The Three Star Hotel (2) - The New Girl

Words from the author:

So far, life for Star is all happiness... It's time for a change, starting with a new friend........

Chapter One

It's one of those times when you think about having a younger sibling. Maybe, in my case, another younger sibling. 
Right now, I'm imagining a trip to the park, pushing the small stroller around, and telling her how to make noises.
My sister Dollie can already speak, (unfortunately!) and sometimes she says annoying things, but it's kind've OK because she's three. 
Apparently, my mum doesn't want another baby, 'cos she doesn't want her small hips to explode. 
So here I am daydreaming, my mouth open, on the dinner table. 
"Close your mouth, darling," Mum says, spoon-feeding Dollie mashed potatoes and peas as she scribbles me a letter in her messy scrawl.
Suddenly, she's standing by my side, smiling her cute gap-toothed smile.
"Hewe you awe, Staw!" she grins, holding out a sheet of red paper with a squiggly picture of a star. 
I open it up:
Deer STaR,
Ay Lov YooO
LoV DoLleY

Cute. 
"Uh, thanks, Dollie," I mumble.
"Youw welcome!" Dollie says, hugging me.
 *
"So," Katie says, chuckling. "She wrote you a letter?"
"I think it sounds cute!" Ginger complains. 
"Yeah, I guess it does," I say. Me, Katie and Ginger are on the lawn at school, talking little-sisters and messy letters.
"Hey," Katie says, changing the subject. "I heard there's gonna be a new student at school."
"Really!" me and Ginger say, sounding interested.
"Yeah, and her name's Ros Martin." 
"How'd you know?" I ask.
"School website," she mumbles, taking a bite of her carrot sticks. "Here." She shows us her laptop.
"Oh, yeah," Ginger grins. "Do you know how you can get to know more people?"              
"Typical Ginger," Katie mutters. "There's the school profile page." She flicks to a page.
"Ooh!" Ginger smiles. "Kim Frendher looks nice!"
She points to a picture of a tall, slim, brown haired girl.
"She looks friendly! Oooh! And look! There's you Star!" Ginger shouts.
And, of course, she's right. There's a picture of a short, black haired girl flashing a shy smile.
"They must've used the school photo," Katie laughs. "Hey, scroll up, that's me!"
Why is Katie so confident! There's a photo of Katie, sticking her tongue out at the camera, her eyebrows raised, eyes laughing.
"Where's me?" Ginger stutters looking around.
"Uh, um, oh! There you are!!" I say, grinning widely.
Katie and Ginger look toward the screen and that's when I feel sad.
Why am I always the shy one? Sometimes it's so infuriating! Even my sister is braver than me!
 *
Katie is right. The next day, most of the class is gathered around Ros Martin as if she is a new exhibition  at the zoo. At first I don't see her, but then I notice a tall, pink-streaky haired girl, a smile forced on her timid face.
"Nice hair!" Madison Dovonan, the class diva purrs.
If I were her I would stare, but she doesn't even glance.
But when she notices me, her her whole face lights up and she mumbles some sorries and shoves her way towards me. Big mistake. Compared to me, she's a light house!
"Hey!" she says, grinning. Not what I expected. Her voice is so soft and cheery. "What's you're name?"
"Uh, Star," I say uneasily.
"Wow! Cool name!" she gushes. I fidget with my shirt.
Madison shoots a fiery glare at me and storms off. She probably wants a praiser, too.

Chapter Two

After school, I tell Dad all about Ros.
"She sounds like a very friendly girl," he says, nodding.
I sigh, pulling off my bicycle helmet.
"What?" Dollie says, trying to climb on my bike.
"Nothing, and get off my bike," I say, exasperated, tugging her off.
"Daddy, can I have a bike?" she asks, her eyes wide.
"Maybe we can get you a tricycle first," Dad says gently, lifting her up into the house.
As I wander inside, a sweet, creamy aroma fills my nose.
"What've you been cooking, Mum?" I sniff.
"Oh, just Pandan cake, Star, honey," she says, walking into the room. "You can have some while you do your homework."
"'Kay Mum," I say, shrugging off my coat.
The next day, Ros finally explains.
"I know I'm a bit annoying, but I can't help it, 'cos I haven't got any new friends, and looking at you is like looking at the mirror," she says limply.
"Nah, s'okay I suppose," I shrug, grinning.
"Plus, it feels fun not being the only shy person, though judging by your hair, you're braver than me!" I chuckle.
"Thanks!" she beams, face shining. "I thought you were braver than me!"
"Seriously?"
"Hey Star!" Katie says, "have you heard the news?"
"What news?" I ask, puzzled.
"C'mon," she grins dragging me off. I manage to shoot Ros an apolligetic glance and shrug.
"That," Katie says, pointing to a new piece of paper pinned to the dash-board.
In bold letters is says:

On the 29th of April, there will be an exciting trip to St Mahillan Orphanage where students will write articles about the history and story of the orphans. They will write an article in which they will send to the Daily Globe newspaper. 

To sign in you must write your name, age and parent name  in the list below. The deadline to sign up will be the 24th of April. 

Name:                           Age:         Parent Name:

Madeline Morris    14   Jessica and Micheal Morris
Angus Cloud     11    Audrey Cloud
Mandy Richsten 13   Mary and Tim Richsten
Katie Richards  13   Alvin and Kristy Richards
Ginger Mattson  14  Guy and Allie Mattson
Allie Mason    12  Marina and Drey Mason 

"You should sign up now!"  Katie grins. "There are only two spots left!"
"I dunno..." I sigh uncomfortably. I've never actually said no to Katie."What about Ros?"
"Who cares about Ros?!!" Katie shouts, her face changing mildly. "Ever since Ros has been here, she's been stealing you with all her praises!" She says the name Ros with disgust.
I stand there, mouth half open, tears welling in my eyes. I never thought Katie was jealous of anything. "W-well I c-can't help it if I-I - have a f-friend like me f-for once!"I stutter.
"I guessed so! You were pretty stupid then, soaking up to all her silly statements! Ooh, what nice hair you have, Star! Oh, Star, you're a star!" Katie sneers, then stormed off.
To make matters worse, Madison Donovan appears, smirking. "So," she says, eyebrows raised. "Looks like you're own best friend hates you. I'd be your friend, but," she pauses, pointing to a photo of Ros, Ginger, Katie and me, "you already have a fan." She looks at me pityingly.
"Well looks like you don't have a friend, either," a voice says. Ginger! What? First Katie shouts at me, next Ginger's standing up for me! Never has she done that, except from the time she told a cat to go away in kindergarten. 
"Wha - ?" we shout.
"Please don't wha' at me," she says, "anyway, stop being mean to her! I'm her friend! And by the way, Ros isn't a fan, she's a very ni -"
"No I'm not," a small, soft voice says. Ros stands in the doorway, small, sad, sorry. 
"Well, uh, the fourth session bell has rang, and, I uh, don't wanna be late, so I'm gonna go," Madison points her thumb at the hallway and scrambles away.
"Well, I guess I gotta go," Ros says weakly. 
"No, wait!" I shout as she starts to walk away.
"What?"
"Well, maybe we can sort Katie out, somehow..." I say.
"Really?!" Ros says.
"Maybe.." Ginger looks at me knowingly. "After we sort out your red eyes!"
The End

 

 

 

The Three Star Hotel

Chapter One

My name is Star.  If I was five it would be something to be proud of. But if you're in middle school, you're up for months of teasing.
Three weeks ago I thought I'd be ready.
But I'm not.
Lucky I have two best friends, Ginger Mattson and Katie Richards. Ginger might sound like a weird name, but if you saw her before you heard her name, you'd be wishing you were her sister or best friend. Ginger has this amazing curly goldy-orange hair, reaching her shoulders, and shining green eyes.  About every girly-girl there ever was would wish for her arched eye-brows and friendliness.
Katie, on the other hand, has glasses, and in movies she'd be classified with a big fat NERD, but here in Green-Lane Middle School, she's the thumbs up for an A+ on homework.
Me, I'm just a girl with boring brown eyes and black hair, daydreaming about cats and lollipops. I'm not exactly living up my name.

Mum acts like I'm the best child in the world. She boasts about the times I clean up my room without asking, and when I sweep up the mess my little sister Dollie makes when she's attempting to make a TV for her Barbies.

One day at school, Ginger starts the day by shooing all her fans away. It goes like this:
"Ginger, do you wanna go out and have pizza tonight?" Mandy Farrel asks.  "I'd love to, but I've got to take Betty to the dog salon, you wanna come?"

"I'd love to, but, uh, I've gotta do my homework, sorry," Mandy says, not sounding sorry at all. It's really clear to me that she was hoping to get Ginger to become her best friend.

"It's okay," Ginger mumbles.
"Urgh!" Katie yells out in frustration as the furiously presses the numbers on her calculator. "Star, could you do me a favor and yell out, 'You are stupido!' to this wreck of a calculator!"
"Uh, okay," I say, and do what she tells me, except with a lower volume and higher dignity.
*
After school, Mum attacks me with the annalysing-the-school-day routine.
After she goes past the, "Did you learn anything useful for your future?" question, I throw a fit.
"Mum, can you please leave me alone?" I ask.
"Sure, honey," Mum says and proceeds to go back to help Dollie make a paper fan out of card-board.
Suddenly, my iPhone starts to ring.
"Hey?" I say, answering it with a snap and a click.
"Hey, Star," says a familiar voice.
"Candy!" I call out. Cally Midge, aka Candy, was my best friend back when I was in Emerald Primary, back in the suburbs of St Victoria.
"Volume down, your voice is ten times louder than it is on the phone you know!" Candy chuckles. "I missed you too!"
"So, Can-Can, how's Boarding school at Amdrey Manor?" I ask.
"More like boarding school at The-Teacher's-Grey Manor," Candy groans. "Do you know what Mrs Amdrey made us do on the first night?"
"What?"
"Wash all our clothes and make our own dinner, that's what!"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously!!"
"So, when do you have to go to bed?"
"Six o'clo - oh, dangit! Bedtime bell's ringing. Gotta dash. Maybe we could go out for a gelato and pizza at Cashew Rd on Saturday?"
"Okay! See ya!"

Chapter Two

Today is Thursday. Speech day. A day when our principal, Mr Smart, gives us a speech about being yourself and kind to other fellow strangers-I mean students.
God, I'd rather write a whole document on how worms live than go to school.
"Come on, Star, you don't want to be late," Dad says, sipping his coffee.
"Yes," Mum agrees, "After all, it's only your third week."
"My third Thursday of torture, more like!" I state sarcastically. Actually, it's true, on every Thursday on my calendar I've coloured it in red and written Speech Day in capital letters and drawn skulls all around it. 

After the school bus, and a long speech about friendship and being yourself, Mr Smart releases us to recess as the speeches have taken us one whole session.

"What'd you think about the act?" Jeniffer Hagges asks us.
"What act?...Oh, the one where Mr Peteson runs into the room as a fairy and gives us all that boring set of stories? Yeah, that one was a knockout!" Ginger grins, clutching me and Katie's hands.

"I want a cookie!" Dollie wails. Me, Mum, Katie, Ginger, and sadly, Dollie, are at Robinsons park on Friday afternoon.
"Come off it, Doll, honey," Mum says smoothly, and grabs Dollie to give her a hug.
"But the man says to COME AND GET ONE!!!!!!!!!!!" Dollie wails.
"I'll make you some when we get home, sweetie," Mum says, desperately clutching Dollie.
"BUT I WANT HIS COOKIES!!!!!" Dollie wails, going full volume.
"Um, you girls, do you mind if I buy some cookies for Dollie and go home?"
"Yeah," me, Katie and Ginger chorus eagerly.
"Okay, be home before dinner." Mum gets up and takes the wailing Dollie to the cookies stall and gives me a kiss.
*
The next day, me and Candy are glued to a Star Girl magazine article about young chick writers in Afghanistan and America.
"Check it out!" Candy says, and points to a picture of a lady and a girl posed together holding two books each. "Clarissa Morris and her mother, Janice Morris write four books in the series of Rose Quartz! Hey, isn't that the book Mr Taylor the librarian is nagging you to read?"
 "Yeah!" I say. "Hey, Candy, can we go get a pizza? I'm starved!"
"Yeah, okay, catch you later at Cafe` Paradise."
I get up from the park bench and head off to Cafe` Paradise. The scent of pizza and hot pie fills my nose. I dash over to the counter and order two pepperoni pizzas and sit down in a side booth.
A few minutes after our pizzas arrive, Candy dashes over and plonks herself down in front of me.
"Eat it quick!" I say, taking a bite of pizza. "It's getting cold."
After we finish, I order two gelatos to go.
"Yum!" Candy says, taking a lick. "This is better than the stuff they serve at school!"
"Definetly better than the stuff at your school!" I grin.
To be continued in the series of Three Star hotel.