I got it to work! After fiddling with my blog settings, here is Chapter 6 of my for-fun book that I've been working away on this month (fyi: it's loosely based on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility":
While Daniel made friends easily at Littleton Middle School, he sat with Natalie, Scott and Louise every day for lunch.
Well, he sat with Natalie at least, and Scott and Louise happened to be at the same table.
And on nice days, he and Natalie walked home from school; they walked about half way home on the same streets.
For the first month and half they knew each other, they would hang out occasionally, but during the last four or five weeks, Natalie had found a way to see more and more of Daniel. They made plans on the weekends and they would hang out at least twice during the school week.
And every day, every hour and every moment Natalie spent with Daniel, she liked him more and more. Things seemed so easy between them, and Natalie wanted to spend every minute she had with him. Her whole world had adjusted so Daniel became the center of it. He was perfect, and things were perfect with him.
“So,” Louise ventured one day when they walked from English class, “are you and Daniel … together?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Natalie said. “What exactly do you mean, ‘together’?”
“Oh, come on, Nat,” Louise said. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“Does it matter?”
“Natalie, I guess I just wanted to know where everything stood. You don’t talk to me anymore.”
“What do you want me to tell you?”
“You spend all your time with him, you ignore me and Scott at lunch. Just wondering if you guys were ... you know … official.”
Louise stood in the hall, looking up into Natalie’s face, her blue eyes sharp.
“Are you mad at me?”
“You haven’t been the same since Daniel moved to town. You only talk him now.”
“Lou, do you think I’m hiding something from you?” Natalie couldn’t believe Louise was looking at her like this, with a harsh look on her face.
“No, you don’t hide anything.”
Natalie stood in the hall, students filing past her, with her mouth slightly open. She’d never heard Louise talk like this to anyone, with a sharpness in her voice that cut Natalie like a knife.
“I’m … I’m wondering if you’re replacing us,” Louise’s voice came out as a hoarse whisper, her voice belying the emotion under her steely eyes.
Louise was only a few inches shorter than Natalie, but it was enough that Natalie had to look down at her friend’s face. Her expression hardened as she looked at Louise.
It was hard to remember a time when Louise had not been her friend. Louise, although always prim and proper, was the sweetest of people and never thought of herself.
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” Natalie said. Why would Louise accuse me of something like this? she wondered. I’m her best friend! She understands how much I like Daniel. She’s just jealous – she probably wanted Daniel all to herself from the beginning!
Tears pooled at the bottom of her eyes; she blinked them away to find Louise standing firm, still looking sternly at her.
“Lou, how can you say this to me? Why are you trying to hurt me?”
“I should have known,” Louise huffed. “Everything’s about you, and how you feel!”
“Great, so I’m ignoring you and I’m selfish!”
“I couldn’t have put it better myself!”
And with that, Louise swung around, bumping Natalie roughly with her backpack, and stalked off to French class.
Natalie was stunned; she couldn’t really think or move. She just stood there as students jostled their way around her.
What is Lou’s deal? she thought. I love Daniel. Why shouldn’t I spend as much time with him as I can? I thought she understood how I felt.
Her feet started carrying her toward French class, but she didn’t want to see Louise right now, even if Daniel would be there. Instead, she ducked into the girls’ bathroom. She headed for a stall at the end of the room, slammed the door shut and sat down on the lid, barely containing her sobs.
Louise and Natalie hadn’t fought a day in their six-and-a-half year relationship. She didn’t fight with anyone, not with Scott and not with her family. Ok, maybe she fought with her 16-year-old sister and her 9-year-old brother, but only sometimes.
Natalie couldn’t fathom what had gotten into Louise, only that she was jealous. But Lou hadn’t ever given any inclination that she liked Daniel. They barely ever spoke!
Natalie cried for a good 20 minutes, nursing the hurt Louise had caused. By then it was way too late to go to class, so she spent the rest of the class period trying to make herself look like she hadn’t been crying.
Daniel was waiting for her at her locker after class.
He looked at Natalie and his eyebrows crinkled in concern.
“What happened?” he asked.
