Chapter One

Juliette

Juliette knew her mother was going to call her before the woman even uttered a sound, and she was waiting for her when she opened Jules’ door. They were just that close, although Jules was feeling the distance grow almost daily.

“Hon, you should go out, get some fresh air. Maybe there are some other kids to play with,” She suggested. The woman’s face was lined, and Jules had noticed the frown line deepening, the half-moon under her eyes growing with every night.

“Maybe,” She offered. “Fine,” Her mom’s face brightened, sending twinges through Jules’ heart was she watched the woman’s eyes light up for the first time in a long time.

Her mom waiting in the doorway, seeming not to realize that her daughter wasn’t planning to leave for a moment or two. The girl sighed and then got up, pleasing her mom.

When she got to the end of the driveway, she realized that she really hadn’t a clue where to go, where to start off in this town. She watched two young boys fly down the street on their bikes, smiling in spite of herself.

At the first glance, the medium-sized town had seemed nearly dead, but when she got to the end of her street, she saw a bustle of people, mostly grown-up, but people all the same. She kept walking, going down several blocks of the main street in town, before she got to the ocean. When she reached where the road gave way to sand, she turned and followed the street.

“Hey! Wait up!” She heard someone call. She kept walking, sure they weren’t caProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 ing her, as she didn’t know anyone in town.

“You! Stop!” The voice called again, closer and out of breath. She turned, curious. Behind her, running, was a girl, seeming about her age (which was 15, by the way). When the girl was a few feet in front of her, she stopped running. She stood there for a few moments, hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

“I had to call you, like, five times. Are you, like, deaf or something?” She said. Jules stared at her, shaking her head warily.

“Okay, cool. Anyway, I saw you walking by, right? And I was all like “She’s got to be new here, because I, like, don’t know her.” So I ran all the way here to say “Hey”. That’s all.”

“I’m, um…I’m Juliette,” She offered, blushing at her own ineptitude.

“I’m Penelope. Most people call me Pen, cuz my name is sodamnlong.”

“You can call me Jules,” Jules said, rather bravely on her part, as this girl spoke with the ferocity and speed of a cheetah. She felt the blush spreading as the girl stared her down.

“I like you, Jules. You’re all right,” Jules wondered how this girl…Pen, could be making a friendship over a conversation of five whole exchanges.

“Yeah…thanks,” She said.

“Look, I gotta go. But, uh, do ya have a cell-phone-telephone?” Jules gave her the number and the girl was off, just as suddenly as she had come, but with less gasping and struggling for breath.

"Weird,” She murmured. When she continued walking the street, it was with a spring in her step. She had a new friend, a new house, a new life. She didn’t have to be who she had been, she could start over. Pen had seemed to think she was interesting, if only because she was new.

Jules had only taken a few steps when two teens came up to her.

“Hey!” Said the girl.

Jules smiled inwardly. At this rate, she thought, I’ll be the most popular girl on the street.

“Hey,” She replied.

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