literature

A Name for Myself - Chapter 1

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A Name for Myself

Chapter 1 - A Secret All my Own


A windswept autumn day is lit by a partly cloudy sky. Reds and oranges fill the air as crisp leaves dance on the wind. The ground is still slightly moist from the storm that had wreaked its vengeance and vanished into the night. A cool breeze is swept across the schoolgrounds. Several students begin making their way into the building, anticipating the bell that was soon to ring.
About half a mile away, a small girl ran barefoot down the street, holding her shoes in one hand, her lunch in the other, and a bag laden full of textbooks and paper. “I can’t be late again...Gotta run faster..!” she proclaimed to herself as she stumbled clumsily down the street. Suddenly, the chime of the school bell chimed in the distance. “Augh! Why am I so SLOW?!” she exclaimed, picking up her pace. Her honey brown hair was tossed around by the wind, and her green eyes shone in the bright sun. Her short pink dress fluttered in her wake. As she crossed over into the school courtyard, her feet had a mind of their own when they stopped to relish in the relief of the cool grass. She stood there for a few moments, then was snapped out of her trance as the bell rang once more. “Ah! No! I’m late!” She abandoned the comfort of the grass as she slipped her shoes on and sprinted into the building.

“Alright class, I guess I’ll begin roll call now, everyone please take their seats,” the teacher announced as he shuffled through the papers on his desk. The desks creaked as the students settled into their seats. The windows were open just slightly, allowing the cool October breeze to sneak its way into the class. The students murmured under their breath as roll call began.
“Samantha.”
“Here.”
“Alex.”
“Present.”
“May-“
“I’M HERE!!” The girls’ voice echoed through the classroom as the door slammed open. She stood scarlet-faced and panting, her hair rustled and carrying stowaway leaves. Her shoulders were slumped, and she was standing on one foot to try to ease the pain from her earlier jog on hard concrete.
“May? You’re late again. Please take your seat. And in the future, either get here on time, or don’t make such a racket when you do get there.”
She blushed. “Yes, ma’am.” She slowly meandered over to the last remaining seat, front row, right next to the window. She took off her backpack as the teacher began to take roll again. Suddenly, someone poked her in the shoulder with the eraser of a pencil. She turned around to find her friend Lucas staring at her disapprovingly.
“Where the heck were you?” he whispered to her.
“I woke up late, so what?”
“You look like you haven’t slept at all.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. You look like someone who hasn’t slept at all and ran here with no shoes on.”
“I’m amazed by your perceptive ability. Not.”
“What, you really did- Aah! May! Look at your feet!”
“What about them- Woah!” May looked down to see that the bottoms of her feet were bleeding onto the sole of her pale pink shoes. “Oow…It hurts now that you mention it…”
“May, is there a problem?” the teacher had overheard her talking with Lucas and saw that May was evidently in pain.
“Uh, well, I think I may have stepped on something on my way here…”
“There’s no doubt about that. Troy, go get some paper towels from the bathroom, we need to wrap up her foot.” May slid out of her seat and onto the floor as the pain in her foot began to grow. A few of the students stood up to see what was going on. Lucas had jumped out of his seat and was on the floor examining her feet.
“Yes, it looks like you stepped on some broken glass. Ah, yes, Troy, give me those, please.”
“It’s ok, it’s not a big deal, I heal fast…” The teacher had begun wrapping up May’s foot to try and stifle the bleeding.
“There, that should hold you out for a little bit. Can someone take Miss May to the Nurses’ office, please?” The teacher asked as she helped May to her feet.
“I’ll take her,” Lucas said as he grabbed May’s arm and helped her onto his shoulders.
The class settled down and the screeching of the desks was audible as everyone slid into their seats. Lucas struggled to the door with May hopping in one foot next to him, her arm over his shoulder in an attempt to stabilize herself. As they hobbled out the classroom door, the teacher began roll call again.
“Matt.”
“Here.”

“So you mind telling me exactly what’s happened in the last few hours?” Lucas asked as the two of them made their way down the hallway. “Your feet are bleeding, you haven’t slept, and on top of that…”
“Ok, I’m sorry I’m such a horrible person.” May said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
“That’s not the point. I also walked into the training room and discovered that someone had broken the practice vase.”
May flinched. She had seen this one coming.
“Are you really so careless that you would knock the vase off the table? I mean, you could have at least made my job easier and cleaned it up. I had to put it back together this morning before anyone else saw it or you would’ve gotten in trouble again.”
“Hey, I was rushed, OK? I was in the middle of practice when one of the janitors walked in on me. I had to get out of there! I had to use the window just to get out of there-“
“You jumped out the WINDOW?!” Lucas almost dropped May from pure shock.
“Hey, there’s a tree right outside, I just climbed down! It’s not like I broke the window or anything. I had it open in case something happened.”
“You probably freaked out the janitor to no end…Did he see you?”
“Probably not. It was dark last night. I was only using the lamp so no one outside would see.”
“Well, at least you did something right. But you need to be more careful. One day you’re going to get arrested for breaking into the school in the middle of the night, and I won’t be able to do anything. I’m not a psychokinetic, May, and you know it. I can’t mess with people’s minds like that. The best I could do is break you out of juvenile hall.”
“That could work.”
“I said I could, not that I would. Just listen, next time you break in, at least have someone else with you…Or don’t come at all.”
“But Lucas!” May was on the verge of tears now. “You know I’m a horrible telekinetic! I’ve tried everything in my house, and I can’t move any of it. That vase was the only thing I was ever able to move! And it means so much to my parents that I get better-“
“You’re just a late bloomer. It happens all the time. Mr. Kai even told you that your powers may not develop for a while. It’s nothing to worry about.”
May had nothing else to say. They’d had this conversation before. She was tired of it.
“Just take it easy, OK? You know I worry about you and your common sense.”
“Hey, I have common sense!”
“You ran here with no shoes on, stepped on broken glass, and didn’t even notice until class had already started.”
“I woke up late. And those shoes are hard to run in.”
“Whatever.” They arrived at the nurses’ office and Lucas set May down in one of the chairs lining the wall. The nurse came out of her office to see what had happened.
“What happened here?” The nurse inquired as she kneeled down to examine May’s feet.
“She stepped on glass on the way to school. Her feet started bleeding,” Lucas explained.
“Well, that must have hurt.” The nurse began removing the paper towels that had been wrapped around May’s feet. May winced slightly as the wound was exposed. The bleeding had stopped, but a few transparent, shimmering objects could be seen embedded in the soles of her feet.
“Well, I guess we can start by getting these out….Stay right there, I’ll go get my tweezers…” The nurse scurried back into her office, and May looked desperately at Lucas.
“Is this going to hurt?” she asked pleadingly.
“Consider it you paying me back for making me put the vase back together this morning.”
“That’s not funny! And it’s not like it would have taken you more that a few seconds-“
The nurse arrived with a pair of small tweezers in hand. “Alright, May, just sit still and relax. Lucas, you can go back to class now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Lucas smirked at May one last time before shutting the door behind him. Alone in the hallway, he sighed.
“Oh, May, what are we going to do with you?”
Yay, Chapter one. Whoot.

Constructive criticism is much appreciated. Writing isn't really my strong suit. <: D

Link to Beginning: [link]
© 2008 - 2024 Chibidoodles
Comments2
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megers67's avatar
I like the simple style to this story. It's not brimming with over-the-top, long-winded, filler descriptions that are too distracting. Although if Lucas is going to be major character, you may want to describe him a litlle so we can have a basic mental picture, like how you described May. I really llike it!