Chapter 1
“Leliana!” My mother hisses at my little sister. I rub my eyes and roll over, the sunlight beams into my eyes. I hear her stomp out of Lea and Lya’s room, her loud stomps turn into soft delicate steps heading toward my room. I stare at the curls of strawberry-blonde hair scattered around my pillow.
“Adalynn?” my mom whispers. I turn my head to face her. She looks sleep-deprived and her face has red streaks, the remanents
of her crying. As she locks her eyes on me, she begins to tear up again. I can fill tears watering up in my own eyes, as I turn to face the empty twin bed beside me. I can still see my twin sister Ashton, already awake watching Netflix on her phone. It was always Ada and Ash, we were best friends.
Leliana and Lyanna, Adalynn and Ashton. We all had a twin, and now I was left alone.
“Are you okay?” She asks as she sits down on the edge of my bed. I look up at her and fight back tears, “I’m fine,” I tell her. She wipes away a tear and we lock eyes for a few minutes, both devastated. Finally, she exhales and stands up.
“Well, I guess you should--” Her voice shakes, she clears her throat “You should be getting ready for school.” She gives me a quick smile and walks out of the room.
I sit up and exhale. Why did Ashton run away? I ask myself. I need answers, and I need them now.
Once I’m finished getting ready, I examine myself in the full-length hallway mirror. My strawberry-blonde, wavy hair rests on my shoulders, I have green eyes and I’m slightly tan. I’m wearing destructed skinny jeans and a light green top to bring out my eyes.
“Come on Ada!” Lya shouts from downstairs. I adjust my sandals, and bound down the stairs. Lya and Lea, both 13 don’t really look alike. Lya has pale skin, green eyes and cocoa colored straight hair. While Lea has tan skin, bluish greenish eyes and blonde straight hair. But, it’s the same for Ash and I, were both 14. Ash has pale skin, brown eyes and blonde straight hair. And I have wavy Strawberry-blonde hair, green eyes and I’m tan. Lya, Lea and Ash all look similar, and I’m the odd one.
“First day of 7th grade!” Lea says in a sing-song voice. I roll my eyes. “Well for me it’s the first day of 9th grade,” I glance at them as they both examine themself in the mirror. “All alone,” I whisper. Lya and Lea both look over at me. Lya bites her lip, they glance at each other with a worried expression. They both exhale together. An awkward silence follows, we all 3 stare at each other and consider the situation.
“Guys! Guys! Go, Go Go! You’ll be late!” Momma says, speed-walking into the room, breaking the silence. We all snap back to reality and begin rushing to get ready.
“It’s 7:00, we need to be on the bus by 7:10!” I shout, just adding to the hecticness. I run to the kitchen and grab an energy bar, and my backpack. I sling it over my shoulder and rip open the energy bar, as I run to the front door.
“I’m gone!!” I scream, opening the front door. The autumn wind rushes up against my back and whistles at me. I slam the front door, and start running to the bus stop, then slow to a walk when I see that the bus hasn’t even arrived yet. Looking behind me, Lya and Lea have just walked out of the door. I see them laughing and talking. It brings back the pain. A sense of loneliness tugs at my heart. The memories flash through my head, a week before Ash ran away she started to act different, scared. She stopped hanging out with me, and was entirely obsessed with a crack in the wall, the crack had been there since we were little kids. It was shaped like a fast forward symbol. An arrow with 2
lines at the straight end.
I shake my head in desperation to clear my memory. Ash is gone, just forget about her, A menacing voice in my head tells me. Like that's going to happen. I fire back, trying to suffer out the voice.
I straighten up my posture and continue walking to the bus stop. Two teenagers, are already there talking amongst themselves. The taller one, looks to be about my age She has a short brown bob cut, she's wearing a cute pair of thin-framed black glasses, with a matching black shirt and white ripped skinny jeans. The shorter one, looks to be about 13, has eyes that are the most noticeable of her body. They're a swirl of brown and green, not quite hazel. She has blonde shoulder length hair, and she's wearing highwaisted black jeans with a cute sleeveless white top.
“Hi, I'm Adalynn,” I tell them. The taller one smiles and says “Hey, I'm Meka, I'm going to be in 9th grade and this,” she motions to the shorter one, “is my little sister Kayja, going to 7th,” she smiles at me also.
“Oh,” I say to Meka, “I’m in 9th grade also! And,” I look at Kayja, “My little sisters, which are twins will both be in 7th!” Kayja looks delighted.
I spin around and see Lya and Lea running. When they arrive I look back at Kayja.
“This is Lyanna and Lealina, they go by Lya and Lea”
I turn around and look at them. “This is Kayja, she's going to be in your grade.” They immediately begin discussing how they feel about school and all things school. I walk around Kayja so I can talk to Meka.
“I’m new this year in case you can't tell,” I say.
“Oh, well I've been at The Turtle schools since kindergarten, Turtle Elementray, Turtle Middle, and now, Turtle High. But, don't worry, it's all the 9th graders first time at Turtle High, you'll survive,” She says casually. I laugh, this is going to be a good year.
