Hi world! I hope you enjoy this story :)
Dedicated to all the people who've decided to jump into this dark genre of blood, violence, and . . . sparkles (yes! Twilight reference!). Without the many great vampire writers out there, I would have never started this book. Thank you for having such darkly creative minds!
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Chapter 1
“There's a story at the bottom of this bottle and I'm the pen.”—All Time Low, “Dear Maria, Count Me In”
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I adjusted the pleated gray skirt around my waist, yanking it lower on my hips so that it looked like it met dress-code regulations.
Oh crap, it's falling down! I thought. Like Speed Racer, I dashed to my closet and searched its contents for a belt. I laced the slim black belt through the loops to hold the skirt up.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted the time. I had ten minutes to get outside to my bus stop. Pulling a white tank top over my head, I quickly buttoned an equally white blouse over it. Content with that, I hastily put on a blood-red blazer with the school crest on it.
I tried to smile at my reflection in the mirror but it ended up as kind of a grimace. It felt like some fat - I mean um . . . shapely - person was sitting on my heart. My hands were damp as they gripped the counter-top so hard that the skin around the knuckles turned white. My legs trembled like flimsy leaves ready to drop at the first breath of winter.
It felt like all the untamed energy of the sizzling summer months had leaked out of me while I was sleeping last night and now I stood here barely able to breathe!
All this to say this one, simple thing:
School. Yippee! Not!!
The birds chirping outside reminded me of the passing summer season. Unfortunately, my summer was as good as gone. The Fitzpatrick Private School System was known for being especially tough the first and last quarters of school, because that was when the students were especially rowdy and unfocused. Which basically meant that they would be piling on the homework from today, the first day of school.
Sigh.
This summer was probably the best summer of my life. The memory of it finally brought a small smile to my lips as I remembered the wild fun I had with my best buds, Sarah Wei and twins, Elizabeth and Isabel Gravina. The nights at Lake Michigan drinking root beer by the bonfire or partying at the popular teen hangout downtown, the club Strictly Taboo. Or the excitement and mystery of a midnight swim in the local pond when anyone could be watching, hiding out in the overgrown bushes surrounding it.
As I remembered my most favorite moment out of the whole break, I blushed: kissing Wyatt Reed at midnight hidden in the trees encircled by the sweet smell of blossomed flowers, the hissing of the insects, the loud cheering from the crowd found in his backyard -- who were enjoying the annual neighborhood BBQ and the flash of the colorful fireworks high in the night sky on the Fourth of July.
My first kiss . . .
Yes, it was definitely my favorite summer vacation. I grinned, running my fingers through my hair while applying hair spray, giving it an expertly tousled look. Now I was perfect for the new school year; I had sexy strawberry blond curls, brand new school supplies, and a happy memory to keep me in a carefree buzz all day long.
Until I recalled why I couldn't smile a few minutes earlier.
Sarah had moved to China. Permanently. Her parents owned a Chinese restaurant here in town that serves the most delicious food in the whole wide world, but they went into foreclosure. In the end, the cost of running a restaurant (worthy of a five star rating in my opinion), a daughter in almost every extracurricular activity on the planet, and a beautiful little house right across the street from their daughter's best friend was too much for them. Why live in the land of the free and the home of the brave when you could have a cozy little apartment in a foreign country with job offers flying through the window and hitting you in the face, right?
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River of Dreams
Teen Fiction"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange." Amy Green is a small town girl, starting her freshman year all alone in a big prestigious high school. Then suddenly, when the humble...
