Misfit Troublemaker(On Hold)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I really wished they would stop. My ears were deafening from their annoying sounds. They were playing again, playing the piano that is. I turned on my speakers and turned up the volume of my phone.

My name is Skyler Ashburn. I'm seventeen years old and I have one older sister and two younger sisters. They tried to get me to play the piano too, but I wasn't having any of that.

I never really fit in with my family. Never have, never will. For starters, I look completely different from my sisters. While I have unusually translucent skin and black hair, my sisters all have brown eyes and the natural tan of a Spanish person. (My grandmother is Spanish.) And while they have brown eyes like my father, I have blue eyes that I got from my grandmother. Secondly, my sisters basically excel in everything they do. Victoria, who’s twenty-two, is studying to be a lawyer. Isabel is the same age as me, except that I was born in March while she was born in December, is just this genius who just got accepted into Harvard in early admission. I, however, sucked at school and was more often than not, called a devil spawn by most of the school population while Isa walked around with a holier-than-thou attitude.

Amelia, the youngest, takes after Isa a lot. She’s thirteen and a brat. She has both my parents wrapped around her finger. As soon as she could walk, she began banging on the piano and they signed her up for lessons. She gets away with everything and I’m always to blame. Well if you knew me long enough, you’d put the blame on me too.

I take out my headphones and turn on my speakers instead and turn the volume up. I go to my closet and open it up. I push all my clothes to the side and come face to face with my shoe rack. I lift a pair of nude pumps and a door slides to the right, revealing my sewing room, where I keep my designs and, well, sew.

I took a dress that I had been working on for a while now. I still remember my first experience with a sewing machine. I was supposed to be playing the piano but I was distracted by my Abuelita’s sewing. She was using silk to make me a dress and I was so intrigued that I went to where she was sitting and she taught me how to sew. Later on, she helped me sew dresses for my dolls. She was the person who helped me persuade Mother to let me do my own thing. Rosalinda Gonzales (She kept her maiden name) was a headstrong and confident woman and she was the reason I am who I am today.

There was a knock on my room door and Isabel’s voice yelled, “It’s time for dinner!

“Okay!” I yelled back. I scrambled out of my wardrobe and tripped on a hanger. I got back up quickly and reached for the remote control that closed the secret door. No one knows about my secret wardrobe, and I don’t want them to find out. I took my cell phone and ran down the steps to our dining room. I walked to the dining room to see my whole family there and our cook, Lucy, placing a piece of salmon on each of the six plates.

Ooh salmon. My favorite. Lucy is the best cook ever. She only half cooks the salmon so it’s still raw on the insides and she marinates the salmon with soy sauce, sesame oil, onion powder, a hint of paprika and some black pepper. I sat down on my chair, next to Isabel, and waited for the rest of the family to come down. After we said grace, everyone starts talking about school or piano practice and shit. I rolled my eyes before I quickly inhale my food, not wasting a second.

“Excuse me,” I say, but I know no one heard me. I take my plate to the kitchen and give it to Lucy, who shoots me a sympathetic smile. I smiled back but I knew that it didn’t quite reach my eyes.

“I’m going to the beach,” I told Lucy. She nodded and took my plate away. I checked my phone for the time. 6.25. I went to the garage and grabbed my Penny board, Pandora, and opened the garage door. (And yes, my Penny board’s name is Pandora. Don’t judge.)

I love skateboarding, or in this case, Penny boarding. I only used my skateboard in the skate park and my Penny board for cruising.  I love the way the wheels grind over the pavement and the rush of the wind when you speed up. I’ve been skateboarding since I was 10. I was just exploring our town with my best friend Hudson and I saw this group of teenagers, both guys and girls, about fifteen years old at a skate park on the other side of town.

There were doing these really neat tricks and stunts. I was totally hooked. I got my first board, and I learnt from the girls. They were more than happy that someone noticed them. I tried getting Hudson to try skateboarding, but he was afraid he would break his neck or something.

 I skated to the beach and reached it in record time and flip Pandora up and tucked her in between my body and arm. I kick off my sneakers and pick them up with my other hand. The beach is deserted besides the homeless guy who sleeps on the bench and a couple of stray animals. It was almost the end of winter now so hardly anyone goes to the beach at this time. It doesn’t snow very much where I live but it gets pretty cold at night whether its spring, summer or winter.

 I head to my favorite spot which is under this huge palm tree. It’s so old that it bends forwards and creates an awesome shade during sunny days.

The other reason I love it so much is because lots of starfish get washed up there. I put my shoes under the shade with my board and roll up my jeans. I just stood there, enjoying the ocean breeze. A fat pink starfish washes up on shore. I smile as I picked it up cus reminded me of Patrick from Spongebob.

I take a few steps back and with ‘Patrick’ in my right hand, I flung him back to sea. I love animals. You can actually talk to them, and they don’t talk back, or judge or whatever. Besides God, of course. I dunno, whenever I’m with animals, it kind of calms me. I actually volunteer at the animal shelter whenever I can. Most of the animals there survived through animal abuse and some of them were abandoned. It just makes my heart break to see them helpless.

Of course mummy dearest thought the idea of helping helpless animals is ‘atrocious’; her words, not mine. She started droning on about rabies and infections while I managed to eat a whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough during her whole lecture.

I threw a few more starfish back to the ocean when I realized that it was getting dark. I threw one more starfish then when back to put on my socks and shoes. I quickly skated to my house before I’m in for another lecture. I just hope Lucy restocked the ice cream.

Fortunately, when I came home, Mom and Dad were bustling to get ready to go to some posh party. Well, Mom was bustling. Dad was sitting on the couch reading the paper. See, Dad’s a CEO for some sort of company. I don’t even know what he does, but apparently it involves wearing neck-chocking ties and going to lots of snotty, posh dinners.

I snicker quietly. Mom is still looking for her diamond earrings, which are, wouldn't you know it, on her ears.

"Christopher! Come help me find my earrings!" My mom yelled.

My dad sighed and simply replied, "They're on your ears, darling,” without looking up from his paper.

"Oh," My mom said, "Okay kids, we're off now. Be good."

She looked at me and said, “Stay out of trouble.”

I rolled my eyes. I don’t get into criminal trouble like underage drinking, or drugs or smoking, so she should be thankful. But let’s just say that sometimes, I get a little creative with public property. No big deal.

She waved goodbye and after we heard the car backing the driveway, we all went back to doing whatever we were doing while I just went straight to bed.