Stuck in the 50s (girlxgirl)

Dolly or Cute Girl

BRRRING! BRRRING! BRRI-

I sat up in bed with a start, beaming and banged on the top of my alarm clock to silence it.

Throwing the pale pink blanket off me, I jumped up. It was the first day of ninth grade and I was beyond excited. I pulled my naturally shiny white-blonde hair back into a high ponytail and pulled on a floral skirt and butter yellow top. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror before grabbing my bag and shoes and galoping down the stairs.

"Carolina! Breakfast!" My mother called to me just as I entered the kitchen.

I ate my bacon and eggs like a good girl before running out the door. School was in walking distance. In this town everything was in walking distance. It's a tiny little place in Kansas that isn't on maps and no one has ever heard of called Bluewall. It's one of those towns where "if ya blink ya miss it." But it was kind of nice living in a small town. Everybody knew everybody and almost everyone was friendly.

My town, as I liked to say, was 'stuck in the 50s.' I said this because not much has changed since then. Kids had cell phones and dressed in the latest trends but everyone still had a land line, a classic car, and the diners and shops looked straight out of a history book.

As I walked down the sidewalk my ponytail swung from side to side. I spotted Larry, fixing his gutter again-or something. He was always there on a ladder, rummaging through that gutter.

I threw up my hand. "HI LARRY!"

He turned his head and waved. "Hey Cherry Carry!" That's what all the old folks called me. Except for Gramma Ruth, but I'll get to that.

I passed the diner, Beatrice's and spotted Beatrice's great granddaughter, Karen, who now ran the business through the window.

Throwing up my hand once again I trilled, "HI KAR!"

"HI CHERRY CARRY!" She replied.

This continued for two more blocks. Then I came to my last stop and the last person to say hi to before school. Gramma Ruth.

Gramma Ruth was too old to get out of her house, but she walked around in there. She was 76 but as fiery as ever and had been like a Grammy to me since the day I was born. She always had the best advice and made me the best pecan pie which was my favorite. She didn't call me Cherry Carry though, she called me Dolly, all the time.

I know what everyone is thinkin'. It's what people always think. They think it's just a cute pet name, but it's not. Gramma Ruth had a daughter named Dolly who she lost to cancer. She told me a lot about Dolly and how I reminded her of Dolly. Sweet, shy, beautiful, smart.

I always blushed at those comments and I got them a lot. The whole town knew each other, like I said, but everyone knew me especially. I was the towns pride and joy. Smart, loyal, kind, not too loud or wild or roudy. Sometimes it was nice, but sometimes it got to be a real tirin' job. Tryin' to please everybody all the time takes it's toll.

My shoes went pitter patter on the cobblestone path up to Gramma Ruth's clean tiny white cottage which I knocked on slowly.

"Come in." Came her weak voice.

I made sure to leave my shoes at the door before walking in to find Gramma Ruth sitting in her favorite chair.

"Hi there Dolly. Shouldn't you be gettin' yourself to school?"

My skirt fluttered as I sat down across from her, smiling. "I've got a bit. I just wanted to tell you that I owe you a lot. I'm startin' high school now and I couldn't have gotten here without you, Gramma Ruth."

The old woman waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "Oh pish posh and apple sauce, Dolly. You know that ain't true. You're a bright young girl, don't give me all the credit."

My smile grew and I patted her on the hand. "Well thanks Gramma Ruth. Now I do have to go. Bye!"

"Baa!" She called back, her southern accent thicker than mine."

I walked another block and I was at school. Our school was so small, there weren't more than maybe two-hundred and some kids. The middle school was even smaller and the elementary school was the smallest.

I quickly met my best friend, Lillian and smiled at her. "What's new?"

Lillian's big brown eyes widened. "You don't know?"

My brow furrowed. "Huh? Whatchu talkin' about?"

She threw her red hair over her shoulder, eager to dish. "There's a new girl starting today."

That was pretty shocking but not that interestin'. It certainly wasn't somethin' to gawk about like Lillian was doin'. "So?"

"Well... I don't want this to sound... Just come on!" She grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the small crowd and into the school, bringing me up to some lockers.

"What'd ya do that for?" I asked.

"Look at her."

I turned around and gasped. The new student was absolutely gorgeous.

She had raven hair that looked all soft, smooth skin and deep brown eyes that you could just get lost in. She wore black high-wasted shorts, a white t-shirt and her hair was up in a bun with a red bandana tied around it. "She's beautiful." I blurted out.

Lillian looked at me strangely. "Yeah I guess..." Her face went back to excited. "But look she's BLACK!"

That's when I really noticed and gasped again. She was black. It's not like we'd never seen a black person before, it's just that there were only two in our town. There was Joe, the janitor for the high school and his wife, Bess, the cook at Beatrice's. And they were both on the old side. There were no other black kids in all of Bluewall. This was excitin' and I could see other kids staring at her. Some were biased and racist with stories they heard about the ghetto and kept their distance. Others went up to say hi. I decided to be one of the nice people and say hi. This was weird, because I was usually really shy.

I walked up to her, ignoring Lilian's whisper-yells to come back.

I stuck out my hand tentatively. "Um... hi."

She turned to me and I was struck with her beauty once more. "I'm uh...uh..." I gulped. "C-Carolina! Carolina Sampson." Why couldn't I remember my own darn name?

"Hi!" She grinned and spoke loud and confident.

I shriveled back a bit. Whenever I met people like this I felt intimidated. And it didn't help that she was even more beautifulwhen she smiled.

"I'm Brooklyn Valentine." She grinned wider. "I'm new if you couldn't tell."

I noticed that she didn't have an accent and somehow mustered up the courage to ask her a question. "Where are ya from?"

"New York City." She kept on smiling that dazzling smile.

Now I was even more intimidated. "Oh. C-cool. That's a big city, right?"

She quirked an eyebrow. "Yup, it's pretty big."

I felt like an idiot.

"Hey I know this is a long shot but I don't have any friends yet and I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch together?"

I turned to look at Lillian who was listening in. She shrugged and I turned back to Brooklyn, nodding. "Sure."

Brooklyn shut her locker and her grin was wider, if that was possible. "Great. See you then!"

I watched her walk off and smiled a bit. I liked this girl. I liked her a lot.

AN: Hi guys! So this is my first non-fanfic story on here! Please be kind! LOL! If you can't tell all the chapter titles are 1950s slang words and their meanings. Anyway I hope you liked it!

-G. Schreiber