Set it Free

Chapter One

*Author's Note*

Okay, so here's the first chapter! It's not the best - I hate writing the beginning of books! But overall I think it turned out decent. Thanks for reading!

Music blasted from the stereo propped up on my old oak dresser. The floors seemed to vibrate as I belted along the words, utilizing my almighty hairbrush-microphone, a trusted classic. I could barely hear my mother’s voice travel up the stairs, asking me how much longer until I was ready. Huh. I glanced at the clock - it didn’t seem like that much time had passed since I woke up, but apparently I was wrong. It was already almost four. All the students were supposed to be meeting at the school in half an hour - there was no way I was going to be on time.

All well. It’s not like I was ever on time for class - why should graduation be any different? Some people would consider my arriving late as keeping up with “tradition”, not “rude”. The seconds ticked by; I really did need to get going.

“Almost ready!” I shouted down the hall. It wasn’t the first time she had called up to me; she had been bugging me whether I was done yet for the past twenty minutes. Giving up on my little concert, I twisted one final section of hair around my curler, and soaked my strands with a few squirts of hair spray. The eye shadow sat unopened on my counter, so I decided to actually put it to use, choosing the rosy pink color. I flew down the stairs once I finally felt decent.

“Done!” I huffed.

Mother joined me at the bottom of the steps, giving me the once-over. “Thank God! You’re going to be late to your own graduation!” Thanks Mom, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear after two hours of prepping. I ran around the hallway, into the kitchen to snatch my keys up off the table. My stomach growled. Guess I should probably grab a bag of chips for the ride. All I needed now were the heels. Where did I put them again? My eyes darted around the kitchen - nope. I sneaked past my mom to the home office - still no shoes. Giving up, I heard her voice call out: “Eisley, come on, we have to go!”

I jogged into the living room, becoming more frazzled by the minute.

Mother held out one shoe to me. When I stared at her, pleading with my eyes if she knew where the other one was, she simply shrugged. “Not my problem. I just found this one in the bathroom earlier.” She raised her eyebrows, not even wanting to know why.

“Well I don’t know how it got there…maybe Bentley carried it in there…?” I trailed off, blaming my organization skills on the eight pound German Shepherd puppy. He was always getting into mischief…

She stared me down. “That still doesn’t explain where your other one is. Go find it. Now.”

Embarrassed about being so disorganized, I got up to go on the best kind of scavenger hunt - the shoe kind. I had already searched the kitchen and office, and apparently it wasn’t in the downstairs bathroom, so I tried the upstairs closet. Still no luck. Maybe the guest room? After all, I was in their a few days ago, dancing around in front off the full length mirror…the only thing that room ever gets used for. I opened the door and glanced around, but didn’t see anything shoe-like. Then it hit me - maybe I should try looking in my room. Things always turn up in the most obvious of places, right? I began digging through the piles of discarded clothes on the floor that were not deemed suitable for the graduation after-party. A few more minutes of searching went by. The Case of the Missing Shoe seemed hopeless - until I opened my closet.

Sitting dead-center on the floor, was my dainty silver shoe. Guess I’m more organized than I originally thought.

“Case closed!” I yelled down to Mother. My ears picked up the slight grumble she gave in response.