Shades of Power

Chapter 1

(A/N) Hi and welcome to my story! This is pretty much my first one ever and I'm just writing it for fun, so please don't judge, though constructive critiscism is appreciated (like I don't even know how to spell that dhsjcshdkhf)

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Aww c'mon, five more minutes!" Ashley groaned into her pillow waving her arm around wildly trying to find the snooze button. She had purposely moved her alarm clock to the other side of the room, though, for this reason. She couldn't be late for school on her first day, first impressions mattered.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Whatever," she muttered, slowly rolling over onto her back and blinking her eyes open. She had forgotten to close the blinds the night before, so even though it was only 7:30AM, light filled her small bedroom. Realization hit her: today was her first day of 8th grade.

Throwing off her blankets as fast as she could, as tired as she was, she quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed her backpack from on top of her dresser, packed from the night before, but underestimated its weight and the heavy bag dragged her to the ground. Hitting her head on the wall, she dropped the open bag and all the books slid out. Sighing in frustration, she got to her feet. She was notoriously clumsy and this day was no different. She repacked her backpack before throwing on her selected first day of school outfit: a gray t-shirt, jeans, and an olive colored jacket to match her eyes. Basically what she wore every single day last year. Oh. And her necklace.

Walking over to her dresser, she snatched it off the top, and unclasped the simple silver chain and wore it around her neck, fingering the beautiful red gem in the center. Her father had given it to her for Christmas, and her older brother Luke had received a yellow one. He had told both of them to hold on tight to the necklaces and each other. Only days later her father left for work and never came home, which only made her and her brother hold the gifts tighter.

After she finished getting ready, she pulled her dark brown hair into a high ponytail, grabbed her bag, and went to the kitchen to grab breakfast. Pouring herself a bowl of cereal, she began to eat. Moments later, Luke came running down the stairs.

"Hey Ash! Excited for 8th grade?" He asked with a little smile, his light blue eyes twinkling as he grabbed a banana from the bowl on the table, leaning against the counter as he peeled it. Him being very tall, even for his age, he accidentally bumped his head on the cabinets above and took a minute to restyle his perfect dark brown hair.

"Yeah, I guess," she said unenthusiastically through a yawn which Luke laughed at.

"How long have you been up?" She added, studying her brother, who shrugged.

"Eh, got up early to practice basketball. Tryouts are in a few days," he told her. Luke was going into his 2nd year of high school, and was the top of his class for basically everything, especially sports. He checked his watch.

"Oh man, gotta go. Your bus will be here soon too, bye Ash," He said with a little grin and a wave and then he was gone. Ashley sighed. This was going to be a long day.