chapter one: Tell me adventures
Sometimes the other girls tell me stories about the adventures they have. Sometimes they don’t want to relive the experiences. They tell me things. Horrible things. And good things, too. It seems to me that everyone has good adventures. Not me though. I dream about adventure. I am always the heroine, strong, clever, pretty, etc. I usually rescue people in my dreams. I always have to fight monsters to get to them first. I am never helpless.
My name is Naudia. I am twelve years old. I have a kitten called Mouse and I live with my mum and big sister in Seattle Washington. We go to Volunteer Park a lot. We like to draw the flowers and trees there. We live close to it, just about three blocks away. It’s fun living here, the winters are just how winters are supposed to be, and the summers are just how summers are supposed to be. Mum likes to walk around downtown, looking in shop windows and eating food she buys at street carts. Dad used to say that I got my love of the city from my mum. She says I got the love of the ocean from him. We live in a little apartment on the top floor of our building. We can see Volunteer Park from here. We can see the sea from here. We can see the city from here. We can see the world from here.
“Naudia, you’ll be late for school! French toast is on the table.” Ever since dad died, it’s kinda been me and Megan. Mum has to work all the time, she gets up at 5:30 everyday. Megan makes breakfast for us, wakes me up, and sends me off to school. She disapproves of school buses, so she drives me there, even though it’s a fifteen minute walk.
Megan runs into my room. “We’re going to be late. Get up, Naudia.” I roll over in bed and bury my face in my pillow. I try to say, “I don’t want to go to school.” But it probably was muffled by the pillow so it probably sounded like this, “I don wat oo ga to sgool.” Megan understood me both ways though, and ripped the blankets off my bed. “Get dressed and bring your backpack downstairs with you.” I get up, get dressed, and put my finished homework in my backpack. I walk out of my room. I stop by mum’s room on the way to the kitchen. I write her a note and then leave.
My name is Naudia. I am twelve years old. I have a kitten called Mouse and I live with my mum and big sister in Seattle Washington. We go to Volunteer Park a lot. We like to draw the flowers and trees there. We live close to it, just about three blocks away. It’s fun living here, the winters are just how winters are supposed to be, and the summers are just how summers are supposed to be. Mum likes to walk around downtown, looking in shop windows and eating food she buys at street carts. Dad used to say that I got my love of the city from my mum. She says I got the love of the ocean from him. We live in a little apartment on the top floor of our building. We can see Volunteer Park from here. We can see the sea from here. We can see the city from here. We can see the world from here.
“Naudia, you’ll be late for school! French toast is on the table.” Ever since dad died, it’s kinda been me and Megan. Mum has to work all the time, she gets up at 5:30 everyday. Megan makes breakfast for us, wakes me up, and sends me off to school. She disapproves of school buses, so she drives me there, even though it’s a fifteen minute walk.
Megan runs into my room. “We’re going to be late. Get up, Naudia.” I roll over in bed and bury my face in my pillow. I try to say, “I don’t want to go to school.” But it probably was muffled by the pillow so it probably sounded like this, “I don wat oo ga to sgool.” Megan understood me both ways though, and ripped the blankets off my bed. “Get dressed and bring your backpack downstairs with you.” I get up, get dressed, and put my finished homework in my backpack. I walk out of my room. I stop by mum’s room on the way to the kitchen. I write her a note and then leave.
Dear Mum-
It’s another day. You woke up at 5:30 on the dot and Megan woke me up 6:30. I can’t wait to see you when you come home from work. Love you. Love, Naudia.
It’s another day. You woke up at 5:30 on the dot and Megan woke me up 6:30. I can’t wait to see you when you come home from work. Love you. Love, Naudia.
In the kitchen, Megan is running around gathering things, she goes to college so she thinks she is in charge most of the time. Which she is when mum’s not here, I guess. “Eat quick, we need to leave in ten minutes!” She runs out of the room and I hear her yelling at our pug, Nobby, to get out of mum’s room; he has a thing for her hairbrush.
“Have a good day at school. I’ll pick you up around 2:30.” I walk to my locker. First period is math, I doodle through most of it. Next is social studies. My friend, Claire and I pass notes through class.
how has ur day been? Lenita told me that my hair was too frizzy
what did you tell her? options: “your hair looks like you jumped out of a plane” or “MY hair is frizzy? you should look in the mirror”
none. i told her to tell that to her mother, you know, miss beehive
HA! you rock, claire
thanks :) so what’s up w/ u?
nothing much. don’t have a lot of homewrk.
could you come 2 my house aftr school?
let me txt megan
K
what did you tell her? options: “your hair looks like you jumped out of a plane” or “MY hair is frizzy? you should look in the mirror”
none. i told her to tell that to her mother, you know, miss beehive
HA! you rock, claire
thanks :) so what’s up w/ u?
nothing much. don’t have a lot of homewrk.
could you come 2 my house aftr school?
let me txt megan
K
At school, we’re not allowed to use our phones, but at break, I secretly text Megan about me going to Claire house.
can i go to claire’s?
aftr school?
ya
sure. going 2 b L8 anyway
cn i stay 4 dinnr?
yea, mum’s not going 2 get off until L8. im going 2 b eating dnnr w/ friends @ chipotle
prob wll b eating hmmade pizza
lucky
i know ;) gtta go 2 lnch
bye luv u
luv u 2
aftr school?
ya
sure. going 2 b L8 anyway
cn i stay 4 dinnr?
yea, mum’s not going 2 get off until L8. im going 2 b eating dnnr w/ friends @ chipotle
prob wll b eating hmmade pizza
lucky
i know ;) gtta go 2 lnch
bye luv u
luv u 2
At lunch, Claire sits next to me. “Did you text Megan?” She’s holding homemade spaghetti and meat balls with chocolate milk from what was probably last night’s dinner. The food at Claire’s house is always super good. “Yeah, she said I could come over. Mum isn’t coming home until late and she’s going to eat dinner with her friends at Chipotle. Can I stay for dinner?” I look down at my lunch, cheddar cheese and green apple sandwich, baby carrots, and a container of regular milk. “Sure, that would be great. And we don’t have to do homework, it’s Friday!” She sees me looking at her lunch and then looks over at mine, then she reaches out for my tray and switches our two lunches. I smile at her. “Thanks, Claire.”
School is done and I am at my locker getting my stuff. Claire walks up to me, she has a big smile on her face. “What happened, Smiley?” I say. She looks behind her. “Someone must have told on Letina, she’s in the principle’s office.”
Once, my dad told me a story. It was about a queen. A very powerful queen who could turn people into stone. She was evil, and she made her kingdom always snow. “Always winter, but never Christmas. Can you imagine that, Naudia?” “...No, I couldn’t. Poor Santa Clause, he would have to find another job.”
“What kind of job do you think he would have?”
“....I don’t know, maybe he would work in a bakery, he has to stay fat, you know.”
“Yes, I know.”
She had been defited by a lion and four children. In the story, the children’s names had been Peter, Megan, Edmond, and Naudia. Though when I was older, I found the story in a library and found out that the two girls had been Susan and Lucy. I always thought that Megan and Naudia had done a better job than Susan and Lucy had. And when ever I read that story, I always think, Megan and Naudia.
when we get into Claire’s dad’s car, bohemian rhapsody is playing on the radio. “Dad, can Naudia and I play with your computer and your copyer machine? So we can print out pictures?” Jason Welch is my favorite dad-of-one-of-my-friends. He is the nicest dad ever and he always lets us play with the copyer machine.
“Adelpha, Kasia, Scarlett, and Marin: the all girl band called, Fingerprint. We need to print this out.” Claire is on the computer printing out a poster. “Do you want a copy? I can make more if you want one.” Fingerprint is Megan’s favorite band in the world. She showed me one of their music videos and I fell in love with then too. “Can I have two copies? For Megan?” After that, we pretended to have a band all our own. We called outselves, The Red Classics because we would put on mum’s classy red lipstick when we sang. We used to perform for our relatives when they came visiting.
