Chapter One

The bell rang as Kate Rosen ran to get to her classroom on time. She had spent all night finishing her English homework. Kate had gotten a C+ on her last English test, and her parents were really upset because they wanted Kate to be a straight-A student. So they had grounded her. That made Kate really mad, because she and her best friend Lucy had been planning a party with some of their friends from gymnastics.

So, when she got to school, Lucy asked why Kate hadn’t responded to her texts, and it was all very bad.

After studying all night, Kate had forgotten to set her alarm, and woke up with only fifteen minutes until school started, and it took five minutes for her dad to drive Kate to school. So that meant she had just ten minutes to get ready for school.

Now, there she was, sliding into her seat, just as the final bell rang.

“Where were you, Kate?” boomed Ms. Call, “You were almost late!! And you know I don’t like lateness!”

Ms. Call was a very loud person. Normally, she could be heard across the hall. And almost all the teachers complained about being able to hear the kids across the hall. Ms. Call was also very strict. It was no wonder that most kids were afraid of her. Mrs. V, the vice principal, was her sister, and that morning, she came into their classroom.

“Clarissa,” she said (Ms. Call’s first name was Clarissa), “Won’t you meet me during lunch?”

“Of course, of course!” Ms. Call responded.

After Ms. V left, Kate wondered what was up. Then, Ms. Call continued her lecture.   

* * *

After listening to a long lecture about the bad effects of being late, Ms. Call finally started the (boring) lesson. The day flew by, and by 3:50 PM, when it was time to go home, Kate was exhausted. When Ms. Call passed out a flyer for Golden Heart Middle & High School, Kate hardly paid any attention at all.

When Kate got home, she flopped on her bed, with orange stars on her quilt, in her room with the pretty, pink and yellow striped walls, and slept until her mom yelled at at her to get her homework done. Only a few minutes after Kate finished her math homework, there was a knock on the door.

“Mom, can you get the door?” Kate called up from her room. “I still have to do my writing homework!”

“Okay,” her mom responded. “I’ll tell you if it is someone you want to see!”

A few seconds later, there was a loud clomp-clomping of designer boots, and Kate knew exactly who had knocked on the door, even without her mom calling, “Lucy’s here!”

Chapter 2

Lucy was Kate’s best friend. Lucy used to live across the street from Kate, back before Lucy’s mom had made, like, a billion dollars as an award-winning actor, who starred in one of the most popular movies, even today, about three years after the movie had been released. The movie was called Queen of Wonder and was about ancient Greek royalty, and even though it sounded weird, it was really good! After the movie became a smash hit, and Lucy’s family was suddenly rich, they moved to a huge house on a nearby street, where all the big house were.

Kate still lived in her two-story brick house on Moon Street. The upper floor consisted of Kate’s room, her parents’ room, and a small bathroom that Kate and her parents shared. The bottom floor had a kitchen, living room, and dining room. It was identical to all the other houses on Moon Street.

Lucy was still Kate’s best friend, even though they didn’t live near each other. Practically every weekend, one was sleeping over at the other’s house.

Lucy ran into Kate’s room and started talking a mile a minute.  

“Oh my god!” screamed Lucy, waving her hands in the air, “Have you heard? Do you want to go?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Kate, “I don’t know know what you’re talking about!”

“You don’t know?” Lucy asked, shocked. “I thought you got the pamphlet!”

“Oh, this?” Kate threw the Golden Heart Middle and High School pamphlet on the ground. She was shocked at Lucy’s reaction.

“How dare you! This school is the key for us to become rich and famous like my mom!”

“What?” Kate felt like she had missed something big.

“Oh,” Lucy said, her voice suddenly gentle. “Have you read the pamphlet at all?”

“No.”

“Oh, I see why you were so confused.”

“I still am confused!”

“Whatever. You need to know what’s in that pamphlet!”

“Okay.”

“So read it!”

“Fine, I was going to!”

Kate picked up the pamphlet and began to read.

Dear whoever is lucky enough to read this,

We hope by reading this, you decide that you will benefit from going to Golden Heart Middle and High School. If you do, we hope you enjoy the luxurious dorms, which you will share with a roommate of your choice. Your rooms will include two queen beds, a flat-screen TV, two mini fridges, the rest of your mini kitchenette, and laptops for you and your roommate. There are also special classes unique to Golden Heart, including our famous equestrian center, our star cooking class, our filmmaking class, our honored sports classes with all things from soccer to gymnastics, our first-class dancing classes, our writing classes, water sports, our wonderful art classes, and more! We hope you decide to come, like all the stars and world-famous people who have graduated from Golden Heart. If you cannot afford to go to Golden Heart, a full scholarship will be awarded to two exceptional students at participating schools by the principal, so try to do the best for your community, and you might just get into this elite school. Until the scholarship is awarded to the students, think about looking into it further.

Thank you,

Madam Finick, Headmistress of Golden Heart

“Wow…” Kate breathed, “This looks amazing!”

“I know!” cried Lucy, “We NEED to get in!”

Just then, Kate’s mother came upstairs to tell Lucy that her mother had called and said that Lucy could stay at Kate’s house for dinner, but couldn’t sleep over, because it was a school night.

“What are you talking about, girls?” she asked, “It was getting a little loud up here. I hope you weren’t arguing!”

Kate wordlessly handed her mom the pamphlet. Her mom looked it over and then read the inside of the pamphlet.

“Um, interesting….” Kate’s mom said, “I presume you just read this, Kate.”

“Yes.”

“And you were showing it to Kate, Lucy. Right?”

“How do you know these things?” Lucy wondered aloud.

“Mom power,” Kate’s mother responded.

She was always saying cheesy things like that, as an excuse for logic.

“Can you pleeease let us try to get in?!” Lucy and Kate asked in unison, “Please?”

“Well, if you want to so bad, then, yes.”

“Yay!”

“Lucy’s mother has to agree too, okay?”

“Okay.”

Her mom left the room, and a wordless message passed between Lucy and Kate: We have to get into Golden Heart!

Kate and Lucy had been friends for so long that they could communicate with each other with just their eyes.