I'm so proud of myself! This is the last thing I have to write before I can say I've gotten out a new part of all my in progress stories! (I think. Let me know if I missed one.) Half days are great.
Actually, I'm not sure wherther anyone has even read this story since I haven't read any mail on it. I'm still looking for your scouts, but this is your last chance.
Also, yes, I'm having just a bit of trouble making this story gripping to start, but bear with all the explanations.
August is a sort of foil for Ariadne. She's sane where Ariadne isn't, and Ariadne is outstanding in school while August has to work for her A's. And she procrastinates. They're opposites in almost every way.
She's based on my friend Beth. This chapter is dedicated to her because she let me have her part in the play when she's gone Sat. I'm glad she didn't choose someone else. Thanks Beth!
*****************************************************
(1st person, Ariadne.)
The first day was hectic. They put all two hundred eight of us into the ballroom (and there was lots of room left over, I might add.)
First they expalained our training schedule. We discovered that the scouts still go to school as their regular selves, so most of our day work is on computers. School starts at one for us, and we study English, Math, and Science alternating days with Social Studies until four, at an hour each. Then we study strategy until five, take an hour's break until dinner, and come back at six, when Jupiter and Mars arrive to train us in fighting until eight. At eight the other scouts arrive to train us in magic until nine. Ten is lights out.
After we got through explaining that, we had to divide up by element and rooms were assigned in pairs. I have to admit, they were awfully nice rooms, especially for dormitories. (And the palace was furnishing all this! Who's ever heard of a private school like that?) I got there before my roommate, which meant I didn't get to see who she was yet. Then I headed back to the ballroom for more orientation!
The long, boring speeches seemed to be winding down. They listed for us the number training in each element. Spirit was smallest with 17, followed by gold, with 22. Earth, wood and fire all had and even thirty, air had 37, and water had 42.
The last thing that we were told dealt with rank. An estimated twenty people would be chosen to be scouts. Not very many out of two hundred. The top fighter in each element would be appointed to be guardian of the royal family on each planet as they were slowly colonized. The best spirit fighter would be chosen as the beginning of the new royal family on the moon, since the end of the line was ruling earth. She would be able to choose her own guardian out of the twenty.
Well, I'd worry about that if I actually became a scout. The queen dismissed us to our rooms to get to know our room mates. After that we could meet in the game room, which I had yet to see and get to know others. Something tipped me off that the queen was a very friendly person.
I peeked in the game room on the way up. It was really very nice looking. Then I went to my room, where someone had already managed to get my name up on a plaque, along with my roommate's. Her name was August Boone.
"Hi," I said cautiosly, peeking in. The girl inside had pale blond hair, a little past her shoulders, up in a half ponytail, blue eyes and glasses. She was pretty tall.
"Hey, you must be my roommate," she said in a high sporano voice, as opposed to my deep alto. "My name's August. And you are?"
"I'm Ariadne. I saw your name on the door."
She grimaced. "I'm glad they finished with that thing. The hammering was giving me a headache. Did you catch the part about signing up?"
"No, what about it?"
"We're supposed to go to the ballroom sometime before lunch to get a catalogue-type thing with courses listed, so we can choose what we want. Then sometime after lunch and before dinner, we have to go sign up for our courses."
"You wanna go down now?"
"I was going to wait until the first lunch bell rings." Huh? There was something else I'd missed.
"Lunch Bell?"
"They're ringing three bells for lunch. The first one, we need to start down to the cafe. Nine minutes later, they ring another bell, and the doors close a minute later, at the last bell. So if you're not in, you have to go somewhere outside the palace for lunch."
"Oh, OK. I'll get a catalogue for you, if you want, since I'm going down there."
"Thanks," she said as I left.
When I came back, she was reading a Cynthia Voigt book called "Bad Girls." {AN: Which, believe it or not, I don't own the copyrights to.}She pointed to the pile of outfits on my bed. "They dropped these off while you were gone. You're a spirit too, I take it."
"Yeah, they put us in categories by element. And, I think within element by age."
"I know, but there was an odd number of spirits, and an odd number of airs, so one of each group would have ended up together."
"True," I agreed.
"What size uniform do you wear? There are mediums and larges there, but I can't remember which I ordered."
"I ordered mediums," I said, sorting the uniforms into piles and hanging them up in their respective closets.
I sat down to look at my choices for classes. Reading the magazine, it turned out the four main courses plus strategy were all taught by means of the computers at our desks. So we didn't even need classrooms for them.
I selected World Religion and Mythology for my Social Studies course, Biology for my science, AP English 1, and Geometry.
Then I had to choose placement for strategy and fighting. I chose an advanced strategy course and a beginner's fighting.
Finally there were weekend courses. Each one lasted two hours, and you could pick a minimum of four or a maximum of six. They were divided into half on Saturday, half on Sunday. The times weren't all after noon, as before. (Unless the queen was the instructor.)
I signed up immediately for a swimming course with Neptune, a choral class with Mars, and an art class with Neptune. Then I discovered a chess class with Mercury and driver's ed with Uranus. Each was a semester. Mercury was also giving computer programming, and I decided to try that. I still needed one more course, and I decided on a semester of Fashion Design, the only class Pluto was teaching, and a semester of Jewelry making with Venus, which should be interesting. {AN: I'm assuming that the characters were just starting the school year, so they won't be in different places in their courses or anything. Because Ariadne was in school when she was chosen if you remember. So they've only been going a week or so.}
I asked August what she was taking. She had decided on the choral class, phys ed with Jupiter, track with Uranus, and drama, with Venus.
I dropped the applications off then and came back to our room. That's when we discovered the speakers in our room. The queen seemed to be having fun yaking away on them. She finally got to the point (if it could be considered one) and said, "I'd like to play you a song to get you started this year. It's called 'Hero'." {AN: Which I do not own.}
HERO
There's a hero, if you look inside yourself,
You don't have to be afraid of what you are.
There's an answer, if you reach into yourself,
And the sorrow that you felt will melt away
And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.
It's a long road, when you face the world alone
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold
You can find love, if you search within yourself,
And the emptiness you felt will disappear
And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.
Lord knows, dreams are hard to follow,
But don't let anyone, tear them away
Hold on, there will be tomorrow
In time, you'll find the way
And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you
That a hero lies in you.
I fell asleep happy.
***************************************
Actually, I'm not sure wherther anyone has even read this story since I haven't read any mail on it. I'm still looking for your scouts, but this is your last chance.
Also, yes, I'm having just a bit of trouble making this story gripping to start, but bear with all the explanations.
August is a sort of foil for Ariadne. She's sane where Ariadne isn't, and Ariadne is outstanding in school while August has to work for her A's. And she procrastinates. They're opposites in almost every way.
She's based on my friend Beth. This chapter is dedicated to her because she let me have her part in the play when she's gone Sat. I'm glad she didn't choose someone else. Thanks Beth!
*****************************************************
(1st person, Ariadne.)
The first day was hectic. They put all two hundred eight of us into the ballroom (and there was lots of room left over, I might add.)
First they expalained our training schedule. We discovered that the scouts still go to school as their regular selves, so most of our day work is on computers. School starts at one for us, and we study English, Math, and Science alternating days with Social Studies until four, at an hour each. Then we study strategy until five, take an hour's break until dinner, and come back at six, when Jupiter and Mars arrive to train us in fighting until eight. At eight the other scouts arrive to train us in magic until nine. Ten is lights out.
After we got through explaining that, we had to divide up by element and rooms were assigned in pairs. I have to admit, they were awfully nice rooms, especially for dormitories. (And the palace was furnishing all this! Who's ever heard of a private school like that?) I got there before my roommate, which meant I didn't get to see who she was yet. Then I headed back to the ballroom for more orientation!
The long, boring speeches seemed to be winding down. They listed for us the number training in each element. Spirit was smallest with 17, followed by gold, with 22. Earth, wood and fire all had and even thirty, air had 37, and water had 42.
The last thing that we were told dealt with rank. An estimated twenty people would be chosen to be scouts. Not very many out of two hundred. The top fighter in each element would be appointed to be guardian of the royal family on each planet as they were slowly colonized. The best spirit fighter would be chosen as the beginning of the new royal family on the moon, since the end of the line was ruling earth. She would be able to choose her own guardian out of the twenty.
Well, I'd worry about that if I actually became a scout. The queen dismissed us to our rooms to get to know our room mates. After that we could meet in the game room, which I had yet to see and get to know others. Something tipped me off that the queen was a very friendly person.
I peeked in the game room on the way up. It was really very nice looking. Then I went to my room, where someone had already managed to get my name up on a plaque, along with my roommate's. Her name was August Boone.
"Hi," I said cautiosly, peeking in. The girl inside had pale blond hair, a little past her shoulders, up in a half ponytail, blue eyes and glasses. She was pretty tall.
"Hey, you must be my roommate," she said in a high sporano voice, as opposed to my deep alto. "My name's August. And you are?"
"I'm Ariadne. I saw your name on the door."
She grimaced. "I'm glad they finished with that thing. The hammering was giving me a headache. Did you catch the part about signing up?"
"No, what about it?"
"We're supposed to go to the ballroom sometime before lunch to get a catalogue-type thing with courses listed, so we can choose what we want. Then sometime after lunch and before dinner, we have to go sign up for our courses."
"You wanna go down now?"
"I was going to wait until the first lunch bell rings." Huh? There was something else I'd missed.
"Lunch Bell?"
"They're ringing three bells for lunch. The first one, we need to start down to the cafe. Nine minutes later, they ring another bell, and the doors close a minute later, at the last bell. So if you're not in, you have to go somewhere outside the palace for lunch."
"Oh, OK. I'll get a catalogue for you, if you want, since I'm going down there."
"Thanks," she said as I left.
When I came back, she was reading a Cynthia Voigt book called "Bad Girls." {AN: Which, believe it or not, I don't own the copyrights to.}She pointed to the pile of outfits on my bed. "They dropped these off while you were gone. You're a spirit too, I take it."
"Yeah, they put us in categories by element. And, I think within element by age."
"I know, but there was an odd number of spirits, and an odd number of airs, so one of each group would have ended up together."
"True," I agreed.
"What size uniform do you wear? There are mediums and larges there, but I can't remember which I ordered."
"I ordered mediums," I said, sorting the uniforms into piles and hanging them up in their respective closets.
I sat down to look at my choices for classes. Reading the magazine, it turned out the four main courses plus strategy were all taught by means of the computers at our desks. So we didn't even need classrooms for them.
I selected World Religion and Mythology for my Social Studies course, Biology for my science, AP English 1, and Geometry.
Then I had to choose placement for strategy and fighting. I chose an advanced strategy course and a beginner's fighting.
Finally there were weekend courses. Each one lasted two hours, and you could pick a minimum of four or a maximum of six. They were divided into half on Saturday, half on Sunday. The times weren't all after noon, as before. (Unless the queen was the instructor.)
I signed up immediately for a swimming course with Neptune, a choral class with Mars, and an art class with Neptune. Then I discovered a chess class with Mercury and driver's ed with Uranus. Each was a semester. Mercury was also giving computer programming, and I decided to try that. I still needed one more course, and I decided on a semester of Fashion Design, the only class Pluto was teaching, and a semester of Jewelry making with Venus, which should be interesting. {AN: I'm assuming that the characters were just starting the school year, so they won't be in different places in their courses or anything. Because Ariadne was in school when she was chosen if you remember. So they've only been going a week or so.}
I asked August what she was taking. She had decided on the choral class, phys ed with Jupiter, track with Uranus, and drama, with Venus.
I dropped the applications off then and came back to our room. That's when we discovered the speakers in our room. The queen seemed to be having fun yaking away on them. She finally got to the point (if it could be considered one) and said, "I'd like to play you a song to get you started this year. It's called 'Hero'." {AN: Which I do not own.}
HERO
There's a hero, if you look inside yourself,
You don't have to be afraid of what you are.
There's an answer, if you reach into yourself,
And the sorrow that you felt will melt away
And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.
It's a long road, when you face the world alone
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold
You can find love, if you search within yourself,
And the emptiness you felt will disappear
And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.
Lord knows, dreams are hard to follow,
But don't let anyone, tear them away
Hold on, there will be tomorrow
In time, you'll find the way
And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you
That a hero lies in you.
I fell asleep happy.
***************************************