Ch.1 Escargot

I sighed, "You're so lucky. I wish I had a laptop. I hate my computer. It's so slow! My parents won't let me have internet if I get one. It's so stupid!"

"That sucks," Melissa Thomas said. I could tell she was resisting the temptation to roll her eyes. Melissa was my best friend. We were walking home from school to her house and she had heard this complaint at least a dozen times.

Melissa and I had been friends since kindergarten. You couldn't separate us two. Well, that may be for the fact that she's my only friend. But, it makes me feel better when you say it the other way. For some reason I'm unpopular. Why? Not quite sure. Maybe, it the fact that I like to read, or that I'm crazy and random, or that I don't where make-up, or that I've never had a boyfriend, or maybe all of them put together.

"Hey Amanda, lets detour to the library," she said. Amanda. I hated that name. Of course, if there was a single person who didn't hate their name I would be greatly surprised. Amanda Jennifer Shepard. How much more old fashion can you get?

I raised my eyebrows, "Why?"

"I promised my mom that I would read more. She's a big reader. I don't see why. Reading's so dull," she replied.

"I disagree. I find reading interesting. I will never fight a dragon or meet an elf so why not have the experience through reading about it. I will probably never fight a war or almost die in a car chase and I doubt I will ever go skydiving. I still want to know what it's like."

"I know you like it, but that doesn't improve it for me."

We set off to the library. The streets were crowded and hot. It was September and a Friday afternoon. I watched my feet plod along the pavement. I watched the cracks in the sidewalk. Cars zoomed past us. Only five months until I turn sixteen. Then I can get my license. Melissa already had hers. Lucky. I looked over at her. She looked confused.

"What?" I asked.

"How long do you think a dragonfly lives?"

"Why?"

"Well," she explained awkwardly, "When I was young, seven or eight I think, I caught a dragonfly with a butterfly net. I named it Lucy. I was really excited. I put Lucy in a box until I could get my butterfly cage set up. I took a lot of care setting it up. I put a big branch and some smaller twigs in it along with leaves of all shapes and sizes. Then, I ran back for Lucy and she was dead. I cried all night. I just was wondering how old a dragon fly could get."

"How am I suppose to know that?"

"Well, your full of random facts."

"Like, the cheese grater was invented nearly two hundred years ago."

"Yeah like that."

We rounded the corner and I saw the library come into view. It was small and shabby. It had London Library printed across the windows and dusty books in stacks in the display. Why did it say London? That's my question. We live in Santa Barbara not London! It was the only library in walking distance of Melissa's house. We would probably go to a good library if one were closer.

When we got inside it was a relief to feel the air conditioner on at full blast. I was never a hot weather person. I always rejoiced when winter and the cold weather came. Hot weather always made me feel groggy and grumpy.

The library was small and held a bunch of dusty volumes. If you wanted to find a book that had come out recently in here you would probably have to wait another fifty years. We were forced to check out classics. I checked out Wuthering Heights and she A Midsummer Nights Dream. We walked back to her house. It was only three blocks from the library and seven from school.

Her house was small but well kept. It had only one floor but it had a basement. Whenever she had spare time, her mother would clean the house again and again until I couldn't believe it had anything left to be cleaned. Her mother greeted us when we walked in the front door, "Hello, girls. Have a nice day at school? What did you get from the library?" I showed her Wuthering Heights and she smiled, "I loved that book when I was your age. It's wonderfully written." Melissa and her mom don't look much alike. Mrs. Thomas is a short plump woman. Melissa is tall and skinny. Melissa is blond and her mom brunette. The only thing they really share in common is their hazel eyes. She takes mostly after her dad. I don't see him much since he works from seven AM to eight PM and often goes on business trips. I wasn't sure what he did. Something boring.

I smiled at her and walked up to Melissa's bedroom. The walls were a royal purple and her bedcovers were blue. On the windows hung long blue curtains. The walls were covered with famous rap, rock, and metal bands. Where posters didn't cover the walls there was small white paintings done right on the wall. The paintings were of stuff like flowers and trees, suns and moons, oceans and rivers. We were both artists but in different ways. I liked to draw and she liked to paint. I drew people while she painted stuff like landscape, trees, and flowers. She had a white shag rug on the floor and her desk was piled high with everything she didn't know where to put. Clothes were scattered across the floor and some more were shoved under the bed. Unlike me, she was very sloppy and unorganized. I liked everything neat and ordered.

We studied a little for the biology test on Tuesday - it wasn't hard we already knew most the stuff- and then sat down for dinner. Dinner was mashed potatoes, steak and salad. I poured myself a glass of milk and when I poured out the Italian salad dressing, it came out too fast and got mixed with my mashed potatoes. I scooped the mash potato/salad dressing to the side. The dinner was delicious, of course. Ms. Thomas was a wonderful cook. She had made the mash potatoes out of real potatoes and not out of flakes in a box and she left the potato peels in. I loved to come over to her house because of the great food. Melissa and I always joked about it saying that I only came over for the food. I had tasted her mom's delicious smoothes, chili, soup, fruit leathers, and pasta.

During dinner we talked a lot. We talked more than we ate. That is the opposite of my house. My family barely ever converses during dinner. The only usual sound is chewing. Ms. Thomas and Melissa did most the talking and I just listened. Like usual. I may be crazy and funny with my friends, but mostly, I am shy. I only talk to answer a question or a greeting and I am quiet and plain. Many people do not realize that I'm naturally an energetic and friendly person.

Melissa and I are complete opposites. She is a sociable person while I have no skills in that subject. She got an iPod at eleven, a cell phone at twelve, and a laptop at fourteen. I got an ipod at thirteen, a cell phone at fifteen, and a laptop is still at the top of my wish list. She is always updated on the latest fashions while I trail about two years behind. My average of grades is an A, while her's is a C. She's beautiful, while I'm ugly. I'm a geek, while she's popular. But somehow, were still friends.

Although we act different, we look much alike. We are both around the same height, tall for our ages. Our hair is the same length, texture, and are both straight, although mine is red. Not orange, a dark brownish red. Its pretty, I think, but I try not to mention it for fear of sounding full of myself. I wish I had blonde hair or brown so I did not get so much attention. I hate attention.

We dug some ice cream out of the freezer. It was mint chip. They always had a box of mint chip ice cream in the freezer. Never cookies and cream, my favorite, or rocky road, Melissa's favorite, or even just plain vanilla. It was always mint chip.

After dessert Melissa and I hung out in her bedroom and complained about things like school, homework, weather, ect. We painted each other's nails and she showed me her new bikini, new jeans, new sweater and her three new t-shirts. Melissa loved to shop, especially for clothes. To tell you the truth, I had no idea why. What was so fun about staring at one piece of clothing, then the next? They were all the same to me. I showed her my new photo on my myspace. Then we talked about the new hot guy in our class, Jason. By the end we were giggling so hard, I could barely breath.

"You should ask him out," I giggled.

"What? No!" she shouted laughing.

"I saw him looking at you yesterday," I grinned at her.

"Oh, come on! We all know he likes you," she said.

"And what leads you to that conclusion?" I asked.

"He stares at you in math class," she said, jokingly.

"You sit right next to me. He could just as easily been staring at you." We joked around like this until we began to get tired. We got into our pajamas, brushed our teeth and got into bed. She had a sleeping bag ready on the floor. We talked awhile longer and then I drifted off in mid sentence.

I was walking in a forest. I could not see the sky. The branches were too thick. Little moonlight filtered through the canopy. It was dark and deadly silent. A shiver ran down my back. I knew something bad was about to happen. The wind started blowing, and the trees started whispering. They whispered about destinies and secrets buried deep in the past. I started walking faster and faster until I broke out in a run. Something was following me. I could hear it crashing around behind me. Now, I was sprinting, my heart thumping, my legs aching and I tripped. I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon. To my horror a gigantic wolf stepped out of the trees and howled. The wolf was grey with dark brown streaks. Suddenly, I woke up shivering my heart still pumping quickly. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and tried to get back to sleep. I finally fell asleep for a second time. When I woke up I remembered nothing from the night before.

I got up and got dressed and went down for breakfast. Unfortunately, they had no honey so I had to eat my cheerios plain. I heated up some hot chocolate because I was about to fall flat into my cheerios with exhaustion. Hot chocolate always wakes me up. I always have either hot chocolate or coffee before school starts. If I don't, I fall asleep in school or I zone out and don't hear a word the teacher says.

Like one time in sixth grade, I was in math class and Ms. Moore was explaining how to turn fractions into percents. I was taking notes. Stupid notes. .1= one-tenth=10% .01=one hundredth=100%. Well, no duh. You had to be an idiot not to under stand this. Alex, the boy sitting in front of me, raised his hand.

"Yes, Alex," she called on him.

"I don't get it," he said with a look of utter confusion on his face. Well, apparently he was an idiot. Not that I did know that before. Alex was the person who always failed tests, who always came late, who always didn't get it. I sighed this is going to be a lonnnnnnnng math class. I laid my head down. Forty-five minutes until lunch. I wonder what's for hot lunch.

According to Melissa, I had my head down my eyes closed and every time I breathed out, the page of my math would fly up then it would slowly come down like a feather. Breathe out. Flutter up. Breathe in. Breathe out. Flutter up. Breathe in. And on and again.

"Amanda, what is the next step?" Ms. Moore asked. I didn't answer, naturally, because I was asleep. "Amanda? Jessica," the girl next to me, "Wake Miss Shepard up."

Jessica started poking me. In a half awake state I edged away from Jessica, right of my chair. That's what really woke me. Thunk! Owww! Geez that hurt! I stood up and dusted my self off. The class was howling with laughter. My face was brick red.

" Are you okay?" Ms. Moore asked concerned. I told her I was and class went on. But that didn't stop it from being embarrassing. I snapped back to the present.

By the time I was fully awake, it was almost ten thirty. That is late for me. I tend to wake up somewhere between six to ten. I read Wuthering Heights until Melissa woke up. She shuffled downstairs her hair a big knot on top of her head. Her pink pajamas were still on.

"Morning," I said brightly.

"What are you doing up at a time like this?" she asked.

"Probably the same as you. When do you regularly get up?"

"About twelve maybe one sometimes."

I rolled my eyes. "Early bird gets the worm!"

"Why would I want a worm again?"

"They have protein!"

"No thanks I rather eat escargot."

"I've tried escargot. It's disgusting!"

"Uhg."

How we had come to the subject of escargot, I wasn't sure. She got out her cheerios and began eating. I read, trying to ignore my best friends sloppy and loud eating. Then the doorbell rang. I got up to get it accidentally knocking over my chair in the process. To my surprise, it was my neighbor, Mr. Lewis. He was a doctor. He had a suit on and his brown hair was neatly combed back. And by the look on his face I knew there was something terribly wrong.