Chapter 1

It was a rainy day and Bonita West-Stone was sitting in the school cafeteria eating breakfast with her friend Mackenzie Shivers. they’d been best friends ever since they met in the eighth grade. "I wish they’d heat these doughnuts" Mackenzie complained eating a bit of her breakfast. She noticed Bonita was staring off into space. "Nita! you ok?" Mackenzie said snapping her out of it. "Yeah I was thinking about my mom, she’s been acting weird lately" Bonita said drinking her milk. "How?" Mackenzie asked. "Well she’s been really secretive lately, like she’ll write stuff down then hide it and when she gets a phone call she’ll go in the other room or tell me to go play or something" Bonita stated. "Maybe she has a new boyfriend that she doesn’t want you to know about" Mackenzie said. "I don’t know she usually doesn’t keep the jerks she dates a secret" Bonita said trying to chew a rather hard piece of doughnut. Just then their friend Mercedes DeBois joined them. The girls admired Mercedes. She survived an abusive relationship a few months back. "Hey chickies what’s up?" she greeted sitting down at the table. "Hey Sadie whist’s up?" Mackenzie asked. "Not much, hey you girls wanna come see me race after school today?" Mercedes asked. Mercedes owned a horse ranch and a track down the road from the ranch with her family. "Which horse are you racing with?" Bonita asked. "Katrina Star, she’s our fasted horse" Mercedes stated as the bell rang warning students to get to their first class. Mercedes told the girls to let her know at lunch and she and Bonita ran off to gym class. The teacher Ms. Tucker was telling them how much they’ve improved on their dancing so far. "Class you're doing great" she said ," and the next dance we’re gonna learn is called stay young". She had the class watch her do it first. Then she had the class come onto the floor and do it. It was an easy dance and they class had it down pact in no time. She told the class to sit back down and she gave them an assignment. "Ok girls I have a project for you to do" Ms. Tucker said, "I want you to pair up with a partner and come up with your own dance and you have two months to come up with it" she said and excused them to the girls locker room. Bonita and Mercedes paired up and since Mercedes was a cheerleader and Bonita was in the school step team they thought it would be easy. The girls got dressed and sat on the bench until the bell rang. On the way to her next class a teacher stopped Bonita. "Ms. West-Stone please come here" the teacher said. Bonita turned around and saw that it was Mr. Olden the art teacher. "Yes Mr. Olden?" she greeted walking up to him. "I’m in charge I’m the comic section of the school paper and I noticed you had some drawings of animals in your binder, are they yours?" Mr. Olden asked. "Yes Mr. Olden, I draw animals all the time" she stated. "Well we’re thinking of doing a comic strip involving animals and I wanna know if you’d like to draw them?" Mr. Olden asked. "Sure Mr. Olden I’d love to" she stated excitedly. "Ok here is the list of animals we wanna use and here is a pass to get into your next class´ he said handing both pieces of paper to her. She got to class and gave her teacher the late pass. "Here’s you vocabulary packet just use your dictionary" the teacher said as Bonita walked to her desk. As she sat down she looked at the list of animals Mr. Olden gave her. On the list was a kitten that needed to be white and orange, a puppy that needed to be solid black, a girl cat that always wore a fancy pink dress, a white mouse, a black rabbit that always wore a tiara on her head, and a horse that was brown with white spots that always wore a top hat.

Just then she saw Mackenzie walk back in the room and hand the teacher the rest room pass. She sat down next to Bonita and started her work. "Hey Kenzie did you find the word formalize yet?" Bonita asked deciding not to do the words in order just to drive the teacher wild. "No I’m doing mine in order" Mackenzie said with a little laugh. The bell rang and the teacher told everyone to have their vocabulary words done by Friday and that she wanted sentences with the words as well as definitions. Mackenzie went to her locker to get some paper and Bonita said she’d meet her in the library for study hall. As Bonita walked to the school library she stopped by the student supply store were Mackenzie’s not so secret admirer works during his free period. "Hey Bonita, whatcha need?" Eathon asked walking up to the counter window. "Got any coloring pencils?" she asked. "Yeah hold on I think we have a sixty pack in the back" Eathon said rushing to the supply room to check. As she was waiting Bonita spotted the help wanted sign hanging on the outside of the window. "Here ya go Bonita" Eathon said returning, "they’re eight dollars". "Ok here" she said handing him the money, "hey Eathon how do I apply for a job here?". "Just fill this application form out and hand it to the assistant principal" he said handing Bonita an application. She thanked him, put the form and pencils in her bag, and ran off to study hall. She got to study hall just as the tardy bell rang and sat down next to Mackenzie. "Where were you?, I was started to think you were gonna skip study hall" Mackenzie said. "No Kenzie I'm not that stupid I was buying some coloring pencils from the supply store" Bonita said taking the application out of her book bag. "What's that?" Mackenzie asked doing her work. "It's an application to work for the school supply store" Bonita replied starting to fill it out. "You're gonna work at the same place as Eathon" Mackenzie said rolling her eyes at the thought. "What's so wrong with Eathon?" Bonita asked. "Nothing, I just don't know if I like him like he likes me yet" Mackenzie said making sure not to make eye contact with Bonita. Bonita finished the application and got her binder out of her bag. She pulled out the list of animals she had to draw and read it again to be sure of what to draw. "What's that Nita?" Mackenzie asked. "A list of animals Mr. Olden wants me to draw for a comic strip in the school paper" she replied adding her new pencils to her pencil bag. Just then Mr. Olden came in and he walked over to Bonita and asked her how the drawings were going. "I'm starting now, but Mr. Olden do the animals have names?" Bonita asked. "No, but you can give them names" he said and walked around checking on other students. Bonita took out her trusty number two drawing pencil and find a clean piece of drawing paper in her drawing binder.

She found a black piece of paper because she decided to draw the mouse first. As she was working she heard the principal come on the intercom. "Hello students I just wanted to remind everyone that the homecoming dance is in three days so please purchase your tickets, they are five dollars for single and ten dollars for couples". "Are you gonna go Nita?" Mackenzie asked. "I don’t know I might, are you gonna go?" Bonita asked finishing the ears on her mouse. "If someone asks me" Mackenzie replied. "I know who’s gonna ask" Bonita teased. "Nita that’s not funny" Mackenzie replied. "Oh come on you know good and well he’s gonna ask over and over" Bonita said coloring the little mouse she drew white. "I know" Mackenzie said as the bell rung. The girls gathered their stuff and went on their way to lunch. They got their lunch and sat down. Mackenzie being a vegetarian, had a school salad and Bonita had a cheeseburger and a coke. As she was eating Bonita saw the assistant principal and quickly ran over to her to give her her job application. "Ms. Smith!" she yelled getting her attention. "Yes Ms. West-Stone?" she greeted. "Here is my application for the job at the student supply store" Bonita said handing her the application. The principle looked it over and told Bonita she started the next day during her free period. Bonita went and sat back down at the table. When she got there she saw that Mercedes was sitting there too. "Hey Sadie" she greeted as she sat back down at the table. "Nita, Kenzie said she’s coming to see me race, so are you?" Mercedes asked. "Sure Sadie and Kenzie I got that job at the school supply store, I start tomorrow" Bonita stated. "Cool" Mackenzie said eating the last bite of her salad. When Bonita finished her lunch she got her drawing binder out and finished the mouse by coloring it’s nose a dark pink color. "Cute mouse what’s it for?" Mercedes asked fixing her lip gloss. "I got a job drawing animals for a new comic strip in the school newspaper" Bonita answered writing the name Beeper In white marker at the top of the paper for the mouse’s name. As she put the page back in her binder the bell rang for her free period. She and Mackenzie got their stuff together and went to the hang out ground of the school. It was were all the kids hung out outside the school during their free periods because they had no class. They got out there and sat on a big flat rock where they always sat. "So are you gonna say yes if Eathon asks you to the dance?" Bonita asked. "I don’t know I like him, but I’ve never dated before" Mercedes said. "I think you guys would be cool together" Bonita said lighting up a cigarette. The school allowed the students to smoke outside as long as they didn't catch them.