Lee, That's Me! - Chapters 1 to 6

Chapter 1: Discovering Plump's Talent!

"No," I said shaking my head in absolute disgust

"No?" screeched Plump

"No." I repeated, louder this time. I find myself repeating a lot for her nowadays. It is somewhat annoying.

Quiet giggles escaped from the class. I reckon they're laughing at the sight of Plump, who has gone extremely red. I've noticed that she goes red quite a lot, mostly around me, strange.

"BE QUIET!" shrieked Plump nearly on the verge of a breakdown.
Everyone shut up then not daring to breathe.
Me? Well, I was AMAZED. Sure Plump does a lot of yelling, but this was surprisingly the loudest. I think she would have broken a world's record then!

"WOW!! I think you have the ability to cure oldies!" I said, praising her incredible voice. I'm constantly complimenting her all the time! But she doesn't seem to be satisfied. What more can I say?

Everyone went "Awwh!"
Usually when they do that it means there's trouble. It took me a while before I clicked... it was Plump.

"Excuse me?" Said Plump in a very quiet cold voice.
... Did you notice it too? She quietened down... That is definitely not like her. If this doesn't spell trouble, what does?

"Are you whispering?" I asked, whispering a little myself. It HAD to be the answer! It only made sense!

That's when the entire class fell apart laughing very hard. Girls cupped their mouths with both their hands, trying to stop laughing but we could all hear muffled giggles. Boys, on the other hand, laughed openly, banging on table and nudging each other crazily.

I wonder what the big joke is.
I didn't even get a chance to say bye to Plump, who unexpectedly stomped away. Where did she go?

"Curing deaf oldies! Steve chuckled, spitting a little on my face, "Good one!"

"I know, it's awesome!" I said, nodding my head in agreement. I dabbed my wet face with scrap paper, and scrunched it all up, then tried to chuck it in the bin.
My aiming sucks.

This sent the boys laughing all over again. Everyone seems to laugh a lot, for no apparent reasons. Why is that?

"What's so funny?" I asked annoyed with Steve, who constantly kept nudging me. I hate it when he touches!

Steve is the biggest jerk ever known. Everyone else thinks he's cool, but not me. I wonder why the girls look at him in awe... it's really creepy.

I mean, there's nothing interesting about him. Not really. He looks like the rest of us; blonde hair, blue eyes, cheesy grin.

So, why is it that he gets more attention than the other guys? Mind you, that's not why I dislike him. It's simply because he gets all the others to hate me. Girls, in particular, how? I don't know. My friend, Mia reckons it's cuz he likes me. I don't know why she repeated "like" twice, but all I'm going to say is she's wrong!

"YOU!" spluttered Steve. I immediately backed away, worried that I'm going to be spat on again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, turning my attention to the rest of the class who agreed with Steve. Before Steve could answer, Plump returned... with the Head.
Oh-uh! Why do I have this awful feeling that this has something to do with me?

"ELIZABETH RILEY! Come here, right now!" barked Mr Nickels.
Some people nearly jumped off their seats in amazement. I don't know why Plump doesn't have that effect considering she's way louder than Mr Nickels.

"ELIZABETH! Are you even listening?" boomed Nickels, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Sir, don't call me Elizabeth. Got it? it's too... posh and definitely don't call me Lizzie, I know a geek call that."

I turned my head all the way around, to face Lizzie who was sitting at the back of the room. She looked back at me with a weird expression, almost as if she were going to cry. I smiled politely, assuring her that I have no intention in cramping her style.

She looked away, as if I had punched her or something. Huh?

I turned my attention back to Nickels who turned proper red, even redder than Plump. I noticed that she looked rather upset, I suddenly had an awful thought. What if she thinks I think Mr Nickels is louder than her? I gave her one of my assuring smiles.

"What are you smiling at?" Plump asked, through gritted teeth.

"I'm just glad that there's no one out there with a louder gob than you." I announced, stretching my smile even more.

"GET OUT!" screamed Plump.
WHOA... She's even louder than before! AMAZING!! Pure skills! I immediately rose out of my seat and applauded her.

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Chapter 2: What did I do Wrong?

Lee gets into trouble with her family.

"Excluded!" yelled Mum, "Lee! You stupid girl! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut for once?"
"Ow! Stop shaking my shoulders, you're hurting me." I whined.

Mum instantly let go of me, looking really worried and angry at the same time. I rubbed my poor shoulders, making them go around in circle motions.

"Lee? What were you thinking?" Mum said nearly bursting into tears.

"Mum, I swear I have no idea what I did wrong!" I said utterly confused with everything.

"Explain what happened," Dad said calmly "Tell us everything you know,"

"OK. Well, I was talking to Mia about Surf-Run. We were going on a debate about why our chosen surfer is better than the other. I picked Reece Anderson because I think h-"

"Forget that part!" yelled Mum "Just get to the point!"

"OK! No need to yell," I said, surprised with Mum. "Anyone would think you're related to Plump! But, of course, you don't have her true talent. Personally, I don't think you have any,"

"Lee," Dad said bitterly "Get on with it."

"OK. Anyway, she told me to move next to Steve. I thought that was pretty harsh of her since I did nothing wrong. Usually she tells people to move if they were misbehaving, but I was behaving!"

"Idiot! You were yapping away to your friend and not paying attention! What do you expect?" shrieked Mum, shaking me, once again, by the shoulders.

"Ow! I was paying attention and talking at the same time! The school system doesn't mention anything about that," I said exasperated.

"Oh? I guess the school system doesn't mention anything about scrunching test's results either?" Mum said glaring at me.

"I didn't know it was the test's result! I thought it was scrap," I protested.

"Why would you think that?" Dad asked looking at me awkwardly, "Besides, why would you go around scrunching papers? Didn't you think they could have been important?"

"She doesn't ever think!"

I looked at Mum, really hurt. I think all the time!

Mum sighed, finally letting go off me. "Lee, go to your room. don't come down until I or your father say. This cannot happen again, you understand?"

I nodded my head slowly, still very confused with what I did wrong. No one seems to understand me, so why should I try to understand them?

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Chapter 3: My Stupid Sister

I tiptoed upstairs slowly passing by my older sister, Bethany. She is a weird teen, definitely a sight to look at.

She has the strangest red-ish, orangey wild hair I have ever seen. Her eyes are natural hazel-brown with a touch of orange. Her skin's the color mocha and she has an interesting heart-shaped face and delicate pink lips.

I can understand why guys look at her in awe! Sometimes they confuse me because I catch them looking at her chest. Nothing very interesting about her chest, they're like everyone else's except bigger.

"What are you looking at, weirdo?" Bethany snapped.

I quickly shook my thoughts away.

"Just your chest," I said honestly, "it got me wondering why guys would possibly look at that."

"Oh? You think your breasts are any better?" She said, laughing a bit cruelly. "Dream on."

"In case you haven't noticed," I said, looking down at my flat chest, "I haven't got any."

"I can see that," Bethany says looking at me up and down, "and from the looks of it, I can see that you've got no brain either."

I felt so sorry for her. Because, how can we live without a brain?

"Aw, it must be hard being so stupid." I said, giving her a sympathetic look.

"It really must be, for you." Bethany slammed the door on me so I couldn't say anything back. She always wants the last word. Who could blame her?

Hip-Hop blared out of her room. I pressed my ear against her door, listening intently to the fast lyrics. I tried to catch every word I could but it was hard with Bethany's constant giggles.

"Oh, you sure know how to flatter girls!"
Giggle, giggle,
"Aw! You shouldn"t have!"
Giggle, giggle.
Was Bethany talking to herself? It seems like it - but wait! what's that other voice?
"I'd do anything for you, babe."
More giggle, giggle.

Huh? That definitely sounded like a guy's voice. Oh well, I shrugged it off. I decided to slump back into my room. That is when I heard the music stop and a loud piercing scream.

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Chapter 4: Pinch Me, I'm Dreaming!

Bethany's acting strange...

I stopped dead in my tracks. It was Bethany screaming.

"Bethany?" I yelled, banging furiously on her door. What was going on? It's not normal of her screaming.

No answer
"Bethany?" I raised my voice even louder.
Still no answer.

Mum heard me, all the way from downstairs. Instantly she came rushing up, eyes wide with panic, gasping for breath.
"What's going on?!"

"Mum! Bethany's not opening her door!" I said, frantically moving the door knob about.

"Here, let me see." Mum pushed me out of the way and banged on her door "Bethany? Is everything OK?"

"Yes, Mum!" said a very high squeaky voice.

... That doesn't sound like Bethany. I think Mum noticed too because she asked Bethany to come out.

The knob twisted and the door creaked open a little. Out came Bethany, except something didn't feel right...

"Bethany!" Mum cried, "Why are you so pale?" She touched Bethany's face, her hands moving rapidly all over. "You're freezing!"

"No, I'm not!" Bethany said, shaking Mum's hands off her. She makes it look so easy. "If you don't mind, I've got a lot of homework to do."

Homework? Pinch me, I'm dreaming. I've been dying to say that! I like that quotation, but honestly, I wouldn't want anyone pinching me if I were dreaming. Especially if it's one of the dreams you'd wish that would carry on forever!

"Oh... OK, good girl." Mum says sounding a little put off. Bethany gave my Mum a little glare before shutting the door on us.

I can understand how Bethany must be feeling, what with Mum never praising you properly. It can be very irritating and yet she uses her famous tone when telling us off. She's always telling us off properly.

But then again, I understand how Mum must be feeling. Bethany's glares aren't very pleasant. I tend to get them a lot, through no fault of my own. I watched Mum, looking confused as ever, going down the stairs. Once again, Bethany's music plays again. Except this time, it's slow rock.

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Chapter 5: I Don't Know?

Lee is VERY confused.

Being grounded is something I'm used to. I practically live in my room, which is why I've grown accustomed to it. I lay down in my bed, racking my brain, trying to figure out what I did that was so wrong that got me excluded!
...
No clue.

Hold on! Steve's always getting girls against me, right? Maybe not just girls, maybe all sorts of females! All sorts of shapes and sizes!

Plump is quite large for a tiny woman. She's got greasy brown hair all tied up in this tight bun. Her face is natural puffed-pink.

Mum's total opposite. She's wa-ay taller than Plump and is curvier. She has long auburn hair and the greenest eyes I have ever seen.

Me? Well, I've got her auburn hair and Dad's hazel brown eyes. Nothing very interesting, I know.

I wish I could look more like my sister than my parents. She's unique.

"Lee! You can come down now, dinner's ready!" Mum's voice came all the way downstairs. "Make sure Bethany comes too!"

I stretched my arms, thinking how long have I been here thinking?

I knocked loudly on Bethany's door with both my fists. I always have to knock like this so she hears me.

"Bethany! Dinner's ready!" I said, looking at the door knob waiting for it to twist open, "Bethany! Can you hear me?" I banged on the door even louder. "BETHANY! I SAID CAN-YOU-HEAR-ME?"

The music stopped. Finally!

I waited patiently for her to come out. After a while, I decided I've been patient enough.

"Bethany! Come out!" I demanded, banging on the door all over again.
No answer

"Bethany!" I shouted, trying to get her to hear me. I imagined her wearing her earphones "BETHANY! DINNER'S REEEEEADDDDY!"

I expected her to come out with her usual irritated angry red face. it's what she always does. It's something I wish to avoid. But today, I'll give anything to see it again.

"... Bethany?" I squeaked. I squinted at the door knob, casting a spell, forcing Bethany to take her earphones off and chuck them on the bed. She's very angry right now and is getting ready to shout at her innocent little sister. She twists open the door knob and - hold on sec! The door knob is being twisted, very slowly. I watched the door open, proud of myself. I felt as if I truly had something to do with this.

I hadn't expected to be yanked in.
Then... I don't know what happened but I felt a big THWACK on my head. I could see four versions of Bethany's all looking at me. Two were smirking whilst holding a big bat and the other two looked worried and scared... Huh?

That's when I hit the floor.

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Chapter 6: Think, Lee, Think!

Lee is trying to figure what's going on, that is if her tummy allows her!

I let out a long yawn and stretched my arms. My stomach let out a loud rumble, pleading me to feed it. I picked myself off the pavement... and - wait, what?

What am I doing on the pavement?

Last I remember... Bethany...'s?

Oh! I can't think straight with an empty tummy. I hurried along to the nearest corner shop I can find. "Johnny's sweet shop"

I don't recognize this building. Oh well, I'm sure this place will have something to satisfy my stomach.

"Hello, hello, hello!" chirped a very jolly, large man "How can I help?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" I smiled "it's OK, OK, OK!"

I wonder why people repeat things more than once. Ah well, I like it.

The man frowned and gave me a suspicious look before he went away. I gave him one of my special smiles but he didn't even acknowledge me back!

Why is that people get irritated by my smiles? Surely when someone smiles at you, you smile back, right? I even heard one time that a smile is worth it.

What's that weird sound? It appears to be coming from me.

Oh right! I nearly forgot. I grabbed some goodies, anything really, and fumbled in my pockets for some change. People were starting to line behind me and one person told me to hurry up. My stomach started to get very desperate.

"How much do you need?" says an annoying voice next to me, "don't worry, you can pay me later, Rumblebelly."

I turned my head... and I knew it! It's that dumb old Steve.

Actually he's not dumb, Dumbs can't speak, right? That is so not him, he always talks! It's impossible to shut him up! I don't even think he deserves to be Blonde.

You have heard of that quotation, haven't you? Blondes are dumb.

That is one of the quotes I disagree with. I know many blondes that speak; in fact I think they're louder than the rest of us.

Also, I saw a program once. This brunette girl was dumb, so that proves things wrong, unless she dyed her hair. I highly doubt it.

"Err... Rumblebelly? I know I'm irresistible to look at," Steve chuckled, flashing me one of those lopsided grin of his, "but you got to move along. Others can't stick around forever." He winked and moved closer to me, "you can look at me all you want later... err, tomorrow? At 5? McDonald's?"

Voila! I knew, I would find it! I paid the shopkeeper and left weirdo Steve. I heard people muttering "thank goodness" after I left.

I enjoyed eating my goodies, savoring each one, happy that it was worth the trouble. After I had finished, I chucked the wrappers in the bin.

I really should work on my aim.

Now I can finally think! OK, so recap everything you know.
Casting a spell

Door actually opened!
But got pulled in?

Hmm... Well, when I was in the room there was only Bethany I could see everywhere. Why is that?
THWACK!

Of course! When I got hit on the head, it must have been so bad that I saw four of her!

Two were smirking whilst holding a bat and the other two looked really worried and scared.

Oh... right! Hold on-

But doesn't that mean?
... It can't be!

There weren't two Bethany's in the room, were there?

Ugh! This doesn't make sense! How could there be two Bethany's?
Unless...

I remember something like this from a TV program where there are two exactly the same and you have to decide which is the real one?

Now we're starting to get somewhere!

One of the Bethany's is the actual and the other is... a robot.