Chapter One – I didn't like that school anyw-AAAYYY!

Seven Years later.

Liz POV

"Miss Welsh, I do not appreciate sleeping in my class room!" A big bang sounded as someone slammed their hand down on my bed, err, desk. Giggles spread through my bedroom, ah, classroom. I blinked twice before I realised that I had been sleeping through extension math class. Damnit! Oh, no I thought to myself, I'm in for it.

"Do you know what happens to girls who sleep in my classroom? They get sent to the Principal's office. Go, now!" Mrs Clark's grass green eyes glared daggers at me. I got up and slowly collected my things, very slowly. I loved making teachers impatient, especially when I'm in trouble and especially with Mrs Clark.

"We don't have all day, Miss Welsh." Mrs Clark said, tapping her foot and sending smirks and sniggers through the class. I swung my heavy backpack on to my back and made my way to the front of the classroom, stamping on some of the other students' bags. This set a wave of 'Watch it!'s towards me. An extra loud remark came from the desk in the very front of the classroom, where my step-sister sat. Yes, that's right. I have I step-sister, and you probably know her. Everyone does. Her name is Katja Jade Welsh. Her mum is married to my dad. I call her Kat, much to her frustration.

"Well, Miss Welsh? Are you going?" Mrs Clark's voice sent chills down my spine, but I couldn't let her know that. Kat sniggered. I ignored her, and turned toward the teacher. Before I could stop myself, I dropped into a low bow, tucking one arm behind my back and the other across my front. The teacher looked outraged, as if smoke was going to start coming out of her nose, like a dragon.

I turned and quickly walked out of the classroom and down the hall to the Principal's office, grinning my face off all the way.

Let's just say that the principal was NOT happy. Oh well, its not like it matters. I didn't care what my step-mother thought, and my dad didn't even notice me. He's too busy. Anyway, as I said, I didn't care. I never liked that fancy school anyway. It was way too posh for my liking. And it wasn't like I was the only one that was happy about it, Kat would be over the moon.

The principal ordered me, in quite a huff, to 'get out of her office and never return to this school again!'. So, in other words, I got expelled. Ha, ha. The principal expected me to be angry, so I pretended to be angry. I stormed off, turning back for one second to look at the principal's smug expression, before slamming the door so hard that the paintings on the walls nearly fell. I heard her laughing as I 'made my way down the hall'. Little did Ms. Ford know, there was a pin, patiently waiting for her bottom, on the principal's chair.

I was right, Kat was over the moon when she heard that I got expelled. No, she was over the sun. I wish.

Anyway, Kat was so happy that she actually hugged me. Now, I know that you are probably thinking that Kats a bad person. I'm going to say it now, she's not. Her and I just aren't the perfect match. I used to wonder about that when I was little. I thought that Kat was like one of the evil step-sisters in Cinderella, but then I realised that she didn't treat me like a slave, more like an equal. I disliked equal. I also used to wonder why me Kat fought so much, I mean, only real siblings fight like that, obviously not.

Well, Kat is a good person. And even though she is a bit of a snob, she's also considerably honest, awesomely adventurous (only when she feels like it), and she also quite loyal, like if you fell over, Kat would be the first person at your side, ready to pick you up. After a time period of seven years, I finally figured out why she was so mean to me. You see, Kat is weird. Extremely weird. Weird as in, likes school and has mini tea parties with 'invisible' people weird. Some mean kids even claimed that she was loopy.

And, because Kat was so 'weird', when we were little, littler in my case, she was bullied a lot. Bullied for claiming that she had tea parties with monsters. Oh, how I wish that those bullies were right when the said, meanly, that Kat's claims were 'stupid'.

Well, because Kat was bullied so, so much, she doesn't want it to happen again. I know, deep down Kat hates it, but three years ago a wall was built up. That wall was made of cement, and many layers of it. But there is a single hole in this wall, very high up, that only I knew about, because only I dared to climb that high. I rarely make it to that hole, but when I do, it's worth it.

Anyway, Kat and I were walking to the bus stop…

"Hey, Kat. Let's not take the bus." I said, grabbing her arm.

"Oh, Elizabeth, you're completely right!" Kat's face lit up. Oh, I forget to mention that as soon as I started calling her 'Kat', Katja started calling me 'Elizabeth', which is my proper name and I hate it. It's to posh. "Instead of taking the bus, we should call the chauffeur!"

"What?! Oh, no, no, no! That's not what I meant!" I quickly snatched her ridiculously sparkly pink phone out of her hand. Kat looked aghast and went to snatch the phone back, but was stopped by my best 'You might not believe it, but I have a brain, and I know what I'm doing' look. She returned with her well known 'I don't particularly trust you, but I'll try something completely new and unknown to me, cause that's just how weird I am.' Oh, I love her. WAIT! No-that's-not-what-I-said! Erm…... Oh, you know what I mean!

"Come on, this way!" I told Kat, grabbing her wrist and dragging her towards The Woods, where there was a trail I made, when I was sent home early from school to 'think about my bad behaviour'. "There's this really cool place I found, right in the middle of The Woods."

The Woods is like a sort of national park, but smaller. Its right in between our abnormally big and posh house and our abnormally big and posh school. I like walking through it from time to time, just to clear my head. For some reason, being surrounded by nature helps me breath, it makes me feel more at home than a queen-sized bed with a maid that comes to make it every morning.

Wait… I've just realised that you know barely anything about me. Well, hello, my name is Elizabeth (I prefer Liz) Allison Welsh. Only daughter of the famous Johnathan Welsh, who is well-known for murdering innocent plants and destroying the habitats of many (now homeless) animals. Step-daughter to the slightly stir-crazy Jennifer Welsh, and step-sister to, the also stir-crazy, Katja Anastasia Welsh. My favourite colour is green, my eyes are also dark green. I have hair the colour of dirt, and a button nose, in which my damn glasses keep falling off. I am average height, with rather long legs that make me an excellent runner. I enjoy reading (fiction, only ever fiction), Running outdoors, playing outdoors, climbing trees (I'm very athletic), swimming in lakes surrounded by nature, reading a (fiction) book high up in a tree, and altogether being outdoors.

"Just a little further." I tell Kat as we continue to walk around trees and bushes. "Ah, hear it is!" We reached a tree with one of its branches hanging low. I slowly reached up and gently pushed the branch up, revealing the most marvellous place. It was a sort of clearing, but all the trees around it have grown taller and thicker, leaning in and creating a dome of trees. The only light comes in from the small hole at the top of the dome, and the rare gaps between leaves.

"Woah…." Kat look completely speechless for about five seconds, before a wide grin started slowly forming on her face. "This place is absolutely exquisite!" Oh well, she can never drop that posh accent, can she?

Kat suddenly grabbed my hands and pulled me into the middle of the dome, in a spotlight made from the small hole at the top of the dome. I had the best idea.

"Yeah, Kat!" I said freeing my hands from hers, and putting them up in the air, gesturing towards the dome around us. "I welcome you to TERABITHIA!"

Kat started laughing uncontrollably, and, after a moment of taking the laughter in, I cracked up to. Wow, it was the best feeling! To laugh with my step-sister, for us both to be so happy at the same time. Happiness was glowing inside of me, from my head to toe, be pumped around like blood from my heart, where it glowed the brightest. I was laughing so hard that I started crying and I didn't want to stop!

Kat grabbed my hands again and we both started spinning around and around, laughing and laughing, daring each other to be the first one to fall. Eventually, I was the first one to fall, leaving Kat to stand over me in triumph. I laid there until my dizziness to subside, also trying to find and put my glasses on my face, before slowly getting to me feet. I wobbled a bit, causing Kat to crack up. Kat has inhuman balance and endurance, something I have always admired and envied.

Suddenly, Kat stopped laughing staring in fear at something behind me, her face had gotten all white. Something shoved me to the ground, making my glasses fly forward. Everything went blurry, Kat screamed as something threw her into a tree at the far side of the dome. Something roared, a loud and monstrous sound. Glasses, I thought, my hands desperately searching the ground, If I could only find those god damn glasses! I couldn't find them. Panic raced through me like a race car on its track. My breathing got faster and shallower. I was about to cry when my hands found something. Something broken. I recognised the glass shards, I felt the thin metal band of the temples. My glasses were broken.

"Kat! Kat! Kat, I can't see!" I shouted into the distance.

"Then do as I say, Elizabeth!" Kat's voice shouted back at me from the other direction. "Okay its behind you. Don't freak out, stay perfectly still."

I did as she said, trying not to move a muscle or make a noise. I tried to calm myself. It was alright, I told myself. It was all going to be fine.

"ELIZABETH!" Kat voice sprang from nowhere, a warning scream, "JUMP!" Her desperately voice rang out through the dome. I scrambled to my feet and jumped as high as I could in an instant. I heard the whoosh of a sharp object whizzing just under my feet. I willed myself to stay in the air longer, but of course that was impossible. I was down two seconds after I was up. Something sliced into my leg, sharp, infuriating pain spreading through my leg like a virus.

I cried out in pain, falling to the ground in an instant. But then the strangest thing happened. Something started to cover up my leg, as if climbing up it. I tried to shake it off, thinking that it was some type of monster, but it just stayed there, clinging on. Then it covered my cut, and a strange tingling sensation shot through me, making me shiver. And it just crawled of my leg, just like that. I quickly brought my leg up to my face, completely ignoring the strange thing that was trying to kill us, and ran my hand over it. No cut. Not even or a scar. Oh my god.

"Noooo!" I heard Kat cry, and I quickly looked up. Was Kat hurt? Was it about to kill her? I had to do something. But instead of seeing Kat crying in fear with a figure looming over her, I saw a big elephant-type foot about to crash down on me.

I had to get out. I had to. I was going to die. I tensed, telling myself that it won't be bad. That I wouldn't die. I just couldn't. And then another strange thing happened. If you thought that the thing crawling up my leg and healing a deep wound was weird, then you would've had no words to describe this. I started sinking through the ground. But there was no quicksand here, so what was this. The ground started mending itself up above me. Leaving me here, buried an inch below the ground. A thud of the massive foot hitting the space where I should've been, and should not have been able to escape from. It sent massive shudders through the earth like a mini earthquake.

And then I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was above the ground. In a place completely unfamiliar, with a bunch of teenagers standing over me. This was not my home. Oh no, The terrible thought sent a wave of sadness and guilt through me, Kat!

Please, please, please REVIEW and tell me what you thought. Also, tell me if I made any mistakes, because I want to know so that I can make the next chapter bigger. Please tell me if you want me to keep the chapters this length or make them shorter.