Chapter One!

Chapter 1- One of a Kind.

          It was an early Saturday morning, well for me it was, for the rest of the world, noon. I’m Penny; I am unique, one of a kind, and a loner. What you are reading is a personal glimpse of my life before I become famous, which will happen, someday.

As for now, I am just an ordinary 14 year old trapped in the zoo called junior high, where everyone is like howler monkeys and buzzing bees. The noise in the hall is yet to cease. The bulling and teasing has become like biting your nails, you don’t notice it after time.

I somehow manage to gather enough energy to drag myself out of bed and change into some clothes. I look around my room that looks as if a tornado had literally just gone through it. Empty bowls and cups lying around, clothes all over the floor, and my walls coated with poems and paintings. I shut the door and walk down the stairs, into the bright sun filled kitchen. As always, I look to the ugly little wood carved family key hanger my gram got at a garage sale and was “Just the cutest little thing!” to see if the keys to the rusty old slug bug where there, they weren’t. This meant one thing, Gram was out rummage sailing.

 It’s what she does every Saturday ever since I came to stay with her when my parents drowned on a sinking ship. I remember the last time I saw them too. I was five and they were all excited for this trip my mum won from work, a cruise around the world. They kissed me goodbye and left me for a couple weeks with gram. “We will be back before you know it squirt!” my dad said before they left “you won’t even realize we’re gone!”                                      

“be good now!” my mum called out, “don’t cause trouble!, love you!” then she gave a me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. That’s the last I saw of them, and ever since I have lived with gram. To be honest, I think there is more to the story then what gram told me, but there is no getting something out of her if she doesn’t want you to know.

I took this alone time to pour myself a glass of apple juice and pop a couple waffles in the toaster. As I waited I walked into the living room, and began to read the newspaper. Newspaper headlines fascinate me, how the writer can take the dullest of news, and make it sound intresting by a clever title. “Rampage at Local Minimart” could really be, some guy was wasted and caused a small scene. Not that interesting, right? But the title makes you want to read it! I just finished the currents section when the I heard the toaster ding, I got up, got my waffles, and headed back to read the rest of the paper.

Around three o’clock Gram came home, told me to comb my hair, then went upstairs to take a nap. So I headed up the creaky old stairs and rummaged through my room for my hairbrush, after a brushed my hair and as I was just about to press play on my CD player the doorbell rang. So I tossed aside the CD case I was holding and ran down the stairs. There I found my best friend Eliza sitting in the tree in the front yard, hair in braids, mismatched knee highs, and overalls. She then sees me standing there and jumps down from the tree, runs up to the porch and hugs me.

“Boy do I got news for you!” she said, her eyes filled with delight.

“What?” I question, “It’s not bad is it?”

She lets out a laugh “Well for Nellie it is, for me? Its AMAZING news!” I can tell she is excited by the way she is smiling at me with her big grin,

“Oh! Do tell!” I ask, eager to hear the news she is so happy about

“Well, you know the spring production?” she says “you know, the one with the biker dude and the beach girl?”

“you mean grease?”

“Yes! That’s it!”

“so? Spill!”

“well a few weeks ago I auditioned for that French chick and…”

I butted in before she could finish, “You got the part??” I didn’t even have to wait for her to answer, her face said it all, the big grin, her eyes bursting with excitement “Congrats!”

“Thanks” she says, she then takes her hand and shoves it into her pocket, rummaging around for something. She then pulls out a deck of cards, looks to me, and asks ”Kings Corner?”

“Sure, but be prepared for defeat!” Even though we both know she is going to win, she always wins. I’m just not as observant as she is. She notices EVERYTHING, as I wouldn’t notice if someone dumped a bucket of water on my head. At least that’s what gram says. We play a few games, me almost beating her on the last one, when we decide to go make some supper. Its about six o’clock now and we take three hot pockets from the fridge, one for me, one for Eliza, and one for gram who just woke up and was reading the paper.

“Hello Eliza” says Gram “care for a souvenir?” I will never get gram. She takes so much pride in what she gets rummage sailing, yet can’t miss a beat to give it away. Probably for the best though, if she didn’t give it away I think she would be classified as a hoarder. Anyway, like usual Eliza takes grams gift, this time a mismatched set of potholders with a roster on the one, and a flower on the other.

“Thanks!” Eliza calls out as we head into the living room. We are sitting on the couch watching television when she begins with random questions. Eliza is very random. You never know whats going to slip out of her mouth, even if its not the time or the place, she says what she feels.

          “Why are they called hotpockets, when the most certainly are not pockets?” she wondered aloud.

          “I think its because of the little slip it goes in” I tell her “doesn’t it look like a pocket?”

          Eliza then stared at her hot pocket in her hand for a few moments and then nodded her head, “I believe you are right Penny.”

          We then played a few games of kings corner, and by the time we got done with the last game, it was about eight o’clock. “Well. I better get going if I don’t want to be mugged by a stranger.” Eliza said, peering out of a window. See, that’s a perfect example, she just lets things slip. Eliza then jumped over the couch, slipped on her green converse with the bugs bunny laces, said goodbye and told me not to eat rat poison, gave me a hug and skipped down the sidewalk without another word.

          I then decided to call it a night, so I showered and grabbed my book. Its about the billionth time I have read Tuck Everlasting, but I love the book and will continue to read it until the binding falls off. Which looks like it could happen any day now seeing I have read it so many times and it was already beat up when gram picked it up at a garage sale. Taking the sheets of my bed, and carefully sliding into them I pick up my book and read.

          The next thing I know, its morning and the smell of French toast fills the house. It’s the only time gram cooks, Sunday morning French toast brunch. I then look toward my clock which tells me its about ten o’clock. So I get out of bed, get dressed, and head downstairs to find Gram at the stove, and pile of toast to her right. “Morning Gram” I mumble, grabbing myself a plate

          “Morning Penny” She replies, as she turns of the stove and takes a seat next to me, she then looks at me, as if wanting approval on her breakfast,

          “Its really good! Best batch yet!” I encourage, but I lied, because to be honest Gram is not meant to cook. She tends to either leave things halfway raw, like today’s French toast or burn them to a crisp. I can never tell her that of course, it would break her heart.  So I lie as always, and the look of joy on her face is well worth it.








Let me know what you think of it! looking for all the tips i can get!