My Latest Story- Chapter One (go back »)

My latest and first story is about a girl who moves from Denver Colorado to Savannah, Georgia with her mother. The first chapter covers the move, and the first day of school. One of the things you must be thinking is, why on earth would she start it like that? How very unoriginal...

The truth is that I understand how common this beginning is, but I felt it was truly the best way to get to know Evelyn Carr.

 

Like I mention in my About Me, I love to talk to people, so feel completely free to stop by and ask me questions about anything. Ask me about my inspiration, fun facts about the chapters, my age, or even books that I recommend. I am a very talkative person and I would love to hear your opinion on my writing. After all, I've never showed it to anyone before this.

Anyway, I'm stillworking on some of the bugs, so if you see an error, let me know!

Talk to you soon!

 

-Amy

 

            It must have been the coldest day of the year in Denver, Colorado, because I was positive that my window had officially turned into ice. My face looked glossy and smooth in my reflection, yet I still seemed grotesquely plain next to Jessica. Jessica was my best friend, and by far the most beautiful girl in all of Cobble High School. She had the perfect smile that made you question whether she was an average teenager, or a movie star. She had bouncy dirty blonde hair that always looked amazing. But probably the most significant of her features were her eyes. They were the kind of eyes you had to pull yourself away from. I stared into them via my frozen window as she took another gulp of her hot chocolate. They were a unique blue-gray that reminded me of the sky before a storm. I lifted my eyes to examine my face. Of all the people who were cooped-up due to the weather, I was probably the palest. Even when my mother and I had stayed in Florida for a few months, all I did was get the most repulsive shade of red imaginable. My dark, green apple eyes seemed to pop against my pale skin. I had dark chocolate brown colored hair that was down to my shoulders. We sat for a few more minutes, staring at the snow that was threatening to lock us in and sipping at our hot chocolate.

"I wonder when it's going to stop," Jess blurted, interrupting the peacefulness that had inconspicuously entered the room. Jess and I were never quiet unless there was something that we were absolutely trying to ovoid, which was precisely the case.

"Soon, I hope..." My voice trailed off; neither of us were truly interested in the snow's plans. We sat for another minute before she couldn't take the silence.

"Do you really have to go, Lynn? Your mom is so wishy-washy that I bet you could talk her out of it!" She must have seen a look on my face because her head dropped like a lost puppy. It really was a lost cause. We had already sold our house and bought the new one.

"Come on, Jess. Do you really believe that? Look. We can write each other all the time. I'll call you and we'll visit each other a lot. It'll be like I never... moved." We both shuttered at the word. Today was my last day in Denver. Mom had gotten an offer on a job and just like that we were packing.

"Savannah, Georgia," Jessica growled like it was a nasty curse word; I sighed. Of course, I wasn't leaping out the door for Georgia, either, but just the way she had said it...

My mom decided it was a good idea to just go ahead and get out of the house, so here I was- staring out the window of a Holiday Inn with my best friend. I decided not to think about it. I kicked my suitcase under the bed; out of sight, out of mind.

"What do you want to do?" I asked brightly, trying to form some kind of distraction.

"Wallow in self-pity," She replied. So we did, and before I knew it, I was headed for Savannah.

The plane ride was long and tiring. All I could do was think about all of the people I was going to have to meet. All of the new friends I was going to have to make. I sighed dramatically a few times, and my mom peeked one eye open long enough to mumble something I couldn’t understand and then shake her head around a few times before slipping back into sleep. When we got to Georgia I had eaten three packs of peanuts, read 241 pages of my book, and texted Jessica 27 times. Given that the number of pages didn't mean much; I was a very fast reader.

The car ride to our new house felt longer than the flight and when we finally got there, I had listened to 23 songs, read the 14 more pages of my book, and texted Jessica another 12 times.

"Wow. Don't you just love it, sweetie?" I pulled my self up out of my slouch and looked at the old Victorian-looking house. I actually did love what I saw; it was skinny and long, with a cute little porch.

"Yeah. I can't believe this. Are we still in the historic district?" She nodded and I shook my head in disbelief.

"Sure it's a little old and all, but isn't it darling?"

"Darling," I agreed to her rhetorical question.

"Go ahead," She chirped tossing me the keys. I ran to the door, and fiddled it with the old keys until it finally squeaked open. By the time I managed get it open, mom had already gotten out of the car to go direct the movers.

"Um. Mom?" I shouted over to her. "Where's my-"

"Up the stairs to the.... right. I think." She had visited it a few times before to get a good look at it while I stayed with Jessica.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I skipped up the stairs. The house was rather modern from the inside, which was nice. I saw the first door to the right and opened it. A closet. I hope that's not my room. I continued down the hall until I saw what must have been my room. The walls were a pale yellow that almost blended into the room; I liked it. It was a pretty decent room; medium-sized, I would say. It had a quaint, little window that had the most breath-taking view of River Street imaginable. Two hefty movers entered my room with the pieces of my desk.

"Thanks." I pushed the pieces to the far-side of the room. I pushed my way past the two big movers and hurried down to grab some of my boxes; I didn't want them to break anything.

The first night was definitely the hardest. It didn't feel like home, so I found myself tossing, turning, and eventually reading all night. In light of everything that I had to look forward to the next day, I should have gotten at least a little more than three hours sleep, but I guess nerves got to me; I was thinking about school all night.

"Oh, come on, sweetheart; twelfth grade is not that bad. Don't give me that look. If you keep this up, you're not going to have any friends." My mom warned as I headed for the front door. Honestly, she was right. If I didn't perk up and look a little less miserable, I would be known as that boring new girl, and that was not happening.

"I know, I know. I'll try. Love you mom."

"Love you too, sweet pea! Have a good day," She shouted from the kitchen.

"Highly unlikely..." I murmured as I grabbed my bag and slammed the door shut, a little too dramatically. I had just started to like Denver. I made friends, and had a boyfriend. Given he wasn't all too amazing and dumped me the second he heard I was moving. I frowned to myself as I opened my car door. My car was definitely not anything special. My mom had bought me a silver Ford Focus for my birthday. It wasn't amazing, but it worked... most of the time.

I mumbled a bit about my miserable life as I pulled out of the driveway, and headed for my miserable high school, to start my miserable day.

"Evelyn Carr?" A large woman with a repulsive yellow dress asked me as I opened the door to the front office. It took me awhile, but the big, half-faded white letters that read "Front Office" got me there.

"Yes, that's me." I confirmed, looking around the stuffy room. There was a large plaque that said something about all students getting treated fairly; I gave a quiet giggle. It was obscenely idiotic and I wondered why no one had taken it down yet.

"Good. You're a little earlier than I'd expected, but I guess I'll go ahead and get you set-up," She said with fake cheerfulness.

"Thanks. I'm early? Oops. Sorry."

"Oh, no, darling, you aren't early, I just didn't expect you to come on time." She must have read my confused expression, because she chuckled and continued. "I just meant that most new student as very late; they usually think they can get away with it because they're new."

"Oh. Well, I guess I was just... excited," I lied; she chuckled again.

"Anyway, let's get you settled, hon. I suppose you know that your mom already did all of the hard stuff. Our counselor, Mrs. Coligs, will get everything else for you. She's right through that door," She smiled pointing a stubby, fat finger at a door down the hall.

"Thanks." I grabbed my stuff and headed for Mrs. What's-her-face's room.

It took all of thirty minutes to get "settled in." She gave me my schedule, a map, showed me my locker, and gave me a quick tour before introducing me to Cameron. She was another student. She had long, beach blonde hair that was pulled up into a neat ponytail, wrapped in a delicate bow; she made me feel positively nauseous. She was in a lot of my classes, so they said she could help me out a lot today, and be my mentor, in a sense. She was very pretty, but in a "she's wearing too much make-up" sort of way. She looked like the cheerleaders on Happy Days. Mrs. Counselor-Lady told her to show me to my first class, which was Advanced French.

"Down that hall is the cafeteria, and- oh. Wait. Did Mrs. Coligs already give you the tour? Oh, well, anyway, it'll be easier to remember if you hear it twice. Down that hall is the biology room- that's your next class and all...” She was talking a million a minute and I couldn't follow anymore.

"Um. Cameron?"

"Ew, no. Only teachers call me that. I'm Cami. My mom hates it when I go by that, but Danny loves it. Oh, yeah- Danny's my boyfriend. Anyway, he thinks it's cute because his name sounds like mine- you know, the 'ie' sound and stuff. Oh, were you asking me something?" Her face turned a very lovely shade of pink.

"I was just going to ask if that was the way to my locker."

"Oh, yeah. Do you need to go to it? Oh, of course you don't; you're holding stuff. But yeah, that's you're locker. Hey, do you have a cell phone?" I nodded. "Yay! I need you're number. We can text in class if you want. I never get caught," She announced proudly.

"Um, okay," I smiled.

"Oh, here it is- French class. You ready? Geez, you look so nervous."

"It's my first day. I'm just really... excited," I blurted out, using the same word I had used with the lad in the office. She giggled.

"It's okay. I'd be nervous too." Was that supposed to be helpful? I sighed and opened the creaky, brown door.

"Oh, there she is!" She had obviously been talking about me.

"This is Lynn- erm. Cat?"

"Actually it's Carr, and you can call me Lynn or Evelyn; it doesn't make a difference to me," I corrected smiling my "Oh God, I wish I wasn't here" smile.

"Oh. Well, Evelyn, go ahead and take a seat anywhere. We don't do open seating, so you will have to sit there for the rest of the semester." Cami took the hint and pulled me by my wrist to an open seat in front of her. I sat in the back of the room, which was bad; I just sat there feeling awkward as I felt 27 pairs of eyes turn around to judge me.

"Oh, looks like Danny's friend... um, Rich thinks you're cute," Cami whispered, leaning up to my ear. She motioned over to where Rich sat; she was right. He was staring at me like I was a turkey on thanksgiving. "I'd go out with him if I were you. He's a total hottie- very popular." I didn't know people actually said things like "total hottie" anymore. I smiled awkwardly before looking away from him.

"I don't know..." I whispered back. I must have said the magic words because she sighed and sat back.

The rest of the day was pretty similar, and then it was time for lunch, and I had no idea where to sit. After I got my tray, I started towards an empty table by the window; if I had to sit alone I might as well get some homework done, and the lighting was perfect.

"Darla!" I heard Cami call. "Darla, why didn't you turn around? I've been calling you forever! Come sit with us."

"Well, I didn't turn around because my name isn't Darla," I joked.

"Oh, sorry. What's your name again?" She asked politely, blushing.

"Evelyn or Lynn, remember? Either is fine."

"Okay, well, can I call you Eve? It's so pretty."

"Um. I guess so."

"Yay. Okay, come with me, Eve." She pulled me outside to the senior courtyard, where we sat at a table with a lot of very attractive people- the cool crowd, I decided; I immediately got self-conscious.

"Hey sweetie!" Cami cooed as she ran over and kissed someone on the cheek. I decided that was Danny. He was tall and had curly cinnamon hair.

"Hey, new girl," A boy called from the other side of the table, pushing a few trays away for me to come sit with them. Might as well, I told myself as I stalked across the courtyard to meet him. He was a few inches taller than me, (which meant he was very tall, considering my height) was dressed in black, and had greasy, jet-black hair. I decided he was okay-looking. This was probably where the prep section separated from the bad boy section. That made me remember how much I hated cliques.

"Eve! Get back here!" I shrugged at the boy who had called me over to him, embarrassed.

"What?"

"Are you an idiot? Who would you talk to him?" I shrugged again. Her tone was entirely disgusted which confirmed my thoughts about that separating the two worlds.

Cami introduced me to everyone we saw all day, it was complete nonsense, but I felt almost important because of the way everyone was looking at me. The day seemed to drag on and on, but when it finally was time for the end-of-the-day locker brake, I noticed something that I never thought I would see in a million years.