Chapter 1 of My Book??

I'm finally posting some prose. It's not just any prose, though... It's the first chapter of the manuscript I'm currently working on! It still needs a lot of work. For example, I wrote this and the first couple chapters when I was in middle school. Can you tell? Anyway, enough from me. I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 1: The Girls

Almost done… almost done… and done! Ally Taylor just finished the book she was reading: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She slammed the book shut and tossed it aside. She flopped onto her bed, laying on her back, and stared up at the star stickers she had put up earlier that day. They glowed only dimly in the room as it was still bright out. The sunset cast an orange glow into her bedroom. She looked around her room at the new furniture and boxes of remaining objects.

Ally had moved to Chicago last week from Colorado. She was going to start at a new school tomorrow. Ally was always excited for new school years… but she was scared for this one. She had to make new friends at her new school. She had so many at her school in Colorado like Zoe, and Roger, and John, and Claire, and Molly, and Frankie, and Josephine, and especially Lilly. Ally and Lilly had done everything together, inseparable over their love of reading and everything fantastical. Now Ally didn’t even know when she’d get to see Lilly again. She didn’t hate meeting new people, but she had left so much behind and needed to start all over.

Ally was going to be in seventh grade. She didn’t know what was going to happen at the new school… but you know what they say. Life is full of surprises.

***

“Wake up!” Leanette Kelly’s brother, Jacob, shouted. He grabbed one of her flower pillows and whacked her in the face.

“Ouch,” Leanette groaned and sat up. “What was that for?”

“Mom says to wake up. You’re late!”

“What time is it?” Leanette rubbed her eyes. As she looked at the alarm clock, she suddenly felt wide awake. She had to leave in six minutes! It was the first day of school, and Leanette was going to be in seventh grade. Once her brother left the room, she slipped on a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Then she ran to the kitchen, grabbed an orange and her backpack, and ran out the door.

Leanette was on top of everything but always seemed to be late to things, especially on the first day of school. She ran across the front lawn. Luckily, the bus was still in front of her house, so she hopped on.

***

Phoebe Kenneth hopped on the bus right when it pulled up. She plopped onto the seat next to Leanette.

“I can’t believe we’re finally in seventh grade!” Phoebe said excitedly. “More kids to entertain!”

Phoebe loved to entertain other students. Last year, she was the class clown. Her friend, Leanette, was probably the smartest person ever. She was on high honor-roll for three years!

Phoebe saw her looking glumly out the window and asked, “Leanette, what’s wrong?”

“Well… in seventh grade, there starts to be popular kids,” Leanette said, still looking through the window.

“Oh, come on, Leanette. Seventh grade is going to be exactly like sixth.”

“Riiight.”

Phoebe sighed. Leanette may be right, but hopefully, I’ll be right instead for once.

***

“Here we are,” Mr. Burke said.

“Thanks, dad,” Natalie Burke replied. Natalie’s dad had driven her to school because she missed the bus.

“Remember what your mom said.”

Natalie got out of the car. “Sure.”

“Have a fun day at school.”

“Sure.” She took a deep breath and then walked into the school she’d gone to since she was four.

Every year, Natalie got a new locker, so she took a look at her locker card: B54. All the older kids ten and up had B lockers. When she arrived at her locker, she looked around to see if any more seventh grade girls were there. Then she checked her schedule and got her books for Religion and English, her first two subjects. She headed to classroom 203, which was also her homeroom. Natalie’s teacher for homeroom was Ms. Smith. She went to the classroom, even though she was four minutes early.

***

Vanessa Sanchez, a seventh grader, finished getting the books for her first two subjects. She hurried to classroom 203, hoping not to run into Jennifer Blane, her popular best friend. Vanessa got to the classroom right before all the other kids rushed in. At her school, they were allowed to choose where to sit. Vanessa looked around for a seat. Then she noticed a girl that had brown hair with amber highlights and brown eyes. The girl was sitting alone in the back corner of the room. Vanessa was about to go sit by her, but then she heard someone call out, “Hey, Vanessa!”

Vanessa turned around to see that it was Jennifer with her other friend Kathy Sasaki.

“Shouldn’t we go sit by that girl?” Vanessa asked, pointing at her. “She seems lonely.”

Jennifer let out a loud, hyena laugh. “It’s good to ignore those kinds of people. They’re not as popular as we are.”

Then Jennifer pulled Vanessa by the arm to the front three center seats: one for Jennifer, one for Kathy, and the last for Vanessa. She sighed and looked back at the girl in the corner.