Yeap, my fifth NT story on ff! I know, I know, Mazel Tov, Right? This is just a story I decided to work on while I try to banish my writter's block on Riley's Declaration. The name's based on the book The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle , which is really good, and I highly recommend it!
Please enjoy! And look for a collaboration between Sarahofearth and I soon. Also, you may have notice that I changed my penname. Yup, I'm RileyPoolefan now!
The True Confessions of Charlotte Gates
Friday, August 14th, 2026
I'm so glad Mom and Dad got this new diary for me for my birthday! I had nearly filled up my other one! My name is Charlotte Nicole Gates, daughter of Ben and Abigail Gates. I'm 15, and I have brown hair and blue eyes. I live in Washington D.C. with my parents. I also have an older brother, Sam, who is going to college in New York (But right now, he's here with me! Mom and Dad left to speak at a teaching conference in Raleigh, North Carolina on Tuesday, so Sam has been here to take care of me.) But that's enough about who I am.
I was going downstairs to make sure the cat got fed. I was humming my favorite song to myself, "Forget It" by Breaking Benjamin, (it's one of those songs that was popular 20 years ago, but it's good!) when I heard the doorbell ring. I immediately knew who it was. Sam had taken care of me all week and had to go back to New York, so I was going to spend the rest of the weekend with the Pooles. I opened the door and saw Casey Poole standing there.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Yeah!" I said and grabbed my duffel bag off the table.
I followed Casey out to the driveway where his dad (He hates being called 'Mr. Poole,' so he asks people to call him Mr. Riley instead. Says it makes him feel old!) was waiting in their old, but surprisingly nice and well running Ferrari. Casey is my age. He and I have been friends for longer than I can remember! He looks just like his dad, except younger. He climbed into the front seat and I put my stuff in the trunk and got in the back. Mr. Riley greeted me.
"Hey, Char, how was your day?" He asked. (Char is my nickname. Charlotte is a long name!) "Lemme guess. Boring, right?"
I laughed as he backed down the driveway. "Yeah, there's nothing to do, and school starts Tuesday! I'm wasting the last few days of FREEDOM!"
Casey gave me a "What are you talking about?" look. "What freedom? We've been forced to succumb to the tyrannical rule of the band directors!" (Casey and I have spent the last two and a half weeks in marching band camp. I'm a beginner in the colorguard and Casey plays the quads.)
"Good point." I said.
Mr. Riley laughed. "Well, if you two want to make your last days of summer so much more entertaining than the rest of your summer, I'll be glad to take you and some of your friends somewhere tonight."
Mr. Riley is so cool! He always wants to do stuff like this! I don't think he's ever really grown up!
When we got to their house in the Georgetown area, the oldest part of D.C., I took my bag upstairs to Izzy's room. Izzy's real name is Isabella, but everyone calls her Izzy. She's just about to start her senior year in high school and vowed to help me through my first year. She's also the captain of the guard. She also has dark hair, but her eyes are more of a blue gray, like her mom's, and unlike her dad's brilliant blue eyes. They actually look kinda freaky sometimes! I came back downstairs and said hi to Mrs. Alexis. She waved and smiled. Mr. Riley came in and told Casey that he and I needed to go ahead and call our friends so we could set up a time to meet at the mall. (Casey and I had agreed that food and a movie would be the best thing to do.) I whipped out my cell phone and called my best friend, Katrina, named after the hurricane her aunt died in six years before she was born. She couldn't wait when I told her.
"What time?" She asked.
I turned to Casey and asked, "What time do you want them to meet us?"
He thought for a moment. " About six-ish."
I told Katrina. "I'll be there!" She said and I hung up.
Casey hung up, too. It was five. "So, you wanna go see this site I found?" I asked. How else were we supposed to pass two hours?
"Sure." He said. So we went into the computer room, and that's where we are now. He loves this website, yeah, great suff! It's a whole bunch of cats with weird expressions and captions to go with them. Oh, Mr. Poole's calling us. Time to go!