The Side-Notes

Chapter 1

Hello, everyone! I guess you decided to stick around after all. Good for you. I hope you enjoy the ride.
I know, I know, what the heck am I doing, making small talk with the reader at the very first chapter. Where's the story? The characters? The life lessons? Well trust me, we'll get to all that in a few minutes. I just want to make sure that you're nice and situated, so you can survive all of the bumps and the crashes. Trust me, there are lots of 'em.
So I guess while we're here I might as well tell you a bit about myself, eh? No, for starters I am not Canadian, even if I do use the word eh from time to time. I actually live in Oregon, on a beautiful ranch with lush green hills and marvelous horses roaming around everywhere. Well, that was actually kind of a lie. I used to live in Oregon.
Oh, how I miss that place. Everyone was nice, people pumped your gas for you, nothing too bad ever really happened. Life was simple.
That's not how it is here. Ya see, my mom was havin' a hard time finding work where we were, so she decided to take the entire family (consisting of me, my older sister, and my two twin brothers) all the way down to Los Angeles. Yes, you heard the right folks, the city of angels! She thought she could bring us a new life there, one where we could get a good education and a nice social standing. That couldn't be further from the truth.
Any who, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. I was supposed to be telling you about me! So, here it is.
My name is Lizzie, for starters. Lizzie Oakenson. I'm 5'6", 16 year old girl who moved to Jefferson High School in the middle of her sophomore year, taking with her an older sister who's senior year was now way off set. I like gardening, horseback riding, archery, and basically anything outdoors. My style consists mainly of flannels, jeans, and boots, with an art pun t-shirt to mix it up now and then. That's another thing I like, art. My personal favorite artist is Pablo Picasso, but I also enjoy the classic renaissance artists like Rafael and Da Vinci.
I don't really know what I want to do in life, nor do I have any clue how to survive high school, but I do have a dream to somehow make it back to Oregon without just being an old dairy farmer. That may not be too possible, but it's not impossible either.
My entire family is full of red heads, but from there you get a rainbow. Me and my mom have dark, deep red, almost like blood, but my twin brother are total carrot-tops. My sister is in the middle, with her hair kinda dark but still more on the orange side. We all have hazel eyes other than mom, who's eyes are a bright green. She still got the freckles that run throughout the entire family, though. You can guess too, with red hair and freckles, we all have pretty pale skin.
So that's us. And me. How cool, right? Nah, I'm just kiddin'. We probably actually sound really weird. Now you have some context, though, so you can delve deep and get right into my story. See you there. Oh, and if you have any questions about me or my family, feel free to ask, of course! Nothing better than a few personal questions that make me question how I live and what the meaning of life truly is. Well, bye for now!
Signing off,
Lizzie
XOXO