Friday barnes Book 1: Girl Dectective...

Chapter 1 continued:

Eleven years later, Friday barnes had largely raised herself. She was fairly small and dull looking, with light brown hair, muddy brown eyes and the trick of finding the exact right spot in a room with the least light, so that if she stood perfectly still nobody would notice she was there.

Friday found it was best to go unnoticed as much as possible. Being noticed just caused trouble. If her mother noticed Friday was eating a entire block of milk chocolate 🍫, she would take it of her and tell her to eat an apple 🍎 😒. If she didn't notice, Friday could eat as much treats as she liked.

If her father noticed that Friday was reading a shocking tell-all book about serial killers, He would take it off her and give her a copy of the periodic table to memorise (never having noticed that Friday had already memorised it by the young age of four).

Friday found that if she was able to go unnoticed, which is very easy when you have academic parents whose brains are totally consumed with thoughts of qusars and electrons all day long, then she could do whatever she liked.

When her father walked past her bedroom at 1'oclock in the morning on a school night and noticed her light was still on, he would, like a normal parent, say, 'Shouldn't you be in bed?'

But unlike a normal parent when Friday said, 'No, Father it's only 8 pm," he would just nod, take her word for it and go back to thinking of quasars.

Now this may feel very idyllic to many of you to have disinterested parents who never interfere with anything you do. But the problem is that when you devote your entire life going unnoticed by your parents, that talent seeps over into every aspect of your life. Friday went unnoticed at school, on the bus and even at shops.

And if no one notices you, then no one talks to you, and if you spent your entire childhood in silence you won't devlop good social skills. It's hard to make friends when your idea of a conversation starter is 'How many moles of acid do you use to make your hair turn that shade of yellow?'

So at school, while all the other kids were playing, giggling and gossiping, Friday would just read.... a lot.