Chapter 2
“Wow, is she always like that?” Lilly asked Crystal as they stared at the spot where Ember had disappeared through the door.
“Well, she does have a high temper…But I’ve never seen her that angry,” Crystal replied. The warning tone for sixth period sounded. “Great! Maybe I’ll see Ember in Creative Writing,” Crystal smiled.
“You have Creative Writing sixth period too?” Lilly asked, her face lighting up.
Crystal nodded. “Let’s go,” she told Lilly and they walked to their classroom quickly.
As the girls sat down, they scanned the room for Ember. But she was no where to be seen.
“Alright, well today you will have a special assignment-” Mrs. Ritston said, but suddenly Ember burst into the room, panting, and out of breath.
“How nice of you to join us Ember,” Mrs. Ritston glared slightly at her best student.
“Sorry, I just…didn’t hear the bell,” she said quickly and took her regular seat between Crystal and Donna Worthing.
“As I was saying before Miss Sims barged in, we have a special assignment today.”
Crystal could see Ember shifting in her seat, but Ember didn’t even glance at her or Lilly.
“You will write a ten page fantasy story. You can have whatever you want in it, but it must be appropriate,” Mrs. Ritston said, eyeing the class.
“Can we have like dragons?” a small voice peeped.
“Of course, its fantasy isn’t it?” Mrs. Ritson smiled. “But I want to see your first draft, and your outline.”
Groans were heard throughout the class. Most people hated having to do an outline first, and in Ember’s opinion, an outline was such a bother.
Everyone pulled out their lined paper and sharpened their pencils, and began writing their outline.
Crystal watched as Ember bit on her pencil and looked at the ceiling. Crystal looked at her own blank sheet and began scribbling a few words. But she soon erased them. Nothing would come to mind, and she could see Ember was having as much trouble as she was.
But, Lilly was scribbling away. Her sheet was nearly filled with ideas, plots, and a climax.
“Wow Lilly, you already nearly have your outline done?”
“Yep,” she smiled confidently, and continued scrawling.
Crystal glanced at Ember’s sheet and saw smudge marks covering the page.
“Well class, this will be due in two weeks time and the first person to turn theirs in will be able to read it aloud to the class,” Mrs. Ritston smiled, flashing a look at Lilly.
Lilly beamed and placed her outline in her binder. “I love to write, I really want to get a book published.”
“Really?” Crystal asked, surprise showing on her face. She glanced at Ember. She was wondering how her best friend would take the new great writer in their group.
Ember’s face was scrunched up in jealousy as she looked at her blank paper with only a few eraser smudges.
The class laughed and talked quietly about their plots until the bell rang. Ember hadn’t said a word and Crystal was beginning to get worried. Ember never quit speaking to her entirely.
Ember charged into Reading before Crystal could even grab her arm. Crystal looked longingly at Ember sitting in her classroom and quickly hurried off to Life Science.
She stared dumbly at the small beaker boiling and her mind traveled back to thinking about Ember in the cafeteria. The scene replayed over and over again in her mind.
It didn’t make sense. Ember didn’t have that great of reflexes, nor could she have recovered from a punch to the stomach like that. She sighed and leaned against the counter, tipping the hot water onto the floor, barely missing her shoe.
“Crystal!” the shrill voice of her science teacher cried.
Crystal groaned and turned to face Mrs. Chart, an absurdly old woman with gray hair that looked like it had been dyed blond in vain.
“This is the last time! You break everything! You spill everything! Detetention down in the office!”
“But- But-”
Mrs. Chart cut her off. “I’ve complained about you and it is time you learned to be careful!”
Mrs. Chart scribbled down words on a pink slip and handed it to Crystal. Crystal left the room, all eyes staring at her.
“Stupid teacher,” she grumbled as she shuffled down the hall. It wasn’t her fault she had tipped it over! Okay, maybe it was her fault, but it was an accident!
“I hate her I hate her I HATE her!!” she yelled and heard someone give a small cry. She turned and saw a shape leaning up against a locker, a black sweatshirt over her head. The shape quickly wiped tears away and a few strands of blond hair escaped its secret hiding place.
“Are…Are….are you okay?” Crystal asked quietly. The face turned to her and she met the turquoise blue eyes she had seen in the cafeteria. The eyes that belonged to none other, than Brooke Weston.
