Chapter 1: Junior High RING! The halls—where normally, you could hear a pin drop—were filled with sound. Even if the bell had rung again, it would be impossible to hear it. Another day at Brooklyn Prospect Clinton Hill Middle School had gone by–to the students' relief. Principal Kadiak (ko-dee-ock), a grouchy old lady with hunched shoulders and faded white-blonde hair stomped into the halls. Ying Kadiak had come to Brooklyn, New York 12 years ago from being a principal in China–for high schoolers. According to her, the Chinese were good scholars with a natural talent for math and science. She said, “They never come to school wearing tube tops and crops.” Among that, she also said many other things. “My students would never in a million years wear makeup to school!” or “There should be uniforms, to keep you all in check and teachers with PhD’s!” Pretty much, no one in the school liked grouchy old Principal Kadiak, or as the students called her, Principal Grumpy-ak. Among the hundreds of students, attempting to leave before Principal Kadiak came to “dismiss” them with a friendly goodbye—which the students claimed was a big lie—was Amber Burke. Amber had auburn hair, brown eyes, and crisp, peach skin. Amber’s somewhat friend, Loraina (Lor-ay-nuh) Klein, was almost opposite to that. Loraina had beautiful dark skin and curly black hair. Her trademark style was pink lip-gloss and a leopard print jacket. To go with that that day, she wore a pink dress and leopard print boots. Amber’s other friend, Mia Kadiak—yes, the principal's granddaughter— was Chinese-Japanese-Alaskin. Her father is Chinese-Alaskin, her mother Japanese. This resulted in making Mia the prettiest girl she had ever seen, in Amber’s opinion. Mia had wavy locks of dark brown hair, soft, pale skin, and bright blue eyes. Despite being the granddaughter of the principal-she was a liked figure at school. Lucky for everyone, Mia was nothing like her grandmother. She disliked Principal Kadiak’s choices and thought she treated everyone unfairly. Anyway, Amber, Loraina, and Mia were at their lockers, gathering their belongings as fast as they could when a note drifted out of Amber’s. She bent down to pick it up. “What’s that?” Loraina, or as everyone called her, Lina, with her sharp eyes, quickly noticed. Amber bit her lip. “I’m not sure.” Cautiously, she lifted it up to look at it. It was a message. Continue below↷
Lily, Alia, mission is a go. Dad says you can return back now! P.S. Please be secretive about your dragons when you return back home! P.S.S. We will be waiting with open arms! P.S.S.S The longer you make us wait, the more we’ll worry about you! Amber raised an eyebrow. The messy writing was hard to read. Luckily, underneath it, was another passage. Hello Lily, Alia. Long time no see. It’s been 2 years. Luckily, you can come back now! Wylex TRIED to tell you that but his writing is soooo messy. Too bad they don’t still teach penmanship in Aer Academy! {Wylex could use it} Anyway, meet us at the east riverbank of East River, lucky for you, in Brooklyn, New York! Sincerely, Ayana Lady (Wylex too!) “Ayana Madame?” Amber frowned, confused. “Wylex?” Mia bit her lip. “That note was for me Amber, can I have it?” There was an unusual fleck of impatience in her voice. Unlucky for her, Loraina had said at the same time, “That was for me, they must have put it in the wrong locker! Hand it here.” It made sense that Mia or Loraina’s message would have ended up in her locker but the fact that they had both claimed ownership of it—at the same time no less—made Amber feel suspicious. “It’s BOTH of yours?” Mia turned red. “I meant it’s Loraina’s!” At the same moment, Loraina replied, “Mia’s. It’s Mia’s.” Amber blinked. “What?” Lina (Loraina) sighed. “It’s for BOTH of us.” Amber paused. “You’re going down to the East River tonight?” Mia hesitated a second too long, then finally replied, “Yes, we’re going.” Lina nodded, “And you should TOTALLY come along!” Amber raised an eyebrow. Lina sounded way too enthusiastic and energetic. Yet, Amber would go with those two anywhere. “Sure,” she smiled, “I don’t have anything to do anyway!” Loraina, or, Lina, whatever you want to say, gave Amber a smile. “Awsome.” Amber pulled out her cell phone. Hey mom. She texted. She knew her mother wouldn’t care any less if she told her or not but Amber didn’t want to risk it. Instantly, a text came back. Well? I don’t have all day. Amber didn’t feel like telling her mom exactly where she would be so she replied, Will be at my friend’s house for a sleepover. When she didn’t get a reply, Amber knew her mom was okay with it. Lina looked at her. “Moms?” she asked sympathetically. Amber nodded. “Yeah,” she replied with a sigh, “Just one of those days.” Mia shrugged. “You just have to live with it.” In their friend group, Mia was the most un-sympathetic person ever yet the best writer ever. Loraina-Lina-was the kind and understanding, sympathetic earthy girl, and Amber, was the tough girl who used to have “wrong” friends. Friends that would hot-wire cars and hack ATM’s. Lina put a hand on Amber’s shoulder and told her, “I’ll hire a cab.”
