"Helen!"
I ignored my sister Melissa calling me and focused on the music book propped on my bookshelf, the closest thing I had to a music stand. I was working on a new song on my flute, and I had been playing for a while. I really didn't want to be interrupted.
Melissa flung open the door. "Helen, I know you heard me calling." I sighed, making a small squeak come out of my flute, and set it down on the desk next to my math homework due on Monday. "Look, I get it," she said, sighing. "It's a Saturday morning, you don't want to have to put up with me today, whatever. I'm leaving for the restaurant in twenty minutes, and I still have to shower. Are you going to hang out at Cat's apartment today?"
My best friend, Cat Hollister, lives in the apartment next to my sister's. I shook my head, and my dishwater blonde bangs fell behind my glasses. I paused to brush them out of my eyes, and then responded.
"No, she's going to visit her cousins today." Seeing my sister's worried expression, I tried to reassure her. "I'll be fine by myself. I'm sixteen, okay? I'm responsible enough to drive."
"You don't have your license yet," she pointed out as she left my room.
I resumed struggling through the piece, but gave up after my throat got dry from blowing. Setting my flute back in its case, I headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
"Helen, can you get the mail before I go?" Melissa requested.
"Sure." I left the apartment and headed down the stairs. I grabbed our mail and headed back up.
There was a bunch of stuff addressed to my sister, and an envelope for me. I never got mail, not even from my dad.
Which wasn't surprising. My mom left us when I was three and died in a car crash, and as soon as Melissa moved out, I went with her and he moved somewhere else. Neither of us has heard from him since. I don't mind it, though. In fact, I like it. I'm safe with Melissa, and I love her. I mean, she didn't go to college so that she could take care of me. That's love, right?
Once inside the apartment, I threw the mail into the bowl on the small kitchen table and opened up my envelope as I slid into a chair. I read it, then screamed.
Melissa ran out of the bathroom, hairbrush in hand and makeup halfway applied. "Helen? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I responded. "Look at this! Read it!" She took the letter from me and scanned it breathlessly. Then she looked up at me expectantly.
"Well, be glad that it's all paid for by this Shira woman, otherwise I wouldn't let you go," she said with a smile.
"You mean… I can go?" I asked, disbelievingly. She nodded, and I grinned. "Thank you so, so, so much! Cat wanted to do this so much, and I told her I would, and she'll be so happy that we got in!"
"While you're gone for however long this'll take, I'm going to look for a better job," she told me with a smile. "So thanks."
"But you love being a waitress," I exclaimed. "I mean, you say all the time that it doesn't pay well, but if you love it, then…" I trailed off, not sure where I was going with this.
Melissa noticed. "I'm twenty-nine. I can't be a waitress forever, you know," she responded with a sigh. "As much as I'd like to be, it just won't work."
"Well, what are you going to do, then?" I asked.
"Dunno, whatever job I can get. Maybe beauty school?" She laughed, and then headed back into the bathroom to finish her makeup. "Just... I do love being a waitress, but sometimes you have to do something hard to have a better life even if it's not what you want to do. Oh, and don't forget to lock the door behind me!" she added, almost as an afterthought.
Maybe I could make some friends at the competition. That is, if anybody would want to be friends with me. But there would be people from all over. I could meet somebody I would've never known if I weren't going. I could meet another girl that could be the type of friend that would change my life.
Guys don't worry I'm still deciding, Helen is one of my OCs. And if you start complaining how it's unfair that one of my characters is just in the story, I actually filled out a form and tried to send it to myself. Unfortunately, this didn't work.
But whatever.
There's still time to send in your character! Just go to my profile, click the link to my forum, and get the form. But send it in by PM please, not just leave it as a reply. Trust me, it messes up my brain.
There are still characters I need from Alaska, New England, and the Southwest, nobody's submitted for them yet (just to give you a general idea of what to submit). And please, NOBODY from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Delaware, because that's the Mid-Atlantic region, aka the Pretty Committee's region, and I filled them up already.
Also, don't get mad if you submit a character from, say, Ohio, but in the story they're from Oregon. I need to change some things to make everything fit. Okay?
And if it's not, don't submit and don't read it. Simple.