Chapter 2

Oneida High had become distressing to attend. It is a small town school, where everyone knew everyone, and there is no such thing as a secret. Blistering in the summer time, glacial in the winter, the town was nestled in the mountainside of the southern state of Tennessee.

The best part of the school? My friends.

There are three of them: two boys, and one girl.

The girl, Jetta Garrow, has been my best friend since second grade. I was held back my first try of second grade, and had to be introduced to a new lot of kids when I came into this classroom.

Not knowing anyone can be tough on a child, but with Jetta in the mix I was sure to never be alone. She immediately took up with me, and we have been inseparable ever since. We are complete opposites, which made for an unusual companionship.

I am naturally reserved. Besides my three best friends, I wasn't very popular. My love life consisted of me attempting one date during my entire high school career. It ended as I presumed it would: Badly.

Jetta, however, is the furthest thing from a loner. She dribbled dexterity and precision on the basketball court and everyone she met was a fast friend. She was a light mahogany tint and held almond shaped, chestnut eyes. Her chopped, pixy hair was the same bronzed color as her skin and the style suited her well. She was tall with an athlete's body.

It was no secret that Jetta was pretty and she was familiar with being asked out. Loving the idea of love, she usually ventured the lead and had a new boyfriend every week.

This led to countless nights of us mulling over how horrible boys were and devouring innumerable tubs of ice cream. Every guy she dated was 'the one' for a day or two. I felt like through her, even though I had never felt the personal sting of a broken heart, that I understood it. And I wanted no part in it.

I had been hit on a number of times the first two years outside of puberty. Knowing how a guy could treat a girl in high school and leave her vulnerable was a petrifying thought. My mother's mistake with my birth 'father' was my set example and detailed the very motive for why I would never give any bloke a secondary glance.

I was accused of being a snob and eventually guys stopped trying.

I don't think I was being a snob. I like to think I was protecting myself.

The two boys are also very different.

One of the boys, Bobby Baker, is as gay as the day is long. He didn't try to mask it either. He used to have a hard time with it in elementary but the exploit of him being bullied for his sexual preference went out the door as soon as he came out. No one liked to bully a person for actually being gay, just for the prospect of there being a possibility of it. He was open about it to everyone except his family. No one else besides them would have had a problem with it.

Bobby has an oval face with shaggy auburn hair, and hazel eyes. For a ginger, he wasn't terrible looking. If I saw him in a store, and he didn't open his mouth, I might have vaguely checked him out. Keeping his pipe closed wasn't likely with him. He is an eccentric character who adored crafting motives to fight with someone- verbally anyway. I am a professional boxer paralleled to how brawny he is. His height of 5'2 mimicked mine.

Our prime bonding experience was through music. He played drums in the school band. We established a friendship three years prior when we were assigned seats next to each other in Music Appreciation. After discussing our passion for the art, he joined Jetta and mine's lunch table and before I knew it, we were a gang.

The last and newest member of our group is Francis- or Francois -Bent. He is of Italian descent and besides his shaggy, dirty blonde tresses, everything else about his physical exterior screamed foreigner. Like Bobby and myself, he had a love for music. Albeit he lacks skill on symphonic composition, he can still play guitar like he was born with one in hand.

Francis clothes leaked of money, but he didn't seem to think anything of it. He was levelheaded and held a sense of humor that most rich snotty people would look down on. It was a goofy, childish, and sometimes flirtatious sense of humor. He has a handsome, square face that softened once you came in contact with his russet brown eyes. They looked like swirls of milk chocolate and seemed to redden when he was mad. I almost had a crush on him when he first arrived. It was only for a moment before I disregarded it. And for good reason. Not long after he got here he was dating my best friend.

Jetta and Francis looked good together.

That was about the extent of their relationship. I believe it took them exactly two dates to realize they didn't click. I assumed Francis would stop hanging around us once they broke it off, but oddly enough he stuck around.

A year later, on a night out, Francis became stupid drunk and hit on me. Afraid of dating toppled with the guilt of talking to my friends ex was too outrageous to even muse over. I avoided the situation entirely and he must have realized how wrong what he was saying was because it was never brought up again.

It was strange between Francis and me for about a month but eventually forgotten. Now the two of us are closer than ever.

Even with the best people surrounding me, I still couldn't shake this feeling of gloom.

Bobby spoke the words id been imagining weren't real when I greeted him. "I'm going to miss you so much Bon-Bon! I can't believe we're graduating!" Bobby engrossed me in a skeletal hug before continuing, "Just one day, and all this-" He let me go to illustrate the halls behind him. "-Will be gone!"

Glowering at the hallway, I tried to lighten the tone. "We still have the entire summer before people leave for college!" I heard a forced cough and peeked over the red hair pressed into an afro to see Jetta. A pang of grief hit my heart when I remembered.

I asked, "Do you really have to go so soon? Can't it wait til Fall?" I knew it was a ridiculous question, but asked it anyway.

Tightening her lips, she shook her head. Jetta paced closer and hugged me. "I wish," Jetta said over my shoulder. "But if I don't go now I may lose my scholarship."

I bowed my head and felt a lump in my throat growing.

A cheerful voice indicated, "Well whenever you get back, you'll have me here to greet you!"

Turning away from Jetta I noticed Francis. "Are you sure you're not going to go to college?" I asked.

He almost laughed at my question. "It's not for everyone Bonnie." Francis clarified, "We can't all be Beethoven or major athletes like you and Jetta." From my peripheral, I caught a squint of an annoyed Bobby.

"What the heck?" Bobby asked, "Are you saying because I'm not going straight to a university that I'm not smart?"

Francis backspaced his phrasing. "No man that's not what I meant. I'm just saying Julliard and Lee University." He defended, "I'm not even going to college, so I can't say anything even if I wanted to."

I remembered the previous night and stood up for my case. "Hey I haven't got the acceptance letter yet. It isn't a for-sure thing that I'm going to Julliard." Francis rolled his eyes at me as if I were joking.

Bobby glared at Francis, and Francis opened his arms wide. "Hug it out?" Francis used Bobby's words against him. "Were leaving tomorrow! All this will be gone!"

Bobby kept his scowl and put him palm out to Francis. "Uh, uh. I am not talking to you right now." He spat at him, "You can keep your nasty hugs to yourself!"

I teased, "Looks like you're in the doghouse tonight Frankie." Bobby kept his pout but Francis grinned at me.

A loud ring came over the intercom and dismissed our banter.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think!

Reviews

[Shawn]

I'm glad you posted another chapter, and read it right when I saw it! I feel like this book is taking a lot of different angles, but that might be just because of the quick switch between family life and friends. I'm liking your characters so far, but feeling like they need more development. I assume you cover this in later chapters? If not, I would fix it ASAP. I spotted a few grammar errors, but I'm not going to press this problem, because I feel like I badger people enough about grammar. Anyway, it was a great read, and I really enjoyed it! Keep me posted on upcoming chapters!

[Tiffany Thomas]

Thank you for reading it! :) I really appreciate the feedback. I chose the excessively short chapters just for the reason of it making it easier to switch scenes and because I am obsessed with James Patterson novels (Maximum Ride is the best!) and loved how there was action within every three pages. In all honesty, I wanted the story to be about the fantasy part not so much about the home life so I try to keep it sweet and simple in the beginning using these characters as props more so than people to grow attached to. The characters that will stay in the story will be developed more in the oncoming chapters when things start becoming more exciting. Unfortunately for most of the characters depicted, only a couple are selected to go on the journey to Falloch. Must better characters will be introduced soon! :) Thanks again for your review and honesty, I will keep you posted! :D

[Shibui]

There are some good ideas here, but I think you got a bit bogged down in character descriptions. It's good to offer context to the situation, but try to balance that with more focus on the scene and the events that you need to take place in this chapter. Remember that if there's something that you feel the reader needs to know to better understand what's happening and the tone you want to set, you can always add it in subsequent drafts.

Very strong opening paragraph, though. Particularly the line 'Blistering in the summer time, glacial in the winter, the town was nestled in the mountainside of the southern state of Tennessee.' -- gives a great sense of the setting. Keep working at it!