~The New Girl~

-Blake-

"Come on, it'll be fun!" I mimicked my older brother, Danny, as I lugged a pail of mashed up sardines over to my dad's store. "It's not much work! Not to mention you get-" I slammed the bucket onto the table as hard as I could. "PAID!"

See, my dad owns a fishing shop. It's not very big, but it sells the most disgusting things ever. Now, I'm more on the tomboy side, so I'm okay with getting a little dirty, but mashed up fish? No thanks.

My older brother had insisted that I start helping him and Dad out in the shop. See, the shop was basically this small, lifeless shack that sits on the edge of the pier, literally ten feet away from our real home. Danny said it would be easy for me because the bait shop is right there! At first, my dad did not seem fond of the idea, but somehow my brother managed to talk him into it.

So here I am lugging sardines and tuna back and forth between the docks and the shop. It's actually pretty easy, since we live literally right next to it, but going back and forth gets pretty boring.

I live in a family of boys. Mom died about three months after I was born, and to those who are wondering, yes, I am the youngest. I actually have two older brothers, but Jimmy went off to collage to live his dream of being a scientist and left us to handle the shop by ourselves, so now Danny, Dad, and I are stuck running it.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I turned around and went back for more fish. See, we've formed this whole little system. My dad goes fishing and catches a bunch when we're in school, and when we come home he puts them in buckets, gives it to me, and I give it to Danny, who pours it into buckets.

"Come on, Lea! What are you 34? LET'S GO!" My father called. He was holding three buckets of fish in his hand, and had stains all over his once white shirt. I sprinted over to him completely exhausted. "Dad, I told you to call me Blake!"

Let me back it up a bit. Hi, I'm Azalea (Az-a-lea) Beckett Blakely. Nice name, right? WRONG! I DESPISE my first and middle name, so I tell people to call me Blake. I am fourteen years of age, and very short. I have elbow length, wavy brown hair, side-bangs, and goldish-green eyes. My hobbies include: Drawing mustaches on people, not working at the bait shop, wearing things that would make popular girl faint in horror, and annoying my brother. Now, on with the story:

My father's light brown eyes had a hint of humor in them. He shook his head. "But that wouldn't make any sense, Lea. We're all Blakes."

"No you and Danny are Blakelys. I am just Blake." I picked up the pail and began to walk away, when I heard him call. "Pick up the pace, Azalea!"

How Danny manages to convince him of things, I'll never know. I was about two steps away from Danny, when I heard a shrill, yet annoying, voice squeal, "Well, Little Miss Bait-shop has managed –For the fourth time this week - to wear the most hideous thing she could find!"

I looked down at my outfit. It wasn't that bad. I had on a green and black, plaid, flannel shirt that was three sizes too big, unbuttoned, showing off my white T-shirt underneath. I was also wearing jean Capri's, and black converse. My right laces, a bright magenta; left laces, a pumpkin orange.

I whirled around slopping fish all over the ground. Facing me, were three of the most annoying girls in town: Callista Johnson, the leader; Joline McMasters, a follower; And finally, Lucky Leonardo (Don't ask me HOW she got popular with THAT name); another follower.

Callista, Joline, and Lucky were all wearing the same thing: Tank top, jean shorts, flip flops, sunglasses, necklaces, ad were each licking an ice-cream cone.

The only difference in their outfits was the color.

Callista wore her long, brown hair down and was showing off her pink jewelry, pink shirt, and pink ice-cream. Basically, everything was pink except for the shorts.

Joline had her dark brown hair up into a ponytail, and practically had on everything blue. Even her eyes were blue, but she probably wore contacts. The weird thing was, she and somehow managed to find blue ice-cream to match her outfit. Weird.

Lucky's blond hair was pulled in a half-ponytail and her chocolate brown eyes here staring down at me with a hint of sympathy. She had on everything green. I couldn't wipe the grin off of my face. Get it? Lucky? Green? Yeah, I'm not funny.

Anyway:

"When are you Barbie dolls going to understand, that the world is not a fashion show?" I grumbled. "And what are you doing at a bait shop?"

Callista shrugged. "Just hanging around."

I snorted.

Right.

She is just here because she wants to annoy me. Normally, I try and pretend it doesn't work, but today I was hot and sweaty from running, so I was not in the mood for their annoying selves.

"Look, can you guys, like, leave? I'm trying to concentrate here." I said turning around. Callista's owl eyes widened. "You don't want my service?"

I was about to scream, 'NO! NOW GET OUT OF MY SHOP BEFORE I GET THE BROOM!', but thought better of it. Instead, I put my bucket down, plastered a totally fake smile on my face and said, "What can I get you?"

Callista smiled. "Well, me and my friends would each like six buckets of worms." Her friends giggled. "Please hurry." Callista added coldly.

'The worms! Why did she have to say the worms?' I thought frantically.

"Hurry up! We don't want to be here all day!" Joline hissed. Slowly, I made my way to the back of the store. There were three of them and they each wanted six so...Eighteen buckets! I sure hope they have enough to pay for that. One by one I took a bucket and headed back on the counter.

Apparently, I was not going fast enough, because they kept yelling, "It would help if you stacked five on top of the other instead of four."

So I ended up bringing five each time. They were all stacked up on each other, and were on the verge of falling. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I put the stack on the desk.

"Why don't you try six at a time? It'd be faster, and we wouldn't have to wait!" Callista shouted. It was already on the verge of falling, but like they say the customer's always right. So I marched back over to the worm section and stacked six boxes of worms.

I almost mad it back to the other side, when Lucky muttered, "Where'd you get those shoes? A garage sale?" Like the idiot I am, I looked down at my shoes, while still making my way towards the counter.

'They aren't THAT bad...' I thought. Suddenly, "BLAKE! WATCH OUT!" My brother yelled, but it was too late. I lost my footing, and came crashing down, along with six boxes of worms, each flying one by one on top of me.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!" They all screamed at the same time, probably trying to conceal their laughs, but to be honest, I was trying to conceal mine. They all sounded so ridiculous at the moment.

Callista flipped her hair and said, "You can forget about the worms now. And I thought this place was professional."

With that, the three left. I was sprawled on the floor covered in worms and other grime. I should've known they didn't want anything. I should've just ignored them while I could.

"Need a hand?" I heard someone say. I look up to see a girl about my age, with bright blue eyes, and raven lack hair. Grateful for some help, I take her hand and steady myself, trying my best not to crush any worms.

"Thanks." I say. "I'm Blake."

"Violet." She says with a little wave. She's wearing dark green shirt that says, 'I :( Mondays' on it, jean Capri's, and bright green converse that have the words 'B.F.F.L's are permanent' written on them.

At first, I'm confused at her answer. "Violet? What's violet? Did I accidentally knock over some purple paint or something?"

The girl smiles. "No. That's my name. Violet."

"Oh..." Was the only thing I could think to say.

'Well, thanks for making me feel stupid, Violet.' I say silently in my head. We stood there staring at each other until, I finally managed to think of something to talk about. "So, you're an American?"

She threw her head back with a smile. "Yes. Is it really that obvious? I mean, you're the third person to ask me that."

I laughed. "Well, here we are very observant of other people." I knelt down and began to pick up worms. "Besides, I've never met an American in person before. They have funny accents."

Violet stifled a laugh. "I'll help you clean up if you want." She says, as she kneels down to help me. "I've really got nothing better to do."

I look at her bewildered. "You seriously have nothing to do that's better than cleaning up worms from a bait shop?"

Violet shook her head, as she began scooping piles of worms and gently placing them in the buckets. "Nope. I'm new. I just came here from California."

"Oh," I said, plucking another worm from the ground, "Any reason?"

She nods, and for a moment she looks a little bit wistful, "My mom's going on a trip to learn how to paint really well, so we had to stay here until she gets back, which is in about four years."

I looked confused. "Why don't you just stay with your dad?"

Violet shifted a little. That's when I realized that I had hit a touchy subject. Violet plucked up a plump worm and examine it thoroughly "My dad, um, well he's dead. He died in a boat crash."

I put down the bucket I was holding. "Oh. I'm so sorry." I honestly couldn't imagine life without my dad. It must be tough.

Her bright blue eyes hit my green ones. "Don't be." With that, she went back to work. At that moment, Danny came rushing up to us. "What happened?"

I sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it, Danny."

He looked at me, then at Violet, then back to me. He obviously knew something was up, but I wasn't sharing anything. The situation was all too embarrassing. Without another word, he shrugged, mostly to himself, and walked out of the room.

"Who was that?" Violet asks me after another moment of silence.

"Oh, him?" I shrug, "That's my older brother, Danny"

She nods, but it's more of a distracted nod than an understanding nod.

It took two full hours, but we did it. We cleaned each and every single worm on the floor and stuck it into a bin. It especially took me a while, mainly because my wavy, elbow length, brown hair kept getting in the way. We stand up and brush our hands off.

I turn to her with a grateful smile, "Thanks for the help, Vi. I really needed it."

She smiled. "Happy to help."

"Well," I say, "I better head back. "

Violet checks her watch, "I should probably get going. My uncle will be worried. I told him I'd be back for dinner, and the last thing I need is one of his safety lectures."

I grin at her "I'll see you around."

Just as Violet was about to head out the door, I stopped her. "Hey, do you know what school are you going to go to?"

She blinked a little, as if the thought hadn't occurred to her until now, "Hmmm...I'm not sure. But I guess we'll see tomorrow!" And with one last smile, she skips out of the bait shop.

Huh. I might have just made an actual friend.

"So what was all the commotion about earlier today?" Asked my dad a he stuffed his face with cheese pizza.

I picked at mine and muttered, "I don't want to talk about it."

He stared at me fora minute. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

I nodded. "I know, Dad. I'm not hungry, can I just go to bed?"

Danny grinned a little. "Still upset about the worms?"

My dad looked between the both of us. "Worms? What worms?"

"Shut up!" I hissed at him as I marched upstairs.

I laid on my bed, and thought about what would happen tomorrow at school. Would Callista tell everybody bout the worms? Would I have any friends anymore? Who am I kidding, I never had any friends in the first place, so what's there to loose?

Well...Violet seems nice...

Then another thought causes me to moan into my pillow.

I can't believe I let them embarrass me like that! How could I have been so stupid? My mind wondered over to Violet. She had seen what had happened, but who else saw? I hope no one else. That would literally be a living night mare!

Slowly, but surely, my eyes began to droop. I eventually fell into a long and dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER 2! Please review! ^_^

xXAnGeLwInGsXx11: Aww. Thanks!

Krystalslazz: Maybe...Hehehehehe...I just added a new idea for my evil concoction-I MEAN STORY! Story. My story...yeah. But anyway, thanks for reviewing.

Rain~*