The Life and Times of Abigail Sherman (and Other Such Adventures)

Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening

(in the process of fixing some things pointed out by critiques, the chapter may change a bit as I work this out, thank you for understanding!)

BEEP BEEP BEEP. 

Abigail turned over unhappily in her bed, annoyed to have been woken up. That f-cking truck backed out of the driveway at six each morning and woke Abigail up each and every time. For some reason, it didn't seem to bother the rest of her family, but she had long since given up the hope that she was even remotely like them. Still, whether she was like them or not was of no consequence now...she was awake, and that meant she needed to get ready for her first day of high school. She was nervous, of course, but she thought that finding the perfect outfit might help calm her down for the time being.

She stepped in front of her full-length mirror and began describing herself in painstaking detail (as one does). She looked at her shoulder-length, radiant blond hair and considered what color might compliment it. Red? No, she thought, almost laughing at herself. Pink, obviously! She grabbed a small pink and brown dotted dress from her closet and pulled it over her head. She admired herself for a moment before moving on, liking the way the brown of the small polka dots matched her muddy brown eyes. Next, she took out a pair of black leggings (it was practically a rule that if you wanted to be a popular and successful - yet misunderstood - high school student you had to wear leggings in one way or another) and pulled them on.

After getting dressed, she decided to head downstairs to see if the rest of her family was up. As she came down the windy staircase, she immediately saw her baby half-sister, Hazel, sitting patiently in her highchair. Her dad came into view not far after, walking towards Hazel with a bowl of her favorite cereal.

"Is Julia up yet?" Abigail asked sleepily. Her sister, Julia, tended to be the sort of person to sleep in as late as humanly possible. 

"Not yet," her dad said with a sigh. "I tried to get her up, but you know how she is. She doesn't want to do anything I say anymore. Will you please feed Hazel while I try and talk to her?" He said it as a question, but it was clear to Abigail that it was not a question at all when he didn't wait for an answer and shoved the bowl of cereal in her hands.

"But I need to-" Abigail tried, but was interrupted by Hazel.

"Deeba!" She cried cheerfully, waving her hands in Abigail's face and reaching for the cereal.

"Okay," Abigail said, handing her sister the cereal, "there you go, Hazel." She smiled as Hazel ate her breakfast, and decided she might as well get some breakfast too. After all, she'd need her energy for what was coming next.

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Abigail walked slowly into the large building,  as if it might swallow her whole if she didn't watch where she was going. She tried to be as small as possible as she entered the hall. It was filled with people much larger than she was, and she was hoping they wouldn't notice her. Of course, this sort of hopeful thinking always gets one into trouble. 

And, as Abigail was no exception to the rule, one of the largest kids walked towards her. No, walked wasn't quite the right word...sauntered, more like. Abigail had recently learned the word and she thought it fit quite well in this situation. Yes, he sauntered over and (much to Abigail's surprise) completely ignored Abigail and went to talk to a pretty girl at the end of the hall. Maybe this won't be so bad after all, Abigail thought, trying to be calm.

"Abby!" A girl even smaller than Abigail ran up and hugged her tightly, even though they had just seen each other yesterday. The smaller girl was Nora Shepard. Nora was one of Abigail's best friends, and was an exceptionally pretty girl with an exceptionally interesting history, Abigail thought. She had dark curly hair and large brown eyes that seemed to almost take up her whole face.