Okay, here's the first chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 1~
Hope sat in her room, working on her computer. She had a big paper due the next day and she had barely started on it! A 3-page paper, single-spaced, size 12 Times New Roman. Are teachers insane? Why not a word limit? Word limits I can do, but not stupid things like this. And how am I supposed to write a 3-page paper on freakin’ chlorine!? Ugh! I hate papers!!! Hope was junior in high school. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and green eyes. She was about 5’5”, a decent height she thought. She wasn’t skinny, but she wasn’t fat either. Somewhere in the middle, she always said. She had her own style, but it wasn’t too much different from everyone else’s. I like to be comfortable, she always told people.
As she worked on her paper, she was listening to 93.7, the pop/rock/stuff-like-that type of music. Suddenly, the beginning notes of her most loathed came on. She stopped typing, turned to her radio, and glared at it. Then the lyrics came I told you I made dinner plans/For you and me and no one else/That don’t include your crazy friends/Well I’m done/With awkward situations, empty conversations/Oo, this is an SOS/Don’t wanna second guess/This is the bottom line, it’s true/I gave my all for you/Now my hearts in two/And I can’t find the other half/It’s like I’m walking on broken glass/Better believe I bled/It’s a call I’ll never get. Hope sprinted over to her radio and changed the station to a country one. Taylor Swift’s “Our Song” was playing. Thank goodness! This is the only station to escape from the horrible sound of those stupid Jonas Brothers, or whatever. Hope hated the Jonas Brothers with a fiery, burning passion. She couldn’t stand them, their voices, their stupid tight pants, ANYTHING! The worst part of it was that her sister, Faith, was in LOVE with them. She was always skipping around their house singing “Year 3000” or “SOS” day and night. Sam hated them so much that she made up a spoken line to say after each line of “SOS”…
I told you I made dinner plans~ More than once!
For you and me and no one else~ You think I’m gonna bring someone to meet you?
That don’t include your crazy friends~ You’re the one that’s crazy!
Well, I’m done~ Good, me too!
With awkward situations, empty conversations~ You’re the one who’d never talk to me, jerk!
Uh, I would go on, but I don’t want to have people attack Hope with torches and pitchforks (or tubesocks filled with woodscrews). Anywho, as “Our Song” ended, Hope turned her radio back to 93.7. “Pop, Lock, and Drop It” was playing. Thank you, God! Hope returned to her computer and continued typing. About an hour later, she received an IM from her friend Paul. Yo! Hope! R U on?? Yep! But I’m workin’ on the paper for Davis’ class. Aw, that sucks! Tell me about it. Don’t tell me ur not sitting on ur butt, doing nothing! Ha ha. 4 ur info, I’m also working on the paper 4 Davis’ class. Good, ‘cause I don’t want 2 come into 4th hour and listen 2 u panic & complain ALLLL class. Hey! I did that ONCE! U R not gonna let me live it down, r u? Nope! Yeah, that’s what I thought. Well, got 2 get back 2 working. C U 2morrow! L8r Paul! Hope sighed as she saw Paul’s name click off her buddy list…Hope has had a crush on Paul since they were little. At first it was just a little thing. But as the years went by, the crush grew into a liking, and now it has formed into a “If I don’t talk to you or see you, I’m gonna DIE” type of thing. Hope has watched Paul go through a couple girlfriends, which made her soul jealous and her heart break every time…As Hope continued on her paper, she heard her sister coming down the hallway, singing.
“He said I’ve been to the year 3000!!! Not much has changed, but they lived under water!!! And your great-great-great-granddaughter is doing fine!!!!” sang Faith.
Hope got up from her desk and went to her door and opened it. “FAITH! Could you please keep it down? I’m trying to finish a paper.”
“Are you sure it isn’t because you hate them?” asked Faith, taking one of her ear buds out
“Positive,” replied Hope, through grinded teeth. “Check my computer if you want.”
Faith peeked into Hope’s room and saw that Hope was indeed working on a paper. “Oh, sorry, Hope! I’ll just go into my room.”
“Thank you,” said Hope, closing her door.
“Oh, wait!” said Faith
“What?” said Hope, with slight annoyance in her voice
“Mom said dinner will be ready in 10 minutes,” Faith replied.
“Okay,” said Hope. She closed her door and walked back over to her desk. Okay, back to work. Hope worked on her paper until she heard her mom yelling up the stairs for Hope and Faith to come to dinner. Hope saved what she had written already and headed down stairs.
She sat herself down across from Faith, next to her brother, Jonah. After Hope’s mom put everything on the table, which was Parmesan spaghetti and Cesar salad (Hope’s favorite), they joined hands and her father said a prayer: “Heavenly Father, we would like to thank you for another day where you have blessed us abundantly. We want to pray for those who do not have the basic things we have. We want you to fill their lives with Your grace and mercy. May this food nourish us and help us spread Your Word. In Your Son’s name we pray, Amen.”
They dug in. They chatted about their day: how Jonah had aced his Calculus exam, how Hope got asked to say a speech at the Alumni ceremony, how Faith got a 95% on her Honors English paper, how Sarah (their mom) could possibly get a promotion, and how John (their dad) was gonna get a raise in the near future. After dinner, Sarah brought out chocolate chip cookies and milk (Hope’s favorite…again) for dessert. John clanked his glass and Sarah stood up.
“As we all know, Faith’s 15th birthday is tomorrow. And your father and I wanted to do something special,” Sarah started.
Faith was smiling uncontrollably; she loves to get presents early.
“So, your father and I got you tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert that’s tomorrow night. Along with public AND private meet ‘n greet passes,” continued Sarah, pulling out an envelope and handing it to Faith.
Faith was hyperventilating right about now. Jonah smiled, mainly because he was one of those teenagers totally oblivious to what that outside world was like. And Hope, well, she was happy for her sister. I mean, Faith gets to go to a concert to see a band that she was overly obsessed with. But she was also…uh…not so happy. She would hear about this concert from the time Faith got back to eternity.
After dessert, Hope excused herself and went back up to work on her paper.
So? How do you guys like it now? Comments make me happy. Critisism (sp?) makes me sad, but I'll live.
~Stephanie aka Des
