The Golden Saphire Chapter One, and Two

Chapter One

Tony’s Journal Volume One





Tony Goodman wasn’t good at school. It’s not that he didn’t try-He did he just wasn’t good at it. People always told him to just try harder, after –all, practice makes perfect right? Wrong. Always wrong. They didn’t get it. He just wasn’t good at learning.





“Tony, pay attention!” Mr. Steele’s sharp voice snapped me back to awareness.

“Uh I was listening.” I lied.

“Oh good,” replied Mr. Steele “Glad to hear it.” Mr. Steele was smiling mockingly now. “Could you please explain to the class the concept of Napoleon’s Theorem?” I could visibly see now how much joy he was taking in this. Jerk.

“Isn’t that your job?” I asked. “Or are you just too stupid to read that out of the back of your book?” Mr. Steele’s smug smile quickly vanished. This along with his now red-hot face caused the class to giggle quietly or in some places, just outright laugh.

“I believe two hours of detention and a three page essay on Napoleon’s Theorem will keep you from being such a smart-ass next time” Mr. Steele said icily. I shut-up. So did the rest of the class. “Don’t you think,” inquired Mr. Steele.

“Yup, that’ll teach this naughty boy,” I said without thinking. More laughing.

“I asked you a question Tony. I want an answer,” Mr. Steele shot back.

“I heard you,” I said “sadly,” I whispered to those closest to me, just loud enough for Mr. Steele to hear.

“Excuse me?” Steele asked, annoyed.  “I asked if you heard me. That was not the correct response. Try again. Slowly this time.” He paused lamely for affect. “Did…You…Hear…me?”

“Yes,” I replied dryly.

“Yes sir,” Mr. Steele corrected coolly.

“Oh, there’s no need to call me sir. Tony will do just fine,” I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm. A look of shock crossed Steels face.

“OUT!” He bellowed. “To principle Spartans office! I’ll have you expelled!” He roared, his face turning an ugly shade of purple.

“Whatever,” I replied with a long, drawn-out fake yawn. On the way out of the room, I got sorrowful looks, and sad pats on the back from my fellow classmates. Kady Livingston, the hottest fifteen year-old in the school even winked at me! For real! She didn’t even have anything in her eye! And the only person behind me was Eddy Yellow, the class Geek, who hadn’t had a girlfriend since the fifth grade! Five years ago! Yup, no mistake. She was winking at me! Wow! I tried to wink back, but it probably looked more like I was having some weird eye spasm. She got the picture anyway. I tried not to blush, but I could fell my cheeks getting warm. I got to the door, and pushed. I plowed right into it.

‘Dumb-S***!’ I yelled inwardly at myself.

I recovered quickly, but too late. A few people were laughing softly to themselves. I Blushed again, though more so this time.

“Smooth move retard!” I looked around me. It was Shane. Shane Gretson. Weird name, weird guy. One of the only sixteen year-olds in the class, and definitely the stupidest. He flunked-out last year with a 46% grade average in most of his classes, but in some, he managed to get it down to only a 36%. He actually brags about it too. Yippee! Some accomplishment! I of course ignored his rude, if not correct comment.

We didn’t get along. Not since the eighth grade, anyway. When I beat Shane at a game of air hockey, and got to take out Glen Silver (the hottest girl in school at the time) to the big dance that year, while he stayed home, and paint-balled neighbor’s houses. He got caught in about half an hour. Idiot.

Like I said, I ignored him of course, and tried, once again to try to pass through the ever deceptive doors. Though this time, I tried a new tactic, one that would have put even Albert Einstein to shame; Pull on the door. ‘Yeah’ I thought, ‘maybe that will work’. Of course, it didn’t. God, how I hate double doors.  So, again I failed at the seemingly impossible task of exiting through the double freakin’ doors, and into the freedom beyond. (Or at least as free as being sent to the principals office can be.) More people were laughing now, (Of course, Steele was the loudest of the laughers) and I silently cursed myself for not trying the right door the first time. In my frustration, I again forgot to pull, and pushed. By now, I was beyond mad at myself and these stupid doors. Hell if everyone wasn’t watching, I probably would have attacked myself. Weird no?

Nonetheless, I just had to get out!

Almost everyone was laughing! I then franticly tried the only option left to me; Pull on the right door. I gave it a tug, and for a single sickly moment, the door stuck, and I thought it wouldn’t open, so I gave it a mighty pull, worthy of an God…Right into my shoe where it then bounced back closed! Before anyone could register what happened though, I yanked it open again, (missing my shoe I’m happy to report.) and dashed out…

“Freedom!” I shouted as soon as the door closed behind me, earning a strange look from Sven, our janitor.

“You ok son?” he asked me. Even though I didn’t think I could have blushed more, I did. I also started crying like a little baby, so I ran off down the hall to principal Spartans office, where I recovered outside the door before entering. Luckily no one else saw me. Wow. Lucky me.

I stared at the door I was supposed to go through to the teacher’s lounge, which also held the door to Principle Spartans office. I now officially had a fear of doors. Sad, I know. At least this one wasn’t a double door. If it was, I probably would have just broken down crying again. Good thing. I inspected it closely.

“Aha!” I exclaimed before I thought better of it. I looked around me carefully to see if anyone was there. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was a Nutburger. All clear. “Yes!” I shouted to no one in particular. Sadly, at that exact moment, Sven walked around the corner, mop at the ready to see what all the commotion was about. He looked around quickly, and only saw me there, my fist in the air, lookin’ guilty.

“Who ya talkin’ to now son?” he asked me, a blank expression on his face.

“Erm... No one I guess” I answered stupidly, my hand falling back down to my side. Apparently it felt pretty stupid too. Maybe I am a crazy, I thought.

“Oh. Ok then.” He replied, and quickly walked the other way and back around the corner, but not before throwing me a strange look.

So much for no one thinking I was a Nutburger. Even I think I am now. How depressing.

Now, back to the reason I’m a crazy.

After my careful inspection of the annoying little door, I saw a small little sign in the corner of the glass pane, inserted in the door that said                      Push.

Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!  Nice and explanatory, and right there too! Joy! I pushed… and it opened! First time. I looked over at Principal Spartans Assistant, Mrs. Bell.

“Hey,” I said all casual. “I just got sent here, so do I just go in, or what?” She smiled a big, fake smile.

She was a pretty young person for a personal assistant-probably 23 or 24 with blond hair, and faded blue eyes. She was pretty good looking. Or at least she would be, if she didn’t always have that fake smile plastered on her face. It actually looked like it hurt. And if you think about it, it probably did. After all, she had to wear it for six hours a day, five days a week. Plus over time. Yeah. It hurt.

“I’ll see if he can take you right now,” She replied, overly sweetly. As she got up, she turned back to me and said sternly “just take a seat, and don’t touch anything.”

I rolled my eyes, and plopped down into one of the plush leather seats, that looked like they belonged in a Starbucks, not a teacher’s lounge. Oh well. No biggie. There were lots of different newspapers, and magazines lying on the various side tables scattered about. It was all very doctors’ office esque, but I didn’t care. Thankfully, He is not my doctor. I was about to pick up a sports illustrated, underneath a stack of different fliers, and other ads, about doing good in school (or else) while still others were for the losers who didn’t (like me), when I saw that over by the door, there was a mirror, so I got up to go inspect myself.

What I saw staring back at me didn’t surprise me though. Sadly. I half hoped that someone stole my face in the middle of the night, and replaced it with Brad Pitt’s. Hey, I’m human!

Black unkempt hair, piercing blue eyes, and, of course, no facial hair. Yup. Bald as a baby’s bottom. I puffed out my cheeks, and upper lip, willing the hair to grow, trying to force it out of its pores. (I read somewhere that this helps. Of course it didn’t.)

“He- Erm…He’ll see you now,” Said Mrs. Bell as she came into the room.                                        My eyes bulged, and I quickly deflated, and just stood there, facing the mirror, looking stupid. I looked back, and saw she had another smile on her face. This one wasn’t fake. The magazine gave us a warning not to do this particular practice in public, but if we did, it gave us a perfectly good and witty comeback. To bad I forgot it.

“Wow. Uh... Thanks. See ya then.” Man, I was totally boycotting that stupid magazine. I dashed towards the door to the office, before I could do anything else stupid, and opened it before slamming it quickly behind me. It wouldn’t be until later that I realized that I had made it through first time. It’s extremely sad, when you are reduced to being happy about something as simple as that. Oh well.





Principal Spartans office is as boring as he is. Plain walls, one picture adorns directly behind him, (Depicting a Roman Spartan decapitating a foe) His desk is made of very durable steel, and he has two stools made of the same, waiting for whoever is unlucky enough to have to visit. His desk is a very expensive looking office chair, with comfortable looking armrests.

“So, So, So…” he says in a way I’m sure he thinks is sinister.

Lame-wad.

“I knew I would see you in here before long” he continues. He actually looks happy about this encounter. Jeesh. I’m not that bad of a guy.

“Sup?” I answer casually. He just looks at me blankly for a second, before deciding, apparently that I said ‘hi’.

“Sup?” he repeats. “Not even a real word” he corrects me smartly. Or what he probably thinks is smartly. He actually just sounded like an idiot. Or maybe he was making me sound like an idiot. Just as well.

“Well so sorry” I say sarcastically. He closes his eyes and takes a deep slow breath. He was probably noting how stupid I am. Or was. Or… whatever.

I am almost sorry to do this,” he says with a dramatic, drawn-out pause.” But hey, lets face it; ya’ had it coming” he finishes, surprising me with his use of the word ‘ya’. Very un Spartan-like. (He used to be a grammar teacher before he gave it up to move up on the pecking order. He generally despises it when people use incorrect grammar. Sucks for me. I get C’s in that particular subject.)

“What?” I ask sounding slightly bored. Deep down I was a bit worried though. What if I got kicked out? My Mom would crucify me! “Detention? Community Service maybe? What?” I say it smug, though more than a little worriedly.

“Suspension” he replies casually. My heart skipped a beat. No, make that two beats.

“Huh?” I ask lamely, my mind and heart racing a million miles a second. What am I going to tell my parents? When am I going to tell my parents? Am I going to tell my parents? These, along with a million other thoughts flashed through my head in a nanosecond. Yup, you guessed it; I was in deep crap, and with no possible way out. Unless…

“Two weeks. End of discussion. Now, out of my office.” I turn to leave, now, I don’t know what went through my head right then, but it probably went something like this; ‘Hey, Hurry, say something stupid before you start thinking rationally again!’, but I couldn’t help but to add just one more comment. I quickly tuned into wise-ass mode and answered;

“Yes ma’am.” He didn’t skip a beat. He added;

“Oh, and by the way, you’re flunking math.”

Oops. By now I would be lucky to be mercifully crucified. If only.

“Oh goodie!” I say, before leaving his office.





After leaving the office, and entering the teachers lounge, I was promptly questioned by Mrs. Bell.

“So,” she asked “what happened? What did he get ya’ for?” she actually looked like I might tell her. Obviously, her job must have been pretty boring. Whatever. I ignored her, and tried to continue walking, but she would not e denied this tasty tid-bit of information.

“Oh come on. I won’t tell anyone else. Pretty please? My job is so boring!” She emphasized this by sticking her lower lip out, and began pouting. Yeah right. Like I was going to tell her. Ha!

“Not a chance,” I say, and try to get around her. She sidesteps into my way, and I have to put on the brakes, or I would have just plowed right into her.

“Ok, tell you what” she said, her smile and pout lip gone. ”You tell me, and I wont tell everyone else about the reason that you were sent to the principals office last week.

Ok, there was no way I was going to have her tell everyone about that particular incident. I didn’t even know she knew about it. Oh well, I guess you hear stuff in this kind of work.

“Ok, fine. Whatever. I got suspended for two weeks. Happy?”

I decided not to tell her everything. It’s not like it’s her business. She was being like, way nosy as it was. And rude.

“Ha! I saw that coming a mile away!” She said. How rude. “Besides, I don’t even know what you did last week! You are so gullible!” Wow. She just moved up on the rude scale by like, a lot.

“Thanks for all the help!” I say as I side-step around her and open the door to the hallway. She looked surprised by how nice I was being. Apparently she thought that she was a pretty big jerk too. Oh well. She won’t be disappointed. I added;

“I mean it. Really. You really put the Ass in Ass-istant!” I quickly turned around and closed the door behind me before she decided to kill me.





The whole way off campus, I wondered what to do. I knew a few guys, (and of course girls) who were suspended I could hang out with, and do whatever for the two weeks. No one would have to know. As for the flunking, I’ll just tell them, that I was having trouble with Napoleon’s theorem, and that it was very important that I got it down other wise there would be a good chance that I would fail that subject. It was technically the truth. Then when I flunked, I could blame it on that. Brilliant! Kind-of.

Ok, I admit it, I was probably screwed. Oh well.





I approach the front of my house with dread. What if Principal Spartan called ahead then I would definitely be screwed. The only bright spot about coming home is that I know that you pull on the door to open it. Joy. I actually smiled at the thought of that. I probably looked pretty stupid (though I was beyond caring at this point.) just standing there with a goofy grin on my face. Lame.

I open the door, and call carefully into the house,

“Hey, anybody home? Mom? Dad? Jake?” Jacob is my older brother, and he is evidently at work right now. He is seventeen, and he has an after school job at the grand mall. It’s the fourth biggest mall in the state, with over two hundred employees.

My Dad works a Boeing, as an engineer instructor, which means, he teaches people how to make airplanes, cool job.

My Mom on the other hand, works at rite-aid, as a cashier. Not so cool, but hey, it’s a job.

None of them were home yet.

“Growler?” I call for our huge guard dog. I really hoped that he was asleep.

Not a chance.

“Bark!” replied Growler, as he raced down the stairs and around the corner into the kitchen, claws click-clacking on the hard wood floors. Into the dining room and the hall, running now, straight at me.

“Uh-oh” I barely got the words out before he jumped up and tackled me!

“Git orf O’ me!” I shout as I was smothered in kisses. “Come on! Get off of me Growler!” We all thought it would be funny to name such a ‘pet-me-and-I-will-love-you-forever’ dog Growler, and make it a watch dog. Totally the opposite of the traditional growler.

I finally get up off the floor, and head into the kitchen to get Growler some food. After feeding him, I go into the living room and crash on the couch.

My Mom comes home two hours later, and wakes me from my strange dream where my Mom is wearing a hat like the cat in the hats, and is dancing around and making strange rhymes like;



Its not so funny honey,

When you get kicked out of school,

Like a stupid little fool!



“Honey wake up!” she says, gently prodding me awake. I look up sleepily and more than a bit grumpy after getting woken up about three years to early.

“Imagine that, you’ve lost your hat!” I reply.

“Huh?” she asks with a confused look on her face. “Are you okay dear?”

“Fine, I’m divine” I reply

“Why are you making all of these strange Dr. Sues rhymes?” She questions me.

“You’re quite right; no need to fight this is no time to rhyme.”  I say, with a goofy grin on my face, now happy to be out of my strange little dream. She gives me another strange little look, but just hefts her grocery bag up and brings it into the kitchen.

“Help me with these groceries” She says walking into the kitchen, to put down her bags.

“Ok!” I say and get up and go out to the car. There are only three bags left, and I grab them all, close the door, and put them down in the kitchen. After that, I went back into the living room, and turn on the T.V., and watch M.T.V. for while. After my Mom finishes putting the groceries away, she comes in and asks me if anything interesting happened at school today. I decide she probably doesn’t know, or she would have talked to me sooner, so I lie;

“Nothing much” I say it casually, though with a hint of boredom.

“Ok then” she says. “I’m going to go take a nap” she finishes.

“Okay. Goodnight” I say, and turn back to the black eyed peas singing about Fergies humps, and lumps and what-not, when a phone rang. I was surprised to find it within hand reach of me. There was something strange about it. It looked very, extremely old, like the kind of phone your grandmothers, grandmother used to keep in her antique collection. The weirdest thing about it was it wasn’t even plugged into anything. It didn’t even have a plug. It was sitting on the seat next to me, but I never noticed it before.

“I got it!” I called down the hall. I reached for the strange little phone, and when I came close to touching it, I stopped short. I felt a strong sense of dread wash over me, so strong, I felt as if I was going to pass out. I picked up the phone anyway, though I don’t know why. I didn’t have the strength to say anything anyway. But I knew. I knew I had to answer, that the call was met for me and me only. I picked up the phone, and everything went black.

It wouldn’t be until later, that I realized that we don’t even have a phone of any kind in our living room.



It would come to be the call he would never forget.

It was a call that would change his life.

Forever.





End of Chapter One.

Tony









Chapter Two

Kady’s Journal Volume One





         Kady has it all goin’ on. She’s good at school. She’s popular. She has great friends and a greater body. She isn’t stuck up, and she isn’t poor. Yup. How much more goin’ on can you get? Well, according to Kady, a lot.

         She wants to get into Harvard, but her grades just don’t cut it. She wants Tony Goodman, The coolest and the hottest guy in school, (In her opinion anyway. Most of her friends don’t agree.) To be her boyfriend. But he just doesn’t seem to notice her. She tries really hard to get him to notice her but it’s like she’s just wall paper. He sees her, but doesn’t take any note. (In truth she couldn’t be more wrong, but hey, Oh well) She also is has too many fights with her parents (like two a week! Wow! How un-normal!) And her older brother Jason is way to overprotective…





I can’t believe it! I actually got up the nerve to say something to Tony earlier today! Well, I didn’t actually say anything, but I winked at him! And he winked back! Kind of. I think so anyway.

         Too bad he got suspended about half an hour later. That really sucked… Oh well. Not much you can do about that.

         “Hey Kady!” Shouted a voice from down the hall. I was outside my locker, staring into the depths, just thinking about Tony, when that voice pulled me rudely back into existence.

         I quickly scanned the crowded hall, searching for the voice. It was my best friend, Jessica, and she was running toward me.

         “Hey, what’s up?” I asked coolly. I start to walk away and Jessica draws level with me.

         “Guess what?” she asked excitedly.

“What” I asked humoring her.

“Me and Mark are going out now!” Jessica replied with enthusiasm, her face one big smile.

“Great,” I replied with absolutely no enthusiasm. I didn’t smile either. What a wet blanket. I slowed to a stop and faced Jessica.

“Look, I would love to stay and chit-chat, but I’ve got to get home in time to help my Mom before she leaves for a meeting, and she would probably kill me if I didn’t show up on time.” I say this, whishing she would just go ahead and leave already, but I put on a sorrowful face anyway. I feel like such a jerk. Even though it’s all inward. Weird.

“Hey, No biggie!” She replied with a knowing smile. “Besides, Isaac is looking for you! He says he’s got good news!”

A jolt of adrenaline shot through me, and I left without saying goodbye. No, not in the direction of the school doors, but deeper into the school. Suddenly, missing my appointment with Mom didn’t seem so important. Nothing did. Except this. One sentence flashed through my mind over and over as I flashed down the halls, and around corners, running into people as I went. At this rate, I didn’t care what people thought of me. If they all thought I was crazy, so what? It’s not like it was as important as Harvard!

I finally got to his office and ran in… to the door. Ouch. (There’s a reoccurring theme here somewhere.) I didn’t falter, just took a step back, took a deep breath, and steeled myself for anything. Well, almost anything. Truth be told, if I didn’t get in, I would probably attack Isaac. He was never very nice to me anyway. Yup. He would pay.

“Hey,” I called tenetivly. “Isaac?” I looked inside, and saw a huge stack of papers. No, two, huge stacks of papers. Ouch. This guy had a lot of work to do.

“Yeah? Who is it?” His slightly squeaky voice calls back sticking his balding, shining head out from between the two stacks. This guy seriously looked a bit like an oompah-loompah. Short and round, with almost no hair. Weird. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.

Isaac has been helping me out with getting into Harvard, but we really don’t get along very well. He really thinks he’s really cool, and hip, and stuff, but really, he’s just some lame fat, balding guy.

“Oh,” he says looking slightly deflated. “Its you”

“So?” I asked irritated. “You were expecting someone else?” I look around the room, seeing if anyone else was there. There wasn’t. That means whoever he thought I was, wasn’t here yet.

“Um,” He said looking slightly embarrassed. “Yeah I was actually. By the way, what was that loud noise outside the door?” From the look on his face, he already knew, so I ignored the question.

“Whatever, I really don’t care about your personal life. Sorry, but I don’t. I just wanted to know if you knew anything about Harvard. That’s why you called me right?” I wasn’t being as nice as I normally am. Normally, I wouldn’t have barged through the halls, running through people as if they weren’t there either. Oh well. He was being nicer than normal, though so I guess it all evened out in the end.

“Huh? Oh right. I sent that friend of yours, Jamie.” He replied, slowly.

“Jessica” I corrected him, again surprising myself with my rudeness.

“Whatever” He snapped, not at all surprising me. “I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news.” He continues, “Which do you want first?”

I hesitated for a second, though not any longer than that, before saying “Bad. I want the bad news first.”

I thought I saw a smile flicker onto his lips for a moment, but it might have been my imagination.

“Well, okey-dokie.” He says a stupid grin on his face. He must have thought that was funny, so I pretended to laugh. ”Bad news it is then,” He paused for a moment before continuing, then the bomb; “You didn’t get accepted”

Just like that. My world came crashing down. My life was over. I couldn’t speak.

“But don’t worry,” he said, a cold smile on his lips. Yup he was enjoying this, “I’m sure some other junior college will accept you.”

I was so mad at that very moment, I could hardly speak. I was, mad sad, and confused, all at once. Not a good combination. But I could. Hardly, barely, but I could. So I did.

“You know what you can do with your stupid little junior college?!” I yelled, “You just turn around and shove it up your frickin’ butt ass-hole! I don’t care what you say, you pathetic waste of life! I’m going to get into Harvard! Period!” I was so PO’ed, that if he had so much as blinked, I would have decked him! We stood/sat, respectively, waiting, no, daring the other person to make the fist move. Finally, he did.

“Y’know,” he said casually “you may have blond hair, and blue eyes, but I could swear you were the devil.”

I stood there staring at him for a moment. He started to speak, but I had heard enough. It was all building up to this. All of my anger. My false hope, he gave me when he said he had good news, the look on his face, when my world died, the smart-ass comments, they all were leading up to this. I said;

“Shut up you frickin’ idiot!” And I punctuated it by haulin’ back, a letting loose all my anger, and disappointment (along with a bit of embarrassment) into this one mighty action.

I let it all out, and punched him. Hard. Really, really, really, hard. I hit him right between the eyes, on the bridge of his nose, and I was met with a sickening sound. A loud horrible crunching noise. I broke his nose.

He fell backward out of his chair, and onto the floor.

I winced inwardly at the noise, and grabbed my now painfully aching hand. I thought for a second I broke us both, and was about ready to just plop down and cry like a little baby, when I realized that my hand wasn’t broken. Just his nose. That was fine by me. If I hadn’t been so mad though, I probably would have puked over the horrible noise it had made. Eew.

I stood over him. It wasn’t a pretty sight. His nose though it was a sprinkler and was doing a good job making a mess all over the floor, his chair, and some important looking papers. Serves him right.

“Bye-bye” I said as I stood over him. I gave him a wink

“Just get out of here you little-” he gurgled as he got into a sitting position. Yes, I said gurgled. He was probably drinking his own blood. Gross.

“No problem” I said. Before I left though, I reached down (With my okay, and not painfully sore hand) and gave his hunk of mangled flesh formerly known as his nose, a sharp twist. I heard more satisfying cracking, and he moaned in pain. Gross, but I had to do it. He deserved it. He fell back down, and hit his head on his desk. For anyone else, I would have felt sorry for him. But not for him. Heck no. On my way out, I knocked over the twin stacks of paper onto his face.

“Oops” I said. “Those looked important.” I don’t really know if they were or not, but they were now splashed with blood. He just laid there, moaned lamely, and gurgled,

“I wul hav uh areshtd fr tis uh liddle bith!”

I walked out of his horrible office, and down the hall, so I didnt hear the end of his tirade. Clutching my hand, as I went into the girls’ bathroom, and I washed the blood off my hands. His blood. Isaacs’s blood. Gross. I ran into the nearest open stall, and puked.



The whole way home I replayed the scene over, and over, and over again. And every time I got to the part where I hauled into him, I would end up laughing softly to myself, and people would look at me like I was crazy, I didn’t really care at the time though. Then my hand would produce another dull throb, and I would be forced back into reality.

I was worried about what my mom would say too. I let her down big, and I had nothing to show for it but a sore hand, and a potential lawsuit. Yeah, that would make her happy. And pigs will fly.





“Hey, I said I was sorry!” I repeated for the millionth time. I had been arguing with my Mom for the last ten minutes since I was home.

“Sorry isn’t good enough if you get expelled, young lady!” My mom retorted angrily. “You had a perfect record! Imagine how this will look when you send in your next application to Harvard!” she finished.

I sighed loudly, and rolled my eyes. “Mom, I already told you, I didn’t get accepted. I’m not sending in another fricken’ application!” I yelled, before I barged past her and up the stairs to my room. I slammed my door behind me. That wasn’t really like me, but hey, I had a rough day.

I went into my bathroom, and ran some cold water on my knuckles. They hurt, but probably not as much as Isaacs nose did. That helped with the pain. A little. It still hurt like, a lot.

After I washed up, I grabbed the book I’ve been reading, ’Pride and Prejudice’ and I lay down on my bed to relax to a couple of hours, of escape from the real world, and into a land of happiness, and love. And stupidity.

Just as I opened the book, there was a knock on the front door, and I heard my mom answer it. Then I heard;

“Oh, hey, Principal Spartan! What a pleasant surprise!” I groaned out loud. “Excuse my rudeness, but what exactly is going on?” I heard her ask. Then I heard something completely surprising; “Oh! Officer Waddle! Why are you here? Is something wrong?” Officer Waddle is a short little guy, with short stubby legs, that made him waddle when he walked. He has a fitting name, and with a good sense of humor, and a better sense of right and wrong. But he wasn’t in a joking mood tonight. Not by a long shot. What was said next, almost gave me a heart-attack.

“Excuse me Mrs. Livingston, but is Kady here?” Officer Waddle asked pleasantly. He didn’t fool either me or my mom for a second. I immediately realized that something was wrong. Well, duh. Any time an officer comes to your house in the middle of the night, and asks to see you, you’re in trouble. Duh.

“Why officer, is there a problem?” My Mom asks carefully.

“I’m afraid so Mrs. Livingston.” Waddle replied sharply. He didn’t sound to upset to me, but hey, I was trying to listen through a heater-vent. Not too reliable.

“It seems as if Kady has been accused of assault-On a teacher no less- on school grounds. I’m sorry, but the evidence is pretty strong against her. The teachers name is a Mr. Isaac Nether. Ever heard of him?” Officer Waddle knew exactly whether or not my Mom had ever heard of Isaac. It was all she ever talked about. How her daughter was going to get accepted into Harvard, and that a great guy like Isaac was there to help me.

“Um…” said my Mom. She was stalling for time. I knew it. Principal Spartan knew it. And Officer Waddle knew it too. “Oh yeah!” My Mom shouted in mock remembrance. “Isaac! Yeah, great guy. Ya’ know, he’s helping Kady get into Harvard!” My Mom was changing the subject.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter whether you know him or not Kathy” Replied Officer Waddle, using my Moms first name, and not letting her change the subject. “I’m afraid that Kady has to go with me to Juvie tonight. She will be staying there until her court date. Isaac is suing you and Kady for his hospital bills, time away from work, and having Kady charged for assault. Her court date is in August.”

My mouth dropped to the floor, and I began to feel faint. August. That’s in more than two months! No way could I stay in a cell until then! With other girls, who killed people, and robbed, and did other weird things. How would that look on my Harvard résumé?

“Hey, Officer, Kady isn’t going anywhere until I get our lawyer on the phone!” My Mom shot back. Go Mom! I heard officer Waddle sigh loudly.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing you or I can do” he said, though it sounded like he really wouldn’t care one way or the other. I fully expected my Mom to put her foot down, and say that I wasn’t going anywhere, without her fist talking to her lawyer. She didn’t. She completely folded.

With a sigh, my Mom said “Fine. The laws the law.” I couldn’t believe it! No way was I going to go there for any reason!

“Kady upstairs in her room reading. Last door on the left upstairs.” I heard her voice crack on the last few words, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to Juvie.

I quickly flipped my book closed, and took out my backpack. I flipped it over and emptied the contents onto the floor. I grabbed a flashlight, and some Quaker breakfast bars, along with an emergency poncho, and a wad of twenties I was saving for Harvard. I wasn’t going to be needing them anymore. There were nine of them. $220. Not much, but it would get me somewhere. I filled my purse up with the essentials, and grabbed anything else, I though I might need, and stuffed them into my backpack. I grabbed an extra change of clothes, and a sweat shirt and a baseball hat, and jumped out my window, onto the tree branch, that grew there so very conveniently, and dropped the rest of the way to the ground with a soft thump. I was late enough now, that the dew had already gathered onto the grass making my feet wet, but I didn’t care. I had to get out of there.

I had to leave the city. I would go to the train station, catch a train to Seattle, and be gone from this place until things cooled down. I ran into the garage and grabbed my bike.

I wiped some dust off of it, and made sure there were no flat tires. There weren’t.

I heard shouts from my room, and I knew it was time to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. I just had to go.

I took off down the road, and into the night.





The ride down was very strange. I saw people running in between the shadows, I heard dogs barking off in the distance, and I heard a little bay crying from the depths of some dark alleyway, for god knows what reason.

“Hey!” Someone shouted, stepping out from the shadows. “You gotta’ pay the price for crossing the street on my side” He sniggered hoarsely. He was an ugly little guy, with a lot of hair everywhere I could see on his body except his head. He had big, searching brown eyes and a nig nose, and a set of crooked teeth, which I saw in his large smile. It wasn’t a ‘hey, nice to meet you’ kind of smile. No, it was more like a wolfs smile, when he spots his prey, and its death is immanent. If wolfs even smile that is. Oh well.

I sighed loudly and said, ‘look, if its money you want, how much?

He smiled again, that big wolfish smile. And said, “I don’t want no money. I want you!” and he lunged at me. I screamed, and took off on my bike. Luckily the dude was pretty old, because he would have defiantly have been able to stop me then, and… I don’t even want to think about what would have happened then. Gross.





It was morning by the time I got to the station, and I was really, really, really, beat. I road all night, and didn’t stop even once. A couple of times, I heard sirens behind, me and I would freak out and think ‘oh god, this is it. They found me. But thankfully, they never did.

I just stumbled groggily on unsteady feet into the station, and had had a look around when I heard a loud voice come over the public address, that said;

‘Will Kady Livingston please approach the front service desk. You have a call waiting.’

I was so tired that at first, I didn’t believe it. I thought I misunderstood, or was dreaming, but then the message played again. Yup it was my name alright. But I couldn’t think of who it could be.

Mom? Officer Waddle? Dad? Jessica? No one knew where I was. Well, someone obviously knew. I let my curiosity, get the best of me and approached the front desk.

“Hey,” I said to the lady there. “I’m Kady.”

She was an older looking woman, who had this scrunched up face, like she was eating a really sour lemon. She didn’t look up, just said, “Over there. “She nodded with her head over to a old fashioned pay phone, attached to the wall. It looked extremely out of place, in the station, where everything else was all very state-of-the-art and new.

“How old is that phone?” I asked her.

“No Idea. I’ve never even seen it before. But, you have a call waiting on it.”

“Who is it?” I asked her uncertainty.

“No Idea,” she said. “Look, do you want the call or not?” She looked up at me now, with an annoyed look on her sour face.

“Yeah,” I said “Ill take it.”

I reached over for the phone.

I felt a sense of dread wash over me, as I picked up the phone.

“Hello?” I answer, fighting back the nausea, even as my world went black.

There isn’t a day that goes by anymore, that I don’t think back to that moment.

Not a single one.



End of chapter two.

Kady