Here’s a novel excerpt/teaser of a project by me currently called “The Palace of Gifts.” Usually I write a lot of realistic fiction because it seems easier for readers to connect to it, but I think it’s even better if you make up a whole other world sometimes for fun. It follows the story of a girl with a past, present, and future she has no idea about, that is until her mom goes missing and things start to change.
Chapter one
It’s the last year of high school and I should be in the parking lot right now celebrating with all my friends, but I can’t bring myself to put the keys in the ignition.
I made it to my car though. I made it a lot farther than I thought I would. That’s got to be saying something.
Tee, my best friend for life, is probably dancing on the sunroof of her blue Cadillac right now, stripping down to her two-piece bikini that barely fits her bony arms and legs while all the hot lacrosse players hose her down.
The old me would be next to her on the sunroof, the wind blowing her red knots of hair into her freckled face while she sings the crap out of a Harry Styles song. She would jump from the top of the car when the bell rings, her perfect boyfriend would catch her, and then she wouldn’t be able to stop laughing.
The problem is I’m not her anymore.
I show up to class late. I’m in a long-sleeved sweatshirt and jeans with no holes exposing my kneecaps, and on the way here, there’s no Harry Styles, only classical violins strumming to a boring beat with no lyrics.
I’m used to people staring at me, but it’s different this time. The girls in my English class pointing and whispering about me aren’t talking about how I’m going to be prom queen or how they all wish they could screw my boyfriend. They’re all gossiping about what happened over the summer.
I spot Tee in the corner of the room and try to hide away with her, although being the only redhead at BrandBerry High makes it pretty much impossible.
“I was starting to think you weren’t going to come at all,” Tee says, her straight blonde hair getting caught in her giant hoop earrings, “But I knew you wouldn’t do that to me. Just sitting at this desk again is already giving me stress wrinkles.”
She combs her hair with her fingers, grabbing a few strands and holding them out in front of me. “Be honest with me, Reya. Am I getting grey hairs already?”
I look past her blue eyes at the clock on the wall. I watch the hands take their sweet time circling their way around the numbers.
“Hello?” Tee asks impatiently, putting her hand on my shoulder.
“You look good as always,” I tell her as I grab her hand and put it back on the top of her desk, off my shoulder.
“What?” she says, giving me that same confused look with her sky-blue eyes she used to give Mr. Johnson during physics class. “You’re not gonna tease me? Tell me that blondes are known to go bald before redheads? At least call me a blonde grandma?”
“You don’t look like a bald grandma though,” I tell her, taking a breath. I’m sitting sideways in my chair, my legs only pointing toward Tee. “Relax, you’re like the second prettiest girl in the school.”
Tee smiles. “See, I knew Reya was still in there somewhere.”
I fake a smile back at her.
“Oh,” Tee adds, “by the way, Natalie’s pissed, but Coach wants you to be the captain this year. How sweet is that?”
I drift away from Tee, looking down. “I’m not doing volleyball this year.”
I look out the window that’s in the front of the room. The low Connecticut sky looks like a face staring back at me, the wind circling around its dark grey eyes. I get goose bumps as I remember the storm from last night; I woke up with sweaty palms to the sound of hail cracking my neighbor’s car windshield.
It’s only sprinkling now, but as I look through the window, never once blinking, the glass starts to fog up; it leaves me no choice but to look back at Tee.
Usually I’m all about talking to my best friend, but now I have my fingers crossed underneath my desk, praying for Mrs. Elwood to walk in with a copy of “Jane Eyre” so the attention can be pulled off me for a few seconds.
“What do you mean you’re not playing?” Tee shouts. She starts doodling stars along the outside of her desk, the heater making the pen smear, ink drooling down onto her thigh unconsciously.
“Everyone comes to watch you. You’ve never missed a serve. You even spiked it in Angelina’s face after she tried to steal Derek from me. That’s how you met Alex, remember? He was playing volleyball at the beach tournament and you showed him up. Your mom played volleyball. Reya-”
Ignoring Tee’s little speech, I blurt, “Did you know there was a storm last night? Like did you hear it?”
“Yeah,” she mutters under her breath, “Wait Reya, are you even listening to me?”
The lights flicker on, sending several shocks of electricity straight to my heart, and I look over and see Mrs. Elwood trudging over to her desk in her black boots.
Tee elbows me. “So? Promise you’ll be at tryouts after school?”
“We’ll see,” I tell her, hoping it’ll get her to stop bringing it up. I look Mrs. Elwood up and down, noticing her long nails and her frizzy black hair she forgot to straighten this morning. She doesn’t smell like fish like usual, and she hasn’t yet looked any of us in the eye or so much as thought about taking off her soaking-wet red coat.
People are staring at her now.
“Tee,” I say, “Mrs. Elwood is never late. And look at her. She’s a mess.”
“Be nice,” Tee teases, “She’s a lonely cat lady. I think she has a Dalmatian too, but that’s not the point. We should be nice to her after all she’s been through.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. What if something’s up?”
Tee smiles, then jokes, “Oh no, Mrs. Elwood actually has a love life. It’s the end of the world. Come on, I say good for her.”
I roll my eyes.
The whispers start again, and I force myself to look into Mrs. Elwood’s eyes, her left one green and her right one blue with little white specks that make it hard to study directly.
“Class,” she says, the heels on her boots clacking as she sits back in her comfortable desk chair. Her stacks of papers that surround her computer are more disorganized than her hair itself. “The principal has asked me to disclose some information regarding your fellow classmate, May Westerfield. She’s gone missing as of this morning.”
I lean forward in my desk, seeing Mrs. Elwood is reading from a piece of paper. “If any of you know anything about May’s whereabouts, please go report it to the office.”
The second she stops reading, the stares return back to me.