ANGELINA

Angelina stood at her locker, the noise of rushing boys and girls surrounding her, making sure that she had everything for language arts with Mrs. Jones. Once she was sure she had everything she walked to language by herself, keeping her eyes at the ground, afraid to meet eyes with someone, stranger or not. She walked into the somewhat crowded room and grabbed her binder and then sat down in her assigned seat near the front. Music played over the intercom as everyone rushed into the room and grabbed their binders, and then of course sat down. The teacher was at her desk grading papers, preferably language papers, every once in a while looking up at kids coming into the room. The bell rang with a loud chime. The teacher looked up at all the students, then she started role call.

"Dexter, Josh, Zeke, Chad, Mary, Marilyn, Sondra, Nattie, Jax, Darla, Moe, Um... Angelina," Mrs. Jones called.

"Here," Angelina called like the others.

"Victor, Kristina, Stetson, Jamie, Kristin, and Matthew,"

They all said here when their names were called. When the teacher finished, everyone started talking to their neighbors, annoying the teacher greatly. Mrs. Jones called for silence upon the chattering children. All the kids shushed up as quickly as an eye could blink.

"Children, today we are learning about similes and metaphors. I expect you all to listen up. I'm going to tell you now that there will be a worksheet," Mrs. Jones announced.

All the kids groaned loudly while Angelina sat up, excited. The teacher gave a small lesson about similes first, then she gave one about metaphors. All the kids listened intently, even though they didn't want to. After Mrs. Jones finished with the lesson she handed out a double-sided page. Angelina finished it with ease. She was the first one done in the large class. When she turned her assignment in she went back to her desk and got out her new Chromebook. She clicked on a new document on google docs and stared at the blank page. She began to type, writing a short story, her fingers flying. Ever since Angie was young she had had a passion for writing stories. She started with a slightly crumpled paper but now six or so years later she was using technology to write her stories. Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Jones told the kids two minutes till the bell. Angelina picked up her stuff quietly. She had got at least two pages done. She was probably gonna finish the short story in a blink of an eye, well at the speed she was going. The bell rang with a shriek, as usual. The whole class stood up and walked out to their lockers. Angelina waved at Sabastian when he walked into the room for language arts. He waved back and then found his seat. She walked to her locker half daydreaming. Then, she bumped into someone.

"Oh! I'm very sorry, Victor! I didn't mean to run into you. Please forgive me," Angie apologized, starting to pick up her books she had dropped. It was Victor, the somewhat new student that she had 'showed' around.

"It is ok, Angelina. No hard feelings," Victor answered bending down to pick up Angelina's books and pencils.

"Thanks, Victor... We better get to class," Angelina awkwardly thanked him after they finished picking up the books.

Victor sprinted to his next class, while Angelina darted for her locker to get her things for her math class. Right as the music started to play she walked into the classroom. She sighed with a sigh of relief, collapsing into her plastic seat. She had made it just in time because the bell rang with a shriek. The assignment they were doing in math had over 60 questions on it. The teacher said it would probably take approximately the whole night. Angelina was kind of scared. I mean that is a lot of questions to do. She knew she would probably fail it. Maybe get a D+ if she was lucky. The class felt like it had been going on for two hours. When the bell finally rang she sighed with relief and moved her math stuff to another desk in the back since she was in Mrs. Kendall's homework class. The room started to fill up with more and more students as the seconds passed by. Angelina got on her Chromebook and checked her email. She observed one email in her inbox. She opened to find out it was from their language arts teacher. It was to inform her and the rest of the students about the amount of Accelerated Reader points they needed to receive by the end of first semester. She read it, then deleted it. The bell rang once again and all the students settled into their seats. The teacher took the role to see who all was here. When it was her turn to say that she was here she answered with a loud "here." After role, everyone did their homework. It wasn't the quietest room at that moment, in fact, barely anyone was doing homework. They were just playing computer games like Door Crushers. The only homework Angelina had was the math homework from the earlier class. The good thing is she only had thirty-two questions left to do.

When the bell rang to tell them school was done her fellow peers filed out of the room quicker than an eye could blink. She straightened the desks and then picked up all the large pieces of paper and colored pencils. She grabbed her stuff then said good night to Mrs. Kendall.

She patiently waited for the person who has the locker below her to move out of the way enough to open her locker. Eventually, she got into her locker and she shoved everything she was taking home into her backpack. She said goodbye to her friends and then she went out front so her dad, Marshall, could pick her up. She noticed that he was on the other side of the street waiting in his truck. She went to the crossguard so she could go safely to the other side. The lady said "good night" as she always did while Angie said "thanks you too," as she always did. She reached the other side of the road and hopped into her dad's car.

It was a long fifteen-minute drive to her house and her dad just sat there talking about his new work schedule. Angelina usually ignored that talk. Counting the talk about her and her sister's grades. She believed that was the worst talk in the universe of talks. She watched as they passed the many houses in the two towns before hers and the large tabernacle in the town before hers where her dad lived, and occasionally her and her sisters. When she got home she hopped out of the truck and ran up the porch steps leading to the front door. Angelina took her shoes off at the door then threw them into the shoe rack. Angie dramatically sighed, then, she went down to the basement where her bedroom was located. She opened and then shut the door softly, careful not to slam the door on accident. Angie jumped onto her purple bedding with her Chromebook and backpack. She got her math done thirty minutes later since she kept dozing off. She sighed heavily and fell back onto her pillow with a plop. She stared at her ceiling for a good five minutes then her sister, Maci, walked in. Followed by her step sister, Celeste, walked in with a white and teal dress on. It was entirely too big. She noticed that that dress was her nice dress for when she needed to wear a dress to an event. She was outraged! They weren't allowed to wear it! Angelina got up and asked in an angry voice what they were doing with her dress.

"We were playing princess warrior and our dresses were in the wash. So we thought you wouldn't mind if we used it for our game," Celeste answered innocently.

"Well, I do mind! Are you out of your minds? That's my nice dress! And it's white! It will stain easily. Go take it off right now, Celeste!" Angelina yelled at her younger sister.

"No way! You can share!" Maci cried.

"It's my nice dress!" Angie screamed at her. "Give it back right now!"

"NO! You don't even use it since we don't go to church!" Maci screamed back.

"Marshall! Come quick! Angelina is being a jerk!" Celeste screamed for her stepdad.

Angie gave her sister a dirty look. Their dad ran in, out of breath. Angelina, Celeste, and Maci started yelling at each other. Their dad silenced them.

"What's wrong, Celeste?" their dad asked.

"Angelina won't let us use her dress for our game of princess warriors," Celeste cried pointing at Angie.

"Angie?" Their dad asked in a low voice. "Let them use it."

"But, Dad, it's my nice dress! They'll ruin it!" Angie shouted.

"Girls! That is Angelina's nice dress. You can not wear it! Where are all the play dresses I just bought you two?"

"Dad, tell them to give it back," Angelina demanded.

"Celeste, Maci, give it back and don't touch it again."

The two sisters shrugged and then darted for the bathroom so Maci could help Celeste take it off. They returned it and then went back to playing. Angie sighed once again, giving them a smug look letting them know she won. Her sisters could be pests. She got out a book and started to read, it had been awhile.

After an hour of reading her dad called for Angelina to come down for dinner. She raced up the stairs to the kitchen. She was starving, she'd barely had any lunch today. Her plate was already set on the dinner table with a cup of raspberry lemonade. She gulped down the juice then started eating the pork chops. There was also corn and mashed potatoes and gravy on her plate. She scooped up some corn and dumped it on her potatoes. Then she poked a porkchop piece and then scooped mashed potatoes onto that porkchop. She scooped it into her mouth. The pork chop and mashed potatoes were a great mix. Though her family didn't think so.

She ate all of her food, plus seconds.

"Why isn't there school tomorrow, daddy?" Maci asked during dinner.

"Because it's a holiday, but not a very important one."

Angelina tried to leave the table, considering she was terribly tired but her dad wouldn't let her leave because they were discussing news and school. She found that annoying. By the time she was allowed to go to her room, she could barely keep her eyes open. She sleepily walked back downstairs to her teal colored room. She opened and shut the door once again. She set her book onto her desk and slipped on some fluffy pajama pants and then nestled herself in the covers. Right as Angelina closed her eyes she snoozed off. She immediately slipped into a dream. She was standing in a beautiful garden in front of a large, stone castle. Angelina looked around cautiously. She also saw a little town around a mile away. Beyond the castle and garden were fields and fields of crops that looked like gold-filled women with yellow dresses and white aprons who seemed to be harvesting the crops. Angie looked around more. She noticed she was in a very light yellow dress that slightly kissed the ground and as she moved it danced. Angelina wasn't in an apron-like the women in the fields though. It looked and felt as if her dress was made with a soft, silky fabric of some kind that made her weirdly enough to feel magical and like royalty. The dress also had yellow lace, and a flower made out of white lace was attached to a white strip of fabric that acted as a wide belt. Angelina looked very astonished to be in such a fine dress. A cold breeze brushed past her as quickly as a hare. The breeze kissed her back and shoulders, giving her a light chill. She ran her hand over her back and noticed she had an open back. The top of the back of her dress had six strips of yellow fabric crisscrossing down to the wide, white belt and ending. Angie took a step away from the castle. She then poked her feet out of her dress and saw shiny, black Mercedita Suela shoes. She gasped, looking at them longer, she loved them.

"If only they were converse..." She thought sadly.

She took another look around and noticed a woman looking at her from the fields. Angelina looked away and thought to herself, Maybe I should go to the village yonder. She decided on it. Angie hummed a little tune as she walked closer and closer to the village. More and more women started paying attention to her, wondering what a girl was doing all by herself. Finally, what she estimated to be an eighteen year old came up to her and asked her a question.

"Hello... Where are your parents?" The girl asked, holding a basket of the golden corn.

"Hello! I was going to the village. But I don't know where my parents are though," Angelina answered as politely as she could.

The girl paused to think for a minute before talking again, "You don't know where your parents are? That isn't very good... Shouldn't you be with them,?" She answered, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow with her dainty hand.

Angelina thought a minute, "Um, well, I don't think I have parents. So I am not sure, miss."

The girl stood awkwardly for a minute or two and then spoke very cautiously, "You don't have parents... My name is Blythe by the way."

Angelina shrugged, "My name is Angelina. Nice to meet you, Blythe. Doesn't Blythe mean..."

"...Happy," Blythe answered giving a light shrug.

Angie stood a moment acknowledging something, "You don't seem so happy to me."

The words had just slipped out of her mouth. She didn't mean to say something so mean. Angie looked around startled, hoping Blythe didn't hear it. She did. Angelina kicked herself.

"I didn't mean to say that, Blythe, I'm sorry!"

"It's fine, Angelina, I'm not very happy."

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

"I haven't seen my mother since I was a child, and I have been working endlessly. I am also being forced to marry someone I don't love. I'm being kicked out of my house also. Lastly, I am very poor and can't afford food," Blythe answered looking down, biting her lip. Her eyes started to water.

"I'm...I'm truly sorry, Blythe. You shouldn't be forced to marry someone you do not love."

"I suppose. One day you might be forced to marry someone you don't love, trust me. The land of Elysia isn't a pleasant world for older people."

"I'm not sure I want to trust you on that, Blythe."

"I am terribly sorry I must return to work, Angelina. Maybe I'll see you around," Blythe slipped away from her, back to where Angie first saw her. She began to pluck corn from the plats and set them in his almost full basket.

Suddenly, the fantasy turned black and she realized it was all a dream. The dream was so realistic. It was like she was living in it. Angelina awoke out of slumber to birds chirping and her cat scratching at her door. She got up to let her cat, Nala, in from the hall. Then, she gently lifted Nala onto the bed. Angelina also got on the bed and just lay there, petting Nala lightly. She thought about the dream once more. Remembering how realistic it had seemed. Also thinking about the girl she met, what was her name again? It was Blythe! That was her name! She then began thinking about that beautiful garden she started the dream in too. She remembered the two Apple Blossoms that were on her left and right. They were so beautiful! The garden was covered with flowers like; Buttercup's, Gladiolus, Prairie Gentian, Freesia's, and Cyclamen flowers. Although, there were even more flowers that she didn't recognize and coolest of all there had been bundles of rainbow roses, bathing in the hot sun. There was also a silver path leading to some castle doors. Angie had also spotted a small wooden bench by the Apple Blossom tree to her left.

Nala started meowing, dragging Angelina out of her train of thought. Angelina sat up and hushed her cat. The black cat kept on meowing. Angie rolled her eyes and fell back onto her bed with a loud plop. Nala eventually stopped meowing and pranced over to Angelina. She set her chin on Angie's forehead and laid down. Angelina opened her eyes and then began giggling at her silly cat.

"What are you doing, Nala? You're such a weird cat." Angelina said with a small laugh.

Angelina laughed. Angie stared off into the distance and then sighed. She rested her left eye and then the right. She found herself drifting off to sleep again. After a minute she was back to sleep, peacefully curled up in a ball. This time she didn't dream, she just had a boring slumber filled with snores and a cough here and there. Nala was still on her head, she too was asleep.

She once again woke up about an hour later. Her dad had come in to check on her. He woke her up with a gentle nudge of her arm. Angelina groaned and moaned and demanded him to go away. She didn't want to wake up. It was only about ten a.m. Her dad shook her awake again, this time harder. Angelina moaned again, but louder. She could almost see her dad rolling his eyes at her. But, she didn't care that much, she just wanted to sleep.

"Wake up, Angelina. Hello? Can you hear me?" called her dad, Marshall.

"Why? Will you just let me sleep," Angelina cried.

Marshall sighed then shook her again, "Come on, sweetheart. It's 11:00."

"11:00? I thought it was 10:00."

"Well, it's 11:00, Angelina."

"Argh," Angelina groaned. "One more minute?"

Her dad thought about it a second, "Whatever," then he walked back out.

Angie sighed with relief that she could sleep longer. Her cat, Nala, who had moved to the end of her bed, bit her toe, leaving behind a bite mark. She sighed and then easily fell back asleep.

Angelina awoke about an hour later. She heard Nala playing with a hairpin that was on her floor. Then, Nala sneezed and the hairpin flew across the room from the force of the sneeze. Angelina giggled again while shaking her head at her cat. Nala then jumped onto Angie's bed and snuggled above Angelina's head. Angelina shook her head again.

A moment later Angelina decided to get up and get dressed plus eat breakfast or lunch. It's lunch, she had missed breakfast. She slipped on light blue skinny jeans and a baggy t-shirt. She opened and then closed her door and walked to the bathroom. She opened the bathroom door and then brushed her hair and teeth. Her cat, Nala, walked into the bathroom and started purring like a maniac. Angelina shrugged her shoulders, her lack of makeup would have to do. She then walked out of the bathroom to go to eat. She dashed up the stairs to the kitchen. Her stepmom was baking some gluten-free brownies. Angelina gave a small wave to her stepmom, Mia. Mia only looked up and made eye contact with her then brushed a long strand of hair out of her eyes. Angie looked around the kitchen then opened up a cupboard that had her favorite cereal in it. She grabbed some milk out of the fridge and a clean bowl from the dishwasher. Then, she dumped Cinna-Honey-O's, the cereal, into a bowl. Next, she poured some milk into the bowl of cereal. She then went to the dining table to eat it, stopping halfway noticing she forgot a spoon.

After eating her cereal she put the empty bowl and the dirty spoon into the sink. She went to the fridge and looked for a snack even though she had just eaten. Angelina opened the freezer and saw there were popsicles so she asked her stepmom.

Mia shook her head, "Go ask your dad. It isn't my decision."

Angelina took a deep breath and went into their living room, hoping to find her dad. Unfortunately, he wasn't there so she peeped her head into his bedroom. Not there either.

"He's probably in the barn," She said talking to herself.

"He is!" Her sister, Celeste cried and then ran off into her other sister's room.

"Um, well that was easy," Angie laughed to herself, walking over to the front door to slip on some tennis shoes.

She walked out the door after she put on some mint colored shoes. Angie then walked down the steps of her front porch. The floorboards creaked as she stepped on them, making her anxious. After she reached the bottom of the stairs she raced to their barn. Angelina could hear her dad with his drill, probably fixing something. She reached the barn door then pulled on the handle. When she walked in she went into the tack room to find her dad making some kind of shelf.

She gave a small wave, "Hey, dad. What are you doing?"

"I'm just making a wooden crate for the horse brushes, you?"

"Oh. I'm just wanting to... help you. Ya, help you."

"Sure you do. I'm guessing you're asking for a popsicle?"

"How'd you know?" She was surprised.

"Mia texted me and said you wanted one."

Angie gave a nod, "Oh okay. Can I though?"

He thought for a minute, "I don't care."

She gave him a big smile, "thanks!"

"After you help me. I mean you did offer."

She gave her dad a glare, "You beat me at my own game... You dirty person."

"Yes, I did. Now I need you to feed the horses. But, give Opie a cup more than usual. She is getting thin and I'm afraid she will become ill."

"Okay. Poor Opie. She's been through so much."

"Thanks, Angelina."

"Anything for a popsicle!" She said darkly. "Anything!"

Her dad shook his head, "You do you, Angel. You do you."

She ran farther into the barn to grab the horses' hay. Next, she went to the end of the barn, hauling 1 leaf at a time until she had all four leaves outside by the field then she cut the string and put the hay into the field with most of their horses. In the field, there were 3 horses; Napoleon, Flopsy, and Gypsy. In the stalls were; Opie, Monte, and Prism. After feeding the horses in the field she fed the horses in the stalls. When she approached Monte he neighed loudly and then spun in circles a few times. That made Angelina giggle. Monte had such a great personality. After feeding the horses in the barn she went back to her dad. He was done making the crate, but now he was making another one.

"I'm done!" Angelina said, slouching against the wall.

"Okay. Go feed your dog now."

"He isn't my dog though and you said I could have a popsicle after I fed the horses!"

"So. He's your responsibility. So go feed him then you can have one."

"Only if I can have two popsicles. Then we have a deal."

He thought for a moment, "how 'bout no. You do what I say or your grounded, young lady."

"FINE."

After feeding her dog and eating a delicious, cold popsicle she went back into her room. Her dark, sad-looking room. She slid onto her stool that was at her desk. Angelina tapped her desktop and then whistled a tune. She was bored after only a minute. Angie rolled her eyes and then got back up, crossing over to her window. The window curtains were draped close so when she opened them, the bright, white light of the sun hit her face. Her eyes squinted at the light. She leaned on the window sill, looking at the many bushes that lay in front of her dirty window. There were also lots of flowers such as daisies and lavenders. A bee darted by the window towards one of the lavenders. Then, a snake slithered by quickly, giving Angelina chills and making her jump back. She quickly shut the curtain to get away from the snake on the other side of the window even though she knew it couldn't get her.

"Dumb." Angelina sighed and then sat down on her bed with a plop.

She heard her cat jump off what sounded like the railing onto the floor in front of her door. Nala pawed at her door so Angie crossed to the door and let her in. When Nala came in she darted onto Angie's bed. She then rolled up in a ball and purred herself to sleep. Angelina shook her head. She went back to her bed and sat down. Angelina looked around and spotted something on the floor. She got back up and picked it up. It was a rose, but rainbow. Her eyes blinked and she decided she was seeing things. I mean a rainbow rose is unspoken of... right? It wasn't a thing, was it? Angelina went to her desk where her Chromebook was. She looked up rainbow roses. Sure enough, nothing popped up except regular roses like red and pink. Angelina thought for a moment. Then, something clicked in her mind. She remembered seeing rainbow roses in her dream. But, how could it be, it was only a dream, rainbow roses aren't real.

Or are they? a voice in her mind questioned.

Angie looked around, frightened, and curious at the same time. She held her breath then spoke back, "H-hello? Who are you?"

Angelina heard a faint snort in her head following, Don't be frightened, little Angelina! I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself! I'm Juniper!

"Um, how do you know my name, and where are you?"

Reasons you don't need to know. Anyways, oh yes, your question. I'm in your mind of course! Where else would I be?

"Where did you come from? Have you been in my mind my whole life?"

So many questions! I'm from a kingdom named Elysia! Now you might need to sit down for this next part. Oh, never mind! Long story short, when you had that awakening you were in Elysia. I believe you met someone named Blythe. Well, that part isn't important. Anyways, when you were in the castle gardens you were given a guardian to protect, help, and guide you. That's who I am! You are a very lucky girl, Angelina. It's rare to have an Elysian guardian. Only royalty has guardians. Now, you're not royalty I'm afraid. But, you are very valuable and special. I think that's all!

"What? Wait how am I so special? Why so valuable and lucky? I don't understand!"

The voice in her head was silent, "Juniper? Hello? Juniper? You there?"

She gave up on trying to contact Juniper. Angie sat there thinking about the conversation. Remembering every detail. How could it be? What was going on? This couldn't be possible, could it? Was there something in her cereal, milk, or her popsicle?! She heard another snort in her head. She eventually learned to just ignore the snorts and laughter in her head.