chapter 1

Chapter 1

 

 “Clean it up you little b***h!” Mary ordered me. I had just got home from school, walked in the door and promptly spilled some water. It was an accident and truly not the end of the world, though you wouldn’t have known by her reaction. I grabbed some paper towels and dried the water from the floor as she continued to ruin my afternoon. “You are always spilling things and trying to screw this place up that I work so hard to keep nice for you. God damn you Addie!” I tried to ignore her like always but the anger began to build within me. I knew fighting back with her right now would get me no where, but I couldn’t help myself.

            “It was an accident and it was only water! I cleaned it up, you can stop yelling now! And how can you say you try to keep it nice here? I’m the only one who ever does any cleaning. All you do is smoke!” Mary’s rage grew and she started calling me every horrible name she could come up with. I just went into my room, slammed the door, and pushed my chair under the knob to keep her out. With headphones blasting in my ears, I fell asleep. I slept best with noise: habit I guess.

            Now I found myself being awoken by banging on my door. The battery in my ipod must have died. Damn. Mary was yelling my name. Fuzzy headed, I forced out, “Huh?” “Finally, you answered me! I’m going out. Don’t wait up.” Under my breathe I mumbled, “Of course you are”, in a sarcastic tone. If she heard me, she ignored it. “Don’t worry I won’t be here”, I yelled. “You better be!” she yelled back, then slammed the door on her way out. I sent a text to Carrie and told her I was coming over.

            I knocked on the door of room 301 and Mrs. Allen answered, with a refreshing and sober smile, “Hello honey, another fight with your mother?” “Yeah, over nothing more than some spilled water. What a way to spend Friday night, huh?” She just shook her head and said, “Aww I’m sorry. Come in, Carrie’s in the living room. Can I get you anything?” I smiled and said, “No thanks Mrs. A, I’m fine.”

            I tossed my overnight bag in Carrie’s room and plopped down on the couch beside my best friend. She flipped off whatever boring show she was watching and looked at me. “Hey, what’s up?” “Nothing too much, the usual.” She pulled her legs up on the couch, as if this could take a while. “So, tell me what happened.” I realized I was bouncing my leg up and down, the way Carrie and I both did when we were fired up, because she was staring at it. We giggled when I stopped. “The crazy lady went off about a spilled glass of water that’s all. And now she’s ‘out’ who knows where. Whatever I don’t care though; I don’t want to talk about this. I just didn’t want to sit home alone all night.” She nodded and said, “Alright.”

            Carrie and I met in kindergarten and have been the best of friends ever since. She’s very passive and easy to get along with. I have only seen her mad maybe three times in the ten years I’ve known her. She towers over me at 5’9”; I’m only 5’2”. Everyone thinks she is beautiful with her long strawberry blond hair, bright blue eyes, and perfect complexion. Ever since we were real young, she’s gotten a lot of attention: undesired attention. All the guys at our small school have given up on her though; Carrie has turned down about 263 guys, we figure. She has no interest in a relationship. My best friend is very simple. She has simple goals for her life; she is pleased by simple things. Her seemingly boring life keeps her happy. I probably add the most excitement to her life, showing up at her door in the middle of the night and what not. We have happily been each other’s only close friend for most of our lives. We both get along with everyone at school but we spend most of our time together, outside, inside, whatever.

            I’ve always been the one to talk, and Carrie the one to listen. I’m always the one to comment on a guy or some popular girl’s unmatched outfit. Carrie didn’t offer many verbal opinions, but I always knew what she was thinking: we could practically read each others minds. Carrie was very consistent: never any rash occurrences. Her unfailing calm and quiet personality probably attracted me to her most.

            This is how her family was too: consistent. This might have been why I enjoyed spending time with them. Mr. Allen had an office that he spent most of his time in: he worked from home. I’ve never spoke to him much, but when I have he has always been kind to me. Mrs. Allen works 9 to 5 every week day and then she comes home and makes fabulous dinners. She is an amazing cook. Carrie would’ve had a brother but he died at birth about 10 years ago. Her parents really wanted another child, but they were so traumatized they’ve avoided children since. They’ve always considered me like their other daughter. They treat me almost like their own. I truly feel like a part of their simple family. It brings me a sense of comfort the way a family should: the way mine never has.

            Every spring break since Carrie was born, her family has taken a trip. They go somewhere different each year. I have been invited to go with them since second grade. We have had some of the best times together on these vacations. With the first week of April coming up in nearly a month, her family was planning. This year, they wanted to go to Niagara Falls. Since it would be me and Carrie’s first time there, we were very excited. It would be great if it was the way it looked in pictures.

              “So how’s the planning for the vaca coming?” I asked as we sat on the couch this Friday evening. Carrie smiled with excitement. “It’s going great. Mom has made the hotel reservations and started planning each day of our trip. She won’t tell me much though, because I guess she wants to keep it a surprise.”

            We talked about this some more, but soon we both began to tire. We went into Carrie’s room and put in a movie. We both fell asleep about fifteen minutes into it.

Reviews

[Miranda]

this is good. Write more please your a great writer =)