Nut Nation

Chapter One - Acorn

"Wake up, mistress!" A voice  stirred me from my sleep.
"Jen? Is it morning already?" I asked blearily.
"Yes ma'am." She said. "And it's Thursday. That means--"
"Yes, yes, I know. Meeting day." I yawned, falling back into my soft bed.
"I'll get breakfast ready, ma'am." Jen said.
"Thanks. I'll be right there."
She nodded and left my room, door closing with a soft click. I stretched and hopped out of my bed. The clock read 9:35. I groaned.
Only two hours till the meeting.
I opened the door to my huge closet, revealing rows after rows of hats. (I love hats.) For the meeting, I went to the 'top hat' section.
I selected a tall, shiny, black one that fit snugly. I also plucked out a black sequined infinity scarf.
As I headed down the steps, I could smell the wonderful scent of waffles wafting up the steps.
I wuuuuvvvvvv waffles. Just so you know.
I pulled off my nightcap, releasing waves of chocolaty brown hair. I put on my top hat and my scarf, checked my reflection in a mirror at the bottom of the steps, and headed through the maze of hallways to the kitchen.
A heaping plate of waffles steamed on the table, syrup dripping down the sides.
As I finished the last of the waffles, Jen came up and said, "Ma'am, Jessica is coming to pick you up in fifteen minutes."
I sighed. The clock read 10:37. Did it really take me that long to eat waffles?
Oh well.
"Thanks, Jen. I'll wait outside." I put my plate in the sink and went to the large brown oak door.
"For fifteen minutes?" Jen started washing the sticky syrupy plate.
"Yes. I need to clear my head." I grabbed my notebook before I forgot. (I'm the secretary of the council.)
"Okay, ma'am." Jen kept scrubbing. "I'll get Walnut's room ready, since she's spending the night."
I nodded and stepped outside, a warm breeze rustling the branches overhead. I sat on the grass, waiting, watching the birds chip to one another.
A brown car pulled up into the driveway. I checked my watch. 10:40! Waaaaayyyy too early!
"Jessica?" I stood up. "We're way too early."
"Sorry!" She yelled from the car. She seemed reluctant to get out.
I felt an ominous feeling, but I shrugged it away.
I climbed into the car and lurched back as Jess hit the gas. We sped away and narrowly missed sharp turns until we reached the straight highway.
About 15 minutes later, she screeched to a stop by the New Nut City temple to Riley.
Sure enough, it was only 10:59, so I had 25 minutes to explore NNC more thoroughly.
"Thanks. We'll be done around 2 o'clock." I told Jess and then she sped away.
She never-ever-ever shouts or goes a notch over the speed limit, but I didn't stress over it. I only had 24 minutes to explore now!
I first went to Coconut Ice Cream, where I or a huge, delicious bowl of vanilla and cake batter and unhealthy amounts of sprinkles. Then I got a box full of candy from PeanutCandy, and lastly I went to HazelnutNutella.
My clock now read 11:24. I dashed to the conference center as fast as my skinny little legs could take me. I ripped through the glass doors and banged up the stairs.
I pushed my finger over the scanner and the conference room door swung open. I sat down, breathing hard.
I had a reputation to be first, couldn't mess that up! Behind me the door opened.
I stood up and bowed as Riley stepped in. She wore a long, shimmering gown inlaid with an assortment of nuts. Small acorns studded the necklace, pistachios provided a beautiful trim along the bottom. Her hair was braided and clipped together with walnuts. Her sparkling green eyes were untainted by eye shadow and eyeliner, and one single bracelet was on her wrist. "Acorn." She smiled. "Early as always."
"Of course." I panted still trying to get my breath. "I'm not going to mess up my reputation now." I beamed happily.
By 11:32, everyone was here. Riley started her role call. "Walnut?"
"Here!" Walnut said simply, her strawberry blonde hair tied back in two tight pigtail style braids. She had on her normal national uniform, black elastic pants that were the same color as her shirt, and brown leather boots.
"Almond?"
"Here." Almond said while reading her notes. Her hair was pure black and reached just below her shoulders. She slightly adjusted her glasses and glanced my way.
"Coconut?"
"Here!"
She squealed in between fits of laughter. Apparently her and Pistachio got in a tickle fight, her light brown hair was sprawled around her head from laying on the floor laughing.
"Acorn?"
"Here!" I chirped enthusiastically.
"Peanut?"
Silence.
We all looked around. I took a glance at Walnut who was leaning against the wall. She just shrugged.
The door then burst open and we all slightly jumped. Peanut bounded in the room happily.
"Peanut's here!" She announced.
Peanut had light brown hair and wild brown eyes. She had bangs that reached to her eyebrows, the rest of her hair was tied into a low ponytail.
Riley slightly rolled her eyes and continued.
"Hazelnut?"
"Murgh-lurmph!"
"What?"
"She's here." I said. "She's just eating."
Hazelnut had short, very dark brown hair that she kept and a ponytail. She also wore a light purple jacket that she wore almost all the time.
"Oh." Riley continued down her list with, Pickle (yes, pickle), Doughnut (it has nut in it!) Pistachio, Pecan, Macadamia, Chestnut, and Cashew.
Almond pushed up her slipping glasses for the second time so far. "So." She said. "I think we should ban sliced almonds from being a topping in Coconut's Ice Cream Shoppe. I do not like sending sacrifices to that isolated place just so there are almond toppings!"
Coconut narrowed her pale brown eyes. "You don't decide what toppings we may or may not have!"
Almond stood up angrily and her chair slid back and extra 6 inches, but Peanut interrupted. "Just ban them! I don't like almonds anyways. Plus, if we ban them, there will be room for Reese's toppings!"
Riley watched Almond and Coconut carefully with slightly narrowed eyes. "We'll have a vote." She decided. "Raise your hand if you want to ban chopped almonds."
Cashew, Almond, Pecan, Peanut, Hazelnut, Pickle, Walnut, and I raised our hands. Riley counted. "Eight. Now, if you want to keep chopped almonds raise your hand."
Coconut, Chestnut, Pistachio, Macadamia, and Doughnut raised their hands. "Five. Chopped almonds are now banned unless future debating occurs...Next topic?"
Walnut shot up and slammed her hands on the table. "I need insurance! My soldiers need insurance! Every Walnut needs insurance! My soldiers will not continue guarding or transporting those nut-forsaken Sharks unless Peanut pays every penny for every single medical bill, and insurance fund." She sat back down stiffly, head held high.
Riley looked at Peanut for a response. "I'm not to blame!" She said indignantly. "Coconut wants all the sharks away from the beach!"
"Yeah well--" Walnut was interrupted by Coconut. "Would you want to go to a beach if it was shark-infested? It's cutting tourism!"
Walnut whipped her head to Coconut, her braids flying behind her. "I DON'T CARE! I am removing every last one of my soldiers from any shark tank, river, beach-- what ever has to do with sharks immediately." She sat down, glaring, and took out her phone to call her head guard. The room erupted into talking. "What do you think they'll do?" I whispered to Pickle, furiously taking notes on what just happened.
"Ladies!" Riley said, trying to calm everyone down. She let out a groan, and raised her voice even more. "LADIES! Cut it out now!" Riley yelled very loud. "Sorry..." We all muttered while looking down. "Peanut, you will pay for any injuries occurring from your sharks. Or Walnut's soldiers will not guard them...Understood?" She fixed the two of them with a fierce stare. "You two"-she said pointing at Walnut and Peanut-"Can discuss details privately. Right now, do we have any more pressure matters?" Riley asked motioning around the table. Walnut crossed her arms tightly and leaned against the wall, grumbling about sharks. Peanut refused to look at her. I stood up. "It's not really a pressing matter, but..." Riley nodded. "Continue." I took a deep breath. "My driver, Jess, has been acting strange today. She's been driving 100 MPH, and screaming, and not wearing a seat belt." I tried hard for my voice not to crack. "Well--" Riley started, when suddenly, the door shattered into millions of pieces! Walnut jumped from her position against the wall. A black figure then walked in, holding a gun. "Don't move." He said in a low growl. "Or you're all dead."

OMG that took sooooo long! This story is actually a story we wrote with a ton of our friends. We really hope you enjoy this story. Also, comment how you found this story! 1,529 words whew that's a lot!
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