A.N. So yeah... An OC story from me... Weird... It's a request/dare from a friend of mine, that I'm still working on, and I thought I might as well show it to you guys since I haven't finished typing out Tooth Spell or any other story I'm working on. This chapter's pretty much a prologue just to give you a taste of who she is and why she's going to be in Galaxy Hills. I haven't written an OC story in about two or three years, and honestly those were/going to end up as Mary Sues so please tell me if she ends up going in that direction. Like in all my stories, there is an OOC warning because I'm still adjusting how I think they would react to my OC. And that's about it. Hope you enjoy, and review! ^.^ But flames will be chucked into Fanboy and Chum Chum's lava pit. xP
Ivy slightly jolted upward from her seat as the shriek of the bell, broke her out of her daze. All around her, students were rushing out of the classroom or chatting with friends, eager to leave campus and begin the fun of the weekend. Putting a strand of hair behind her ear, she shoved her algebra textbook and notebook into her backpack and got up, making her way out.
"Ivy, may I please have a word with you?"
The girl looked up from the checker tiled floor to her teacher and nodded, changing her path. "Yes, Mrs. Prewitt? Am I in trouble?" She bit her lip nervously. Maybe I should have been paying attention.
"No, you're not in trouble at all." The girl internally let out a sigh as her worry dissolved. Her teacher took a seat at her desk and looked up at her student. "How are you doing at Wingsport High?" Mrs. Prewitt asked.
Ivy furrowed her brows together, confused by the question. "I'm doing fine," she answered hesitantly.
"I see you're having trouble with communicating with the other students," her teacher said. "Is there a reason for that?"
Ivy shook her head. "No, there isn't a reason."
Her teacher obviously didn't believe her. "So the students aren't giving you a hard time?"
Does Mrs. Prewitt think I'm being bullied?
Ivy shook her head once again. "No, ma'am. No one's giving me a hard time."
"Then why don't you talk to anyone? You should be making friends," her teacher pressed on.
Ivy's lips were upturned in a semi-smile. "I'm fine. I'm more of a background person that you don't notice." She shrugged.
"Then you should find some people to be in the background with you," Mrs. Prewitt tried to persuade her. "There are many students here. I'm sure you have similar interests with at least one of them."
Ivy didn't bother to respond to her teacher's comment. Instead, she quickly came up with an excuse to leave, not wanting to stay in the classroom any longer and discuss her lack of a social life with her teacher. "Mrs. Prewitt, I don't want to sound rude, but I said I would pick up my cousin from school and take him to his grandma's today. I don't want to keep them waiting," she said.
Her teacher scanned the girl's face. Ivy felt as if the woman was looking into her soul. Well, more like to see if she was lying, but it felt like pretty much the same thing. "Very well," Mrs. Prewitt said. "But before you go, take this." Her teacher took a flyer from the top of her desk. "I'm sure you've heard about them talking about this during announcements. This might help you break out of that shell of yours."
"Galaxy Hills?" Ivy murmured.
The girl looked up from the paper and nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Mrs. Prewitt." She made her way out the door, folding the flyer before shoving that into a side pocket of her backpack. "Have a good weekend."
"You too, Ivy."
Ivy gasped as she reread a page of Artemis Fowl the Last Guardian, not believing what she had just read. "No," she murmured. Hastily, she flipped to the next page, her brown eyes quickly going from word to word. Her brain was processing the words a mile a minute as the plot of the book thickened. "No," she repeated, fully enthralled in the novel. Slowly, she began to sink into the book. The surrounding of the room disappearing and replaced with the dark dirt tunnels of underground Ireland.
"Ivy!"
The girl was suddenly pulled out of her imagination at the sound of her mother's voice. She looked up from the book and sighed. Placing a sticky note on the page, she closed the novel and set it down on her bed. With one final glance, the brunette ran out of the room.
"Ivy! Dinner!" her mother called out again.
"I'm coming!" Ivy ran to the kitchen where she could hear the sounds of pots and pans and other kitchen utensils.
"Hi, mom. Hi, dad," she greeted her parents. "Ooh, chicken." She grinned at the sight of the meat.
Ivy helped her parents set the food on the table and took a seat. She began to help herself to some mashed potatoes.
"So how was school today?" her mom asked.
"Did you have any tests?" chimed in her dad.
"No," the girl answered. "And school was alright."
"Have you made any friends?"
Ivy shook her head, the conversation she had with Mrs. Prewitt popping up in her mind.
"Why don't you go and make some friends?" her mother questioned. "You're always either reading or on your laptop."
The girl responded with a shrug and took a piece of chicken. A silence settled.
Her mother spoke up again. "Today, Molly called me at work-"
Ivy groaned. "Mrs. Prewitt called you?"
"What happened?" her father asked. "Did you do something?"
The girl shook her head. "No," she answered defensively. "She was talking to me about making friends and gave me this flyer for something."
"Yes, she was talking to me about Galaxy Hills," her mom said. "It's a small city where children and young adults live by themselves. There are a few adults to keep everything orderly. She told me that she thought it'd be great for you. I was a bit wary about this myself when she told me. But I looked it up, and it doesn't seem that bad. It would be a bit like summer camp."
"You never let me go to summer camp. And I haven't even finished the school year here yet," Ivy pointed out.
"Maybe after New Years, you can transfer. You'd be able to meet some new people. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
The girl frowned. That wasn't her idea of fun at all. In fact, the idea made her quite nervous. She can't even speak properly to her peers at Wingsport High, let alone some strangers in some small city. If only mom let me be home schooled.
"I guess," she answered, not even bothering to change her mom's mind. Once her mother had her mind set on something, there was no turning back.
Her mom smiled at her. "Don't worry. You'll be fine there. Maybe you'll be able to make some friends there."
Ivy gave a small smile and a nod, continuing eating her meal.
Ivy sighed and plopped herself on her bed on her back. She silently began to stare at the ceiling, attempting to ignore the knots in her stomach. All she could think about recently was Galaxy Hills.
When her mother first announced the idea at dinner, the girl thought nothing of it. Her mother wouldn't let her walk home from school unless there was no choice, let alone go to a city two towns over by herself.
Weeks passed. Next thing the girl knew, midterms were over, and she was told by her mom to turn in some paper work into the office about her transfer. It finally hit her. This was happening. Her parents were sending her to Galaxy Hills in hopes that she would become more social.
She could hear the voices of various family members in her house for their annual Christmas celebration. The girl wasn't in a partying mood. Truth be told, she never usually was. But this time it was different. Her mind was too filled with thoughts of Galaxy Hills. She didn't feel like having to maneuver around random family members she may or may not know and be forced to talk to one of her cousins, which is usually just a silent Ivy nervously playing with her fingers and her cousin making failed attempts of conversation.
I wonder what Galaxy Hills is like, she mused. Pictures of buildings from Google Images popped up in her mind from the time she googled the city. She remembered one tall, colorful building in particular. A water tower, she guessed it was. I wonder what that's for. Ivy smiled as her imagination came up with ideas, each one crazier than the one before it.
The smile slid from her face, a nervous expression replacing it. I hope the people are nice. The girl knew that the city must be a quite tight knit community considering that the flyer said some of the teens had been there since they were toddlers and that there is a population of about fifty people living there, give or take a few.
But Ivy had made no plans to socialize with any of them. She would just do what she did here at Wingsport: stay at home, keep her head down, and try not to bring any attention to herself. As long as she did that, she would be fine.
The girl quickly sat up as her door was opened. It was her mom. "What are you doing in here? Your grandma is wondering where you are. Come on."
She stood up and fiddled with the sleeve of her oversized sweatshirt, following her mother to the living room. Ivy immediately tuned out her mom's rant about her being unsocial. Her mind continued to fill itself with thoughts of what her new "home" would be like. I wonder what the people are like.
Before her mind could divulge into the thought any further, her grandma's voice pulled her back to reality. "My, Ivy, you've grown."
Ivy taped up the last opened cardboard box in her room. Setting down the tape and the scissors that were in hand, she sat down on her carpeted floor and glanced around her room. It looks exactly the way it did when we first moved here. Down came the pictures of those rare moments when she let herself go and had fun with her family. Folded up were her clothes and bed sheets. Packaged were her childhood stuffed animals, books, and other miscellaneous necessities she would need now that she would be living by alone for at least the rest of the school year. Her closet was empty. Her walls were bare. Her furniture was disassembled and laid down orderly on the floor, ready to be loaded into the truck anytime and away from the many boxes now filling her room.
This is my last day here.
The holidays had passed. The day had come.
The feeling hit her like a thousand bricks. She was leaving to live on her own for half a year. For the next six months, Ivy would no longer hear her father coming home late at night from his job. No one would sleepily walk into her room, scolding her to put down her newest novel and go to bed. She wouldn't be the taste tester for her mother's new recipes. The constant questions and lectures wouldn't be heard everyday. For half a year, she would not see her parents face to face, feel their hugs, and receive their kisses and encouraging words. The girl was going to be pulled away from the comfort of her own home to an apartment two towns over.
Ivy's grey eyes watered, tears threatening to fall at any moment. She sniffed. This is happening.
She leaned her back against the cardboard box and tilted her head back to look at the ceiling. I can't cry. I'll be fine. I'll be back here in no time. It's only for the rest of the school year.
Her mom's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Ivy! Did you finish packing yet?"
The girl wiped her eyes. "Yeah, mom!"
Ivy's mother opened the door and looked at her daughter. "Come on and have lunch. Your dad and uncle will pack your stuff, and then we'll go."
The girl nodded, standing up. After one final sweeping glance of the room, Ivy followed her mom to the kitchen.