Hello! My fellow writers! (and readers!) It´s been SUCH a looong time. I can´t remember when I last posted something. And I´m SO glad to be back, though I´m seriously doubting whether or not I should post this first chapter.

But before I start reviewing my own story I´ll give you a little update about me, my story(s), and... yeah, probably not much else to talk about.

First, I´ve missed you all so much and I can´t wait to share my new FanFic with you! I haven´t been writing so often as I would like (lack of inspiration) and thus, I only have the first 3 chapters of "New Beginnings" and nothing more. I´m rather struggling to continue on, but I promise I will continue writing; Even if it takes me 10 years!

And now, to my own review:

Why am I doubting to post this chapter? Well, when I said my temporary farewell at the end of "Mandie and the Pirate´s Secret" (which I haven´t reread again cause it´s awful) I talked about my plans for this Fic and how I planned to finish the whole story before I started posting cause I learned (from my mistakes in "Pirate´s Secret") that it´s hard to be congruent throughout the whole story and then everything turns out like a jumbled mess of words and ideas at the end. BUT, seeing as I can´t get my thoughts straight and I haven´t had much inspiration lately and I desperatly needed to know what someone thought of it I am now posting this first chapter (keep in mind though, that I may (and most likely will) change the chapter a lot depending on your comments) for a few reasons. 1) I need to know what you think about it 2) Maybe getting reviews will help me get inspired and that way I´ll keep on writing and 3) I just felt like I hadn´t posted something in a long time.

Well, I won´t write about absolutly every critique I have. At least not know (cause I might give you spoilers, not that there´s much action in this first chapter anyway) but DO KEEP IN MIND THE FOLLOWING:

I have not read "New Horizons", therefore I may not be getting all the facts straight and I may not know how to portray the characters correctly.

This IS NOT the final copy/edition of Chapter 1 OR "New Beginnings". It´s only a "revised rough-draft" which is suitable enough to post and recieve comments. Also because future events I may write down will be contrary to what is already in existence (man, that sounded really professional, lol). What I mean is that as I progress throughout the story not everything will be congruent so I´m gonna have to change little bits here in there.

I´m not entirely sure I like the title "New Beginnings". Hence, (sounding professional again, *more lols) the title may change in the near future.

And now! On to the story! Hope you enjoy! And... I will write my own opinion at the end.


Amanda Elizabeth Shaw tried hard to concentrate during her lesson but failed to. She had not received a letter from Joe in a long time and was longing for one. She also remembered she had a social event later that night and the reminder made her day even more miserable than it already was.

I just wish Grandmother would stop trying to run my life. What´s even worse is that Celia enjoys these events. Mandie let out a long and loud sigh forgetting she was in class.

"Amanda," her teacher called out to her, "would you like to recite to us what I just read?"

"Ma´am?" Mandie came back to reality and tried to find her place in her book.

"Make sure you pay attention next time, Miss Shaw," her teacher told her.

"Yes, ma´am."

For Mandie, the duration of the class seemed like an eternity. She longed to be able to go back to the boarding house and rest and forget all about these social events her grandmother panned so often. Her grandmother Taft wanted her to marry someone high in society. When she talks about marriage to someone like that I think I´m even willing to accept Joe, she thought. She had promised Joe that she would marry him when they were only twelve and fourteen, but she wasn´t so sure now. Maybe she was sure but wasn´t ready to admit it. At least not yet.

When class ended she quickly exited the room before her teacher could stop her and say anything. Mandie was just glad to get out of the stuffy room and have some fresh air to breath in.

"Well, that was my last lesson for today," she told Mary Lou whom she went to classes with, "so I guess I´ll be heading back to the boarding house now. Celia told me not to wait for her because she had two or more classes today."

"Okay. I guess I´ll see you in the evening. What are you going to wear to Lilian´s party?" Mary Lou asked her.

"I don´t know," Mandie said, "and I don´t care," she added. With that, she left leaving Mary Lou wondering why Mandie was rather fussy about the subject.

"I´ll just walk," Mandie told herself. "I´ll make sure our chauffeur doesn´t see me. I´m tired of Grandmother running my life!" she exclaimed. "The worst thing that could happen to me is Grandmother hiring a bodyguard!"

Luckily for her, the chauffeur happened to be taking a nap and Mandie was able to sneak away and walk all the way towards the boarding house.

During her long walk to the boarding house, she was reminded of old memories of Joe and herself. Long before her father died she was a scrawny little girl who used to walk to school every day with Joe by her side carrying her books. Then she moved to Franklin where her adventures had started. Then she went to a boarding school in Asheville and met Celia Hamilton, her best friend, whom she had solved dozens of mysteries with. But her thought kept wandering back to Joe. Joe, she thought. He was a grown man now. He was nineteen, far away in New Orleans studying law school. She wished she could see him.

"I´m sure he´s so mature now," Mandie talked to herself. "He´ll be finishing school soon now, and I wonder what he´ll do after that."

After walking a great distance from the school to the boarding house, she was exhausted, hot, and sweaty. She went into the house and was greeted by Mrs. Tomson.

"Hello, Amanda! How are you today?" she asked cheerfully. "I didn´t hear the carriage come in, and where is Celia?"

"Hello, Mrs. Tomson. I´m fine, thank you. I walked all the way from school and I thought I´d just leave the carriage for Celia," she explained. "I was wondering," she hesitated to ask for fear of what the answer would be, "do you happen to have any mail for me?"

"No, I don´t have any letters for you," Mrs. Tomson said slowly for she knew that Mandie was missing whoever Joe Woodard was, "but, a young man did stop by and left this note for you."

Mandie wondered whom it could be from and quickly accepted the small envelope which read on one side "For Mandie". She tore the envelope open and checked the signature at the bottom to see whom it was from. "Tommy" it read. She felt relieved to receive a note from her dear, old friend.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Tomson," Mandie said and headed upstairs to read the note in the calmness of her room.

She let herself fall on the bed and began to read the note from Tommy.

Dear Mandie,

Meet me at the café in front of the courthouse at 2:30. I´ll take you to Lilian´s party afterwards.

Tommy

Mandie looked at the clock which stood by Celia´s wardrobe on her desk. 1:45. If she wanted to be there on time, she should change now and hurry up.

She got up, opened up her big mahogany wardrobe which lay on the opposite side of Celia´s. She looked around for something she could wear to Lilian´s party. Lilian was a good friend of Celia´s and had invited them both to her birthday party which was to be held at her parent´s estate by the sea. She searched more and more and couldn´t decide what to wear. She made up her mind and chose a very simple evening gown that her uncle John had given her on her last birthday. It was light blue with some white lace adorning it at some points.

She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. She adjusted it a bit, noticing that she had grown a little since the last time she put it on, and she also realized that she was growing into a lady. A very beautiful one indeed, even though she would never dream of admitting it. Deep down inside, she would always be a farm girl from Charley Gap.

She quickly gathered her things in a small purse that matched her dress. She put it some money, a small fan, and a small pocketbook she had for occasions like this. Five months ago she knew she had to attend the most boring party, so she decided to buy one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle´s Sherlock Holmes books in pocket size and sneak it into her purse to read a little when she had the opportunity. That way she didn´t drive herself mad at any event.

She went to look at herself in the mirror again, made some final touches to her hair, pinned on a small hat and decided she was ready to go. But then she thought she would look too overdressed at the café, so she put on a shawl.

"There," she said admiring herself, "I think that does it."

She was just about to open the door when she remembered that Celia didn´t know she was going out with Tommy.

I´ll just leave her a note saying that I´ll meet her at Lilian´s place, she thought.

She quickly scribbled it down on a piece of spare paper and with that, she opened, then closed the door behind her and walked down the stairs.

"I´m going out with a friend, Mrs. Tomson," she informed the lady. "I won´t be back until late tonight with Celia."

"All right, Amanda," Mrs. Tomson said. "I understand that your grandmother wants you to attend to as many social gatherings as possible, so I trust you. Just be sure you´re back before midnight, or else, your carriage will turn into a pumpkin," she joked.

"Thank you, Mrs. Tomson. Don´t worry, I´ll be back before midnight," she promised. "Celia will have to come here to change, and I left a note telling her I´ll meet her at the party, but just in case she doesn´t see it, will you tell her I went out with Tommy Patton and will meet her at Lilian´s?"

"I will. Now, take care!" Mrs. Tomson called out to her when Mandie was exiting the house.

Mandie left the boarding house and quickly hailed a carriage to take her into town.

"Could you please take me to the courthouse downtown?" Mandie asked the driver.

"Of course, miss," the driver answered and Mandie quickly got on.

She looked out the carriage window and saw the little children by the road playing. She closed her eyes and let the wind run into her face.

I wish Joe where by my side right now, she thought silently. She didn´t remember ever missing him so much, but for some reason, she had been thinking about him a lot lately. She couldn´t get him out of her mind. I´ll read some. Maybe that will take my mind off him.

Mandie took out the small pocket-sized book from her bag and began to read. She loved reading Sherlock Holmes because they reminded her so much of her own little escapades. I wish I could be a great detective just like Sherlock Holmes. And Celia could be my dear Dr. Watson, but no, that wouldn´t do. She´s always taking care of me like my grandmother, and she laughed at the thought of that. Well, it´s true. But I think Joe is a bit more like Dr. Watson, and here I am again! Remembering Joe when I was trying to forget him.

For the rest of the ride, she just concentrated on no particular subject but lived in the present.

"Here we are, miss," the driver told her when they were in front of the courthouse.

"Thank you very much," she gratefuly answered and handed him some coins. "Thanks for the ride."

"Pleasure, miss," said the driver, nodded his head, and drove off.

Mandie turned to see the café and saw Tommy waiting inside for her. He looked solitary in that table all by himself, so Mandie hurried up, went into the café, and seated herself in front of Tommy.

"Hello, Tommy," Mandie said.

"Mandie!" Tommy was startled by her sudden appearance. "I´m glad you came!" he said and grasped her hand.

"And I´m glad you invited me. I really need to get my mind off some things like school, and projects, and more school, and I´m not really in a good mood so don´t be surprised if I drive myself mad tonight at Lilian´s party," she told him.

Tommy chuckled. "You never will get used to all these fancy parties and social events your grandmother sends you to, will you?"

"Nope. I don´t expect I will," she informed him complacently. "Except, maybe this one will be a bit different since my grandmother didn´t plan Lilian´s party."

"Would you like to order tea or something?" Tommy asked her.

"I don´t want to get too full, or else I´ll be sick of indigestion for a week," she laughed at the thought, "I think I´ll go for something light."

"Very well," Tommy said who had already ordered a cup of coffee.

After Mandie looked over the menu and chose a small biscuit along with a cup of tea, she smiled, looked up, and asked:

"So, why did you invite me here today?"

"Well, I just wanted to see how you were getting along. This is your second year here, so I guess you´ve made some friends, you´ve adapted to college life, and well, I can see that you attend lots of social events," and then added, "obviously because your grandmother makes you," and he laughed.

"Well, yes. I´ve adapted pretty well to college life. I have a few friends and most of the parties I go to are arranged by my grandmother or are some of Celia´s friends. She likes this kind of life better than I do."

"What kind of life?"

"You know," she waved off.

"What kind of life?" Tommy insisted.

"City life, Tommy!" she exclaimed. "Don´t you get it? This isn´t what I want! My grandmother wants me to marry someone high in society, and I honestly think my mother agrees with her, even though she won't say she does. It was uncle John and Mother who sent me down here, so I could manage the entire family fortune. At least grandmother´s got Carol now. Maybe she won't bother me so much now. She´ll just have to wait until Carol´s all grown up and then she can send Carol to Europe and she´ll meet some nice English guy and make Grandmother´s wishes come true. Don´t get me wrong, I do love my grandmother and she´s always taking care of me, in her own way," she finally finished.

"You really are hating it here, aren't you?" Tommy asked. He suddenly realized this wasn´t the life that she was born into. For the first eleven years of her life, Mandie had been raised by her father on a farm out in the countryside. She didn´t grow up with glittering jewels and fine people. She grew up milking cows, with Joe.

"Okay, then how´s Joe? I haven´t heard of him in a while."

Mandie gave him a look and he knew he shouldn´t have mentioned Joe.

"Changing the subject won´t help. At least not to that subject," Mandie told him sharply and immediately regretted speaking to him in that tone. "I´m sorry, Tommy. I´m not mad at you. I guess I´ve just been in a bad mood lately."

"It´s all right. We all have those moments when we just want to forget everything and live a life of fantasy, but that won't help. We have to solve our problems because running away from them won't help either. And remember that you always have friends to help you," he reminded her.

After Mandie recovered a bit from her explosion of temper she signaled to Tommy to go on with his unfinished conversation, but he decided that Mandie didn´t need to hear what he had to say about Joe.

"How are your friends here in Charleston?" he asked her hoping that he had chosen the right subject this time.

"Well, Ann Smith is a very friendly girl, I must say," Mandie started to talk all about the friends she had met that Tommy didn´t know already. "Then there´s Joan, whom I thought would be quite a pain, but she turned out to be very nice. Of course, I´m glad to get away from everyone once in a while, but that´s not always possible because of all these events."

"I get what you mean. Girls are always chasing me around."

Mandie let out a laugh and asked him if he had eyes on anyone.

"Well, actually I do. Right now. I´m looking at my dear friend, Amanda Shaw," he joked.

Mandie blushed but quickly said: "Oh, common Tommy! There must be someone!"

"All right. I´ll be honest. There´s this pretty brunette girl at my campus. I don´t know her name—yet. I plan to find out soon. She´s one of my friends sister. I think she´s studying music or something like that, just like Celia."

"Well, you better go get her or someone else will," she advised him. She cheered up after hearing that her friend had eyes on someone.

They kept talking and chatting a little longer. Mandie nibbled on her biscuit and drank her tea while Tommy told her how college life was treating him. Tommy was also studying business management, but more detailed and was willing to take his time, unlike Mandie.

"I think we should be going now," Mandie reminded him while looking at the clock on the wall.

"Yes, I think we should. It´s a long way from here, so we should get a head start. I brought the carriage myself so my chauffer didn´t have to wait for us so long," Tommy said.

"Well then, let´s get going," Mandie urged Tommy.

Tommy paid the bill and they both went outside. They walked down the road for about one minute before they found Tommy´s carriage parked on the other side on the road. Both of them crossed the road and Tommy, being the gentleman he was, opened the door for Mandie and helped her up.

"So, what plans do you have for Thanksgiving break?" Tommy asked her once they were on their way to Lilian´s.

"Tommy! It´s barely the beginning of the school year and you're already thinking about the turkey, and the corn bread, and all the food!" Mandie said in a playful manner.

"Well, it never hurts to plan ahead," he winked at her.

"What you should do is ask that girl you mentioned out!" Mandie told him.

"Hmm…" he said thoughtfully, "I think I´ll need some help with that."

"And I´m all too willing to help," she said. "In fact, I think I´ll volunteer for the cause," she exclaimed.

"Haha, no you won't," Tommy told her. "Besides, you don´t even know her name."

"Well, I can always go to your campus and look for a brunette girl who´s studying music," Mandie replied.

"But I told you I thought she studies music. I´m not positively sure," he reminded her.

"Then I´ll ask your friend. He ought to know."

Tommy kept quiet and Mandie knew she had played around with him enough so she decided to change the subject.

"So, how are your studies going along?" Mandie asked him.

"They´re good. I have good grades and my parents are proud," he informed her.

"Oh," was all she said.

"What about you?" he inquired. "How have you been getting along?"

"Well, it´s not the funnest thing in the world, but I manage," she said.

"You manage?"

"I manage to survive every day while listening to boring lessons, hear teachers blabber on about this and that, hear the gossip the girls are so into… you know," she finished.

"Looks like someone isn´t having the best time in Charleston," Tommy said, but then realized that Mandie really didn´t want to talk about that. Afterall, they had just had that conversation in the café.

For the rest of the ride, they rode in silence. Tommy wondering why Mandie was having such a hard time adapting to her life, and Mandie wondering the same. It was half an hour before they got to Lilian´s place and when they parked the carriage, and Tommy helped Mandie down, she said:

"Thanks for taking me out to the café, Tommy. I really needed a distraction," she thanked him.

"No problem at all," he said. "Whenever you need to distract yourself a bit, remember, I´m always here for you."

"Thank you," Mandie said and with that, took hold of Tommy´s arm and they walked together to where the reception was being held.


"Oh! Mandie!" Mandie heard Celia´s voice besides the other voices that drowned her own. "I´m so glad you were able to make it!" she finally reached Mandie with a glass of iced tea in her hand. "Mrs. Tomson told me that you had gone out with Tommy and I was sure you would decide not to come but I´m glad you did. Lilian´s parents decorated this place absolutely gorgeous! Don´t you like it?"

"It´s nice," Mandie had to almost scream for Celia to hear her. "And don´t say gorgeous. The word reminds me of George."

Two men walked towards them and Celia expected them to ask for a dance afterward, but they were only friends of Tommy´s and quickly took him away to discuss "incomprehensible buisness" as Celia liked to say.

"If you´ll excuse me ladies, I must go with my friends," Tommy said and disappeared into the crowded reception room.

"Where are the refreshments, Celia?" Mandie asked her, again, having to almost yell.

"Follow me!" Celia told her and grabbed her hand pulling her through the crowded bunch.

Finally, they arrived to a not so crowded area which still held quite a handful of people, but all were quietly enjoying their snacks.

"Good, because I could really use something cold. It´s so stuffy in here," Mandie said while she grabbed a cookie or two and grabbed some iced tea as well.

"When will Lilian come out?" Mandie asked Celia who was too busy talking with the lady who was serving the refreshments.

"I´m sorry, Mandie, what did you say?"

"When is Lilian going to come out?" she asked again.

"Oh! She´s just getting ready. She´s going to be eighteen you know. That´s a woman!"

Since Celia was too busy occupying herself by talking to anyone she could find, she decided to go sit in a quiet corner and take out her pocket-sized book.

As she made her way towards what seemed like a small, quiet little corner, she saw George Stuart move through the crowd towards her. For a split second, she was terrorized at the thought that he had spotted her, but he hadn´t, which was good, so she continued her way to the solitary corner. She sat on the blue velvet Victorian chair and discretely took out Sherlock Holmes from her small purse.

"Hello, my dear friend," Mandie whispered to the little book. "Let´s see what you and your great friend Doctor Watson are up to now."

She sat there quietly making sure that she didn´t call any attention for herself, but she was wrong in supposing that no one noticed her.

"Hello, Miss Amanda," she heard a thick voice with a British accent. "Why are we all alone in this seclusive corner?" George Stuart asked.

Mandie quickly shut her book and looked up with a forced smile on her face, yet George did not seem to notice Mandie´s irritated expression.

Mandie didn´t dislike George. But today just wasn´t a good day for socializing.

"Hello, George!" Mandie stood up, leaving her small book on the chair behind her. "What brings you here?"

"Well, Lilian invited me to the party and it just so happened that I found you, here, all alone. Where is your friend Celia?"

"Oh, Celia´s probably too busy talking with the other girls," she said.

"And why are you not with her?"

Won´t George ever stop pestering me? "I´m not really that sociable. I prefer the quietness, like here, where I can enjoy myself without driving everyone else mad," she laughed and soon found that having a little company wasn´t so bad.

George sat on a chair that was beside Mandie´s and the two talked for quite a while.

"What were you reading before I came by?" George asked Mandie.

"Oh!" she took the book out from where she had laid it and showed it to George. "Sherlock Holmes by Sir Conan Doyle."

"Ahh! I love those books! Quite exciting and intriguing," George told her. "I find them very interesting."

"Yes! I agree. ´The Hound of the Baskervilles´ is quite the thriller," Mandie commented.

"I haven´t had the opportunity to read that one, but I will soon," George informed her. "Talking about books, how are you getting along with your studies?"

"I must admit, it´s not as easy as I thought, but I´ll make it and then I´ll graduate and head back home and I´ll finally be able to do whatever I want."

"Have you thought of what you´ll do after you finish college?" he asked with much interest in what she would say.

"I guess I´ll just help my uncle with his businesses and I can always go on extended vacations to visit my friends," she answered him.

"You´re always welcome to visit me back in England," George told her.

Mandie simply smiled at him and looked to where all the young ladies were having fun and dancing the night away.

"What about marriage?" George interrupted her thoughts.

"Pardon?" Mandie asked surprised at how bold George had been to ask that specific question, but she didn´t mind being asked that. After all, George was only a friend.

"Have you thought about marriage?" George asked her again.

"I might have," Mandie answered cautiously, "but that´s not my goal right now. All I need to do right now is finish college and head back home. Maybe, after I´m settled, I'll start thinking about that a bit more seriously."

"Have you thought of someone yet?" George began to dig deeper.

"I haven´t," Mandie answered matter-of-factly. "As I said before, all I´m doing here is finishing my studies."

"Right."

"What about you?" Do you have a nice, British girl waiting for you back home?" Mandie asked even though she knew George was obviously interested in her.

"Me? Nah. Though I find American girls quite nice," he said with a slightly notable change in his voice, "None as pretty as you, I might add."

"Why, thank you George!" Mandie blushed at his comment and quickly got up. Her cheeks were still very red, and she said, "Come, let´s go join the group."

"Forgive me," George began when he reached out to stop Mandie, "If I was to out-going, but I was merely speaking the truth."

"Apologies accepted," Mandie replied and smiled. "Now let´s go and see what Celia´s up to."

"Very well," he agreed.

"Oh, Mandie!" Celia called out to her when she saw Mandie and George coming towards her, "I´m glad you came! Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Mandie asked even though she knew whatever Celia was going to say was pure gossip.

"Erin is going to Europe and she´s staying in Ireland for a month. Supposedly, that´s where her dear is," Celia squealed with delight at the lovely gossip. "I suppose we´ll be attending a wedding very soon!"

"I´m glad for her," was all Mandie said.

She happened to see Tommy walking by and she begged him to come and save her from George´s attention and idle gossip with her eyes, and sadly for her, Tommy didn´t seem to understand her plea for help.

Music started playing again and people started flooding over to where they could dance, and much to Mandie´s dismay she found herself being asked by George.

"May I have this dance?" he asked in the most gentlemanly manner one could do while offering his hand.

Mandie found herself obligated to accept but before she could manage to peep out a "yes", George´s request was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder.

"I´m sorry Mr. Stuart, but I believe Miss Shaw has already reserved the next two dances for me," Tommy Patton said.

Tommy had come to the rescue! Hurrah!

"Now Miss Amanda," Tommy extended his arm for Mandie to grasp, "shall we go?"

"Yes, indeed," Mandie hastily agreed.

When they were out of ear reach and were dancing along with everyone else, Mandie sighed and said: "Thank goodness you came to my rescue! I thought I would have to put up with a whole night of dancing with George Stuart."

"I saw your distress signal all right! You were begging me with huge puppy eyes, so I felt pity for you and decided to come and relieve you from your suffering."

"Well, it wasn´t that bad, Tommy," Mandie said not willing to admit that indeed she had been suffering.

"Oh, was it not? Then I guess I can call Mr. Stuart over here and tell him that you changed your mind and that you don´t want to dance with me anymore so he can take my place—"

"Don´t you dare, Thomas Patton," Mandie said snappily but with a mischievous grin hidden in her face.

"Just saying. And you know, the good thing about having so many suitors is that if you ever get tired of one, you can always trade them around so if you get tired of me, you can just change me with George Stuart who will be all too willing, I should think," Tommy said in a serious tone but in the end a laugh escaped his lips.

And Mandie, too surprised that Tommy had said she had "so many suitors", stared at him in disbelief but quickly recovered.

"Which suitors?" Mandie asked demandingly.

"Well, to begin with, George, then there´s Jonathan, say I haven´t heard of him in a while, and Dimar. After him there´s Adrien Nolan," at this name mentioned, Mandie stopped dancing right where she was and began to protest but Tommy quickly continued to talk and eventually Mandie began to dance again, "and Joe! We can´t forget him! Oh, and I´m sure there are plenty of young men here in Charleston who are dying to meet you, including my friend over there," Tommy pointed to a tall, young man whose eyes met Mandie´s when she turned to see at whom Tommy was pointing. "Have I missed any other possible suitors?"

"Now Tommy Patton! You are going to tell me how you found out about Adrien Nolan right this instant or I´ll cut your head off!" Mandie practically yelled but was able to contain her surprise even though she felt her cheeks growing warms.

"Aren´t we aggressive at the mention of Adrien?" Tommy tried to avoid her glare and her question.

"Toooommyyyy…" Mandie´s tone made it clear to him that she was intent on finding out how he had come to know of the existence of Adrien Nolan.

"Well…" Tommy tried to think of an excuse to come up with but found none.

"Tell me the truth!" Mandie demanded.

"All right!" Tommy gave up. "A friend of yours might have been unaware that she was giving such precious information," he finally admitted.

"And who else did Celia tell this tale to?" Mandie stopped dancing for good now and crossed her arms.

"I never said it was Celia," Tommy said.

"Well, it so happens to be that Celia is the only one who knows about Adrien, now, WHO ELSE WAS PRESENT WHEN THESE WORDS ESCAPED HER MOUTH?" Mandie asked and brought her hand down forcefully only to find that there was nothing she could slam it on and made quite the fool of herself.

Tommy somehow managed to hide the grin on his face, or so he thought.

"I saw that Patton! Now, will you answer my question, or shall I have to go and interrogate Celia myself?"

"No! Mandie, I assure you, that´s not necessary," Tommy said while at the same time holding Mandie back.

"Is it?"

"I´ll tell you everything."

"You´ll tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" Mandie asked but was not playing around and Tommy could see that she was very upset.

"I do solemnly swear," Tommy said an immediately regretted being playful.

"Go on then. Tell the story."

"Well, it goes like this: At the last party we went to, which you didn´t go to, Celia started talking, you know how she is, very sociable girl indeed I should say," but he quickly caught Mandie´s glare as he tried to change the subject, "and then when the party was almost over she started talking to me about how you had stayed at the boarding house studying for your exam and she said something about you probably answering Adrien Nolan´s letter while you left Joe´s for last. And we were all alone," Tommy related the story to her and then added when Mandie raised her eyebrow. "I promise."

"I figure that information will have to do for now," Mandie said out load once Tommy had satisfied her curiosity, but she made a mental note for herself. Be sure to talk to Celia about it later.

"I suppose you don´t want to keep dancing, do you?" Tommy asked.

"No, I don't, and it looks like George has found a friend so let´s go meet that friend of yours who´s dying to meet me."

"Very well. Come along this way."


First! Is it too long?

So long that you just skipped boring talk after more boring talk?

Ahhh! I have a feeling it was long and boring. Mostly because there was too many unncessary descrpitions, unnecessary explanations, to much emphasis on the same subject and lack of action. Also not enough congruency.

I think I was too worried about having quantity over quality.

And more of my questions:

Is Mandie´s character a bit off? I don´t know. I feel like it is. I think she´s to upset and fussy about going to parties and she really doesn´t know what she wants (something I want to avoid cause it doesn´t suit her).

Is Mary Lou´s character off too? Since I never read "New Horizons" I don´t know what she´s like. Is she like Mandie (a tomboy) or more like Celia (very girly and ladylike)? (P.S. I also don´t know about Mrs. Tomson´s personality. Is she alright?)

What about Celia? I´ve mentioned before that I don´t like Celia that much so I tend to make her more irritating than necessary. Did I do that this time?

And about the inconcruency:

Mandie "doesn´t care" about what she wears and then she does when she opens up her wardrobe.

Mandie hates matchmaking, but then she tells Tommy she´ll help him catch his girl.

Did you notice little things like that. Should I correct them?

And PLEASE! Don´t doubt to point out all my flaws and errors. I could really use the help.