Young Writers Society

Penny

I heard a door slam, that meant it was time to wake up and see what this wonderful world had for me today. I jumped out of bed and stretched, no need to walk downstairs stiffly. I skipped over to the window and opened it, I leaned out the window and sighed. It might have been cloudy with a %60 of rain, but that wasn't bad. Rain brought water, and water helped all the beautiful flowers grow. I took a deep breath and stepped back into the room. I jumped onto my bed and leaned over to my dresser, pulling out my light blue sundress and lighter blue tights. I had gotten them for my birthday last year from my mommy, and it had been my favorite outfit ever since. I quickly changed into it and made my bed.

From what I could hear downstairs... it sounded like mommy was up. I smiled and skipped out off my room and down the stairs. When I was about four steps from the bottom when I tripped and fell. Well if people were still sleeping (which wasn't likely on such a beautiful day) they would have to wake up. I pulled myself off the floor and skipped into the kitchen. I waved to mommy, Bethie and Zavier as I smiled. Waking up had to be the best part of any day! That and the day itself, the weather, the home-schooling, helping, cleaning, and then getting ready for bed.

Ave

When you spend hours on end trying to identify each bird singing, so you can have a glimpse of their tail in the sketch you made of the woods, your hearing's probably top mark. Mine was. So when a door slammed much, much, much too early for my taste, I could say with no doubt that Zave was up. By the banging that had preceded it, I'd figure he wasn't too happy either. So I knew to step lightly and keep my attention up- didn't want to be called the next Helen Keller again. (Really, that was one of his favorite insults.)

I made that morning noise (you know, somewhere between a sigh and a moan and a groan) and stepped into my fleece polka dot turquoise slippers. I padded down the stairs, snatching up my sketchpad and a pencil (recycled paper pencil, I'll add), and sat next to Bethie.

"Morning," I yawned, flipping open the pad and starting on a new page.

"Same to you, Ave." She pushed the page so I could see it too. I was excited for costumes, even if some of my brothers (well, only Zave, really) felt entitled to shout out suggestions that gained him more than a few angry glances. Speak of the devil.

"Hey, sweet cheeks. Mind attempting to prove you're a female?"

I glanced down. Long, blue plaid cotton sleep pants and a three times too big gray tee... I wasn't being very feminine today.

"I'll try harder," I whispered. I could never actually speak above a whisper to Zave. I didn't keep looking to see his reaction and scooted closer to Bethie, pointing out a costume that could work for her. I couldn't pull off pirate queen very well.

And with that, my attention jumped to the clouds.

Jordan Alex Emerson

After grabbing my black guitar, I threw on a polo and shorts. I took a quick shower and went downstairs to a family sitting at the breakfast table. The picture of perfection, they were all laughing and smiling. Well, everyone except Xavier. But he was different, King Party Pooper, in my opinion.

I wasn't in the mood for him, or anyone else today. I walked by, grabbed a piece of toast off of Ave's plate. She was too spaced out to noticed. I saw Xavier chuckle out of the corner of my eye. He would laugh at that.

"Where are you going?" My mom asked.

"Max's house, is that a problem?" I retorted. I wasn't in the mood. I had woken up to a text that my girlfriend was breaking up with me. What kind of girl breaks up with me like that? I thought girls were supposed to have a heart.

"Do you need a ride sweetie?" Mom asked, concerned. I shook my head, and headed for the door. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Bethie asked, concerned.

"Rough day. I just need to get out."

"Can I come?" She asked, "I'll go grab my guitar."

"No, not today." I said, and started out for Max's house.

About halfway there, I took out my guitar, and began to strum the first few chords to Michael Buble's Home.

"Another aeroplane, another sunny place; I'm lucky, I know, but I wanna go home." I sang under my breath.

I finished my profile. And I changed her from only liking Xavier to liking all her brothers.

Grace:

The slam of a door woke me up with a jump. Throwing my blankets down to the ground I went straight for the radio. After placing some screamo into the stereo I turned the volume all the way up. That would teach them not to wake me up. I dragged myself downstairs in my Kiss t-shirt and black pajama shorts.

When I passed Xavier I pulled the carton of milk from him while he was in the middle of drinking it, causing some milk to spill down his face. Sticking my tongue out at him I opened the fridge and got out the chocolate syrup. Rather than getting a cup I poured it right into the carton, causing some groans from the others. After shaking it vigorously I took a long swig from it.

"Grace." Mom drew out my name. "Mother." I drew out right back at her. She rose her eyebrows "Music." "Don't like it, don't listen. You should know that by now." We stared at each other for a solid minute in silence, until she walked away. Avery asked me cheerily "What're you dressing up as for Halloween?" With a straight face I said "A hooker." Xavier laughed but no one else did.

"Grace!" Mom said sternly. I rolled my eyes and said "Mom, I'm just kidding. God." I slammed the milk down in front of Ave and she jumped. "Drink it. It's good for you." With that I took the other piece of toast off of Ave's plate. "Hey! That's mine. Get your own." I waved it in front of her and said "I did." Xavier plucked it from my hand and said "No, it's mine." Then he licked every square inch of it on both sides.

I got up in his face, took the toast from him, and shoved the whole thing in my mouth.

Xavier

There was me thinking that these freaks might leave me alone today. I watched as Grace shoved the piece of toast into her mouth. Not attractive. Grinning, I quickly shoved my hand down my boxers for a few seconds before bringing it back up. Messing up Grace's hair with that same hand, I winked at her before heading for the kitchen door. I heard Grace yelp in disgust behind me as I left the room. The one good thing about Grace was that she played decent music, unlike half of the brain dead kids in this place.

Pfft, I was out of this place. After deciding to get dressed into my ripped jeans and black shirt, messing my hair up a bit, and brushing my teeth, I left the house through the back door. My walk turned into a light jog until I reached the wooded area at the back of the house. I loved this place; it gave me a chance to take a break from my 'lovely' home and the people inside it.

Checking that my mom or dad couldn't see me, I reached into my jeans pocket and brought out a cigarette and one of my lighters. My dad would probably have some kind of spaz fit if he saw me, which was somewhat a temptation. I placed the cigarette in my mouth before flicking the lighter, lighting the cigarette.

I turned around to face the house again and sighed. That place would be so incredibly awesome for a house party. It was a really decent sized place, much better than Austin's house, where most of the parties were held. Plus, my folks had stack loads of booze. If I could've, I would have organised a party in my house tonight, but it would have been impossible to get all of the kids out, including my parents, for the entire night. Then again, having the kids there would be fine; they'd be way too freaked out by what they saw going on to go ratting on me to my parents.

As the cigarette burnt out, I threw it onto the floor, digging it into the ground with my Converse trainer. I kicked it over to where the rest of my burnt out cigarettes were by the stump of an old tree. If I couldn't have a house party in my own house, then I'd just have to go to a friend's one tonight. Damien said that he might be throwing one. Sighing for the second time, I headed back towards the house to face the Adam's Family, as I called them, once again.

fictionfanatic - penny is a mute... she can't talk

Really? Sorry. I guess I missed that on her profile. I'll fix that...

Bethie

"This one, this one!" I yelled, standing up and knocking my chair to the floor. My finger was on the picture of an angel Halloween costume. I had been a fairy last year, and this year I could be an angel. Xavier looked over my shoulder at the picture.

"Typical," he scoffed. Then he pointed to a very interesting picture of a bunny costume beside it. "You should definitely be that," he started laughing.

I hit him with the magazine, and then cowered as I watched him lift a hand. He shook his head and mumbled something to himself, then left the room. I picked up my chair, and looked at the costume again. I wanted to make Xavier happy, because it always seemed like he was mad at me. I looked at the magazine, and saw a picture of a black angel costume.

I smiled, and showed Ave the picture. "I'm going to wear this."

"Really, a black angel costume?" Ave looked skeptic.

"Yeah, sure, it'll be cool."

Ave

I shrugged. "I'm going to try and pull an winter fairy costume this year."

"Aw! It'd be really cute if you were the white angel though!"

Zave covered his call of "RACIST!" with a cough. I rolled my eyes and paused.

"Oh, fine. Still making that fairy costume, though."

Bethie smiled widely. "Whatever you want." I tapped my foot against my chair and started sketching out a costume based off the one I was seeing over Bethie's shoulder. Penny came over and looked. After a moment of thought, she nodded eagerly. I smiled. It brightened my mood after Jordan's storm-out and Zave's... Zave-ness. I glanced to make sure Mom wasn't looking before chugging some of the chocolate milk Grace had mixed up. She flashed me a rare smile.

Bethie stopped me from drinking more, and I whined a little. Grace snickered. Bethie just sighed and scooted over to see my designs.

"So... like yin and yang angels?"

"Eh, of sorts." To be honest, I just thought it'd be clever, one being a black angel, the other white. Not anything profound and yoga-y.

But I was still making that winter fairy.

Penny

I watched as everyone planned their Halloween costumes, I was just going to go out as the same thing as last year, supergirl! The costume still fit, and I liked it. Zave and Jordan had already left, I hoped they would both have a wonderful day. Because everyday was wonderful! Zave didn't seem to see it that way, and neither did Jordan... I would have to do something to make them happy later. Dad came into the room and yawned.
"Good morning children." He groaned, stretching. I waved to him and everyone just said a slight 'hey'. He grabbed a banana off the counter and turned to me, doing the hand sign for banana. I laughed, or rather did the breathy sound that is supposed to be laughing and showed him the right way to do it, because dad wanted to learn how to do it as well. He chuckled and handed it to me, I did the sign for thank you and peeled it, banana's were my favorite fruit. Well, really I loved all fruits evenly.

Grace:

When Avery began chugging the chocolate milk I gave her a smile, something my family hardly ever sees. It was when she whined about Bethie taking it from her that made me proud. She's becoming more and more like me everyday. One day she'll end up in leather pants and a Kiss t-shirt....well, maybe not.

"So seriously Rave, what're you being for Halloween?" Ave asked. i gave her a shrug and said "I dunno. I'm thinking about just going to Cassie's house." Avery began pouting. She whined "Grace! No, you can't. You always go out with us." i scrunched up my nose. After thinking for a moment I taped her notebook and said "Make me a Rocker Chick." She gave me a funny look. Yeah, I've been that for the past three years. So what?

We stared at each other in a silent battle. Finally the urge to boil my head took over and i said "Fine, you choose. But don't you dare make me something stupid."

With that I ran upstairs to go shower. When I finish shampooing my hair about twenty times I'll plot revenge on Xavier. Mwahahaha.

Justin~

Justin sighed as he pulled up into the driveway of his house. He probably looked absolutely terrible. Hair unkempt, sweat dripping, still breathing hard, all from a damn football practice. Taking a deep intake of air, Justin opened the door of his lifted truck, and dropped down, shaking his curly hair out. "Well look what the cat dragged in!" His mother exclaimed as Justin stepped into the house and dropped his bag on the floor, a football rolling out of it. A brown tabby cat, Rufus, followed in his footsteps, mewing lightly in a search for food.

Justin laughed softly and shook his hair out with one hand, yawning widely. "How was practice?" His dad asked, looking up from the newspaper he was reading at the time.

"It was great actually. Being quaterback and captain never felt so good. Lots more of work." He smirked sarcastically, his father chuckling.

"Yeah, I remember when I was quaterback. Your mother was just a nerd then." Mom gave him a dirty look and he laughed loudly, rolling his eyes. "Did I ever tell you guys the story of your mother and I?" Another poisonous glare from Justin's mom.

In fact, his father had told them numerous times of what got them together. His mother got pregnant in tenth grade at a party, and senior year they got married, graduated, his mother stayed at home, dad went into the military and then became a surgeon by the age of thirty. God, if only Justin had stayed by Michaela's side when she'd had Ellie Mae... Justin chuckled and nodded, taking the only piece of toast off his little sister's plate, recieving him a slap in the shoulder.

Justin just laughed softly and looked around, noticing all the costume material strewn around. "Crap... it's holloween, isn't it?" He hissed, a few of his family members giving him awkward glances. One of his sister nodded, another muttering a 'duh'. Making sure nobody was following, Justin ran up to his bedroom and whipped his phone out to call Michaela and see if she wanted him to take Ellie trick-or-treating.

Bethie

I went downstairs to go call Jordan, but mom stopped me. She gathered us at the breakfast table and told us, "Me and your father are going away tomorrow and will be gone until Sunday. He has a work function in Chicago, and has invited me to come along and spend the weekend their. Xavier is in charge." I saw Xavier do a fist pump out of the corner of my eyes. My jaw dropped.

"Have...fun....mommy..." I stuttered, and then went upstairs to my room. This was going to be awful. Why would mom put him in charge? That was the worst idea ever.

I took out my guitar, and started to sing King of Anything. It as a song by Sarah Bareilles that I thought fit this situation very nicely. After about five minutes, I felt better and I went back downstairs.

"Here that, Bethie? I'm in charge this weekend," Xavier laughed.

"Fine, you are, whatever,"

Xavier

As my mom spoke, the smile on my face broadened. I was actually surprised that she'd be willing to leave me in charge of these kids. She didn't know me at all. Who was I to complain? My parents weren't going to be here! Just when I thought throwing a party was out of the question.

"Hear that, Bethie? I'm in charge this weekend," I laughed as Bethie played some dull song on her guitar.

Bethie mumbled something, not looking at me. Girl's were way too hormonal for my liking. Still laughing, I tapped her shoulder as I practically skipped out of the room. As I left, I heard some of my siblings muttering to each other. I didn't bother waiting to hear what they were saying. I ran up the stairs and into my room.

Jumping onto my bed, I took my cell phone out of my pocket. As I began dialling Austin's number, my bedroom door suddenly opened. Seconds later, my mom walked in, smiling in a slightly creepy manor.

"Zavvie, I'm trusting you to be responsible this weekend. If I hear that you've even considered doing something stupid or dangerous, I will know, okay? Miss. Addlington next door is keeping me noted on how things are going. Promise me that you won't wind up your brothers and sisters and that you will be responsible? I'm trusting you to be an adult now."

"Don't worry, mom. Everything will be fine; I'll make sure that no one does anything stupid." I said to her as seriously as possible.

She seemed convinced by my innocent answer because the over exaggerated smile on her face was replaced by a gentler, more natural one. Thanking me, she left my room, closing the door behind her. I was such a good actor. I may have promised her that I wouldn't let anyone do anything stupid, but I didn't promise her that I wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Austin?" I grinned, my cell pressed against my ear. "Fancy a party at mine tomorrow night, dude? My folks will be gone and I'm left in charge of the little kiddies. It's going to be awesome!"

Justin~

Justin rolled his eyes at his older brother's attitude as the freak ran up the stairs, Mom following slowly in pursuit. He'd gotten off the phone with Michaela a bit ago. Apparently, he and Michaela both were taking Ellie trick-or-treating, and he would have been fine with that, if Michaela didn't hate him like she did. "You shouldn't even worry 'bout it Bethy. The idiot probably won't even be home except to eat and sleep. Other than that he'll be out with his damn friends."

"Language JJ!" Ave burst sharply, Justing chuckling softly and saying a small sorry. "Are you gonna go with us tonight?" She asked, the youngest of all of them smiling brightly. This would be the first year Justin wouldn't go.

"Actually, kiddo... I can't.. I made some plans with Tiffani..." He smiled weakly, Ave's eyes suddenly turning hard with hatred. None of his siblings, even his brothers, liked Tiffani. She was a user, but Justin knew she wouldn't dare use him. He could ruin her rep with a few simple words.

"Egh, Tiffani, really JJ?" Justin smiled and stood up. Come to think of it, he had to get over to Michaela's to go costume shopping.

"Yeah, sorry kid. Maybe next year. I'll come down from UA just to go with you next year, I swear." With that said, he ran up to his room to shower and get dressed for the day.