Ordinary Girl

Chapter 1

  I wake up to the last rays of summer shining thorugh my window. I can smell pancakes cooking in the kitchen and Jane's hair dryer blowing in the bathroom. I sigh and sling my feet to the ground. Another torchorous year.

      I Throw on a decent outfit and head down stairs. I smile at mom as I eat my breakfast.

     "So are you excited for your fist day of school Allie?" My mom asked earnestly.

     I look her straight in the eye and say, "what do you think?"

     My mom frowned and looked down at her plate. She new the routine just as well as I do. She new me better than anyone. She understood me. She understood why I hate school so much.

      I'm just your ordinary 15-year-old girl. Long brown hair, 5 feet 4 inches, skinny, average brains. You know, the works. You couldn't call me popular or unpopular. I'm jus plain old Allie. Allie Swagger. You'd think my life would be fine, right? I mean plain is better than ugly or fat. The only problem for me is that I have two older sisters. Ashley, the oldest, just graduated last year without a single B on her High school record and Jane is 17 with almost the same record so far. Both of them are beautiful with long blond hair and the perfect body- which could make any boy drool. They are the popular queen- bees of their grades and probably the grades in between too. So every single year I go through the same thing. All of my teachers think their in for a treat when another Swagger shows up, only to be let down when I get a C on my math test. Eventually, teachers talk to me and ask me why I get Cs. I always say that I try my hardest, but that's really all I can do. But on the inside I think, "other kids get Cs. So why is it so important that I do better than them?" Everyday I feel that everyone expects awesome things from me that I know I will never be able to do in my life.  

       Of course there are good things about my life too. I mean, I have a best friend named Tevin. I've known Tevin almost my whole life. The two of us met while playing on the preschool playground and were friends ever since. He lives right across the street from me. He's lived there as far as I remember and probably longer.  

     So today is the first day of 9th grade. This is usually the worst day of the year for me because this is the day we are introduced to our teachers. I can't stand how they smile at me! They all single me out and make sure to introduce themselves personally to me before class begins. But after after one or two weeks, they realize that I'll never be even half as good as my sisters, and then completely ignore me. So by the end of the year, they all look at me like I'm some kind of mistake child or something.  

       Here I am waiting at the bus stop when someone taps me on the shoulder. I spin around, slightly shocked, but sigh with relief to see it is only Tevin.  

"Hey," Tevin said, "I bet you just can't wait for school!" 

I whacked tevin in the shoulder and said, "yeah right! Never in a million years!"  

Tevin just laughed and said, "come on don't get crabby yet! What if people are different this year?"  

I rolled my eyes and answered, "as if!"  

Just then my bus pulled up. Tevin and I hopped on the bus and took a seat in the very back. We always got the same seat without worry for we were the first kids on the bus. After a few more stops, I stood up from my seat to go throw away a candy bar rapper. As I was walking, I glanced at a few of the kids on the bus. recognized most of them-there was a short freckly kid named Jacob, a tall and thin girl named Kelly, and a smallish nerdy kid named Tyler. But there was also a boy I didn't recognize. He looked about my age with hot tan skin, sandy colored hair, and big blue eyes. I couldn't help but stare as I headed back to my seat.  

When I finally managed to sit down, Tevin shook his hand in front of my face and said, "you ok?"  

I blinked twice and said, " yeah. I'm fine."  

Tevin looked at me quizzically and said, " what were you looking at?" 

"Oh just some new kid. Nothing much." I said.  

Tevin looked at me suspiciously but didn't say anything more about the topic.  

     At school, in third hour English, I was trying find somewhere to sit, when I saw the new boy standing around unsure of what to do. So just when I started to walk over to help him out, Angela baker swooped in with her cliche. She and her friends "escorted" him to a spot with THEM. so I just plopped down in a seat as far away from them as I possibly could. Right then the teacher, Mrs. Johnson, came up to me and introduced herself. She said that she was "so honored to have me in her class" or something lik that. Then the bell rang and she introduced herself to the whole class. Typical.  

The next four hours or so were about the same. But that all changed in eighth hour social studies. The new boy, who I now know is named Troy Stevens, was in eighth hour social studies with me. When I walked in to try and find a seat, I felt a small tap on my shoulder. When I turned around, I was surprised to see Troy looking down at me.  

He said, "hi my name is Troy. Your the girl from the bus, right?"  

Instead of answering, I just stood there stupidly and stared. Troy looked hurt and was about to walk off when I managed to stutter out, "y-yeah. My name is Allie." 

Troy looked at me and smiled. I felt tingles go up my spine as I looked in those big blue eyes. "Well hi  

Allie," He said, "I think I have you in my third hour too, right?" 

Before I could answer, I was interupted mid-sentence by the bell. So I simply smiled and grabbed a  

random desk. To my surprise, Troy slipped in the desk right behind me. I could feel this eyes on the back of  

my skull and smell axe colone and strawberries in the air. I breezed through the class without even thinking  

about how the teacher will treat me. I was too caught up in my own fantasies to pay attention to anything.

On the bus ride home, Tevin had a dentist appointment, so he couldn't ride the bus home. So I hopped into the back seat where I always sit and pull out my IPod. I was almost finished listening to my favorite song, when Troy hopped in next to me. Surprised by this, I fiddled clumsily trying to put away my IPod. 

"Hi," Troy said.  

I smiled and said, "hello."  

Then Troy said, "hey um I was wondering if you can help get around the school tomorrow because today I missed 2 classes when I read my map wrong."  

I answered, "sure no prob." 

With a look of relief, Troy said, "thanks. I would really appreciate that."  

Then, after a few moments, Troy casually put his arm around my shoulders. I quickly shrugged it off, but it was to late. My face was turning as red as a tomato, I'm sure of it. So I quickly put my head down to try and hide my face. When I looked up, I could see Troy was trying to contain his laughter. This only made me blush more. Finally, Troy got off the bus. I quickly peeked outside, and noticed that he lived in what looked to be a small trailer house. Once the bus started moving again, I popped on my big blue headset and continued listening to my favorite song. I know one thing for certain though- I have a crush on Troy Stevens.