Pull the Plug at Midnight

Chapter 1

"Adelaide, would you quit that?"

She wasn't doing anything in particular to upset most people, but her parents sensed the silent fit throwing and fidgeting as she slumped in her chair. Adelaide's family was sitting in the office of the children's new school. It wasn't a big deal for any of them, to be completely honest. They had all already moved schools along with houses 9 times in the past 4 years. Their father always said the next house in their new city would be "filled with opportunity." But the children knew better, and they were all sick of being disappointed time after time. Which is exactly why Adelaide and her brothers were throwing these silent fits.

Well, her youngest brother was throwing a rather loud one. She lived with 5 of her brothers. Henry, at four years old, was the youngest one crying and throwing a fit in the corner (I'm sure he was crying over a toy that had been left in the car and not being at the school. He was far too young to understand all the moving). The next oldest was nine-year-old Arthur. He was sitting next to Kayden who was thirteen, and full of energy. Even now, just sitting there, his legs were bouncing under the table. They kept hitting Kevin. Kevin was just a year older than Kayden, and he was a hothead. He was restraining from punching his brother in the face every time their legs bumped. Adelaide was the next oldest, a year older than Kevin. And then there was James who was turning 18 next year. Their mother had promised him he would finish his high school years at the same school, but just as every other promise they made, it didn't happen.

Adelaide turned to her mother. "Can I go outside?" She figured she had to get out of there before she went absolutely bonkers in that room.

"Sure, honey. We'll honk the horn when it's time to go, okay?" She touched her daughter's face and gave her a warm smile. Adelaide returned hers with a smaller one and went outside, immediately being wrapped in the spring air. It was a bit cold for spring, but Adelaide liked the way the wind whipped around and bit her on the nose. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before skipping down the steps and taking a look around.

The school was already too entirely small for her, just by looking at the parking lot. The field was huge, but there weren't enough students to fill the vast area of grass. She couldn't believe her parents were moving them all here. She sat down on the ledge by the office (If you jumped off of it, you would be on the field) as the thought more about it. This wasn't even a city their parents had moved them to this time. It was a tiny little town, and this school was in the middle of nowhere. She grumbled at the thought, more than she had when they had first received the news.

"Rough day?" Adelaide looked down at the soccer field and saw a girl, about her age. She had long brown hair and was wearing a tight yellow shirt with blue yoga pants and sketchers. Looking down at her own clothes, she realized just how much of an opposite she was to this girl. Her hair was short and brown with bangs. She was wearing a black hoodie that was 4 sizes too big for her, ripped black jeans and black-on-black converse. She laughed at how different they were.

"You could say that." She responded to the girls' question. The girl smiled and climbed up the ledge and sat next to her. Not too close, like most people did. Adelaide appreciated that.

"My name's Sonny." She extended her hand, but Adelaide ignored it. Sonny slowly retracted her hand and sat there for a while before speaking again.

"Uhm.. are you moving to this school?"

Adelaide nodded.

"That's cool. I saw a moving truck pull into the house across the street from my house. I didn't know it was you."

"Do you go to this school?" Adelaide inquired

"Well, yes. I don't see why else I have any business here, at a school out in the middle of nowhere." Sonny smiled mischievously to herself as she answered. Adelaide thought that since she would be going to this tiny school with her, and now lived on her street, she could at least try to put some effort into a peaceful relationship with this girl.

"My name is Adelaide."

Sonny perked up and turned her whole body to face her. "Really?? That's such a pretty name! Most of the kids here don't have the types of names that make you sound all fancy and stuff. They'll pick on you for it I think," she chuckled while thinking about it. "Maybe you should shorten it to a nickname like Addy or something."

"Will they really do that?" Adelaide sighed thinking about all the bullying she would get for being the new girl. She didn't want to have her name used against her either.

"Probably. Everyone I know in this town has short names that don't make you sound all fancy or anything. There's Tom who is on our street. He's nice and all, but he has a thing with Erin and she's pretty... intense, you could say. Another one is Ben. He doesn't even have the full 'Benjamin.' It just says 'Ben' on his birth certificate." She continued to ramble on about all the boring names of the people in this town. Normally, things like this irritated Adelaide. But this girl seemed different for her. Sonny's voice soothed her, and she didn't mind all the rambling and stumbling she did with her words. Or maybe it was just the cold air. That always put Adelaide in a better mood no matter what the circumstances or situation.

As Sonny was still talking about people's names, she heard the honking of her parent's car.

"Ah, Sonny," She interrupted. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. My parents just honked for me."

"Oh, okay. See you later, Addy." She smiled and waved and Adelaide waved back.

She turned around and began walking back to the parking lot, found the car and hopped in.

Her mother smiled at her as she got in and sat next to James. He was on his phone and didn't even look up at her. "What do you think about your new school?"

Adelaide looked through the window and saw Sonny jumping down from the ledge and jogging across the field. She smiled as she buckled her seatbelt, and the car pulled out of the parking lot.

"I think it's gonna be okay."