S. A. G.: Reading Time

By Lea K. P.

What happens when you fall? You scrape your knee or elbow right? You don’t end up in the past, trapped in some sort of time travel game? You best friend doesn’t fade away infinity war style? You don’t find yourself falling for a pirate instead? You don’t become best friends with Marie Antoinette? You don’t almost get executed by Cleopatra? No? How strange. Maybe the book I picked up was just really, really weird, because I tripped and ended up falling into the book I was reading. Try not to be a klutz like me. Try not to fall into your book. It will bring you so much heartache, you won’t even be able to breathe. It will make you feel like a queen and then rip your heart out and set it on fire. Enjoy reading this one though. I doubt you’ll fall into it, but you never know…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796063844

Lea K. P.

Lea K. P. is a high school freshman born in June (Gemini). She’s half Macedonian and half Serbian. But, get this, she’s never lived in either of those countries. She’s lived in Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Cambodia, Israel, and Kenya but has never been in the countries of her origins for more than six months. She’s been to nine different schools, in under fourteen years, can you believe that?! She’s currently living in Nairobi with her two babies (they’re dogs, relax), her two bunnies, her brother, her mom and her dad. Lea is such a girly-girly but a badass (not true at all). Her favorite colors are pink, black and white. She loves wearing dresses, but prefers a hoodie. Lea has wanted a teacup pig for as long as she can remember, and so, she doesn’t eat pork. She really, truly hopes that you fall in love with her books.

Book preview

Prologue

– September 1, 2005, first day of kindergarten

Mommy, I don’t wanna go! I said as I stood at the doorway, crying.

Baby, you know you have to … said Mommy.

I hate you! I hate you, and I don’t want to go!

We don’t have time for this, baby. We have to leave now!

Fine!

– At kindergarten

Wow! This place is big, I said.

Hello. You must be little Sophia, said Mrs. Grace.

Yes, that’s me. You didn’t have to tell me my name. I wanted to say that, but I didn’t. Mommy says I’m too small for sarcasm. On the other hand, she says I’m too small for anything.

I’m not small! I ended up saying with a frown.

She laughed like Santa, with the "ho ho’s and the holding of her big belly. As I was looking around the class, I noticed someone else in pigtails. Yay! I’m not the only one wearing pigtails. Wait a minute. That’s—

"Vicky! I said. You go here?"

She turned and rolled her eyes. Hi. Finally, someone else with hideous pigtails like mine. Yeah, sadly. Then she saw it was me. "Wait. Sophia!"

Hey! I like my pigtails! I yelled at her. Who does she think she is, offending the legendary pigtails?

"I’m sorry, but they do make me look hideous," she said.

Yeah, they do. I giggled.

She laughed back.

They do. A boy giggled behind us.

Hey!

She chased the boy, whose name was Jackson, and me around the classroom, screaming at me, saying that her hideous pigtails’ feelings were hurt. When Mrs. Grace called us to our assigned seats, we were still laughing. Mrs. Grace had to separate us, and still, we kept on laughing until the three of us ended up in the principal’s office.

Psst. Soph, Jack, she whispered.

Yeah? we replied.

Want to be best friends and make the whole year like today?

Definitely.

We ended up being interrogated by Mr. Clain. He asked us questions like What was so funny in Mrs. Grace’s class that you three couldn’t stop laughing? and Why on earth were you being difficult? You were tables apart, and yet you were still laughing.

None of your beeswax, I thought. In the end, I was left without words to tell Mr. Clain.

It was my fault, Mr. Clain. I was making silly faces, Vicky blurted out.

That’s not true! I defended her. I was making the faces.

Are we forgetting the jokes I was making? Jack said.

He was eager to be a part of us, even if it meant getting into trouble, and I found that really cool. I turned to see Vicky look at him weirdly, and I thought she now liked him. The three of us ended up spending half an hour arguing about who was making us laugh like a pack of hungry chimpanzees.

Children, children! Calm down! Please! Mr. Clain yelled, waving his hands around like a madman.

Jack muttered something under his breath to Vicky, and her cheeks went tomato red. I knew she liked him, and it looked like he might like her too. I wonder how long it will take for them to tell each other and kiss and have a happily ever after.

And so we did, not wanting any more trouble. We were released from the principal’s office, and about ten minutes later, it was recess. The three of us played in the playground, and I accidentally fell off the swings while Vicky was sneaking into the guard teacher’s bag and trying on her makeup. Jack was just watching us and laughing while playing with other kids as well. The day was going really well. I asked Vicky if she liked Jack, and she said no, but I knew she was lying because whenever she lied, she couldn’t look at me.

When my mom came to pick me up after kindergarten, which sadly lasted another four hours after we had left Mr. Clain’s office, I put a frown on my face so she didn’t think I liked school too much. But to be honest, I actually liked kindergarten, and I thought Violet and Jack were a big part of that. But I also liked Mrs. Grace’s funny look. She had a small head and a wide chest. She was fat on the tummy and had a big tush and chubby legs.

Should I tell Mommy that I kind of liked kindergarten, or should I keep holding a grudge? I want to thank her for making me go to school, but then she would think I’m finally giving in to being mushy and cute and girly. Gross—never!

Baby? she said.

Please, please, please have her not ask how I liked kindergarten. I gulped. Yes?

How was your day?

Whew, thank god. It was perfect, I answered with a confident, cheeky smile. She could never crack me.

Aha! Ha ha ha ha! she laughed dramatically. "So you liked kindergarten, am I right?

Uh-oh.

I ran to my room, screaming, and my mom was chasing me, saying, I was right!

My house was a big house, with the living room right in front of the door and a library, with all my books placed neatly in ten large shelves, behind it. (Most of them were for the future. I already know my favorite genre, but I won’t tell you. Tee hee hee.) I know, I know, I wasn’t supposed to be able to read at five years old, but I did because my mom had taught me when I was three to tell the difference among letters, and the rest, I taught myself by reading books with five pages and price tags and stuff like that.

Then, next to the living room (on the left) was the dining room, but it wasn’t actually a room, just a big table put into a large empty space in between the kitchen and the living room. Then, on the left of the dining room was the kitchen. Oh, and in the living room, you had a glass door leading to the garden and pool, while from the kitchen, there was the back door, which was also the door to the backyard.

Then there was my mommy’s room and my playroom. Upstairs was my room and the guest room, which used to be Tommy’s room. It was pretty empty up there, but there was a second living room and a glass door to a giant balcony, and there was a bathroom in front of the stairs downstairs and one upstairs, next to the piano. Each room was bigger than the other, but Mommy’s room was the biggest and then mine and then the guest room, and each room had its own bathroom.

At home, it was just me and Mommy. Daddy left us about a month ago and took Tommy with him. Tom was my big brother, but I called him Tommy. He was 2 and-a-half years older than me and was born on July 4, Independence Day. I was born on April 5.

– Five years later

Vicky, can you believe it? We’re in middle school! I screamed.

It was the first day of middle school, and Vicky and I could not have been more excited.

I know! Oh my god! We’re ten, Soph. We’re in proper middle school. Not fourth grade, no—we’re in fifth! Vicky screamed back.

Hey, chicks. Looking good. Uh-huh.

Vicky and I turned around and saw Jack walking toward us, catcalling other girls. Vicky looked down, and I could see her eyes filled with tears. Vicky was madly in love with Jack, but he was just a dumb-dumb who wouldn’t know love if it smacked him in the face. He’d been catcalling girls all summer, and Vicky just had to take it because she was too shy to say anything about how she felt. Sometimes I hated Jack because of it, but I couldn’t properly despise him because he was still my best friend.

I knew Vicky sometimes hated him, but she couldn’t properly hate him because she loved him, and they were best friends anyway. Jack finally got to us after hours of walking and greeted us weirdly, like he knew something was up. He pulled me to the side and asked me if there was something wrong with Vicky because she seemed too quiet. I glared at him and ignored his question.

We walked to class hand in hand, but I knew Jack felt dejected. I felt really bad, so I told Vicky to go ahead and that I would catch up to her. I told Jack to stay back and told him to get his shit together.

I know you like Vicky—don’t deny it—and I know Vicky likes you too. You flirt with other girls in front of Vicky for a reason, so what is it? I demanded.

I felt so dominant at that moment, and I liked it. I remembered the task at hand, and I hardened my glare.

I just don’t know how to tell her I like her, Soph. She’s just so perfect, and I feel like I shouldn’t ruin that, but I want to so bad, he said.

I felt it and just told him he should take his time but not to be dumb. He told me he did all that flirting with girls to impress Vicky, and I pointed out that it obviously wasn’t because she was getting hurt.

My best friends were the luckiest people to have me as a best friend. I ran to catch up to Vicky, and we walked to class together. Our first lesson in middle school. I can’t wait ’til high school! I looked over at Vicky and smiled. I hugged her tight and told her how much I loved her.

– 6 years later, start of junior year

Sophia, we have two more years! Can you believe it? Two more years only! Vicky squealed.

Well, Vicky, you might need some more help with that English of yours. That sentence makes no sense.

Life makes no sense, so why should the way I talk make sense?

Just shut up, Vicky. Let’s get to class before we’re—

"Girls!" Jack screamed from like two miles behind us.

We smiled and began to run to class so he couldn’t catch up with us. Over the summer, Jack had finally grown a pair and told Vicky he liked her, but he forgot that Vicky couldn’t spend her whole life waiting for him, and so she rejected him, telling him she was seeing someone whom, by the way, she didn’t like. Jack kind of cut us off from his life and began sleeping around like a manwhore. School finally started, and Vicky had broken up with Adam ages ago. Jack knew he could use time before to talk to us, so we made it to class before he could catch up.

He obviously got fed up of not being able to be with Vicky romantically because he ran into our class, took Vicky’s wrist, picked her up, and kissed her. She kissed him back and smiled at me. I was so happy for them and especially Jack, who finally got his head out of his ass. Vicky turned pink, but then she got so mad and started to punch him.

Her eyes were filled with tears, and she screamed at him, Why did it take you so long, you asshole? over and over.

I was glad we had been the first ones in school because this wouldn’t have been the best start. Jack looked her in the eye and apologized. Vicky obviously accepted it because she kissed him again when someone walked in and shouted to her friends that she had won a bet.

You guys, I was right! They’ve finally done it!

Her friends came running in, and money was being traded. On other days, Vicky would have shot them all down, but this time, she just looked at them and smiled like a princess when she finally gets her happily ever after.

I had to run out and pick something up from my leaving car, but I bumped into someone coming in at the same time. I looked up and saw the most beautiful creature God could have created. I goofily smiled, gave a polite and odd Hi, and ran off. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, and when I got back, there he was, next to Jack and next to my seat. This year is sure as hell going to be something.

Chapter 1

– September 1, 2017, mini introduction

Mom is Ana Greene, Tommy is Tom Jace Greene, and Dad is Frank Greene. Violet is Violet Katherine Drop, her mom is Rosy Anne Drop, and her dad is Simon Drop.

Granny is America Michelle Greene, and Grandpa is Max Howard Greene. Mom’s parents died in a terorist attack, but they were called Annie and Jake Brown. Vicky’s granny is Janette Drop. She’s the only Drop grandparent left.

My mom and Vicky’s mom have been best friends since they were three.

My full name is Sophia Abigail Greene, and I am going back to high school today. After the Christmas holidays, junior year.

Violet, Jackson, and I have been best friends since the first day of kindergarten, but Vicky and I have known each other since birth. Vicky’s and my parents are top-secret agents for the FBI. Cool, right?

My parents were divorced when I was five because my dad cheated on my mom, and they made a deal—one child each, even though we kind of constantly swapped places until Dad gave up on us. So anyway, my dad originally left with Tommy, and my mom kept me. In 2010, my parents fell in love again and got married again, and now we are all one happy family, even though I haven’t forgiven him.

Scarlett Johnson and Jane Blue are the typical high school bitches, always perfect. They’re also best friends, just like me and Vicky, but we mutually hate each other with a fierce passion.

I think I am in love with Noah Narlington, and Jackson Halls, a.k.a. Jack, is Vicky’s boyfriend and Noah’s best friend. Noah moved to NYC at the beginning of junior year at the same time as Scarlett—well, a couple of months earlier but still same year.

– Present day

I was on the bus going back home after a hard long year at my university, Royal Holloway, but I couldn’t be happier. I missed my school already, but I was finally going to see Mom, Dad, Tommy, and Marie. I looked out the window, and everything was perfect—almost too perfect.

My sixth sense spiked up, and I soon saw what was wrong. I got home and saw it was empty. I freaked out and tried my best not to cry. I ran around my house, looking for them, but everywhere I looked just seemed to disappear.

I screamed for everyone, but then I woke up in my bed. I was in my bed, with my mom hovering around it. Marie was sleeping at my feet like a loyal puppy, and Dad was seated next to me. My bed was wet, but it didn’t smell. I guess I just cry a lot at night.

Mom? What happened?

You had another nightmare, honey.

I’d been having them all summer. I hope they pass. After what happened in the past year, I just want my life to go back to normal. I got out of bed and slowly woke Marie up. I was graduating this year, and I wanted it to be perfect. I packed Marie and myself up, and we set out to go to school.

I dropped her off at NYC Middle School and set out to my high school. Noah met me halfway there, and we walked together. It had been raining that night, so there were a lot of puddles around, and so Noah and I decided to become members of Peppa Pig’s family. We turned up at school a bit later and a bit muddier.

Violet was waiting for us at the door as usual, but we ignored her