Chapter One

“Do you have your sweatbands?” Bee asked her brother.

“Never forget ‘em.” Jeff stuffed the rest of his uniforms into his third suitcase.

Bee handed him one that he had left on the floor, after running her thumb over the embroidered label. “Will Brusch School For Boys”, she whispered. “Hey, Jeff?” she said, while handing him the suit.

“What?”

“Who’s Will Brusch?”

Jeff looked at her. “I’m not sure.”

“Maybe they just made him up?” Bee suggested. “That makes sense.”

Jeff rested a hand on Bee’s head. “I don’t think they just make up people to name schools after. Especially a school where almost half the population goes.”

He sighed and dragged his bags to the door.

“Are you sure you won’t be lonely when you get there?” Bee asked.

“I’ll have Jaedyn, remember? It’s you I’m worried about.”

Jeremiah, Jermaine, Bee, and her parents waved goodbye as Jeff stepped into the WBSB limousine. The car sped off, leaving a puff of smoke behind it. After retreating into the house, Bee found herself sitting in Jeff’s bedroom, staring at the WBSB poster on his wall.

It featured a group of young men, some of them muscular and others quite the opposite. They were of every race and color, too. It was every boy’s dream to be just like those on the poster, to be accepted into WBSB, like Bee’s two oldest brothers already had been.

Jaedyn had stopped writing after the first month. He had always wanted to get away and be granted independence. For the next week, Bee would hope Jeff would be different as she faithfully awaited his first letter.

⌁

Tabes rummaged through the desk drawer. “Where is it?”.
Every so often, she lost her planner after leaving it in the basement. Sometimes she’d spend half an hour looking for it, and one would think she’d have stopped losing it by now.

“Tabitha Ying Yue Harris-Cheng! You’d better not be in that basement.”

Tabes scrambled up the stairs after finding her planner in the corner of the basement. She stood straight and stiff as a board in front of her mother. “Sorry, mom.”

“What did I tell you about spending all of your time down there? A young girl like you should be outside with her friends.” When Mrs. Harris-Cheng spoke, her long blonde hair swayed slightly from side to side, like she was doing it on purpose.

Tabes’ identical hair did the same thing. “Bee’s brother is leaving for school today, and Zara is…” She paused. Rarely did anyone know what Zaryana spent her time doing. Sharpening knives, maybe? “...doing stuff.”

Mrs. Harris-Cheng sighed. “You’re allowed to have other friends, Tabitha. And you shouldn’t be working all of the time. What is it that is so important about this work you’re doing?””

Tabes pondered her answer for a moment. “It’s really important, Mom. Can you trust me?”

“Fine. But when you’re done I need to see what it is, okay?”

“Yes, mom.”

“Your father will be coming back from his trip tomorrow morning. Make sure you’re up here to see him, and not… you know.”

Tabes nodded. Her mother kissed her forehead and waved before leaving the house.

“Sorry, mom.” She whispered to herself before running back down to the basement. The dim lamp was still on, and it was enough to illuminate to the room. Tabes spread her pens and rulers and paper and her planner across the desk in the middle of the desk. From the desk drawer she pulled a poster, featuring the fabled ‘WBSB Band of Boys’. With a red marker she circled the head of one of them, the most muscular one, standing in the middle.

“I’m coming for you, Will.”

⌁

Ding dong.

Zara groaned and slid off of her bed. Somebody had to get the door, and neither of her sisters was going to.

She pulled it open slowly, and there stood the teenage delivery man. “Zaryana Dmitrikov?”

Before taking the package from him, Zara took a moment to study his face. “How do I know it is not going to blow up in my face?” She peered into his chocolate colored eyes.

He was visibly nervous. “I guess you don’t, ma’am.”

“I am going to take this, not because I trust you, but because your eyes are the color of chocolate, and I want chocolate right now.” She closed the door.

Sure enough, inside the cardboard box was another cardboard box. And another box inside of that one, and another one inside of that one. Zara flung the door open as the delivery man stepped into his truck. “Screw you!” she yelled.

He tipped his hat to her and high fived the older man driving the truck. Zara was tempted to take a match and light the truck on fire, but that was extreme, even for her. Maybe a knife to the throat would get the boy to apologize. Or, in this case, bare hands could be a good option.

Zara ran towards the truck, anger spilling from her footsteps. The driver put a foot to the pedal, but the boy motioned for him to stop. “I want to see what this girl plans on doing to me.”

“Listen, you zit-faced punk. I do not have time for idiots who try to prank me for fun. Now, I suggest you admit your stupidity and beg for my forgiveness.”

“Hold up, I need a weapon.” He pulled an umbrella from the back of the truck.

Zara grabbed the umbrella from his hands and broke it over her knee.. “For what?” she read his name tag. “...Louis.”

Louis’ eyes grew wide and he yelled at the driver.”Step on it!”

The truck disappeared onto the next road. Zara strolled back into her single story house, smiling to herself. “Zaryana Dmitrikov, you have done it again.”

Reviews

[Anjali]

I liked the unique names especially Bee and the way your words have created magic to wove the scenes is commendable.

[Hatter]

I like the opening, I would suggest going back and editing some wording and typing mistakes, but I loved it. Also I like the unique names.

[The Iron Horseman]

This is a nice opening chapter. I am intrigued to see what happens next. Well done, Silver.
I did spot a few typos, so some more proof reading would be in order. For example"
'For the next week, Bee would hope Jeff would be different as faithfully awaited his first letter.'
The word 'she' is missing from this sentence.

Looking forward to more. Great names, BTW.

[SilverInk]

I'm glad you liked it!
I do plan on revising and editing soon.
And the names are my favorite thing about the story, as they are mostly uncommon and unique. It was a lot of fun coming up with them!

[The Iron Horseman]

Keep up the good work! :)