Rose’s Adventure
By Brigitte Gong
~Chapter 1~
MIDDLE SCHOOL
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Ugh, is it morning already? I rolled over
to my side and felt around clumsily for the snooze button. Where is that thing?
Ah ha, here it is. I slammed it down with my palm and the beeping immediately
stopped. I snuggled back on my pillow and pulled the covers over my head. Much
better.
Before I could fall back asleep though, my eight-year-old
sister adopted from
Even in the dark, I could make out the shapes of a couple
cardboard boxes filled with some of the stuff I hadn’t unpacked yet. We moved
here only three weeks ago, and I didn’t feel at all excited about school. I
sighed and stared at the blank sheet of wall in front of me for a
second—reminding myself to get posters— before I replied. “I’m coming.” I
stepped off my bed and walked to my closet. I slid the door open, revealing a bunch
of clothes hanging lopsided on hangers. I yanked down a light blue blouse and
slipped on a pair of Levi’s jeans. I pulled on a pair of white socks and
hurried downstairs.
I bumped into Kara on the way down. She is the second oldest
out of all the Walkman siblings. My parents adopted her about fourteen years
ago in
“It’s ok.” She replied, smiling. She started to walk away,
but then she whirled around and said, “Oh, I almost forgot. I need your
opinion. Which top looks better with these pants?” She held up a pair of dark
blue pants and a light green shirt. She then swapped the green shirt for a
lilac one.
I furrowed my eyebrows as she swapped the shirts again. I
finally pointed to the lilac one. “That one. I think it’s a good contrast.”
Kara nodded and said happily, “Thanks, Rose. Oh, and don’t
worry about middle school. It’s not as bad as it seems on TV.” She winked and
walked to her bedroom.
I smiled to myself and walked over to my normal seat by
Michelle and stared at the plate in front of me. There, on the white plate,
stood eggs, bacon, a piece of toast, and a glass of milk, waiting for me to
gulp it down. I knew my dad would never change our breakfast menu, but I still
expected it to disappear and get replaced with a batch of chocolate chip
pancakes or perhaps a nice bowl of Lucky Charms cereal. But, nothing happened.
I picked up my fork and dug into my food.
After breakfast I collected the plates and forks and
stacked them in a neat pile in the sink. I slipped on a jean jacket, slung my
bag over my shoulder and stood in the hallway outside the front door to put on
my shoes. My mom walked into the hall a few seconds later, her briefcase in her
right hand and our school lunches in the other.
“Bye, mom.”
She leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Bye, sweetie. Have
a good first day of school!” Then she handed me my school lunch--probably a ham
and cheese sandwich-- and turned to help the other Walkman siblings.
I turned the doorknob and held the door open for Ricky, my
nine-year-old brother, and Michelle to pass. They were like mustard and
ketchup, ok maybe not mustard and ketchup. More like… two crazy, inseparable
monkeys. It was their first day in third grade, and they seemed absolutely elated.
“Maybe we’ll get to do plays!” Michelle said, excited.
“Yeah, and maybe we can finally be old enough to join the
chess club!” Ricky said. He, I must admit, is a geek. If he’s not
playing chess, then he’s fixing a computer glitch. He also knows a lot
about different cars and their parts.
“Rose, what are you excited about?” Michelle asked
me as we walked to the bus stop together. Kara was in high school and took a
different bus. David, who just turned nineteen, was studying at UCLA at the
moment.
“Umm… lunch, and recess.” I answered, smiling.
“Really?” Ricky asked in disbelief. “You mean you’re
not even excited about after-school clubs and stuff??”
“C’mon, Ricky. You know I was just kidding! Anyway, I’m
mostly excited about Math class. Did you know that if you’re in the Advanced
Math class, they might send you to the Math Olympiads?” I told him. His eyes
widened in excitement.
“Cool!!! I so want to go to middle school! Why do I
have to wait three years?” He complained.
“Well, we can start preparing now, though. It will be good
practice.” Michelle said, grinning.
I smiled happily as the yellow school bus labeled “
~Chapter 2~
FIRST DAY
I
CLOSED MY EYES AND INHALED deeply. I expected the new, leathery smell that Kara
and David had been telling me about would fill my nose, but instead, the bus smelled
like raw meat, spoiled milk, and dirty socks. My eyes flew open and I wrinkled
my nose in disgust. This did not look like the bus David had described to me
earlier this month. It wasn’t new or clean. It was filthy. There were spider
webs in about every window and the seats had a bunch of holes in them. I
calculated how long it had been since David attended Middle School. Six years.
Wow, a lot has changed in just six years.
“Hurry up, will ya?” A loud
voice boomed from my right. I jumped. I hadn’t realized the bus driver was
right there. He had a thick mustache and was going bald at the top of his head.
“I don’t wanna be late, so find a darn seat!!” He shouted at me, his face
inches from mine.
“Sorry,” I muttered and turned
my eyes away from his. I looked around at the bus. It was still quite empty.
I walked down the aisle and
found the nearest empty seat possible. As soon as I sat down, the bus lurched
underneath me and sped off. I had to hold tightly to the empty seat next to me
to keep from flying off. We rounded a corner and suddenly the tires stopped
moving and my whole body flew toward the seat in front of me. “Ow,” I mumbled,
rubbing my head. Who knew the seats could be so hard?
I heard the doors open and the
bus driver named Kurt shout, “C’mon, c’mon, I don’t have all day!” Suddenly, a
stampede of kids rushed on the bus, filling most of the empty seats. I figured
this was the most crowded and popular community.
A girl who looked like she was
in sixth grade too, came to sit by me. She had black hair and big, bright,
chocolate-colored eyes. She wasn’t very tall, but she looked horribly fragile
and weak, especially under her heavy-looking backpack.
“Hi, I’m Rose Walkman,” I said
as she took her seat.
“Hi Rose, my name’s Jill
Mataki,” She replied, smilingly shyly. Mataki, I thought while I shook her
hand, It rings a bell…
“Are you also in sixth grade?” I
asked her.
She nodded.
“I see… So, do you have any
siblings?” I wondered.
“Yes, just one.” She said
quietly. “I have an older brother named Jacob.”
“Oh!” I gasped. “Jacob Mataki!
He was my brother, David’s best friend!”
“Really?” She asked, her big
eyes widening.
I nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” I answered. It
was the truth, I was quite sure it was the Jacob, the one my brother spent most
of his afternoon’s at.
“You don’t look very much like
him.” She commented, looking at my face, with probing eyes.
“Most people say that, but it’s
probably because he looks more like my mom--he’s got her green eyes and
almond-colored hair. A lot of people say I’m like my dad--he’s also got light
blue eyes and what I call coffee-bean colored hair.” I giggled, showing Jill my
dark hair.
She laughed too, a very quiet,
timid sound, but I was sure it was a laugh.
“Hey, are those natural
highlights?” She pointed to a strand of blond hair that was mixed into my hair.
“Yeah, but I don’t know where I
got them from. Neither my mom or my dad has highlights.” I shrugged.
Our conversation ended there. I
would normally have talked more, but I felt quite nervous. Jill didn't start
any conversations either, which I was grateful of. I had a feeling we would be
pretty good friends.
During our ride there, I tried to convince myself the worst
thing that could happen on my first day is getting a lot of homework, but then
again, that is still quite bad. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts
and I tried thinking about other things, like what I would do when I got home
if I didn’t have much homework.
Kurt slammed our foreheads
against the seats in front of us three more times before arriving at the
school. I glanced down at my watch--it was eight ten, meaning I had five
minutes to check-in and find all my classes. Jill and I walked together to the
office which was located to the right of the parking lot. Inside the office,
the chairs lined one side of wall, the other side was behind the long counter.
There were three windows behind the chairs and they provided most of the light.
We walked up to the desk
together, where the main receptionist helped us. She gave us both a map and a
schedule of our classes. I looked at it and immediately groaned. Each day we
had a different schedule. The only class that stayed at second period was
History. How was I supposed to remember the order of my classes or the days
when I had math third period? The receptionist told us not to worry, and that
we will remember our schedules soon enough.
I hoped she was right.
As for the map, I tried
memorizing where all my classes were, but I was quite sure I was going to end
up walking around school with my nose stuck in front of it.
Jill and I only had Math,
English, and Science together, but I didn’t really mind. Sometimes I liked
being alone.
During homeroom period, Mr.
Harrison told us about additional classes and after-school clubs we could sign
up for next week. I’m planning to sign up for the Math Numbers Club and maybe
Cooking or Drama class.
The rest of my classes went
well. Not exactly good, but well.
I found the classrooms pretty
easily, mostly because all the sixth grade classes are on one side of the
school. Most of my teachers just talked about class rules and where to turn our
homework in, stuff like that. They also handed out all our textbooks and I
ended up getting six. No one assigned homework except Mrs. Mann who gave us a
five-paragraph history essay due on Friday, which gave me only two days to work
on it. She is the worst teacher I’ve had in four years.
I was happy, no, relieved to
even make it out of her classroom alive.
I didn’t meet many other kids
except for Nikki, a really nice eighth grader, and Sam, a kind and friendly
sixth grader that was suffering with me in history class. It felt good to know
I wasn’t the only one struggling to understand what Mrs. Mann was saying.
Before I knew it, lunch period
had arrived and I found myself sitting between Jill and Sam. I opened my paper
bag and found a ham and cheese sandwich. Jill had homemade
“It’s definitely meat loaf.” Sam
said.
“No, I think it’s chili,” I
objected.
“What do you think, Jill?” He
asked.
“I don’t know,” She answered.
Sam shrugged and we went back to arguing between meat loaf and chili. Jill just
giggled every now and then.
“Why don’t you just try the darn
thing and then we can see who’s right?” I asked him, annoyed.
“Fine, fine. But you’re sure you
don’t wanna bet?”
“Ok, I’ll bet you five bucks
it’s chili. But don't cry if I win!” I warned him. I was good at these bets,
because I had David. He doesn't normally like to bet, because I won most of the
time.
“Five?!?” He asked, outraged. I
nodded stubbornly. “But I’ve only got three bucks!”
“Fine, three it is, then. Now,
eat so I can prove you I’m right.”
He scooped some of the stuff up
and shoved it in his mouth. He looked quite confident.
“It’s meatloaf.” He lied.
“Really?” I asked sarcastically.
“Why don’t you let me try?”
“Ok, but take your own fork, I
don’t want girl germs!”
I took a bite and immediately
noticed the chili flavor. “It’s chili.”
“No it’s not,” He said
stubbornly. I could tell he wasn’t going to change his mind.
“Chili!”
“Meatloaf!”
“Chili, chili, chili!”
“MEATLOAF!”
“Oh come on, we both know it's
chili. Now hand over the money.” I smiled smugly and waited for him to answer.
"Why do girls have to be so
cruel?" He muttered under his breath. He shoved his hand into his pocket
and took out a brown leather wallet. He opened it and handed me three dollar
bills. "Happy?"
"You believed me? I was just kidding! Keep the money,
seriously." I said, pushing the bills back. I didn't wait for him to
respond and got out of my seat, beckoning Jill to follow me to the gym.
~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~
The final bell rang and I rushed to the bus stop, Jill at
my heels. I was sure that if I didn’t arrive at two forty-five sharp, Kurt
would just take off without us and I‘d have to wait for the eighth-graders bus.
Luckily we made it on time, though. I wiped the sweat off my forehead as I
hopped on the bus. Jill and I took the same seats from this morning and we
chatted about our classes the way home. She got off first and waved good bye to
me. I got off at the next stop and it was only seconds after I stepped off the
bus did I see another bus pull up to the stop. At first, I thought it was the
one I just got off of, but then I realized it was the one for
Sure enough, Michelle was the
first one to skip down the steps, with Ricky slouching behind her. “Hi Rose!”
Michelle said enthusiastically. I could tell she had a brilliant day, the exact
opposite of mine.
“Hey, Michelle.” I tried to
sound normal, and not at all worried about my essay. I did a pretty good job
because Michelle just smiled. Then I turned to my brother and asked,
"Ricky, what's wrong?"
“Chess club,” he answered simply.
“Still not old enough?” I
guessed.
He sighed. “Yeah. You have to be
in fourth grade! They just changed it this summer because a third grader beat a
fifth grader! I don’t find that fair.” He said angrily, his eyes down at the
sidewalk and his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well, life isn’t always fair.”
I walked around Michelle to stand next to his small body and wrapped one of my
arms tightly around his tiny shoulders. “Ok, just for today, I’ll make you
chocolate chip cookies, all right?”
His eyes flickered up to meet
mine. “Really? You don't expect me to do something back?” He asked.
"Nope, nothing." I
said. But then, after thinking for a second I said, "Actually, there is
something."
He looked at me anxiously. "What is it?"
"Don't be so upset. Ok?"
A tiny smile formed on his lips. "Ok." He was
silent for half a second before he shouted, “Hey, race you home! Last one
there’s a rotten egg!” He was off in a second. I gasped in shock and then
sprinted after him.
It didn’t take long for Michelle and me to catch up to
Ricky and we were soon running neck-to-neck. I cocked my head to the right to
see Michelle huffing and puffing. I twisted my head to the left and saw Ricky
with a determined look on his face.
That was when I heard the voice.
~Chapter 3~
Wednesday
THE
VOICE WAS MUSICAL AND sounded like chimes tingling gently in the wind. “Rose, Rose!
Over here!” It called.
I whipped around. No one was there. I looked left and
right. No one. I looked down at the concrete and up to the sky. No one.
“Ew, get away!” Michelle shouted, waving her head wildly at
a flying bug. “Annoying bug,” Michelle murmured. We walked the rest of the way.
By the time I got home, I was quite convinced I just made the voice up. After
all, it didn’t sound like Michelle or Ricky heard it either.
I closed the door quietly behind me and walked to the
kitchen. On the island, there stood a plate full of apple wedges. Kara was
standing behind them scribbling something down on a notepad.
“Hey, Michelle, Ricky and Rose!” Kara said
enthusiastically, waving her free arm. She put the notepad and pen down and
looked up at us.
“Kara!” Michelle replied, running to her. Michelle and Kara
have also been very close to each other. Actually, Michelle has been very close
to everyone. She wrapped her petite arms around Kara’s waist and hugged
her tightly.
“How was your first day of school?” Kara asked kindly,
pushing the plate closer to us.
Michelle immediately let go one of her arms and snatched an
apple. “It was fantastic! Wasn’t it, Ricky?” She said through a mouthful of
apples.
Ricky just nodded and shoved an apple slice into his mouth.
“How was your’s, Rose?”
I
froze with my hand wrapped around an apple, inches from my mouth. I swallowed
and put the apple down. How was I supposed to answer? Tell the truth? Or lie?
Telling the truth would obviously be better—Kara could help me. But I didn’t
want to say it in front of Michelle and Ricky. Kara stared at me, her elegant
face screwed up in a confused expression.
“Um,
it was…okay.” This wasn’t exactly a lie, and it was partly true. My day wasn’t that
bad. I saw Kara’s eyes flicker with confusion before she understood. She
nodded once and I knew she would give me some advice when we had time.
I
didn’t hear the voice anymore the rest of the day and I was sure I made it up.
I walked downstairs to Kara’s room after I put a book cover over each textbook.
She told me not to worry and that first days were always the worst. She also
advised me to not be self-conscious and be myself. I thanked her and walked
upstairs to write a first draft for my essay.
Mrs.
Mann told us we could do it on anything and I chose the Civil War. To me, that
was the only interesting thing I ever learned in history. I was researching the
end of the war when I heard the garage door open. There was a loud bang that
followed and I knew my mom was home.
She checked on Michelle and Ricky’s homework first, to make
sure they knew what they were doing. She was clanging around in the kitchen
when I walked downstairs.
“Hey, Rose. How was school?” She asked as she stirred some
soup. She put the spoon down and wiped her hands on the white apron she was
wearing and walked over by me.
I didn’t reply to her question and just asked, “Can I help
you with anything?”
“Yes, you can. But first, I want to know how school went.”
This was how my mom was. If I didn’t tell her about something, she would just
keep asking me about it until I answered.
“It
was okay.” There was nothing else to say.
“Just
okay?” She seemed surprised by my answer. Maybe she expected school to go
better for me, although it never did, not even when we lived in
“Just
okay.” I answered. “So, what can I help you with?” I asked in a lighter tone.
“Um,
well…the vegetables need to be cut and the meat needs to be seasoned. You sure
you’re okay?” She eyed me anxiously and I nodded quickly.
“You
don’t look so well to me.” I assured her it was nothing and she said, “Okay,
well wash your hands and get started. Dad will be home soon.”
I
washed my hands thoroughly and then started on the veggies. I wasn’t really
concentrating on cutting, I was mostly just letting my thoughts float around
and think about random things. Most of these things I thought about had
something to do with school. Like bullies—and how I hadn’t bumped into any
yet—, buses—and that horrible smell; I shivered at the thought—history, math,
stuff like that.
I
was thinking quite absent-mindedly too, so I didn’t realize I wasn’t moving my
hand until I felt a stinging in my left index finger. I held it up to the light
to examine the cut. It wasn’t very deep or long, it just hurt a lot,
like a paper cut.
Mom
almost dropped her knife when I walked past her to get a Band-Aid.
Luckily, it didn’t fly out of her hand. I cleaned it up and stuck a Care Bears
Band-Aid on it. Unfortunately, Michelle only used Care Bears Band-Aids and mom
always thinks it’s unnecessary to buy more than one pack at a time.
My
mom, Nancy, stopped letting me help her so I just started playing piano. I was
the only one who played piano. David played guitar and Kara plays the flute. I
also swim every day, but this week, my swim team was taking a break. I just
started a Mozart Sonatina when the garage door opened again.
“It’s
dad, it’s dad!” Michelle shouted, running to the garage door. One of the things
I loved about Michelle was that if you were gone even for half-an-hour,
she would still welcome you back like you’ve been gone for half a day.
“Michelle-bear!”
My dad’s gruff voice boomed through the house as he bent down to pick her up.
“Michelle-bear” is Michelle’s favorite nickname and only my dad, Henry Walkman,
gets to use it. “How was your first day of school, sweet pea?” He asked in a
gushy voice. I continued playing, so it wouldn’t sound like I was
eavesdropping.
“It
was great, daddy! Ricky and I got to sit next to each other!”
“Oh,
really? Well, make sure Mr. Ricky doesn’t talk too much.”
“He
didn’t, daddy.” She smiled and my dad put her down.
“Ricky
Mickey!” My dad always made up nicknames for everyone—everyone that is, except
for me. He called me Rosalie. My mom said it was because he picked the name for
me and liked the name Rosalie, not Rose. “How was your day?” He asked,
bending down so his face was level with Ricky’s.
“Horrible.”
Typical Ricky. Even though it was only one tiny thing, it mattered a huge
amount to him.
My
dad frowned. “Why horrible?”
“They
didn’t let me into chess club.” Ricky crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“It’s not fair!”
“It’s
okay, Rick, we can make our own chess club. You can be president. Why don’t we
start tomorrow evening? Get everything set up, okay?”
“Sure,
I’ll do it right after dinner!”
“Wait!”
I shouted. “Do I have to join too?”
“Of
course you do, Rosalie.” My dad answered.
“But
I suck at chess! I suck.” I put a huge emphasis on “suck”.
“But
Ricky here will teach you how to not suck. Right, Rick?”
Ricky
nodded his head excitedly. “We can start right after school tomorrow!”
“After
homework,” My dad corrected.
“After
homework.” Ricky agreed.
Dad
stood up then, and walked over to me.
“Well,
enough about chess. How was your day Rosalie?” He asked me.
“It
was okay.” The same reply I gave to everyone.
“Oh,”
was all he could say. He shrugged and walked to the kitchen to say hi to mom
and Kara. I went back to the piano and started on that Mozart piece.
Dinner
was finished a couple minutes after that, and I didn’t talk much. I just
chewed, swallowed, and listened. Simple enough. It was working perfectly well
until mom asked for details on my day. I simply shrugged and told her how the
bus ride was fast—I left out the bumpy part—and how my teachers just lectured
about nonsense—to me. Mom didn’t ask about my day anymore and I was happy about
that.
After
dinner, I helped wash the dishes before I started on Ricky’s cookies. I didn’t
realize the batter made fifteen cookies, so I placed them too close to each
other and most of them stuck together to become one big cookie. Ricky didn’t
seem so upset about it, though.
While
he was eating, I went upstairs to revise my essay. I had a lot of work to do. I
even spelled Abraham Lincoln’s name wrong once! I finished revising and before
I knew it, it was bedtime.
Chapter 4
~Voices~
THE
NEXT FEW DAYS OF SCHOOL were in some ways better and in others, worse. Much, much worse. It was better because I
finally remembered my schedule, after hours of practice. Okay, maybe
“hours” is an overstatement, but you know what I mean. I turned in my essay and
got an “A” on it, which made me feel so relieved.
I
got a chance to sign up for after-school clubs and I decided to join the Math
Numbers Club so I could learn some advanced math. I decided I wouldn’t sign up
for Cooking or Drama class until next
year, when it was required.
I
also bought a car air freshener over at the 7Eleven store right by my swim
practice pool. I asked—I mean begged—Kurt to use it and surprisingly, he
said yes. I still couldn’t get used to that rancid smell.
It
was much worse because the homework piled up on me and I had to drag my
backpack off the bus. There were also days when I stayed up until midnight to
finish all my homework.
It
was also much worse because I actually bumped into a bully while I was taking
out my Pre-Algebra textbook. He threatened to kill me the next time I bumped
into him. That made me extremely aware of my surroundings and when
Michelle playfully poked me while we walked home, I flinched. She asked what
was wrong, and I just told her I was cold. That, however, was a mistake because
then, she lent me her jacket. And her jacket has Barbie on it.
Talk
about a horrible day.
When
I came home, I skipped the apples because I didn’t have an appetite and headed
straight upstairs. I decided to start on my math homework. Right when I was
going to take out my math textbook, I heard the small voice again.
“Rose, Rose! I’m over here!” It shouted. I spun my head to the
direction where I heard it came from.
“What?!?” I asked out loud. “Where are you? Who are
you?”
“I’m right here!” The voice now sounded irritated, but
still very musical.
I jumped. The voice sounded so close. I dropped my textbook
with a loud thud and turned around in my chair. I froze. In front of me,
about four feet in the air, was a fairy dressed head to toe in fuchsia pink.
She had curly blonde hair and bright, blue eyes.
But
how could this be possible? I thought there were only fairies in fantasy
stories. Maybe I was dreaming. Yes, I probably was. And at any moment, I would
wake up in my bed. I squeezed my eyes shut and said to myself, Rose, wake
up!
“What are you doing?” The voice shouted. I jumped again,
flying off my chair and landing on the ground. I opened my eyes. The fairy was
still there, inches from my face, a confused expression was painted on her
face. “Are you okay?” She asked and I realized that Michelle wasn’t trying to
hit a bug; she was trying to hit her.
“Um
yeah, but who are you?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too rude.
“Oh, sorry, I haven’t introduced myself properly yet! I’m
Alice, helper of the fairy princess, Christina. Most of us call her Tina,
though. She doesn’t like the name Christina.” She said these words fluidly, like
someone playing the piano. “You must be Rose.”
I stared at her in shock. My actual name was Rosalie, but
everyone called me Rose. How did she know to call me Rose? “How do you know my
name?” I blurted out.
“Well, first, your name is on your jacket. And secondly,
you are in our humans-to-see book.” She explained.
“No, I meant to say, ‘How did you know to call me Rose?’”
“Do you like Rosalie better?” She asked, confused.
“No… but… oh forget it!” That was when I realized she
didn’t only say my name was on my jacket. “Wait, did you say I was in a book?!?
“Yes, silly! This is the book where we keep all the
information of the humans we should see or visit. There are five of us in this
department; me,
“How did you know her name?” I asked, confused.
“Well, along with your name, we also have all the names of
your family members or friends. It updates itself every time you make a new
friend.” She explained.
“Oh.” I mumbled.
Then,
“So why are you here anyway?” I asked after a moment of
silence.
“Oh, I didn‘t tell you?” She seemed a little disappointed
with herself. “Well, I‘m here because Princess Tina wants you. She said it was
for a ‘secret’ mission although have the kingdom already knows what it is.” She
rolled her eyes.
“But, don’t you know I need to go to school?” I asked,
although to myself, I was hoping I could skip school.
“Yes, of course we know. We’ve got that all sorted out.
Basically, every second in your world, equals one minute in ours. So if your
gone for sixty minutes in our world, you’re only gone for one minute in yours.
Understand?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
This wasn’t so hard, in fact, it was a lot easier than Pre-Algebra! “So do you
expect me to go now?”
“No, of course not! You get to choose two other people to
come with you. Princess Tina said before Friday, so that’s three days,” She
said. “Now, if you don’t mind I think I’d like to do something.”
“Do what?” I asked cautiously.
“Well, since I’m gonna be here for a while, I might as well
blend in, right?” She asked me. I nodded once and she waved her finger again.
All of a sudden, she began to grow. Her head grew to the
size of mine, and then her legs and arms extended out. Before I knew it, she
was my height with no more wings. She sat motionless on my bed and for a
second, I thought she was a statue.
“Wow.” I mumbled.
Beep, beep, beep! “Oh, give me a second.” She said and
flicked open a pink phone. “Hello?” She spoke into the phone. “Yes, I finally
got through and I was able to find her… No problem… Yes, I did… She… she took it
pretty good…I know, right?” There was a small pause and then she laughed. “No
way! Haha, well I’ll see you soon. Uh huh… okay… good bye.” She snapped the
phone shut and turned to me. “That was Princess Tina.”
“What
did she say?” I asked curiously.
“She just wanted to check in and make sure I’ve got you.”
She said.
“I see…” I mumbled. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘getting
through’ and ‘finding me’?”
“Oh, well you see, we can only find the humans by going
into your thoughts. We call out your name, and once you hear us, we will be
able to find where you are. But lately, you’ve had no extra room in your
thoughts so I couldn’t get in until now.” She explained.
“I see…” I said again. This definitely explained a lot.
Like why I heard the voice on my first day of school and not anymore. It was
because of all that endless homework.
Then, I heard footsteps. They were slowly getting louder. I
could tell someone was coming up the stairs. This broke my train of thought and
I shouted, “Snap! You’ve got to hide, you’ve got to hide!” I hissed to
“Why? I’ll be invisible to everyone except you and the two
people you choose. But I don’t want to bump into anyone, I guess.” She mumbled
and walked into my closet.
Just then, there was a small knock on my door.
Chapter 5
I hastily picked up my textbook, opened it to some random
page, and set it down on my desk. I swerved my chair around so I was facing the
open book and picked up a pencil. I flipped madly through my notebook and found
a blank page. I scribbled my name on the top of the page and cleared my throat.
“Come in!” I shouted.
The door opened and Kara’s head poke through. “Is
everything all right? I thought I heard you talking to someone.” She probed my
room.
“What? No, I wasn’t talking to anyone. I was just, you
know, doing my math.” I muttered. I always sucked at lying and this was by far
the worst I’ve done. Kara shrugged, pulled her head back, and closed the door
quietly. I let out the air in my lungs with a loud swoosh and turned to
my closet.
“
“I know. Turn around.”
I spun around in my chair and saw
“Fairies have special powers, you know. All of us have super
speed and we all know magic. We also have a different and unique power that’s
never the same. For example, I can see into your thoughts. Like right now, your
wondering what Princess Tina can do.”
I gasped. She wasn’t kidding about her powers. “But, if you
said that no two powers are the same then how can your co-workers”—
“You mean Victoria, Chloe, Jessie, and Rachel? And how they
can get to the humans, right? Well, duh I’m right, huh?” I nodded and she
continued, “They don’t get to you the same way I do.
“Well,
for
“For
me, it’s pretty much the same. But it’s a bit more complicated in my case. For
one thing, finding the specific person’s thoughts are hard. It takes some
getting used to. You see, I can hear a bunch of voices in my head. The ones I
don’t want to hear are stored away, like in a filing cabinet. The people I want
to hear, I can take out the files and hear what the person says.
“When
I try a new person, I have to break through to their thoughts and it
takes a lot of complicated spell work, but once I do, it’s easy from there. If
the person has very crowded thoughts, it’s extremely difficult to perform the
spell, but if the person doesn’t think much, it’s a lot easier.” She shrugged
and then answered my question, “Yes, I can hear people from
“Jessie
can see the house of the human she’s looking for and she can steer herself
there in a matter of minutes. Rachel can smell the person and find them.
It’s quite interesting how we all find our way, though.”
“But,
how do you become a fairy? You weren’t born a fairy right?” I wondered.
“Oh,
I wasn’t born a fairy, but becoming one is kind of… difficult. Princess
Tina doesn’t want you to know that, though. Not now, at least. Now, I believe someone
has a lot of homework on their hands. Get started. I’ll be keeping in touch
with you!” She winked and with a small poof, she was gone.
I
sighed and got started with my Pre-Algebra homework. Before doing so, however,
I glanced at the clock. It was only 3:05, but
I
already learned everything since I was in an advanced math class back in
The
Math Numbers Club I signed up for didn’t give me much homework, but the stuff
they taught was hard! That was probably because most of the members were
eighth-graders and I was only in sixth. But I liked a bit of a challenge—it
keeps me working.
After
I finished my math homework—which was indeed very easy—I started on English.
I
never really liked or hated English. It was kind of just floating there and
sprinkling down assignments. The only part of English I always looked forward
to was reading. I liked reading. Wait, I take that back. I loved reading. If I wasn’t swimming or doing math, you could
probably see me with a three hundred-page book in front of my face.
I
stared at the textbook page and read,
Direct
Objects.
Direct
objects are nouns or pronouns that come after an action verb
and answers the questions What? or Whom?
I
frowned. I already knew all this and I had to finish twenty problems? That was
unfair. Now I really wished I could just turn in a sheet of paper with the
words “I already know this” scribbled all over it. That would be much easier.
And more efficient. I sighed and wrote “#1”.
“Rose!
It’s dinnertime!” My mother shouted.
“I’m
coming!!” I yelled back. I snapped my history book shut and switched off my
lamp. I yawned lazily and opened my door. I walked down the long hallway before
I reached the soft, carpeted stairs. There was a delicious aroma that filled
the air as I ran down the stairs.
“What’s
for dinner?” I asked curiously.
“Lemongrass
Chicken and corn,” my mom answered.
“Yum,”
I replied as I skipped into the dining room.