Chapter 1
High school sucks. If anyone tries to tell you different, it’s a load of crap.
“Oh, but high school was the best years of my life!” says your mum. Pfft. She’s lying. The human brain is programmed to forget the worst – it’s a natural instinct, so obviously they can’t remember the bad, but I can, I’m living it.
Hey there, my name is Tash, Natasha Beckley. And trust me, high school is definitely not all glitz and glam and parties and dances. No, high school is gruelling assignments, lightning quick mood swings, disloyal friends, and worst off all, acne plagues. And don’t forget boy drama’s, cat fights, rumours, and the most embarrassing moments of you’re life.
High school is a hell hole, made to trap young adults on the brink of adulthood. High school’s main purpose is to cage us into a world of conforming and false ideas of reality.
And guess what? (if haven’t guessed by now) I hate high school.
“Tash, come have some breakfast”, my mum calls from the living room.
“Not hungry”, I mutter in a reply.
As I walk to the door, I hear mum start one of those lectures about how not eating breakfast will make me fat, or give me some weird eating disorder, but before she gets into her rant, I walk out (quickly checking my makeup in the mirror by the door) and shut the door behind me. Destination: high school, the only place worse that being trapped in that house with my mother.
Walking along the footpath to school, I count the clicks my heels make on the concrete, thirty three, thirty four, thirty fi-
“Hey”, I hear Alice’s voice call from a distance. I turn to see her running towards me, her barbie doll blonde hair swinging behind her as she closes the distance between us.
God I wish I had hair like that.
“Shall we skip?” I ask her.
“Well,” She begins, contemplating the idea, “we hopped yesterday, so I guess skipping could suffice.” She says, smile growing as she puts her arm through mine, and just like that, we skip to school – well, really we skip for two steps and then continue to walk as if we never did that. (Oh, and don't worry this is all totally normal routine for us).
"So, did you get his number?" Alice asks me, her jade eyes curious and inquisitive.
"No, should I have?" I ask her.
"Tut tut tut" She mutters, "What have I told you about guys?" She asks me. "They're too stupid to be smart enough to get your number on their own, you need to trick them into giving it to you." She says, her tone exasperated.
"But where just friends", I argue.
"If you like him, and you're pretty sure he likes you, you are so not 'just friends', and if you are, there is something seriously wrong with you girl", she exlaims.
And then, the bell rings.
Points:
Time spent:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
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Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),
Hi! I'm here to leave a quick review!!
First Impression: Okay....this was a slightly mixed bag here with this start. This protagonists personality appears to be change slightly from scene to scene or I suppose it just cause this is the very first part and we're just now being introduced to them.
Anyway let's get right to it,
Okay wow, that is a lot of bad reviews on high school, phew...well I guess at the very least that's puts a nice firm age on our protagonist. There is always this sort of phase that people go through and I think you do a nice job capturing this little mini rant here. Its a lovely start to this story here.
Okayy...well this is not off to the most promising of sorts. There's some sympathy towards the protagonist here after that rant but it all is pretty much gone just from seeing how they treat their mother. Their general personality then instantly changes in the way we think and I have a feeling this is only about to get worse here.
Okayy....well this is sort of confirming what I have feared there, but also sort of not. Despite the rudeness towards the mother, it appears her relationship with the others within the school is relatively normal at least and this friendship appears to relatively wholesome from the bit we've seen of it barring some slight jealousy there.
Hmm, I don't know if I should be calling this one out on the prejudice against the boys or for what seems to be a genuine attempt to help her friend with a relationship...this is a slightly confusing moment...xD BUt hmm, overall, not a bad start here I think.
And then, the bell rings.
Aaaaand that's it for this one.
Overall: Overall, I think this is a fairly solid start to proceedings here at the moment and you've done a fairly good job of presenting this to us. I think there is enough here to make us want to read on more and hopefully once the protagonists personality is fully revealed it swings more towards the wholesome aspects we've so far seen.
As always remember to take what you think was helpful and forget the rest.
Stay Safe
Harry
Hey Monique!!
It was well and truly groovy. I liked how it wasn't all "I just love school!" like a lot of books are. You really captured the essence of a teenage girl. As we all know, teenage girls are the randomest on earth! Of course, we also only enjoy break times.
The fact that you mentioned rumors, boy drama, and skipping for two steps then walking (that happened to me today actually) made me feel like Tash was a real girl. She had problems, gets jealous of her friends sometimes, and is random.
The other reviews have done my nitpicking for me (thanks guys!) so I'll just leave off here.
Ciao bella! xx
Okay, to start off, I have to tell you that this isn't bad. In fact, your character has the sort of blunt voice that makes the story really move forward, without flowery descriptions and beautiful, long, poetic paragraphs. But as nice as that is, it's also a fatal flaw. The story seems to have no background, no flesh. There's just a voice in an empty room. If you want to improve, you have to flesh out your surroundings a little, and give a tweet more of a backstory - especially since you only just started off. No, you don't need to give us an overload of info about every detail of Her life, but at this point, you have left the reader with no desire to read on. Yes, there's some thing about a boy, and a mother that is probably annoying and overbearing, but there seems to be no potential in the development. So far you gave a great description of how Tash hates school, but it shouldn't be the only thing she talks about, even in a short passage like this. Believe it or not, but it takes away some of the powere, the punch that the statements have. Talk about the boy she met. If she was talking to her friend about it, she would have a brief flashback to a moment she enjoyed, or at least a tiny thought of insight into what happened. At this point, you don't have enough of an interest to keep me hooked.
but trust me, it will help in the long run.
I'm positive that with a little tweaking, this can turn out to be really great. You have my apologies if I sound too critical
Thanks heaps for the comments guys, they're really helpful, I'll work on it.
Heya doll. I have a lot of nitpicks for this one. Here it goes, in red.
So, overall,I'll be completely honest- I didn't really like this. To me, it seems like just another cliche story about a cliche teenager who hates high school. Now, this is an early judgement, so take it with a grain of salt. This is just chapter one. Maybe you'll add in an exiting plot twist. Maybe something interesting will happen. But right now, this is a rater bland piece. Like toast for breakfast, when you eat toast every day. It's not disgusting- but it's boring, plain,and you want more. Please, check over your work when you're done as well. I really hate correcting mistakes like 'where' instead of 'we're'. Keep writing! This has potential, you just need to work on it.
-Dreamy
Hi there.
That much has been made clear and it is unnecessary to say it so blatantly and crudely.So I can see your point here, it's that High School sucks (obviously) but it seems that you stray away from this point, especially with the skipping part (what's with that?)
I like your opening though, it gets the point across. The only thing I don't like is the line:
I really like this line, it captures the bitter sarcastic tone of a teenager.
Who's Alice? Is she the MC's best friend? Introduce her a little. The MC being jealous of her hair isn't just a random thought, is she often jealous of her friend?
That part shows some characterization, that the MC is out of the norm. Rather then having the part in paranthesis, describe it a little; Alice and I aren't your normal, preppy teenagers. Something like that, you know?
And then they proceed to talk about a boy, while leaving questions for the reader is often a good thing, this is a little bit too unclear. Explain a little what they are talking about, at least refer to when she was supposed to get his number or at least something. Even if you explain exactly what she was talking about it still leaves enough for the reader to be curious about.
Hope this was helpful! PM me with any questions!