Chapter one - Meet Nellie Smith
Thanks to TheDisneyFan365 for reviewing! Hope others are also reading this!
September 2nd
Nellie ran into her class, stopping only briefly to say goodbye to the triplets. This was it, her final year in primary school!
You see dear reader, they have a strange system for schooling in their town. You stay in primary school until the age of thirteen, then move to secondary school the next year, to stay until you are eighteen. Sarushton had always been a bit of a strange town though.
Anyway, back to Nellie.
Oh wait! I forgot to describe Nellie! My apologies, dear reader.
Nellie is a reasonably tall girl, with long caramel coloured hair that she ties back into a ponytail on top of her head. She has light skin, with freckles, and hazel eyes, and wears a reasonably tattered grey dress and worn out black shoes. She usually has a smile on her face, and always does her best to make others happy.
Okay, back to the story.
She skipped merrily towards the three desks near the back of the class, where two of her three best friends were waiting for her.
Fatima was a girl of middling height, with pale skin that was dotted with freckles, shoulder length chestnut brown hair and warm brown eyes. She wore a clean, neat pink dress, and simple white shoes. Katie was slightly shorter, and had fair, slightly rosier skin, very long brown hair with white highlights, and almost fierce looking brown eyes. She usually wore a pair of brown shorts, a white shirt, and dark brown boots. Today, her long waves were pulled back into a plait that wound its way down her back.
"Nell!" Shouted Fatima, running up to greet her friend. She pulled the other girl into a bear hug, and by the time Nellie could escape, Katie was hugging her.
"We haven't seen you all summer! How hard does Lady Bury make you work?" Asked the girl, finally letting go of her friend. Nellie waved it off. "I've just been really busy, not overworked or anything like that." Her friends gave her disbelieving looks, so to direct the attention elsewhere she asked, "Where's Candice?"
Now, dear reader, let me just take a moment to tell you what Candice looked like last time our Nellie saw her. She was a slightly ditzy, short girl, with bouncy curls of brown hair and a timid expression. Her usual attire was a clean white pinafore dress and a brown cardigan.
The Candice that walked through the door looked nothing like that.
She was cheery and bright, a grin upon her face, and her outfit had changed completely - she now had a pink jacket and miniskirt, with a dark brown shirt that matched her dark brown stockings, black boots and a little brown beret. But the most prominent difference was her hair.
She had dyed it a bright vibrant green, and it was beautifully straightened, pulled back into short little pigtails that ended near her shoulders. The other three could hardly believe that this was their friend, but as she plonked down into the seats next to them, they easily recognised her forest green eyes and rosy cheeks.
"Candice! What happened to you?" Asked Katie, a shocked grin on her face. "I went to stay with my cousins is what happened!" Laughed the other girl.
Candice had two cousins who lived up north, named Arabella and Elysia. They were both about two years older than her, and Candice looked up to them greatly. We've all got those few relatives, dear reader, who seem to have all the answers to your social or fashion problems - these were Candice's.
"We went out shopping, and they helped me pick out new clothes, and then we decided that with my eyes being this colour it would look great if I dyed my hair! Then Bella gave me her old straighteners, and Sia gave me her old jacket 'cause it was too small! Ain't it great?" Said the girl excitedly, tugging at one of her pigtails. Fatima pouted, saying "I wish I had cousins like yours Candice! In fact, I wish I had cousins, full stop!" They all giggled, and then the bell rang.
Now dear reader, I will not bore you with all the details on exactly how Nellie's school day went. However, there is one important event that I would like to highlight before we move on.
It was just after they'd eaten lunch, and the girls were entering the courtyard behind the school. It was a very big space, but it wasn't a typical playground, for their school used to be an old Victorian household. The courtyard floor was cobblestones, and in the middle there was a wide basin which was once part of an old fountain, but now ran dry. However, with the vines twisting up the walls and the quiet air, away from the main hustle of the town, it always felt like a step back in time.
They sat on the edge of the basin, and started a game of cards. A gust of wind, however, blew them away.
Away to the feet of the girl.
The girl called Julie.
The bully called Julie.
She sneered at Candice as the girl ran forwards to pick them up and stepped on the cards, nearly stomping on the other girl's fingers. "Well, looks like moss brain finally got the hair to match!" She laughed cruelly, pulling Candice's beret off her head.
"G-Give that back!"
"G-g-g-give that back!" Mimicked Julie. "God, what a nervous wreck." She said, pushing the beret back into Candice's chest so she fell back from the impact.
She's awful, isn't she? I hope you're not like that, dear reader.
"Hey! Leave Candice alone!" Shouted Katie, running up to help her friend, Fatima and Nellie dithering behind her. Julie snorted. "Why should I take orders from someone who can't even read?"
Onlookers gasped at the low blow. It was true that poor Katie had dyslexia, but to point it out so cruelly? That was just evil.
Katie began to turn red. She pulled Candice to the side and behind her, and then marched towards Julie, who held her ground. The smaller girl glared at the bully, but Julie simply laughed. "Oh save whatever you're going to say - you don't scare me, midget."
Katie, if possible, got even redder, and was preparing to shout at the girl when a voice cut through them both. The voice belonged to a middling height girl, with auburn hair in two pigtails, and a red skirt and white t-shirt with a red peace sign making up her attire. She had rosy skin and warm brown eyes, but the expression which glimmered in them now was anything but warm.
"Julie! You stop bullying them, this instant!" Shouted Julietta, running up to her sister. Although Julietta looked very unthreatening, she was the only one who could convince her bullying sister to lay off people.
Or rather, their youngest sister was.
"Do you want to set such a bad example to Ella?" She hissed. Julie bit back an angry retort, looking towards the nursery building that housed her baby sister. "No." She muttered.
Oh my! Apologies, dear reader, but I have once again forgotten to describe someone. Do forgive me... Julie is slightly taller than her sister, with a slightly darker skin tone and a much darker mood. One of her auburn pigtails is shorter than the other, because as an act of rebellion against her mother, she'd cut them choppily herself. Instead of a peace t-shirt and a red skirt, like Julietta, she wears a dark black dress, which was ripped in several places from the amount of fights she got into. She usually sports her trademark sneer, excepting when she's with her youngest sister - she didn't smile, but she scowled a little less.
In fact, Ella was probably the only thing Julie cared about. So, Julietta always used her as her trump card - what kind of example are you setting for Ella?
Anyway, back to the storyline dear reader.
"I'm so sorry about that! I don't know what I'm going to do with her!" Gushed Julietta, once her sister had stalked off once more.
"Don't worry 'bout it 'Letta," said Candice, brushing away her concern. "I'm pretty much used to it by now." Julietta frowned, biting her lip, but before she could argue with the green haired girl she caught sight of Julie arguing with someone else and ran off with a sigh.
Let's skip the boringness that is fourth period geography and zoom straight to Nellie's walk back home, just two hours later.
She met the triplets outside the front gate. Usually, they'd walk with the boys as well, but they were at basketball training, so they left without them. Nellie pitied the boys, simply because they'd have to walk home, just the two of them, in the dark.
The triplets, however, refused to wait. Minnie and Tilly, the more boisterous of the two, ran ahead, whilst Stitch, the youngest and shyest, stayed back with Nellie.
The triplets were three years younger than Nellie, and worked as more miscellaneous servants - they'd share out the responsibility for the washing, sewing, and serving among them. They all had the same short coffee-brown hair with a floppy side fringe and chubby cheeks, they all shared their brown eyes, and they all wore little white dresses with cardigans and trainers of their favourite colour, but each triplet was slightly different.
Minnie was the oldest, by a few minutes, and the most energetic of the three. She usually did the serving, but also loved doing the more heavy labour work, like cutting the firewood. She is of a middling height, with a stocky structure, and usually sports a broad grin on her face. Her favourite colour is an apple green, and so most of her clothes are that colour.
Tilly is usually referred to as Turvie, her nickname, coming from the phrase topsy turvy - because that's what she was. She had complete butter fingers, and could never be trusted with the serving or the sewing. She sports a very similar outfit to her sister, except her favourite colour is gold, so her outfit is - you guessed it, gold. She's usually smiling, unless you catch her on one of her bad days. Then, you should watch your back.
Stitch is the youngest and is a lot quieter than her two sisters. Not many people actually know her real name - not even I - for her sisters and everyone else in the household simply referred to her as Stitch. This was because of her excellent needle work, and how she could sit for hours just sewing. Unsurprisingly, she got most of the sewing to do. She also did a fair bit of the serving - leaving Minnie time to go and chop wood so she could vent her energy - because she was quiet and had a steady hand. She was usually the one asked to serve at the tea parties Lady Bury was so fond of holding. Her favourite colour was teal, so her clothes are of that colour. She's always very quiet, but she usually has a small smile.
"I'll miss you next year, you know." Said Stitch suddenly, looking up at Nellie. "I mean with these two running off," she gestured to her twins, "I'll have no one to talk to." Nellie laughed. "Oh, you know that's not true- Tilly! Minnie! Out of the road now!" She shouted, smile dropping as a car came screeching round the corner. The two girls up ahead simply laughed and ran out with ease, not in the least worried. Nellie shook her head ruefully. What was she going to do with them?
They reached the town centre, which was on their way through to the enormous manor Lady Bury owned. They stuck closer together here, not wanting to lose on another, for it was very busy around this time and there were far more cars in the roads. They were just reaching the outskirts of the town when a brightly coloured poster caught Nellie's eye.
Brand new game!
Race through all the sweet stages!
Comes with console!
Sugar rush!
Nellie gawked at the words. She had always loved racing games, and now this poster was offering her one, with a console, and for only £25 no less! She had to get it. She just had to.
As they made their way westwards, out into the countryside, chasing the fleeting sunlight, Nellie came up with a plan. She knew she had some money left in the bank. She knew it. So, with permission from Lady Bury of course, she would go to the bank, withdraw the requisite amount, and buy her game!
If only she knew the trouble it would cause her.
Well, hope you liked it!
This is Sticky (a.k.a Miss Wipplesnit) signing out for the night! Goodnight!