Chapter One(s) [COMPLETED]

Totally Normal (Teen Fiction)

As she went, she altered her strides, not long and confident, but a bit small, more of a shuffle. With force, she dropped her eyes, keeping them at waist and ground level. Slipping into the character of a quiet nerdy girl felt like putting on a different pair of shoes. They fit but it took some adjusting.

When Jackie entered the school hallway, she froze. Real. It was all real. The hallway stretched out longer than she'd imagined. There was a roof! Not just lighting rigs. And it smelled! Like conflicting body washes and some BO.

She knew she was too excited but her whole life had been incomplete rooms with one wall missing, microphone booms hangings overhead, sets connected to each other. A teacher's office neighboring a classroom that neighbored a living room. But here was a real school, not just disjointed sets.

Someone knocked into Jackie, breaking her from her reverie. The person didn't even glance at her or apologize. This was amazing!

"You're blocking the door," someone said.

Jackie glanced back then ducked her head. "Sorry."

She shuffled forward, clinging to her character even as she wanted to gape at everything. Halfway down the hall, she realized she had a locker and should find it. One more thing that made her want to smile. It took five minutes of scanning locker numbers to find her own. She took hold of the handle and tried to open it. But nothing happened.

For a second, she stared at the locker completely baffled why it didn't open. Then she grinned. Her locker's lock was real. Of course, it was. On set none of the lockers needed combinations, it could ruin a take if it took too long for a character to put the exact combination in. Instead, they just pretended to put the combo in. Jackie had made hers a mix of her birthday and her favorite numbers. Now she would have to remember the exact combination. Amazing!

As she read over the combination on the slip of paper that had come with her schedule, a boy approached the locker next to hers. She looked at him. He stood a few inches taller than her with short, wilded light brown hair, glasses, a plain face, a nose that was a bit out of portion with his features, and a slim build.

A real, normal boy! Not an actor that was dressed down to look average but actually average. Jackie had worked with extras before but even then they looked above average. But this boy looked just like any boy that might be seen on the street.

He glanced at Jackie but quickly looked away. Nothing. No reaction. No double-take. No narrowing of the eyes as he tried to remember why she looked familiar. Nothing. Jackie wanted to bounce around, he didn't know who she was!

Fighting back a pleased smile, she twisted in her locker's combination. When she pulled on the handle this time, it still didn't budge. She spun the combo in but again the locker wouldn't open. Using both hands, she tried to pry the handle up.

"Here," the boy next to her said. "Sometimes they get stuck."

As he leaned in to help her, the handle gave and Jackie jerked her hands back. The door flew open and smacked into the boy's forehead. He yelped and stumbled, clutching his forehead.

"Oh jeez!" she said. "Are you okay?"

The boy nodded and inspected his fingers.

"No blood, we're good," he said.

Jackie sighed. "I'm really sorry about that."

The boy focused on her and he blinked like this was the first time he was actually noticing her. Jackie fidgeted and this time it wasn't because her character would. She feared close appraisal would be the end of her attempt at normalcy.