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Chapter One

 Lied. Writing it now.

  Has it really been three hours? She wondered. Three hours ago, she'd been messaging her closest friend Maria about her "ingenious" idea. After she'd mentioned how she'd go about it, Maria had said "Brb." and promptly stopped responding-but that was hours ago, and she hadn't returned. With an offset jaw, she stood up, and immediately fell back onto her chair, as her knees gave out. Clearly, she shouldn't have been sitting for so long.

   Stretching her legs until she could safely stand, she got up and walked out of her room, down to the kitchen as quietly as she could. Her mom never took too kindly to her staying up past eleven, and her dad, still sleeping in the basement, wouldn't notice, but she had to be careful. No matter how unnecessary such an early bedtime was, even on a Sunday night, it would be enforced. Once she got down the last painstakingly slow step, quiet clinking became audible from the kitchen.

   "Who in the..?" she whispered to herself. Wrapping one hand around an umbrella from the coat rack, she approached the kitchen slower than before. Once confirming her long-haired brunette thief had their back turned, she dashed into the kitchen and held the umbrella right behind the intruder's head. Taking a step back, Jen alerted the brunette of her presence.

   Turn around, turn around, turn around.. With her umbrella raised, she started to bring it down when the woman in her house turned around.

  "Maria!" Jen hissed, quietly as she could. How dare she? How dare she visit my house, in the middle of the night, when we should both be asleep, and on top of all that; how dare she steal my chocolate milk?

   "Sh! And lower the umbrella. You look like a statue." Maria laughed in a half-whisper. She turned for a second to grab her milk and leaned against the counter top, holding the glass against her bottom lip. Like, it didn't even matter, like, she didn't just sneak into my house.

   "Why are you here? Whats wrong with you? You cannot, under any circumstances just sneak into a person's house and steal their drinks. What in gods name made you think this was rational? Go home before we're both caught!" Jen spilled out, taking a deep breath to refill her lungs after. Maria's face didn't change the whole time, and all she did to respond was to take a long sip of her milk.

   "Don't you nonchalantly drink milk when I'm talking to you! Go. Home!"

   "You're so dull, Jenna. No one is likely to care. And besides," she paused to take another sip, "we have something to talk about, do we not?

   "Sure. Sure we do! But not here, not now at twelve in the morning when you should be at home. I'll talk to you about it at school or online, but not here. Got it?" She set down the umbrella, still clasped in my left hand and leaned it against the oven. Truly, Jen was still burning with anger just under her skin, but knew better by now than to let any more of it spill out. She would promise to speak to her the next day, and kindly walk her out of the house before they both got in huge trouble.

   "Really, have you no flair for adven-" She interrupted her friend there. "Of course I do! I love adventures. I love adventure books, but it;s not much of an adventure when the only possible outcome is us both being grounded for a month at least!"

   She grunted. "Fine. I'll go. But you meet me straight after school, do you hear me? Or I will personally drag you out of class and we can talk over lunch at the bakery." She turned and left, and Jen guided her silently out the door, wishing her luck as she left.

  Somewhere, she knew she still felt like she should get what she deserved just once. Sure, she was lovable, and a perfect person, and sure, she was so beautiful people expected her to be dumb, but she lived boundlessly. She'd only ever gotten in trouble twice; once in first gade for colouring on the wall with crayon and once in the beginning of this year for swearing when she banged her knee on a table. Jen loved having her as a friend all the same, but sometimes she really wished she could learn some sense.

   Just as painstakingly slowly, she slid up the stairs to her room as silently as possible. It was almost one now, and if she stayed up any later, she'd quite surely miss first period. But once Jen was back in the light yellow walled space that was her room, her sanctuary, with posters of various singers and dancers and various characters and superheros posted all over the walls, her mind started buzzing, whisking around like a hummingbird. With a mind stuffed full of ideals and hopes, she pulled on a nightgown over (admittedly bulky) figure and nestled against her mattress under a thick layer of blankets.

     The next day, she was practically going through school robotically. All she could think about was her idea. After she got home, she wasn't even sure she remembered anything specific from the day. She spent most of her time zoned out, thinking about this video plan. If she started making good enough covers of songs, she could get some attention. Maybe she could even write one or two of her own songs, but that seemed a little irrational.

    She was still up in space taking the bus home, when someone bumped her shoulder.

   "Earth to Jen? Hello, anyone in there?" It was Maria, enforcing what she'd said about their meet up after school. "I'll get off at your stop and we can talk about this at your house, alright?" It was rather like her to just tag along without asking anything, Jen mused.

   "So are we going to your house or mine?" Maria pushed. Not that I actually care, she thought. "I'd rather go to yours. Being around my parents with this probably isn't a great idea."

    "Right. But you have to promise not to break any paintings this time."

    What? "What? I didn't break it! You were there- it FELL!" She simply smirked. "Sure it did."

                                                         *             *             *

   By then the two were back in Maria's basement, setting up snacks. "So," Maria began,  "what do you want to talk to me about?"

Okay, there. I got stuck with no idea what to do when I was writing, so it's cut off. But there.