I adopted this story from i-want-to-be-badass, this chapter is all theirs
Beep, beep, beep, beep, bee-
"Ugh." I groaned. I turned off my alarm clock and tried to get out of bed but ended up tangled in bedsheets on the floor. Why did I go to bed at 2? Now it's Monday and I can't even get out of bed without falling.
"Jujube! You're going to be late. Oh, and remember, you're going to get your braces on today after school." My mom yelled from the kitchen. I don't even need braces. I have one crooked tooth at the side of my mouth where nobody can even see it. My parents are just annoying sometimes. They act like beauty is the most important thing in the world. I bet they were disappointed when their only girl and last child they could have turned out to be me. To them, my brother is just what a boy should be. Handsome, smart, good at sports, charming, and has a great job. He's 20, has a wife, and has a daughter on they way. I, on the other hand, am the exact opposite of the little girl they wanted. They wanted a beautiful, smart, and delicate flower who wears dresses all the time and that they could control and eventually marry off to some dude they liked even though we're in the 21st century. I am average looking, tough, better at sports than my brother, a tomboy who hates dresses and skirts with every fiber of my being, and I get C's mostly. Except for gym and in art. I get A's there. After school, instead of taking etiquette classes, I take karate, tai-quon-do, sword fighting, and I go and help the SPCA rescue animals. Normally they wouldn't let a normal girt two months away from being only fourteen go with them to the houses of people who abuse animals and could be far more dangerous, but I'm not a normal girl. I have the qualifications. I didn't think any of them know how to sword fight.
I am thinking of this as I decide what to wear today. It's not really a hard decision. Either I wear a dress or skirt that my mom bought me or I wear comfortably sports clothes. I picked sweat pants, a t-shirt that said Don't tick me off on it and had a picture of a clock, my favourite midnight blue hoodie, some socks, and some running shoes. Also, I had this feeling that I should pack my clothes for some unknown reason so I did. I didn't have very many so I packed all my tomboy clothes and with some hesitation, one of the dresses. That feeling was back and it was urging me to pretend to go to school, but instead go to the lake by my house. It felt urgent so I did just that.
"By mom!" I yelled
"Bye Jujube!" She yelled back. My name is actually Candace but everyone used to call me Candy. I hate that name. It sounds like some one really stuck up and a diva. Instead of that name, I asked everyone to call me Jujube since that is my most favourite type of candy and it is an awesome candy so that means I should be awesome. Doesn't it? It doesn't.
I walked down the block in the direction of school but as soon as I knew I was far enough away, I turned a corner and ran to the lake. I got to the part where people usually hiked up the mountain and went to stand on the bridge that crossed the stream leading to the lake. I stopped there and sat down. Somehow I knew this was where I was supposed to be and I felt that I had to be patient and wait. I waited and waited and waited. Nothing happened but the feeling was back, telling me that I had to wait more. Annoyed, I closed my eyes and started daydreaming.
SPLASH! I snapped out of my reverie and jumped up. I got into a fighting stance and looked around. I didn't see or hear anyone so I slowly got out of fighting stances and took a walk to where I heard the splash a few minutes before.
"Hello! Who's there? Show yourself! I will not harm you!" I yelled and still no one came out of hiding place. I wonder what's going on. What was that? Could it just have been a rock rolling down the mountain and into the water after an animal had accidentally moved it? I decided to check it out and cautiously walked over to the water. I looked into in and at first saw nothing. Then, I focused my eyes and looked again. There, in the middle of the lake, jammed between two rocks was something round and shiny. I couldn't really tell it's colour because the sun was reflecting off it so brightly. I decided to risk trying to get it.
In this part of the lake, it was really deep and it was the coldest part so I would have to be careful. I looked around and made sure nobody was there and took off all my clothes so that I was completely naked except for my underwear. I even took off my bra , not wanting it to get wet because it was my best one. I put all the clothes in the bag and shoved it aside. Then, because I knew the water would be freezing, I didn't wade in but jumped in, taking the shock of the cold water all at once.
Immediately, I felt goose bumps all over my body and my limbs were already starting to be numb. I had to do this quickly if I didn't want to get hypothermia and eventually die. I took a deep breath and dived into the depths. The middle of the lake was dark and deep and I was only 5 foot 4 and couldn't see in the dark. I swam to the object and with both hands, grabbed it and pulled. Nothing happened so I put my feet against the rock for leverage and pulled again. This time it kinda wiggled. One final time, I pulled with all my strength which was slowly seeping out of me and it came free of the rocks. The downside was that my momentum sent me into a big rock. It wasn't as fast as it would have been in air, but it was fast enough. I hit the rock and one of it's many sharp edges pierced deep into my side, making me black out and the water around me turn red with blood.