Revised Entry 8 E. Arroyo

Name: Elizabeth Arroyo
Contact: elizabeth(dot)arroyo5(at)gmail.com
Title: Some Kind of Trouble
Genre: YA Contemporary
Entry #8

Pitch: After a drive-by shooting leaves Arianna with an unexpected boyfried, she finds that love alone won't save him from life on the streets.

2nd Line: I once chanted one hundred and three thousand times in one night for my mom to get better.

First 250 of 2nd chapter:

I awoke the next morning with David standing beside my bed, already dressed. “Where’s mom?”

“She’s at the clinic. What time is it?” I asked, still nestled under the covers.

“Seven.”

“Seven?” I jumped out of bed, got caught in the sheets and went sprawling to the floor. Shit. David laughed as I scampered to the bathroom. “Are you ready?” I asked him while brushing my teeth and pulling my hair in a tail. I had thirty minutes to drop him off and get my butt to school. I didn’t wait for him to answer. “Get my keys and turn on the car and come back inside.” I rinsed my mouth and ran to my room frantically searching for my school uniform, which I found where I had left it: on a chair near my bed. I grunted, threw it on and ran downstairs. It was seven-ten when I grabbed my jacket and got in my car, three minutes after that I realized I’d left David and went back for him. I had five minutes to make it to school after dropping him off.

The school parking lot was full and I managed to squeeze my car between a Honda, whose driver could care less about the lines on the pavement, and a minivan. Sliding out of my car, I ran inside.

I was three minutes late to Mr. Hanlon’s class and froze when I entered. In the front row away from the door sat Rebecca Townsend. In my seat. I narrowed my eyes and wanted to remind her that she usually sat near the door with Marcus when Mr. Hanlon spoke.

“There’s a chair near the door,” he told me.
Of course there was a chair near the door. It was her spot. I turned and sat down hard, dropped my book bag on the floor and took off my jacket. This day could not get any worse.

I was so wrong.