A Girl Named Elinor

Chapter 1

Panting, Beatrice chases her best friend, Marion. Since they are staying in the town's limits, they don't need to have parents watching them. Because of this, they both have a wonderful feeling of freedom.

"You can't catch me!" Marion yells.

"Oh yes I can!" Beatrice runs faster than ever.

Eventually, Marion let's Beatrice catch up with her, and they fall into a heap of giggles.

"Let's braid each other's hair, and put flowers in them." Marion suggests. Happily, Beatrice obliges, letting Marion run her fingers through her knotted hair.

---

Elinor looks up from her desk. How she wished she could be free like the people she writes about! But with the amount of British Soldiers surrounding the colonies, she couldn't be any more trapped. 

Sighing, she puts away her writing things and starts to get ready. Although her family is wealthy, they still aren't immune to the taxes the King has put on the colonies. Even the stupid stamp act applies to them. Maybe some of the kids in her town of Albany, New York, would like her better if they knew they weren't the only ones suffering. Sure, Elinor's family weren't starving, but they still had to pay the unfair taxes. Elinor has heard her father complain with his friends all the time that the King just wants the colonists for money. From the King's point of view though, she knows that it was a smart play. But he didn't take into consideration how the colonists were going to react to this. 

As her maid pins her cap to her head, Elinor sees one of her few friends, Angelica Schuyler waiting for her. Running down the steps of her house, she goes and says hello to Angelica.

"I was waiting forever. Peggy was getting very impatient to see her favorite person in the world ya know." Angelica says with a fake pout. Elinor knows that Angelica would never be able to be mad at her, at least for a long time.

"Relax. Take in this beautiful day Angelica. For goodness sake, it's 1765! Who knows what this world has in store for us!" Elinor says while daydreaming about her future.

"Oh quit being all sentimental, we're only 9 years old." Angelica says while hitting Elinor playfully.

"But look around at this world we're living in Angelica! How far humans have developed this world, even going across big oceans!" Elinor says. Sure, she may be young, but not too young to know how lucky she was to be alive in such a time.

"Be back by curfew young lady" Said William.

Elinor and Angelica roll their eyes. William was such a pain in the butt.

"Of course William." Elinor says with fake sweetness. Just because William can stay at her house because of the Quartering Act doesn't mean he can act like her father! As her and Angelica walk to the Schuyler's mansion, they talk about the acts (Taxes).

"It's quite a pain having these soldiers in our home ya know." Angelica says.

"Seriously! I can't breathe without them staring at me. It's like they expect a whole protest to start in my living room!" Elinor claims. William is quite annoying, even if he is high in the ranks of the British Army.

"Ellie, do you think, you know, like a w-a-r might happen?" Angelica asks, whispering.

"I hope not. At least not right now, we need to be more prepared." Elinor replies in a hushed voice. In these times, you never know who is a loyalist or a patriot.

Suddenly, a large group of loud adults grab the girl's attention. Elinor and Angelica hold hands to make sure they don't lose each other in such a big crowd. 

In the center of the circle, there are two guys holding on to another man. Elinor assumes he is a loyalist, because if it was a patriot, a soldier would be holding him. Some more men come with a large bucket of hot, sticky tar and pour it on the man. Elinor and Angelica wince at the sound of his screams. After all, the tar was very hot. Even more men come with a whole bushel of feathers, and take handfuls of them and throw them at the loyalist, yelling "Where's your beloved king now?" Angelica drags Elinor away, sensing there will be more trouble coming.

 When they are both walking away, a bunch of British soldiers rush past them.

"Do you think those men will get arrested?" Elinor asks.

"Hopefully not, because I do think that they have a point. But I don't think it had to be so..." 

"Painful?" Elinor finishes Angelica's sentence.

"Yes, painful. His screams sounded like a little girl's!" Angelica says while chuckling.

As the girls continue to walk, they soon forget about the loyalist and the feathering. Being only 9, this couldn't be even more irrelevant to them. 

Walking down the streets, they look at some of the shops, especially the bakeries. With all the cookies and cakes in the window, it was very tempting for the girls to go in and buy some. For quite some time they withstand their temptations, but alas, we must have some sugar! After some debating, Elinor and Angelica both decide on getting a variety of cookies.

"Have you got any money?" Angelica asks

"No, do you?" Elinor responses

Both of them laugh so hard looking at the baker's face! He looked so shocked, and slightly angry.

"We're just kidding sir. We have the money" Elinor says, feeling kind of bad.

"Yes, and we're going to pay double for the massive pain in the butt we are!" Angelica says while pushing the money to the baker. He's smile grows by the second, and starts to laugh with them. He is begging the girls to come by again soon by the time they leave.

"Oh we will, and we might bring my younger sisters." Angelica promises

___

"Marion, do you ever think about our future?" Beatrice asks while Marion braids her hair, incorporating flowers into it.

"Sometimes, and it mostly consists of me marrying a prince and living a wonderful life" Marion responds.

Beatrice thinks about it, because she really wonders if it's possible. After all, she and Marion are merely peasants, daughters of maids and guards for the royal family.

"I think that when I marry, I want to marry for love, not for wealth." Beatrice says thoughtfully.

"You think we could get a husband greater than a farmer?" Marion asks, only half-joking

"I mean, nothing is impossible!" Beatrice says

---

Yes, nothing is impossible, Elinor thinks while she walks arm in arm with Angelica. Nothing is impossible, not even a bunch of colonists standing up to a country. Not untrained men taking on the best army in the world. Not even a peasant marrying a prince. The patriots might actually have a chance if we go to war, Elinor thinks. Maybe things aren't so hopeless after all.

AHHH! First chapter done :) Sorry if my writing is trash, but it's quite interesting learning more about the revolution. I hope you can learn more about the American revolution through this book!