Tara Stephanson

"Tara!" I heard my mother call me. Quickly brushing my messy blonde hair, I set the brush down on my dressing table and skipped down the stairs, heading towards the kitchen door.

"Coming already," I muttered, entering the room and plopped down on one of the chairs. My mother set down my breakfast on the table and sat down next to me, sighing. I could feel one of her lectures coming on but interrupted her, knowing what she was giong to say.

"I know Ma, I'm going to school late everyday and you're not happy since the school has already given you three letters, saying my attendance records are not 'satisfactory'. You're dissapointed since I also refuse to take the bus and prefer walking with Moira and Brendan to school every morning. Am I right?"

Mother stared at me with her light brown eyes and shook her head to herself. "You'll never learn."

"Thank you."

Taking a last sip from the glass of orange juice, I jumped back up to my feet and headed to the front door. Getting my socks and converse shoes back on, I shouted, "Bye Dad!"

"Have a good day honey!" His voice echoed through the walls, all the way from upstairs. As usual, he was in his office working away. Hopping on one foot as the other shoe wasn't quite secure yet, I opened the front door and made my way down the steps.

Brendan and Moira were waiting for me, having one of their arguments. It was like any other morning; normal. The only thing that seemed different was the fact that it was quite sunny for a change compared to the usual gloomy weather.

"Hey guys," I chirped, hooking arms with the two as we headed off towards school. Brendan mumbled something to himself, while Moira on the other hand refused to speak, her lips pulled into a thin line. She kicked at the stones on the sidewalk, keeping to herself and I groaned in exasperation.

"What now?" I asked, looking between the two.

"She thinks that I'm stupid for attending try outs for the soccer team," Brendan whispered.

"And why is that Moira?" I turned my head to face her.

"Because if he makes it on the team, he'll probably ditch us and become a jock," she whined.

"He won't," I said strongly and Moira nudged me hard on my hip.

The rest of the walk to school was filled with squabbles breaking out between the two, with me trying to cool it down. I've known Brendan since I was a kid and we've been friends for as long as I can remember. Moira moved to our school during the sixth grade and we decided to add her to our little 'troupe'. Since then, we'd been the best of friends but Brendan and Moira had formed the habit of having cat and dog fights almost everyday. And they'd also appointed me 'peacemaker'.

The class was a ruckus when we walked into homeroom. Everyone was talking at the same time, throwing paperballs and exchanging notes. The teacher hadn't showed up yet and I guess the others had taken that to advantage. Settling down into my seat, with the two on either side of me, I leaned back against my chair and closed my eyes.  

The sudden silence that came over the room got to me and I opened my eyes, noticing that Mrs. Parker had entered class. That was strange. None of us really cared whether she was in or out of homeroom, we usually still continued to cause trouble. That was when I noticed someone else in the room; a new boy.

His sapphire blue eyes that kept to the floor, and his short brown hair looked so familiar, as if I'd seen him before. My eyes widened in surprise when I recognized him to be Jacob Mulligan. What in the world was he doing here?

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Author guidance for This story

SHARDS OF THE SOUL

Closed collab between jamm and Trish

Characters

Name: Jacob Mulligan
Age: 17
Appearance: Moderately tall with short brown hair and blue eyes. Rugged face with more facial hair than his parents are happy about. Pronounced facial features that he wants to change. Fit body that he has worked hard on.
Personality: Was eccentric in his intelligence and very shy when talking to people he didn't know. Now he is more outgoing and chatty, hiding his intelligence and emphasising his new found physical strength even though he isn't always comfortable with what he does, instead choosing to give in to peer pressure.
Written by jamm

Name: Tara Stephanson
Age: 17
Appearence: Considered short for her age but pretty with short dirty blonde hair that never stays in place and chocolate brown eyes. Has a few freckles spread across her cheeks, that's considered cute. Curvaceous and Caucasian.
Personality: Independent, confident, and stubborn. Likes to give a helping hand but can be quite lazy and a little adamant. Doesn't like to be stuck in the middle of a conflict and so avoids them in the first place. Cheeky.
Written by Trish

updated Aug 10 '11 by Trish