Gadiva Lockhart, Daughter of Apollo - A Sudden Birth

As you can probably tell by the title, when you read this book, you're in for it. I don't know exactly what 'it' is but it's coming for you. Unless it's not coming for you because you're not awesome like me. No offense. Just saying. I am pretty cool. You could even say that I'm a special girl. Why? Well, you'll find out soon enough.

Hi. My name is Gadiva. Pronounced Guh-die-vuh. Gadiva Alezae Lockhart. I'm thirteen years old and I'm in seventh grade. My mom, Arinee Lockhart, is a poet. I hate poetry. Well, I'm terrible at writing it. Now my mom, she's amazing at it. But she's not very popular. So she does acting. Anything to get us money. One of her productions was, "Just Around the Grocery Store Isle Corner." Ugh, it was terrible. My mom is okay at acting. On the other hand, I was born for it. My passions are acting and singing. And I guess that's where my story begins.

"Gadiva. Gadiva! GADIVA!" Ayume yelled from the kitchen.

"Dear Lord, I'm coming, Ayume! Hold on!" I rolled my eyes and slid out of bed. Ayume is my little sister. Little step sister, I should say. My dad is "the mysterious different one" that my mom never wants to talk about. I almost feel lost. Like I'm missing something I should know. Ayume is from another dad. The dad right now. My step dad. Michael. Michael Kaipo. He's not so bad, I guess. He's just… weird. Always walking around the house reciting poetry or being obsessed with Shakespeare. I just laugh. Anyways, back to the story.

I put on some awesome outfit like a tye dye tank top, some jeans (probably paint splattered from splatter painting), flip flops, and, of course, a beret*. You will never find me without that kind of hat. They're amazing. Then I jumped down the stairs, Ayume watching me the whole way down. (Which isn't very long but it's still weird.) She had this hilarious glare on her face but was quite serious. Her blond hair shone and her gorgeous dark brown eyes analyzed me in mock disgust.

"Mother's waiting," she stated coldly.

I laughed. "Wow, Ayume," and I walked past her to get something to tide over my growling stomach.

"I'm very serious. We have to go to school soon."

I grabbed some double chocolate fudge out of the freezer and scooped some into my mouth. "You're like, what, four years old? Since when did you care and how do you know?"

"I'm six! And a half! And I care because of education AND mom told me. So, ha." She stuck her tongue out at me with a smug smile.

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow of complete disbelief. "Ha ha, yeah right. And mom was just joking. We're not leaving for, like, another hour. So, ha." I got another huge scoop of ice cream and plopped it in my mouth. I grinned mischievously at Ayume who was standing in complete rage, her cheeks flaring red, her mouth tight, and her fists clenched. She walked stiffly out of the kitchen into the living room and hid behind the couch to have her little pity party. I shook my head at her constant dramatic behavior and hopped onto the counter to sit and eat my refreshing snack.

"Um, honey. What are you doing?"

I jumped and slowly turned my head to look sheepishly at my mother's disapproving face. Her deep blue eyes sparkled roguishly and her short, blond, wavy hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

She smiled. "Ice cream? In the morning? Oh my. What have I done to you?" she chuckled and patted my knee.

I quickly slid off the counter and threw the ice cream back into the freezer where, yet again, it sat. I tittered and went to start packing up my backpack. "It was delicious, though."

My mom smirked. "Mhm. I'm sure it was." She turned around and stared at me in absorbed thought. "I'm sure you'll do great, honey," she said comfortingly. "It's a whole new year. You'll make it. I know this."

I glanced up. She had such a confident expression on her face that I almost believed her… almost.

You see, I've been diagnosed with two of the most annoying things in life to be diagnosed with: ADHD and dyslexia. I haven't made it through one whole school year in my whole life. Not one. Example: One fine and tremendous day (I'm being sarcastic), we were on a field trip and I accidentally spray painted what they said was a really, really, really old artifact. I swore I was aiming for the teacher's head. Oh well. So many weird things happened to me the last few years. Like when I was ten, I was in this dance. The day we performed, some random person did their little jig all the way onto the stage and over to me. They tried to drag me off the stage. I couldn't even see who it was. They were all covered up in black cloth and rubber ducks. (Don't ask.) My mom got really nervous and jumped onto the stage, grabbed my arm, and ran me all the way to the car. We got home in, like, two minutes that day. Anyway, you see what I mean. This year, I'm hoping things will be different. This is Ayume's second year in school and, of course, "She's just so wonderful to have in all the classes! YAY!" and all that stuff. Well, I was determined that year. And… that determination didn't help me much.