Chapter 1: Introductions

Chapter 1:introductions

                                 Dani's perspective.

           “Hey, Dani, can you pass the salt?” Ashlynn asked.

           "You can't have salt with everything! Your cholesterol must be through the roof!" I told her.

           "You're one to talk." She laughed. I sighed, and passed it to her. Then she passed it to Thomas.

    “Hey Mom, Dad? I made it into Honors Chorus!” Calli said.

    “Haven’t you made it in for like the past five years?” My twin brother, Dylan, asked.

    “Yes, but that’s not the point.” Me and Dylan exchanged looks.

    “Whatever.” We said simultaneously. Calli shivered

    “Can you stop that? You know how much it creeps me out!”

    Ok, before we go any farther, I should probably explain some stuff. First, Ashlynn (Ash) is my oldest sister. She has long brown hair to her waist and blue eyes. She’s 20, and engaged to be married. It's unofficial, but it goes without saying that they're going to be married when he gets back. But her fiancé/boyfriend is overseas. He’s in the military. So for now, she’s staying with us. Next, there’s Thomas (Thom (Sounds like tom)) He’s 17. He has really short brown hair and blue eyes. He’s a senior in high school. He’s sporty, but not to the extent me and Dylan are. But more on that later. He only does football. Then there’s Calli. Her real name is Calliope, thanks to mom’s baby name book, but call her that and you’re dead. She has waist length brown hair with blonde streaks and blue eyes (Starting to notice a pattern?) She’s 15, and the drama queen of the family. Her preferred vocation would be acting, and theatre. So far she is in three drama classes that all meet after school five days a week. She also does Chorus and Honors Chorus. I’m the only one who finds it ironic that someone who loves music so much was named after a musical instrument. On the weekends, she’s up to her elbows in pencils, paint, crayons, markers, and more paint. She’s the artist, and gifts from her are always handmade. Then there’s me and Dylan.  We’re twins. We’re 13, and we like basketball, baseball, soccer, you name it. I’m Dani, by the way. Ok, fine. Daniella. And I am a girl! People sometimes think I’m a boy because I wear generic clothes and always wear my hair in a ponytail tucked into my baseball cap. Speaking of which, I have brown hair that I can sit on, that I am about to donate. I have blue eyes. My twin brother is identical to me, but his hair is much shorter. We are also the pranksters of the family. Speaking of which...

    Later that night, Ash was looking for the hairdryer after her shower, while Dylan and I were doing homework.

    “Dani, where’s the hair dryer?”
    “The cabinet under the bathroom sink!”  Dylan and I yelled.

    “Stop doing that! You know it creeps me out.” We smiled

    “We know!” We yelled at the same time. (It creeps everyone out, for some reason) Suddenly, Dylan’s face paled.

    “The hair dryer!” He said.

    “Oh no!” I had forgotten.

    “Ash, wait!” We yelled, but our only response was a scream.She stormed into our room, her favorite pajamas and just washed hair and face covered in baby powder.

    “If it makes you feel any better, it was meant for Calli?” I didn’t mean to make it a question, but that’s how it came out.

    “Now I have to take another shower! You're lucky I don't believe in violence.” She said. She stormed off toward the bathroom. We waited until she was in the shower once more before we dissolved into giggles.

    The next morning, I was finishing my breakfast, when dad took a sip of his coffee. Uh-oh. Time to go, before Dad exploded. I caught Dylans eye, and he nodded. Together we stood up. But I couldn’t resist staying to watch for a second longer. Dad frowned, looked at his cup, and took another sip. He smelled it.

    “What the . . . Who put salt in my coffee?” He looked straight across the table. “Dylan. . . Dani . . .” He growled. Dylan and I ran out the door a second before I exploded into giggles.

    “Tomorrow, we put baking soda in.” I told Dylan.

    “No, we should put vinegar in.” Just then, I got an idea.

    “Or . . . Do we still have lemon juice from that time Calli died streaks in her hair?” He smiled, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

    “Good idea.” We made it to school.

    “Alright, bye Dyl. See you in L.A” I struggled through first period, Math, yawned my way through Social Studies, and actually had some fun in science. It was my second favorite class next to L.A. Finally, fourth period came. I walked in and sat down next to Dylan.

    “We have baseball today, right?” I asked. He nodded.

    “Yeah.”

    “Oh, and I signed us up for outdoor track. It starts on monday.”

    “Thanks.”

    “Where’s Sam?”

    “I don’t know, but he’ll be here.” Just then Sam ran in. He snatched my baseball cap off my head.

    “Sam!” I said. He grinned, and put it on.

    “Look, I’m Dani! Don’t I just look fabulous?”

    “Give that back!” I said. But I was grinning. Sam has been best friends with me and Dylan since kindergarten. We had to be put in a separate room during naptime, because we snored. He put it back on my head and sat down.

    “So, we all still on for tonight?”

    “Of course.” I said. And no, it’s not wrong for a boy to sleep over at a girls house when they’ve been friends since kindergarten. Besides, he was sleeping over with Dylan too. You know what? I’m just going to stop talking. . .

    “Great. I’ll bring the popcorn, but only if Dani brings the nail polish.” I rolled my eyes.

    “You would paint your nails, too..” That’s Sam. An all around prankster and jokester. Plus he was into sports. You can see how we would be friends. He had light, almost white, blonde hair, and contrastingly dark brown eyes

    “Hey, you coming to baseball tonight?” I asked him.

    “Duh.” He replied. “I’m the best first baseman we have.”

    “What?! No way. I’m the best first baseman by far.” Just then, Mr Daniels walked in. The class seemed to drag on forever. I couldn’t wait to go to baseball.

    “Alright. Now guys, this is only our first practice, but most of us already know each other. But I would like to welcome Jack. He’ll be pitcher.” Jack stood up, and my heart stopped. He had dark blonde hair, and blue eyes. He was muscular. When he grinned, I noticed he had perfect, toothpaste ad white teeth, made even whiter by his perfect tan. I pinched the inside of my wrist as hard as I could, and my mind cleared. Focus on the game, Dani

    “Alright, let’s practice. First at bat- Dani Thompson.” Great. I stood at the home plate. The first pitch was a ball. I let it go by. But the second pitch was perfect. I swung, and connected. I half ran to first plate, but Dylan caught my ball.

“Out!” He called.  

           "Nice hit, dude." Jack said. My heart sank. He thought I was a boy. Well, whatever. It didn't matter to me. Later that night, my mom took me to her friends salon. I told my mom I wanted twelve inches off.  But when I looked in the mirror after the haircut was finished, I groaned. It stopped just above my shoulders, gently curving inward. This gentle curve brought out the heart shape of my face. It made my eyes look bigger, my jaw softer. I looked like a girl. I traced my reflection in the mirror, then quickly pulled my hair into a ponytail and put it inside my baseball cap. Much better. Later that night, when I came home,Sam and Dylan were waiting.

        "Look what Mom did to me!" I exclaimed, taking of my baseball cap and undoing my ponytail so my hair fell around my shoulders. For a second, they were both speechless. Then Dylan started laughing.

        "You look like such a girl!"

        "I know!" I wailed. He cracked up again. I couldn't help laughing too.

        "Let's just watch the movies." I said. It wasn't till much later that I realized Sam hadn't said a word.

Reviews

[richieb]

Intro doesn't really tell much where story is going. Nice job on describing characters but give your readers some drama to sink their teeth into. Will read more. RichieB.