Fabriella Starr

Chapter One

Fabriella Starr

by Charly Manlove

Copyright 2013 Charly Manlove

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any way form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission from the publisher, unless it classifies as fair use. However, if you wish to reproduce a tiny fraction of this work to share small quotes, you have my permission.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover photo courtesy of Mei Teng

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Chapter One

Ariella Clarke gently nudged the low bun at the back of her neck. She wound her hair a little too tight that morning, but it was secure enough to keep every hair in place. No strays, no giveaways.

She smiled politely at the kitchen table as her mom Karen wrapped up another one of her daily astronomy stories, a foreign language to Ariella. Her nine-year-old sister Ren, on the other hand, was hooked. Ren loved hearing about her mom's day at the Wonder Dome Planetarium where she worked as a tour guide. Ren's eyes twinkled at the sound of all things space related as if they were discussing jewelry. Sometimes Ariella wished they were discussing jewelry. That convo would have been much easier to follow. She silently ate her oatmeal and peaches with a dash of nods and a pinch of uh huh's to give the illusion that she wasn't on a completely different planet.

"And he said..." Her mother chuckled over her cup of lemon squeezed tea. "It's the Triangulum Australe? I thought it said Triangular Australia."

Ren bowed over in giggles, one nose away from knocking her orange juice into her bowl of CosmOats. Meanwhile, Ariella may as well have been staring into space, the joke flying over her head like a shooting star.

By now, she was used to being left out of the loop unbeknownst to her family of stargazers who included her in their discussions as if she actually had clue. She enjoyed the stars as much as any kid, but her interest peaked at lying in the grass in Central Park and hoping to catch a glimpse of them through the hazy sky of New York City. While her family pointed out the constellations, she would be connecting the shiny dots into twinkling star animals. It's not that she didn't want to learn about the galaxy. It's just that no matter how many fun facts about the galaxy her parents taught her or how many books about the planets they piled in her room, the information never stuck. Her head was always in a world of its own.

Her mom dabbed a napkin at the wet corners of her eyes. "Ariella, how do you feel about your first day of high school?" Finally. She was speaking English again. "Stellar. You know what would make me even more excited? Leaving right now." Ariella grabbed her midnight blue, star-speckled tote bag from the floor and pushed herself from the table before Science Talk TV: Breakfast Edition returned from its brief commercial break.

Ren spun her star cereal and marshmallow meteor rocks into a hypnotizing swirl creating her own purple milky way. "I can't wait to go to high school. You get to learn about Kepler, Herschel, and Copernicus while we get 'My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas."

"Ren, you know Pluto is no longer considered a planet," their mother said while spreading a dab of butter on her French toast.

"And next they'll be saying Antarctica is just a block of ice. Not buying it." Ren stuffed her mouth with cereal and crunched indignantly.

Ariella stapled on a smile, wishing she had a translator on hand. "Right. Gotta go." She turned around and slammed into a puffy astronaut suit. Her surprised face stared back at her in the mirrored helmet. That was one silent suit. And slightly creepy. It looked like a spaceman took a wrong turn and crash landed in the middle of their condo. "Looking good, Dad. Very spacey."

Her dad Dave lifted the helmet off his curly head and stuck it under his arm. His childhood dream was to travel through the universe and be the first person to land on Jupiter. Unfortunately, his fear of heights prevented that rocket from ever launching, so he opted to work at the Wonder Dome with his wife as the activities director. The entire Clarke family were galaxy fanatics. Supposedly.

Her dad smiled at his new prized possession. "Just came in the mail this morning. Can you believe how authentic this looks? Here, try it on."

Ariella dodged the hefty helmet and made a break for the door. "Really wish I could, but you know how it is. Gotta go get my Copernickle on."

"You mean Copernicus?" her dad asked.

"Exactly. See ya!" Ariella yanked open the door.

Her best friend Mae Mendoza stood in the hall of their condominium building with her fist frozen in the air. "Wow, you have great timing."

"Ditto. Let's go." Ariella smiled and waved goodbye to her family then shut the door behind her. She let out a huge sigh of relief and dumped her bag on the floor. "Mae, you have no idea how much harder this is getting. Ten more seconds and I would have blown my cover."

She unbuttoned her blah, blue lab coat and revealed her fashion masterpiece. Gold, sequined blazer? Check. Black and white striped long sleeve with a red bow shoulder accent attached to layered chain necklace. Check. Red bubble skirt with sparkly red, tie-shaped belt? Check and star. Ladies and gentlemen, we definitely have a winner. She released her hair from its uncomfortable bun and shook out her strawberry brown curls. Then for the finishing touch, she reached inside her hideous decoy bag and pulled out her adorable red bag, which was also sparkly and oh so fabulous. She smiled brighter than the lights reflecting off her wardrobe. "Now I'm ready."

Mae shook her head, her black bob sweeping her small chin. "I don't know why you just won't tell your parents the truth. Your talent is designing clothes not analyzing glowing gas."

"First of all, ew. And second, if I tell my parents that I'd rather be a fashion designer than an astronomer like them, it will break their hearts. Besides, wearing a disguise isn't so bad once you get used to it." Maybe layering got a little warm during the hotter seasons, but the Fall was starting to blow in and wearing two coats felt kind of cozy.

Mae folded her arms, putting her cute, bright blue nails on display. "You forgot to change your shoes."

Ariella's eyes dropped to her feet. "Whoa!" She slipped out of her white penny NOfers and handed them to Mae. "That would have been a fabtrocity." She dove into her decoy bag and pulled out her red heeled, cheetah print shoes. After her feet were gratefully in their rightful pair of footwear, she flipped her hair. "High school, here we come."

Her smile drooped. "Right after I go to the little girls' room." She held her palm out and Mae returned the loafers.

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Thanks for reading! I've been working on this story for a long time, and I'm really excited to share it here on Wattpad because it's the perfect place to get feedback. So please leave a comment and tell me what you think:)

If you want more Fabriella Starr  you can purchase this title and others in the series here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Fabriella+Starr

I will upload the next chapter tomorrow. Until then, have a stellar day!

-Love, Charly