• Hello, my name’s Erin. If you are wondering what my middle and last names are, don’t ask, because it will make others around you stare at you like a hawk. And they won’t stop until you leave the room. I never put my name on my schoolwork because of that effect… and I first noticed it when I was in first grade. You see, I put my last name on my homework and, after turning it in to the teacher, I felt her cold stare as I walked back to my desk. And after that, I NEVER put my last or middle name on it…unless needed.
    “Erin!” Mom’s voice called from downstairs. The scent of eggs and bacon came into my room, filling me up with warm and happy thoughts. “Erin! Come down here now!” Mom called again. The scent made my dreams seem more and more realistic. “Erin!” my sis called, finally waking me up. “Coming!” I called, scrambling to get out of bed onto my messy floor.
    Breakfast was still cooking, I can tell by the smell. I glanced at my digital clock. Saturday, the best day of the week. Or to me. My sis’s best day of the week is Friday and Saturday, but my only favorite day is just Saturday. I forgot to get out of my pajamas, because I knew it was Saturday; no school. I walked downstairs, taking a look at each step to know I won’t slip and fall.
    “Erin!” Mom said, spotting me coming down the stairs. “There you are! Breakfast is about to be served!” “I know, I smell it,” I said, looking at the frying pan. I sat myself down at the breakfast table. “So…” I said while sitting myself down. “Yes?” My sister said, standing behind the chair, rubbing my shoulders. Mom attended to the frying pan. “Well…”
    “Yes? Any news from your boyfriend?” My sister said, still rubbing my back. Mom turned around, furious. “Shelby! Don’t say that when you know Erin’s not allowed to have a boyfriend!” Shelby looked down on me, grinning mischievously. I shook my head. “Shelby’s lying! I don’t have a boyfriend!” I said, waving my arms out, accidently hitting Shelby in the hip. “Ow!” She said, holding her hip with both hands. “Sorry, Shelby,” I said, feeling regret. Mom turned back to her cooking shaking her head. “You two have to stop fighting.” Mom said as she started to put breakfast on the plates.
    “Does anyone know where my iPod might be?” Shelby asked after finishing rubbing her hip. I shrugged. Shelby looked at me all of a sudden. “You!” She said, pointing her index finger at me. “You know where my iPod is, even though you pretend not to know at all!” Mom turned her head at Shelby while she was serving me. “Shelby! You know better than to point at people! It’s rude!” All went silent at the breakfast table.
    After breakfast, I sat in my bed, sulking. Shelby had gotten grounded and sent to her room, but I think she’ll escape. Or call her boyfriend. His name’s Eddy. Eddy Luneburg. Shelby spends so much time with him on the weekends, it is just unbelievable. She met Eddy in ninth grade. I think he’s just a schmuck. Seriously. He thinks I am a puny, little ant compared to Shelby, but when he breaks up with Shelby, he’s not coming to me. Nope. Nada.
    I sat near the southwest wall, placing my ear near it. “Hey,” Shelby’s voice was heard. “It’s me. Um…I called you because I can’t go out of my house. I’m ‘grounded’. I know.” I knew she’d contact him somehow! “Yeah. You want me to go to your house?” I “Pfft” at this. “Okay. You are alone. I understand. I am not alone, in fact, my sister always pretends to not know where my stuff is.” I knew where her iPod was, at least, because I hid it from her when I had the time to steal it. I peeked into the drawer I hid her iPod in- lots of overdue homework that I can’t understand, iPod, little Chia pet- you name it. Well, at least she doesn’t know, right?
    Then, it was afternoon, and it was really hot. I looked out my window. Grass as green, neighbor’s houses. Then I spotted Nick’s house. Nick is my boyfriend. He is real nice and he loves me. We met in middle school, just going through classes. I accidently dropped my books and Nick saw it and came and helped me. Shelby thinks Nick is just not that superior to Eddy, but of course she’s wrong.
    I took out some math homework and started working on fractions and multiplying and dividing them. Most of the time, I am a master of reading and because of this, I am not very good at math. I used my calculator and got the entire sheet wrong. Later, I was bored. There was sunset on the horizon. Though beautiful, I was used to it. I watched as it went on top of the horizon. Then, I walked over carefully and slowly to the wall. “Look, baby; I can’t go… my mom will have a fit if she sees me gone.”
    Chapter 2

    Shelby is still inside her room; though I still think she will escape somehow…like maybe she will tie her blankets and towels together and climb down her custom rope to Romeo, and I think it is just dumb because Eddy will never get her Juliet…
    Which in fact, I just think that Eddy may not be the right Romeo for Shelby. But she thinks he’s hot. I don’t-I think Nick’s WAY hotter than Eddy. Nick was talking to a girl with red curly hair, wearing blue overalls and had freckles all over her face. Her eyes were blue and she looked like a farm girl. She had a buck tooth smile and every time she seems to smile.
    Then I recognized this girl. Mackenzie. Mackenzie “Falls” or so everyone in school calls her that. She grew up in a farm, she has a weird Texan accent. I walked downstairs, cautiously looking around to see if the coast is clear from Shelby. I ran out of the front door and met up with Nick, in front of his house. Mackenzie “Falls” was a little younger than both me and Nick, she looked maybe around eleven or twelve. Nick did the glance he always does when he did not want others to be there, nervously looking around for any others.