January 14th, 2011-
My name is Mandy. I am a fourteen year old girl who lives in downtown New York and I want my life to be like a story. Something that will be this fantastic novel that everyone will read, that has an ending so happy it will make you tear up. That's why I am writing this all down for you. So maybe by the end, if I ever read it, I can close this book and say, “Wow, that was a great part of my life.” Since there really is no “beginning”, let me start at this morning...
Chapter 1
I felt a pillow smack into my head. “Just five more minutes...” I mumbled, shoving my face back into the warm stuffing of my pillow.
“You said that 10 minutes ago”, was her reply. “So get out of bed before I have to grab both of your feet and drag you out myself.” There was a pause. “The shower is open; Gabby just got out.” Another pause. “And my dad made chocolate chip pancakes. It's my house we're having a sleepover at, so my rules. Get up.”
I sighed, knowing that she was right. Even though staying in bed all day was far more appealing than going to school, anywhere was better than...well, home. Which was where Cleo's dad would drive me if I tried to skip school again.
“Ok, ok. I'm up and leaving my blanket burrito behind”, I replied sarcastically, and sat up. Today I would be responsible. As Cleo opened her curtains streams of thick, dusty yellow sunshine extended their fingertips out to me and I squinted, not prepared for such a wake up call.
I wonder if my mom noticed I was gone this morning...
Gabby was sitting in front of Cleo's mirror, parting her chestnut hair straight through the middle and putting on mascara at the same time. “We're leaving in 30 minutes, Mandy, and you need at least 10 of those to clean up all those scratches that Rodney gave you, so get a move on.”
Shoot. Stretching out on my sleeping bag, I examined the damage done during the night. There were thin red marks all around my knees. “Cleo”, I grumbled. “Your physco cat attacked me again. And I was under my sleeping bag the whole night.”
She just smirked. “Rodney is a little angel. Just look at him.” He was curled up on the foot of her king size bed, dozing. “Mandy, maybe you just naturally give off a bad vibe around animals.”
“Thanks.” Stupid mad cat.
The remainder of the morning went by in a blur, as always. For me it's always like fast- forwarding through a movie; you still see the action, you just don't absorb it. I thought about that as I slipped on a pair of jeans, perfect for the crisp January weather, and stuck on a few band- aids.
“Mad cat got you pretty bad too, huh?” Gabby mumbled, finally turning away from the mirror.
“Rodney is not a mad cat! He was just protecting me, that's all”, Cleo argued, giving him a kiss.
“Protecting you from the evil demon girls lurking in your room? Cleo, the only reason you two get along well is because you are both gingers. And we all know that gingers have no souls.”
“Someday you'll learn to love him”, Cleo said quietly and put Rodney back in the floor, where he hissed at us before slinking out of the room; most likely plotting his next attack.
I just rolled my eyes, however, and let the straightening iron warm up before running it through my light brown hair. Preoccupied with watching both of my friends smear on half a tube of pastel pink lipgloss, I didn't realize that my hair was actually burning until Gabby yelled, “Mandy! Take the straightener out!” Gasping, I pulled it away, but not before a chunk of hair simmered and fell onto the blue carpeting silently.
“My hair”, I whimpered, looking at the damage.
Well, this morning couldn't possibly get any worse.
“Mandy. Plates go on the bottom, forks go on top.”
I turned around to face Cleo's dad, mumbling, “Sorry. Just not awake yet, I guess.” Even though chocolate chip pancakes were a staple in my life, today I just didn't have the energy to eat them. Lately sleeping had been a challenge, and it was just...screwing up everything.
At the breakfast table Gabby and Cleo, my two best friends, were chatting between mouthfuls of pancakes about a contest that the district was holding. My eyes were practically closed, but I was nodding my head lethargically to make it seem like I was paying attention.
“...thousands of entries, the best idea...”
“...trip to California...”
“...Mandy...”
“Mandy!”
I jolted awake. “What is going on with you today?” Gabby asked. “You just, like, fell asleep. You're not excited about the contest?”
I shrugged. “Not excited enough to stay awake, I guess. And there is no chance of any of us winning if there really are going to be thousands of entries. I mean, let's be realistic.” They just shrugged, though, and continued chatting; but instead I immersed myself in a memory from the day before.
“Mom?” I whispered tentatively, finding her shadowed silhouette huddled on the sofa. “Mom...can I turn on the stove for soup? Mom? Are you awake?”
“Go away, Mandy...I'm asleep.......shhh...”
I rose abruptly from the table, not wanting to let my mind wander anymore. “Ready to go to school?”
“Not really, but...let's go”, Cleo answered, and we hustled into her dad's small Honda. Hesitantly, I reached out and grabbed the handle of the side door, lurching it open even though my mind protested. Without meaning to, my eyes wandered to the front of the vehicle, seeking out the sharp indents that streaked across both sides of it. Then I remembered the car crash without meaning to, tore my eyes away, and leapt into the back seat.
Laughing, reminiscing something from the past day, we perched on the edge of the leather seats of the car, making Cleo's mom smile and glance at us through the mirror. Suddenly a car, sleek and black, swerved off the road and into our lane, spinning uncontrollably on the ground. Cleo's mom slammed on the brakes. The sound of rubber scraping against pavement imitated a throaty scream and filled the air, followed by a crash. My body slammed into the door next to me, and Gabby jammed heavily into my side. Then blackness drew a veil over my head and my thoughts, and I slipped out of consciousness.
I awoke in a hospital, lying on a bed in a room bathed in white. A nurse walked through the door, came up next to me, smiled. “You're free to go home now, honey.”
But Cleo's mom wasn't free to go home. In fact, she would never go home again.
Pulling myself out of the memory, refusing to get lost in it, I turned towards my friends. They were peering into their backpacks with distaste written on their faces. “Mandy, what do you have for lunch today?” Gabby asked, looking inside her own lunchbox and frowning.
“I'm just going to buy a salad”, I mumbled, trying to forget about the past and focus on what she was complaining about.
The car pulled up to NYD High School, and we were hurried onto campus. “Bye, girls”, Cleo's dad called, and then quickly drove away, as if the horrors of high school were already affecting him.
We stepped onto the pavement inside of the yellow warning lines, and onto the vast brick walkway surrounding the school. The sky was an incandescent blue and small clouds dotted the skyline, like ink blotted mistakenly onto parchment. It was a perfect day.
Cleo snickered, then, kicking at the black pavement. “It's like he doesn't even care if we go to school at all. I mean, I bet we could all just ditch today and he wouldn't even blink an eye. He practically lives at work now, and we never even have time to have a decent conversation without someone from the office calling him. Ever since mom died things have been so...hard.”
She sighed. “Sorry, I'm ranting again.”
