Middle School

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Mary Moore-Schultz was awoken to pale pink florescent light coming in through her translucent curtains, and the chirping of the swallowtails. A gentle breeze came through the cracked window, giving Mary pleasant chills. Her blankets were soft and warm, and her dark sienna nightgown with the white satin bows pressed against her hot skin, cooling her back. It would have been the perfect morning.

If only, if only, if only. If only middle school didn't start tomorrow, if only Mary wasn't fighting with Wren McCoy, her very best friend in the entire world. And if only her mother actually cared about her.

Miss Moore had divorced her husband two and a half years ago. He had been caught stealing from her bank account, and did a lot of community service. But he was already remarried and had an eighteen month old, Lexie.

Miss Moore was distant. Over the course of the two and a half years, she slowly stopped doing Friday night movies with Mary, stopped asking her how school was going, and Mary could disappear into her room for hours and her mother would never notice. She slowly became angry and Mary slowly became socially awkward with nobody to talk with, except Wren, but now even she was gone.

For Mary, it was very hard. Her dad never invited her over, and on his weekends, he hardly even talked to her. He was almost as distant as her mother. He was wrapped up with Lexie, and Linda, her stepmom.

She missed her mother, and she hated Linda, and she wished life had a reset button. All of this she poured out to Wren, and Wren would never even mind they hardly ever talked about her problems. But now, Wren was gone.

The fight had been over a week ago, at the park. Wren was on the swings, talking to a boy Mary had never seen. She was going to meet Wren and so she hurried over to her and the boy.

The boy had brown, curly hair, deep blue eyes and pure white teeth. He was kind of cute.

"Hey, Wren! And hi. . ." Mary said, glancing at the boy.

He said, "Spencer Litman. I'm going to your school this year, and I moved here from Alaska."

Mary had always loved Alaska. The mountains, the cold, the cute parkas. She searched her brain for the right words. It took a good ten seconds of awkwardly staring at each other while Mary tried to find words that measured up to beautiful Alaska. "Wow, you did? I've always wanted to live there. What's it like?" Mary sat down in the swing next to Spencer.

Spencer opened his mouth, but Wren cut in with, "He said it's freezing and sometimes it's really early when the sun sets."

Mary said, turning her eyes from Wren to Spencer quickly, "Did you see any mountains? I love mountains in Alaska."

Spencer laughed. "Yeah, I-"

"He saw a few. They were big and grey." Wren said flatly. Her green eyes held Mary in an intensive stare. Spencer sat awkwardly, turning his glance from Mary to Wren, looking slightly scared.

Mary directed her next question at Wren, "Oh, he did?"

Spencer said, "Yeah, I like to draw them. I really like art."

Then, Wren had stormed off without a word and Mary didn't follow her. Spencer stayed in his awkward position.

Mary still didn't know what had made Wren so angry, and Spencer didn't either. The two discovered they both love to paint and sing. They had gone to the park the following day, after the fight, and talked and got to know each other.

Spencer was also coming over to sketch a nearby stream with Mary after lunch. Mary had gotten a bit of a crush on him, but since she didn't know him very well, she decided to ask him out later. Maybe in a week or so. But then again, he would probably get a crush on another girl when school started. Mary decided to ask him out at the stream, but how?