled. Then Henry stopped near us. “Wow,” he said. He helped up Miracle.

“Thanks,” I said. I kept going. “Come on, Miracle, we can do this,” I said. Miracle flew up the hill. “Come on,” I said, “We’re almost there. I could see the finish line from here. Miracle went super fast and we saw a black horse that was about to cross the finish line and… zoom! Miracle passed the finish line! After the finish line, Miracle slipped and I fell off Miracle. Everything went pitch black.

 

Chapter Nine

 

I woke up in the hospital. Mom was kneeling next to me. “You won,” she said quietly.

“I won,” I repeated.

“Look,” she said pointing out the window. I looked out the window and saw Miracle! She had a gold medal around her neck. Then I saw Betty holding another medal. Then I saw Henry. I remembered how he stopped to help up Miracle. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. I smiled. It felt good to be a rider. I felt like it was going to be a long, great, awesome summer.

 

The End

“Go outside, Emily. Go outside.”

 

Emily heard the voice in her dream. Emily was a girl that was blonde and had bright blue eyes. Emily went to a regular school, had a regular family, had a regular dog, and had a regular house. “Go outside Emily. Go outside.” Emily was hearing this for the fifth time so she decided to go outside. When she was outside in her yard, she saw a statue that she had never seen before. It looked like a statue of her grandfather that she never met, it told her, “Tomorrow, go to the graveyard at noon…”

 

The Next Day…

 

As the statue told her, she was there at noon. She saw the statue on top of her grandfather’s grave open and she saw a staircase leading downwards. She decided to follow it. It was a very twisty and slippery staircase. Once she reached the bottom, there was a big room covered in moss. She saw a shadow that looked a little bit like a ghost. She saw something glow and she decided to clear away the moss. After a little while, she saw a plaque that said…

 

“The 25th daughter of Quadricles will discover that her power is stronger than the power of Varniduca.”

 

Emily got scared when she saw that, and she thought, Who is Varniduca, and what powers is the plaque talking about, and who was Quadricles? Then she heard that same voice that was in her dream say, “Varniduca is an evil witch, Quadricles was a wizard, you are the 25th daughter and you must discover your powers on your own.”

Who is that? Emily wondered as she looked around, and suddenly she saw a shadow walking towards her.

 

“Hello, I am your grandfather, Anderson. I will help you learn to use your powers.” Then the shadow took off a cloak and Emily saw an elderly man.

 

“You will be able to walk through walls, turn invisible, read people’s minds, see the future, fly, and you will have laserbeam eyes.”

 

I have powers!? thought Emily.

“How did you talk to me in my dream?¨

“I have magical powers.¨

Emily asked, “How come everyone thought you were dead?”

“I hid down here to make a plan.”

He showed her a piece of paper that had a picture of the witch’s house and a bunch of lines and x’s.

“What’s this?” asked Emily.

“This is our plan,” he said, and then he explained that Emily would go inside the witch’s house and hide until the witch fell asleep, and then Emily would get the gems. She would have to get the two gems that control time. She stole the one that controls the sky and the one that controls the sun.

 

The next day…

 

“We have to work on the plan.”

“Why right now?” Emily said.

“Because we have to get ready for the big day.”

After working on the plan for three hours, they were finally ready.

 

The next day…

 

After walking for two hours, they finally made it to the darkest part of the forest where all the evil creatures lived.

“Where’s her house?” asked Emily

“Just a little bit farther forward.”

“Why do we have to hide?”

“Because if she doesn’t know we’re here, we’ll have a better chance of capturing her.”

“What’d she steal?” whispered Emily.

“She stole two of the five jewels that control time in the magical world.”

“Is that her house?” asked Emily pointing to a big purple and black mansion.

“Yes, be very quiet.”

“Is that her?” asked Emily, pointing to a lady looking out the window.

“Yes.”

“Should we go now?” asked Emily.

“Five…four…three…two…now!!”

Emily ran towards the house and knocked the door open.

“WHO DARES TO ENTER MY HOUSE!!” shrieked the witch.

Emily hid behind the bench as the witch started to search. Emily turned invisible and read the witch’s mind.

She was thinking, “Is it Tommy’s cat again?”

Emily thought, “Phew, she doesn’t know I’m here.”

Emily silently walked forward.

Emily went behind the witch.

Emily tripped over the back of the witch’s dress and made a loud sound.

“WHO IS INSIDE MY HOUSE?”

Emily hid behind a closet while the witch put a forcefield around the house so that nobody could get out once they were inside and the power of invisibility didn’t work.

“I seee you,” said the witch.

As the witch started to look for Emily, Emily quickly searched the house for all the hiding spots possible. Emily hid under the witch’s bed and hoped that she wouldn’t look for her there. After searching for three hours, the witch said, “Whoever was in here must have left. They couldn’t have stayed in here without food or water. I will take off the barrier.”

 

After waiting for three hours, Emily heard the witch start to snore. Emily decided to take a chance and come out of her hiding spot. Emily silently tip-toed away from the bed and searched the house for something that might look like a magical gem. After searching every room in the house, she found a pattern of stones on the floor of an empty, very small, dusty room. After thinking for a little while, Emily thought it was a code. She recognized this type of code from books, I have to step on the correct stones for something to happen. Emily also noticed that there were clues for which stone to step on. They were: Blue is the fifth color of the arc of seven colors.

The bright yellow sun is the closest star to the earth. The midnight sky seems far, far away. White is the center of all the colors. Grass is the middle of the sun and the water. The bright color of royalty belongs in second place. The color of ever-lasting fire belongs on the third mark of seven. Emily thought and wrote in her notebook and came up with the answer. Purple, gold, red, white, blue, green, yellow. Emily stepped on the stones in that order, and she found herself inside a huge room. I have to get the stones. But then she thought, What if she catches me? Emily chose to search for the gems. After searching everywhere, she found the gems in a big box. Emily was about to grab the box and run, when the witch said, “I found you.”

“I see you too,” said Emily.

“I know you see me,” the witch said. The witch made a bubble around her and Emily so that they had to move in that small space. Emily made a laser net around the witch and after a little while, the witch gave up and said, “I give up, you can have the gems.” So Emily took the gems and with some help from her grandfather, the forest animals, and the birds, they brought the witch to the magical prison, where she would stay for one hundred years. Emily also returned the gems to their spots in the magical rainbow castle where they belonged, and everything was normal again.

 

The End

Chapter One

 

My headphones were in while I stepped out of the car. I flipped my hair, then put my black sunglasses on. I didn’t realize how sunny it was here. I grabbed my suitcase and rolled it inside the hotel. I heard my mom calling my name in the distance, but I ignored it. I was too into my music to turn around and talk to her. I was listening to Calvin Harris, his new single, “Outside” feat. Ellie Goulding. I walked into the hotel and waited in the lobby for my mom. I sat down and took out my headphones. My mom came in carrying a bunch of my bags. I wanted to help her, but the hotel guy seemed to have it under control. When she came over she put down the bags and got a cart.

“You know, Hallie, it wouldn’t hurt if you helped a little,” she said to me.

I stood up and started helping her. If you don’t understand what’s going on right now, I’ll tell you.

Me and my family lived in Nashville for 16 years, but my parents got divorced last month, so my dad stayed in Nashville with my older sister, Emily, who is 18, and me and my mom packed our bags and moved to Los Angeles, California. I didn’t choose to move, it actually wasn’t my choice at all. I didn’t have a say in it. I didn’t mind leaving my dad, he was always kind of mean to me and my mom. He hit me sometimes. It was Emily that I had trouble leaving. She was not only my sister, but she was my best friend. We did everything together and we told each other all of our secrets. We had a really hard time saying goodbye. But enough about that, it’s going to make me cry. My name is Hallie. I’m 16 years old and I love producing music. My hobby’s are making music and DJing. when I left Nashville I brought all my equipment with me, oh, and my cat, Dibbles. Dibbles and Emily were the only things I really had in Nashville, I didn’t have a lot of friends, I was very independent. I spent most of my time locked in my room making Music. So in a way moving to LA wouldn’t be such a bad thing, new friends, a new start. It would also be a good break from everything. I love Emily, but she was such a goody-two-shoes. That’s why my dad never hit her, because she was perfect. Every little thing about her. I have light brown hair with blonde highlights, it’s up to my shoulders, I have side bangs, they don’t really show, but it’s okay. I like it.

 

Me and my mom went up the elevator to our room, we would be staying here a while until we can afford a real place. When we got to our room, I started unpacking. My mom came up to me, “Hey, sweetie, I know this is tough for you but I’m really proud of you for pulling through.”

“No problem mom, anything for you.” I said.

“Oh, sweetie, you’re the best.”

I smiled and put Dibbles on the floor so he could stretch. I put my clothes into drawers and put my DJ equipment on my bed. I went into the bathroom to check on my mom, and she was fixing her hair.

“Sweetie, remember tomorrow is your first day of Brookstone,” she said to me. Brookstone was the new school I would be going to. I nodded and hugged my mom. She really was the best.

“I love you, mom” I said.

“Aw, sweetie, I love you too. So, so, much.”

 

My mom was my hero. She was always there for me. I loved her so much, when I was younger we had our occasional fights, but they usually only lasted for five minutes, then we would hug it out and say we loved each other, we don’t have a bad relationship, and we don’t have a perfect one either, we have one that would last through the good and the bad times, and I loved that about us. Her name is Julia, she’s 38-years-old, I know, pretty young, her and my dad had kids early.

 

Chapter Two

 

The next morning I had to wake up at 6:50 a.m., because Brookstone was very far from the hotel. My mom wasn’t up yet so I decided I would surprise her with some breakfast in bed, she was going through a really hard month and I knew she was stressed out, so I went into the lobby in my PJs with Dibbles in my arm. I went inside the coffee shop and bought two Caramel Lattes (her favorite) and two Scones (also her favorite). I saw people staring at me- they thought I was some kind of freak because I was in Pajamas and holding a cat in my arms. I didn’t care, though, I was used to it. In Nashville people would make fun of me all the time for the way I looked. You should’ve seen me, I looked like a freak, seriously though, when I was 12 I dyed my hair pink and chopped most of it off. I know. Freak.

I went back to the room and woke my mom up, it was now 7:15. She woke up and smiled when she saw the Caramel Lattes, I told you those were her favorites. My mom is very pretty, she has dark curly brown hair that goes all the way to her ribcage. She sat up and grabbed the Latte out of my hand. We both laughed. I put Dibbles on her lap and grabbed clothes from the drawer, I changed into my outfit. I was wearing a plain white crop top and long black overalls, my signature black sunglasses, and my beige suede wedges. I walked out of the bathroom. My mom saw me and was paralyzed.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Not at all, you just look so beautiful,” she answered. I smiled at her. I checked my phone, it was now 7:27, I had 3 minutes before I had to go. I grabbed my backpack and hugged Dibbles goodbye, I didn’t want to leave her. I haven’t left her alone in 3 months.

“Don’t give mama so much trouble, be good, Dibbs.” I kissed her forehead. then I hugged my mom so tight I could hear her heart beating.

“I’m gonna miss you, mama” I said.

“Oh, honey, I’m gonna miss you too. But trust me, you are going to kick Brookstone’s butt.”

I laughed. I let go of her and took a deep breath. I stood up from the bed and said goodbye one last time, then I walked out the door, (not) ready to start a new school.

 

Chapter Three

 

I needed to take the bus to school. It was a 30 minute ride. School started at 8:30. and it was 7:38 now. I put my headphones in and walked to the bus stop. While walking, I looked around noticing everybody, they all looked so different then the people from Nashville, they went from cowboy boots to five-inch-high heels, from old-fashioned jeeps to bright red Maseratis, big country hats to bandanas, leather backpacks to leather jackets. I started missing Emily, so I called her. The phone rang and rang. No reply. Dang, Em. I left a message.

 

“Hey, Em, it’s Hallie, just wanted to say I miss you. You’re probably at school right now, I’m on my way to Brookstone now. I really don’t know how I’m going to survive without you.”

 

I started tearing up. No. No. Not now. No. But it was too late, by the time I reached the bus stop I was sobbing.

 

“Well, now I’m crying. I love you, Em. please call me soon. Bye.”

 

I hung up and wiped the tears from my face. It was 7:49. The bus came at around 7:51.

 

On the bus I sat alone. Everyone was playing on their phones, or throwing spit balls at one another, I was sitting by the window in silence, I wasn’t in the mood for anything. I felt so different, I was actually, for the first time in my life, nervous about something. This was not me. I did not get nervous. I was tough. Wasn’t I? Well, apparently not.

 

I got off the bus at 8:27, 3 minutes early. When I got off the bus I was completely starstruck. The school was 10 times bigger than the one I went to in Nashville. My heart began racing. I wasn’t ready for this. This wasn’t me. I’m not a california girl. I’m a nashville girl with a heck of an accent. Would people make fun of me? Would they think I’m weird? god, I still own my cowgirl boots from 5th grade. Snap out of it, Hallie. you don’t get scared, you don’t get nervous. You are strong. But the truth was, I wasn’t at all.

I walked inside the school, and there were people everywhere. I basically fell over. I didn’t know where I was going. I wanted to ask, but everyone seemed busy doing their own thing. This is so weird, I thought, I mean, it’s January 25th, and I’m starting school. It’s the middle of the year. What the heck am I doing here? I reached the principal’s office at around 8:34, and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” he said.

“Hi, I’m Hallie Steinfeld, I’m enrolling here.”

“Hallie! so nice to meet you! Please, take a seat,” he said to me.

I sat down and took my sunglasses off. The principal started talking to me about a bunch of school stuff, but I wasn’t paying attention. Behind the principal was a big glass window where I could see everything going on. It was a regular school, I guess. It had all the labels, the jocks, the nerds, the popular click, the rockers, the goths, and the loners. That was me. When the principal finished talking he stood me up and took me to my first class. English. I walked in and took a deep breath. I was ready. The teacher introduced me to everybody and then gave me a seat. Right in the middle.

“This is it, Hallie” I thought. “This is it.”

 

Chapter Four

 

English was interesting. but mostly the same as my old school. I guess it was better. I saw some boys staring at me, that was a good sign. Hopefully. Classes went by pretty quickly. I found my locker, I was next to a jock and a popular girl which kind of sucked because they were just talking really loudly about this sick party that I wasn’t invited to. But it was okay because I didn’t expect to be invited to anything yet. I had five minutes left of Math before I went to lunch. I was actually pretty excited to meet new people. Too excited. I dropped my text book and it made a huge bang on the ground. Dang it. Everyone stared at me, and I even heard some laughs from the people in the back row. I leaned down to go pick it up, but somebody got it before I had the chance. I looked up. right there was the most beautiful boy I have ever seen in my whole life. He had green eyes and blonde hair. He was obviously a jock because he was wearing a varsity jacket that said “BROOK 4 LYFEEEEEEE.” Then I realized who he was, he was the jock next to my locker, he was the one, he was- ring.

I snapped out of my daydream, I guess I just spent five minutes looking into the eyes of that handsome hunk. And… and… he stared back! When I got to my locker to put my stuff away, I felt someone tap my shoulder. It wasn’t my- I mean- the handsome hunk, it was lady hands. I shut my locker and turned around. right there was “the” clique, the one that every single school has. the popular ones, the pretty ones, the only ones that everyone looks up to.

“Hi, is it.. Bayley?” the blonde one said.

“Hallie,” I replied.

“Whatever your name is, you better stay away from Jared,” she said with sass.

I was confused. who was Jared? Wait a minute, the blonde, she was in my math class, Jared must be… the handsome hunk. Even his name is hunky …

“Listen, blonde, you can’t control me. You might be physically flawless, but it doesn’t mean I like you.” What. Was. That. I’m such an idiot. The clique walked away laughing at me. I leaned back on my locker and sighed. Then somebody came over next to me.

“Hey,” the voice said, “I’m Jared”

Ah Oh my God what is life. I acted cool.

“Hi, I’m Hallie,” I replied. I turned around to face him. He was sooo tall. He must have been 6’4.

“Can I take you to lunch?” he asked.

Ahhh, I’m going to die in this dream.

“You may.” I replied, acting casual. We started walking. Then he looked at me and said, “Your hand looks heavy, let me hold it for you.” Then he grabbed my hand.

I seriously almost passed out. I laughed a little. Oh my god Hallie, what was that? But it was okay because he smiled.

“so, what do you like to do?” he asked me.

“I produce music.” I said.

“No way! My dad works for a record label!” he said.

“Awesome.” I replied. I started to get used to this. I wasn’t shy anymore. We were laughing in the lunch line talking about our lives. I pulled out my phone and showed him Dibbles. That was a big hit. He loved cats! Yay! I feel like I could tell him anything: I told him about my parents and how they got divorced, about how I live in a hotel with my mom, how I have a sister, and how I lived in Nashville. Everything. Now I know we’ve only known each other for a day. But I felt like I’ve known him all my life. It was so easy to talk to him. The words flew right out of my mouth, and the best part was, he didn’t think of me any differently knowing about my past.

“Hey, Hallie, I’m having this party tomorrow at my house, do you wanna come?” he asked.

“I would love to!” I replied. I was so happy. I knew I was going to like this school. but it gets better.

“Hallie, do you mind if I have your number?”

I was done. Completely done. What is this I can’t even. I gave him my number and he texted me right away. I’m pretty sure I passed out.

 

Chapter Five

 

When I got out of school that day I was so happy I skipped all the way home. When I got to the room, my mom wasn’t there, but had left a note.

 

Hallie,

I will not be home until late tonight. I am going on a job hunt. Be safe and take care of Dibbles. Text me if you need anything. Love you.

 

Mama <3

 

I smiled and jumped on to my bed. Dibbles was sleeping. I opened my phone. 3 messages.

 

Emily-

Hi, Hallie, I’m sorry I missed your message. I love you so much and I know you’ll get through this. You are so strong and brave. I miss you too but I know that you are going to do just fine in LA. Always text me, Hall. <3

 

I replied:

 

Thx so much Em, you’re the best, I met someone today and I think I really like him. 🙂

 

There were 2 more messages.

 

555-2424

hey, hall. it’s Jared  😉

 

hehe… he called me Hall…

hey Jared, I had a lot of fun getting 2 know you today  😉

 

I sent it. Ah!!! Be calm, Hallie, be calm.

 

Dad-

hey, sweetie. how’s LA?

 

I didn’t feel like talking to him. so I just deleted the text.

Then I got 2 more messages.

 

Emily-

already?? omg, girl. you cray-cray.

 

I laughed.

 

Jared-

me 2. so r u going 2 the party? it starts at 8:00.

 

Duh! Of course I was going!

 

i’ll be there.

 

Jared-

great, I will pick u up at 6:50

P.S

i think ur really pretty and cool. just wanted u 2 know.

 

Oh my god! This is unreal.

 

thx. you’re also really cool. and really handsome….

 

Uh oh. I think that was too much. Oh, well!

 

Jared-

lol thanks. ur the best. ik we just met. but I think ur the most beautiful girl in the world.

 

I’m dead. R.i.p me. I died. Dead.

 

omg thanks you’re so sweet.

 

Jared-

maybe we could get dinner together sometime?

 

Ahhh! I stayed calm. Pf, No I didn’t!

 

I WOULD LOVE THAT <3

 

Ahhh!

 

Chapter Six

 

The next day went by fast. Jared and I talked a lot at our lockers. He was my first friend at this school, and I think I really liked him. I didn’t have any other friends. I mean, there were these two girls that I talked to sometimes in Social Studies, Gabby and Mia. But they weren’t really like me. They weren’t mean or anything, they just weren’t relatable to me. After school I ran into them, and they asked me if they could come over to my house. Okay, so I didn’t tell them that I lived in a hotel. They couldn’t be expecting a mansion. I said yes and they cheered the “EEK!” cheer. They linked my arms and we walked home together.

 

“So, Hallie, what do you like?” Gabby asked.

I could tell she was the chatty one. Mia was like her sidekick.

“Well, I like cats” I said.

“NO WAY! My uncle has a cat!” Gabby said.

“Wow!” I said sarcastically, I told you I was more independent, I didn’t like talking! When we got to the hotel they looked shocked. I just ignored them because I don’t even care if someone makes fun of me. This was my life, I couldn’t change it. They looked disappointed, so I turned and looked at them. “You think I want my life to be like this? You think I chose this path? Wow. You guys are super selfish to think that everyone just has a perfect life. Because not everyone lives in a huge mansion like you guys.”

I was going to keep talking but Gabby’s nails were so long they were sticking into my skin.

“Are you going to Jared’s party tonight?” She completely ignored what I’d just said. Wow.  I nodded.

“Maybe we could get manicures together!!!” Gabby screamed.

Done. I was done. I just can’t.

“Yeah, but, um… listen… I… can’t because I need to… um….. visit my uncle! At the… police… station.” That was the worst lie in the world.

“Oh, okay! We’ll see you at the party!” Gabby said.

God, she was so cheery! I opened the door to the room. I didn’t see my mom.

“mom? mom?” I saw Dibbles hiding in the corner.

“Dibbs, where’s mama?” He started shivering. Huh. Then I heard something. it was coming from the bathroom. I opened the door, and there was my mom. Lying on the floor, sweating, most of her hair chopped off, wearing dad’s old shirt.

 

Chapter Seven

 

I started freaking out. I started sobbing. I grabbed the phone and called 911. It was ringing.

“Hello, this is Hallie Steinfeld. I just came home from school and my mom is lying on the floor sweating and looks like she passed out. I really need an ambulance.”

“Okay. We’ll be right there, what is your address?” the policeman said.

I told him everything he needed to know. I was freaking out. I went to the bathroom and leaned down near my mom.

“Mom. mom, answer me mom. I know you’re there mom. mom, please.” I starting crying like crazy. The ambulance came 10 minutes later. They rang the door and I answered. They ran into the bathroom and took my mom on the stretcher. They carried her away and I followed. In the car, they were feeling her heartbeat and saying a bunch of medical stuff. I pulled out my phone to call Emily.

 

Ring. Ring.

 

She answered.

 

“Hi, Hall! What’s up?

 

“It’s mom, she passed out today and I found her in the bathroom. She was sweating and most of her hair was chopped off. She was wearing dad’s shirt. I called the ambulance and we are in the car right now. God, Em. I’m freaking out.”

 

Tears kept running down my face. I couldn’t survive without my mom. She was my hero. What would I do without her?

 

“Oh my god, Hall. I’m so sorry.”

 

“I don’t know what to do, Em.”

 

“She’s going to be fine Hallie, she is strong and she will pull through.”

 

“I don’t even know what happened, or how it happened.”

 

“You never know, but she’ll be fine, Hall. I really wanna be there for you but I’m in the middle of finals. I’m so sorry.”

 

“It’s fine. I guess I just really needed my older sister to come here and tell me everything’s alright instead of hearing her voice on a freakin’ phone.”

 

“Hall, don’t be like that.”

 

“No, Emily. When I need you the most, you aren’t there. Silly of me to even think that you would fly to LA to see your mom who might die. because we both know that you don’t even care.”

 

“HALLIE!”

 

I hung up the phone, then the tears came out, they came out and never stopped. I knew my life sucked, but I thought my sister didn’t. We used to be best friends. Now we felt like strangers.

 

Chapter Eight

 

I was in the hospital waiting room for about three hours. They wouldn’t tell me anything. I just kept pacing back and fourth. I texted Jared.

 

jared im so sorry I have to miss your party. family emergency, im at the hospital r n. long story, I am so sorry I really wish I could be there but I just cant.

 

I sent it, and leaned my head back against the wall. Why did this have to happen? Why does my life have to suck, why is my family a freak show? Why is my “sort of” boyfriend popular, why did I have to move, why did my parents get divorced. Why did my dad hit me? Why isn’t Emily here. Why? Why? Why?

 

Jared-

party cancelled. coming 4 u, hall. ill be there in 10.

 

No, he was not really coming. He did not just cancel his party to see me. A girl that he’s known for 2 days. I couldn’t believe it. I never thought I would say this, but I was in the hospital, with my mom who was passed out, not knowing if I could be happy again, and a guy that I’ve known for 2 days, who is hot, and popular, made me … smile. Made me smile at one of the hardest times in my life. He was the one that brought me up when I was down, and to think … that used to be Emily. But now, it’s him. It’s him.

 

Jared did come. He ran in and threw his arms around me, I hugged him so tight that I could feel his manly arms come out of his shirt. He sat me down and held my hand. He made me so happy. The doctor came in about 15 minutes after.

“Hallie?” he called.

I stood up with Jared, whose hands were in mine.

 

I saw my mom in the hospital bed. She looked horrible. So sick and red. I started crying again.

“So what happened?” I asked holding my tears back.

“Well, it’s hard to tell, we found her on the ground holding scissors in her hands, so it must’ve been suicide, and that also explains the cut hair. Suicidal thoughts happen all the time. Apparently she’s had a mental disorder since she was 34, but nobody knew so it couldn’t be treated. She’s also suffered from very serious depression. She is going to have to stay here for a while if she wants a chance to survive, I am very sorry to say this, Hallie, but it is a very easy situation for her to die.”

When those words came out of the doctor’s mouth I stopped breathing. I stopped moving. The earth stopped spinning, everything just stopped, well, at least for me. I ran out of the room. I heard Jared call my name but I ignored him, I was so depressed. I am nothing. Literally, nothing. Silly of me to think there was such a thing as happily ever after.

 

Chapter Nine

 

The next week went by so slow. I was spending it in the hotel with Dibbles. I know I was supposed to go to school, but I couldn’t, it was to hard for me. I texted Jared for most of the day, and called the hospital to check in. I wasn’t allowed to stay at the hospital because they were doing surgery. I got a text from Jared.

 

Still on for tonight? xoxo

 

Oh my god, I totally forgot, I had a date with Jared tonight. I had to go, I needed to get my mind off of mom.

 

of course. pick me up at 7? xoxo.

 

I changed. I was wearing my white crop top with a high-waisted plaid skirt, I wore my old-fashioned high heels and my black purse to match. I wore my mom’s gold necklace for good luck. Then the door rang. I opened it.

“Wow,” he said, “You look amazing.” I blushed.

“Thank you. and you as well,” I replied.

He took my hand and we walked to his car. He had a big,black van, you know, the one’s that rich people with drivers have. It was amazing.

“Wow,” I said. He laughed and opened the door for me. What a gentleman. We drove to a sushi place near his house. It was so fancy. We sat at a booth in the back, and it was so nice. We started talking about his life and what he does and his family. I found out his mom had died. When he was three, she got into a car accident. He had a sister named Gigi, who was 18. He had such an interesting life. We got our sushi 30 minutes later; I got an avocado roll and he got a california roll. We laughed so much that night. When we were done I leaned my head against him. He smiled.

“I really like you, Hall. I know we just met but I think you’re the one for me.”

I smiled and stood up.

“Me too.”

He leaned in, I leaned in, and the next thing you know we were kissing, and I never felt so happy.

 

It was 1:00 when I got home. But I didn’t even try to fall asleep, I just texted Jared all night.

 

tonight was amazing. thx for the sushi. <3

 

No problem, hall. 😉

 

What is this, some kind of sick joke?

 

so are we dating now? <3 I sent.

Was that too much? Nahhhh, it’s okay.

 

I felt mean, I know I should’ve been paying all of my attention to mom, but I couldn’t help it. He was the only one that made me happy and I needed to be happy more than anything right now.

 

if thats okay with you…. <3

 

Ahhh! We’re dating. Ahhh!

it’s totally okay with me. ily.. <3

 

Before he could respond I got a call. It was from the hospital. I answered it. The words they said on the phone call were the two words I would never forget.

She. Died.

 

Chapter Ten

 

How could they do that? Just say it like that. “She died” not even a “She passed away, i’m so sorry” type of thing. I was over it. Over life, over everything. I didn’t care anymore, all I had left was a crappy hotel room, and my cat that sounded like a rooster. I was completely done. So I went away, I packed my bags and started the car. I drove through the city with the roof down and my hair blowing in the wind, I didn’t tell anyone, not even Jared. I just abandoned my life because it was pointless. My phone kept buzzing with texts from Emily, dad, and Jared. But I ignored them. They weren’t important anymore, nothing was.

I drove all the way to, you guessed it,

Route 66.

 

THE END

 

Conclusion

 

When I went to Route 66 I found a small shack near the water. I ended up telling Jared where I was, and being the gentlemen he was, he came to get me. I wouldn’t go, though. I didn’t want to live in that sick town. So he bought me a house, about 15 acres across from his house. He visited once in a while, but me, I lived with Dibbles for five years, until one day Jared came over and bent down on one knee, and you know where this is going. We got married and lived, I guess you could say, happily ever after.

Emily and dad came to the wedding, and me and Emily were friends again. Not as close as we were before, but we were sisters, and some things would never change between us. But dad was gone. He wasn’t dead, but I never talked to him again. It was so wrong it almost felt right. So Jared, Dibbles and I, along with our one kid, Julia, yep, named after my mom, ended up living on Route 66.

 

Once there was a family, the McKnight family. They moved from Utah to Texas during the summer. Here are the people in the family. Mindy is the mom of the family who has her own youtube channel called The Mom’s View. Shawn is the cameraman for the youtube channel. He’s also the Daddy’o. Brooklyn is the popular girl, was head of the cheerleading squad(in Utah), who makes friends very easily and is super nice. She is 14 years old. Bailey is Brooklyn’s identical twin who is 2 minutes younger and is super shy and funny. Obviously, you know how old she is. Tyler is very cute and is going into his sophomore year. He is 15. Kayla is the little daredevil of the family and is going into 4th grade. She is 9. And Riley is a very quiet soon-to-be-kindergartener, age 5.

So here’s the story. They were all eating dinner at the dinner table and talking about the first day of school tomorrow.

“Is everybody ready for their first day of school tomorrow?” said Mindy.

“I am!” said Brooklyn. “I’m ready for new friends and I hope to be the head of the cheerleading squad at Presner School.”

“I’m not,” said Bailey, looking annoyed and folding her arms.

“Why?” said Riley with her quiet, tiny, five-year-old voice.

“Because I’m not going to make any friends and I’m going to be a solid-D student and have the worst time ever!”

“I bet you’re not!” said Kayla.

“Bailey isn’t that nice that Kayla thinks you’re gonna have the best day tomorrow as a freshman.”said Mom

“I care,” said Riley”.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I do too?” Tyler said, obviously confused.

“But, I care the most,” said Brooklyn.

“No you don’t!” said Bailey. “You always take all the attention away, you entered to be class president because you knew that you would get more votes. When I’m trying to make a friend you takeover, YOU RUIN MY LIFE! I’m done with dinner, Mom.”

“Me too,” said Brooklyn.

Brooklyn went up to her room and saw that Bailey was on the right side of the bed. So Brooklyn was about to get on the left side of the bed when Bailey flipped over on the left side.”I think you’re having trouble getting comfortable,” Brooklyn said .

“Yeah, Well it’s kinda hard to sleep when there’s a knife in your back,” Bailey said. She used her body to try and cover the entire bed so Brooklyn didn’t have any room.

“I think I’ll just sleep on this chair,” Brooklyn said as she sat on the armchair next to the AC.

”But if I get up to get a glass of water, you’ll steal the bed! LIKE YOU STEAL EVERYTHING ELSE!” Bailey said.

“Bailey I didn’t know I was hurting your feelings, and I am so sorry,” Brooklyn said.

“I thought you were my friend,” Bailey said.

“I AM your friend!” said Brooklyn.

“Well, I hate to see what you do to your enemies!” Bailey said.

“I don’t have any enemies!” Brooklyn said.

“You do now,” Bailey said.

“Ladies, ladies,” said a voice. It was Lucas. Lucas had a  crush on both Brooklyn and Bailey but, Brooklyn and Bailey didn’t have a crush on him.

“How long have you been here?” Brooklyn said.

“The whole time,” Lucas said. “I hate to see you two fighting! I want my future first and second wives to get along,” Lucas said.

“Get out!” both girls said.

 

September 4 ,2015 10:20

 

I’m trying to fall asleep but I can’t!

 

XO,Bailey

 

So Bailey hopped out of bed, went down the hall and to the left, into Riley’s room. She slowly opened the door and pinched Riley to wake her up.

“AH!” Riley said. “What are you doing here?”

“Riley, I’m nervous about my first day of school tomorrow. Do you have any advice for me?”

“I’m only five! Go to sleep!” Riley said as she got under the covers, hiding her entire body.

“Fail number one,” Bailey said as she closed the door slowly and headed into Kayla’s room. Bailey opened the door slowly and pinched Kayla to wake her up, same as she did to wake up Riley.

“Hey!” Kayla said. “Shouldn’t you be in bed? With Brooklyn?”

“I need some advice for school tomorrow because I’m nervous. Do you think you know anything about a freshman year?”

“I’m nine, I’m not an idiot,” Kayla said.

“I never said you were nine, or an idiot,” Bailey said.

“Just go to sleep,” Kayla said.

“Fail number two,” Bailey said. She closed Kayla’s door slowly and headed in Tyler’s room, thinking that he wouldn’t be such a big help. But she went in Tyler’s room anyways. She pinched Tyler to wake him up.

“Huh what huh?” Tyler said. “You’re so annoying ,” Tyler said. “Why can’t you just chill out for one minute? You’re exhausting,” Tyler said. He pulled the covers over his head and went back to sleep. Bailey didn’t even say Fail number three, because that was barely a try. So Bailey went into her parents’ room and opened the door. They were watching Odd Mom Out in their bed.

“Mom? Dad?”

“What are you doing awake?” Mom said.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed with Brooklyn?” Dad said.

“I can’t sleep. I’m nervous about my first day of school tomorrow!”

“You have nothing to worry about!” Mom said.

“You’re going to be just fine,” Dad said. Just then, the three of them heard footsteps. It was Brooklyn.

“Mom, I need my nighttime pills. I forgot I left them in your bathroom.”

“You didn’t take your nighttime pills tonight?” Mom said.

“No, I didn’t,” Brooklyn said. “And Bailey, what are you doing awake?”

“I feel like you guys should have a little talk,” Dad said.

“About what?” Bailey said.

“You know what, honey,” said Mom. “

Fine,” Bailey said.

“Brooklyn, you get your nighttime pills. Bailey, hop into bed,” Mom said.

“I’ll be waiting,” Bailey said to Brooklyn.

When Brooklyn came into the room, she said, “I don’t know what’s up with you, usually at the dinner table you’re telling jokes or listening to stories others are telling.”

“I’m just nervous I’m not gonna make any friends, I’m gonna get bad grades and I’m gonna be lonely and scared. I’m gonna have no one to hang out with.”

“You can hang out with me!” Brooklyn said.

“Wouldn’t you rather hang out with your friends that you’re gonna make at school?” Bailey said.

“The only reason I make friends easily is because those people are nice to me. I don’t know if the people in the new school will like me,” Brooklyn said.

“The truth is, I’m kind of a little shy. Not that many people like me.”

“But how did you get to be so popular? And how did you get to make so many friends at our old school?” Bailey said.

“The only reason I got so popular was because I was head of the cheerleading squad, and I was class president last year. The only reason I had so many friends is because a lot of people liked me.”

“Oh” Bailey said.

“I’m sorry about our fight earlier. I shouldn’t have told you that you ruined my life. Cause you really didn’t. Now I understand. I’m sorry for taking all the attention away,” Brooklyn said.

“You didn’t,” Bailey said. “I was just jealous.” They hugged each other.

“Let’s rest up for our big day tomorrow,” Brooklyn said.

“I’ll be right there,” Bailey said. “There’s just something I have to do.”

 

September 4, 2015 10:35 PM

 

Dear Diary,

 

Everything worked out just fine. Everythings ok, for now…

 

XO, Bailey