Earthquake 12/6/12 2:20 PM

CHAPTER ONE- School ends, go to mall. Introduce friends and Richness CHAPTER TWO- Goes to movies, eats at restaurant, goes to Jades pool. CHAPTER THREE- Go to Samantha’s house, backyard, “cabin.” CHAPTER FOUR- Earthquake: Moet, Jasmine, Jade; Samantha; Rachel CHAPTER FIVE- trapped for a long time; dreams CHAPTER SIX- Escape EPILOGUE-

Earthquake 12/6/12 2:20 PM

CHAPTER ONE “And it equals…Catherine?” Ms. Caroline asks, pointing her pencil at someone in the front. She always does that, and never bothers to call on anyone in the back. My mom paid for me to sit in the back, because she didn’t want me to have to do so much thinking. She also didn’t want me to sit in those hard plastic brown chairs. As soon as she heard that I was sitting in them, just like everyone else, she sent a furious note to the principal, along with a five hundred dollar check. The next day I sat in a big purple couch with a long glass table in front of me, along with all my other friends. “Jade! Come on, school is over! Didn’t you here the bell?” Samantha asked, pulling my arm and dragging me to the door. I pushed open the heavy wooden door and walked outside. Lucas, the limo driver was waiting. He had on his normal black suit and shades. I’ve never seen his eyes before, since he wore his sunglasses everywhere, even inside. Moet, Jasmine, and Rachel were all sitting down on a bench talking, while they waited for me. I walked up to them and they stood up to go, putting things back into their bags. I got into the limo and sat down, waiting for them to get ready. Finally the door closed and Lucas began to drive us to the mall. It was a super short ride, since the mall was on the same street as my house, and my house was just a block away from school. But riding in a limo was way better than walking in the humid June air. I opened the door and walked out, leaving my backpack in the limo. Instead, I took my purse. My friends got out, leaving their backpacks and bringing purses instead. The mall wasn’t a place for boring school backpacks, even if ours were the coolest and prettiest backpacks in the world. It was a place for cute five hundred dollar designer purses! The glass doors automatically opened as we got close. We walked into the mall and sighed. The silver-star fashion plaza was the BEST mall in the world. ♦ Basement 1= Grocery store, hair salon, bowling alley, dentist ♦ First floor=Food court, arcade, fitness center, nail salon ♦ Second Floor=Forever 21, H&M, Claire’s, Macy’s, Swim California ♦ Third floor= Movie Theatre, swimming pool, Starbucks, Old Navy, Spa ♦ Fourth floor=Loft, Gap, Aeropostale, Nike, Makeup 101 And it went on to floor eight…

“What are you guys doing, just standing around? Come on!” Moet drags us over to the elevator, walks in and pushes the button that says B1. I smiled as we started walking towards the elevator. I was rich…and I liked it. “We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.” 1 haircut, 10 nails painted, 3 dresses, 4 shirts, 2 skirts, 3 pants, 6 earrings, 1 necklace, 1 small vanilla Frappuccino, 2 pairs of high-heels, 2 swim suits, 1 pair of flip-flops, 2 packs of Makeup, 1 perfume, 2 purses, 1 hat and three headbands later, I’m dragging shopping bags into the limo, my wallet feeling extremely light. “Well that was exhausting!” Rachel announced, putting three more bags from Forever 21 down in the limo’s trunk. Moet and Jasmine finally came out of the mall, blowing on their nails to make them dry. I laughed, “Why didn’t you paint your nails first and then do all your shopping?” I asked them. “I don’t know,” Jasmine shrugged, “I never thought about that, but they’ll dry in the movie theater anyway. We’re going to the one across the street, right? That one is way bigger than the one in the mall, since the one here just opened up in April.” “ Yeah, we agreed on going to Gold Cinemas, not the one in the mall,” Moet said as she counted up all the money on the receipts she got. “Oh my gosh! I’m under one thousand dollars!” She announced suddenly, gasping as she showed us the calculator she was using. “Wow. You only spent eight hundred fifty two dollars! That’s a record!” Samantha told her. “That means you beat my nine hundred thirty seven dollar record from January!” Rachel said, staring at the calculator. We all get into the limo, laughing as we double check the receipts. CHAPTER TWO “I can’t believe you actually think he is a good actor,” Jasmine says. “He is a good actor!” Samantha tells her. “No! He is NOT! Did you see his face when he was crying? It was so fake.” “No, it was alright, I mean, not many actors can cry without a reason.” “Yeah right.” We get back in the limo, talking about the movie. “Next stop Jade’s house!” Lucas announces and he drives us to my house, which only takes about ten seconds once the car is started. We all get out and walk inside. My mom is waiting for us, “Well hello girls! Coming for another pool party?”

We nod and quickly change into swimsuits. A few minutes later and we’re outside, jumping into the pool. Its super refreshing, as it was a super hot day and the sun was burning our skin. My hair gets all ruined as I get it wet, since I just got it straitened in the hair salon. But it’s better to have to spend a few more minutes fixing your hair than miss the pool. We swim around a while then sit round and talk. “What time is it?” Moet asks. The sky had turned dark and black and stars glittered up above with the moon. “Nine twenty two,” Samantha answers, glancing through the window to a clock inside. “Should we head over to your house now?” I ask her. “Sure,” Samantha yawns. “You aren’t tired, are you?” Jasmine asks her, getting up. “No, not really. Come on, let’s go,” Samantha leads us over to her house. We decided not to ride in the limo since by the time we were all sitting in it and the car had started, we could’ve already been there if we had walked. Samantha brings us out to the back, in her backyard. I look at the lazy river. It’s super cool to have a roundabout pool in your backyard. Next to the pool is the cabin. It isn’t exactly a cabin, but we don’t know what else to call it. It’s a big shelter, just one room, but it is awesome for sleepovers. CHAPTER THREE I walk inside, behind the others and glance around. The room is split up into a few different sections. Section one is the catwalk. There is a long red carpet and next to the wall are two small booths that we use as changing rooms. At the end of the carpet there is a big camera and we can take pictures of the “models” walking down in different outfits. Section two: The chatting room. On the floor here is a super soft, super fluffy, snow-white carpet. There is also a purple couch and three beanbags. Section three: Two king-sized beds together make one long bed. Yes, these are hardly ever used because most of the time we stay up all night. I smile and sit down on the couch. Moet and Jasmine sit down next to me, while Rachel goes to look at the clothes hanging in the changing room. Samantha went to go get soda, shutting the door quietly and slipping outside. “Isn’t she so lucky!” Moet says, “I wish I had one of these in my backyard!” “Yeah! I told my mom to buy one for me, she is going to get it in the summer,” Rachel replied. “That is really cool,” I tell her, “I mean, this place is totally awesome, but it was built almost thirty years ago, so its kind of old…”

“But Samantha is going to change it. She was going to have them fix it up and paint it and everything, right? Except we were having a sleepover, so she is going to wait until Sunday,” Jasmine says. Just then Samantha opens the door and walks inside with a tray holding five glasses of soda. But as she is coming in, the door slams shut and she falls and spills them all. CHAPTER FOUR I gasp and look around in confusion. The whole place is shaking wildly. The lamps go out, then fall and crash on the floor. Glass shatters, everyone screams, the floor is moving. I fall to the floor as the lights go out. Everything is pitch black, I can’t see. I search blindly for the couch. I don’t know where I’m going. I crash into something small and wooden. I turn around. There is a loud sound from above. It's a huge groan and then a creak. I look up. Something is falling. Something big. Another scream. It’s coming closer. It’s like a big black blanket. It hits me. It’s hard. My head aches. I fall and it covers me. The big heavy blanket of darkness. I close my eyes. I open my eyes slowly. Something is lying on top of me. I have a feeling that it was the roof. I push it out of the way. I look around, but its still dark. I can barely see. I crawl away from the caved in roof, and push myself into the corner. I slip on something soft and big. I look at it closely. It's a person. There is another one lying next to it on a ruined couch. The couch is purple and ripped. A broken lamp is lying next to it, and glass is everywhere. I look around for more people but the roof is in the way. It is creating a small wall that is separating me from the others. I hope the they are okay. I sit down and sigh. That was the first earthquake in this city for almost two-hundred years. None of the buildings here are built for earthquakes. I wonder what happened to the mall. I picture the glass doors shattered, the clothes ruined, the pool flooded and water spilling out into the hall. I picture the eighth floor falling and crushing the seventh floor which would be the end of the sixth floor which would smash the fifth floor…and it would go on until all that remained would be a pile of glass and cement and bricks and people crushed under the weight of the floors. “Samantha? Jasmine? Rachel? Jade?” A voice sounds from behind me, “Are you all okay?” I spin around and see Moet. Her face is covered in dust, her eyes are wide, the bottom of her shirt is ripped and ruined. “Moet!” I say softly, “You’re alive!”

“Of course I am, and Jasmine is too. She is over there,” she says pointing to the couch, “But I wouldn’t be surprised if today was Rachel or Samantha’s last day.” I sigh again and turn to face the wall in front of me. “I’m so glad you’re on this side,” I say and put my hands on the wall. I try and push the wall forward, then up, then to the side. But it won’t move. “Jade…are you okay?” Moet asks me. “Yeah, of course.” She hands me a small piece of glass from the floor. I look into it and see my reflection. On my cheek there is a small but deep red gash. I drop the piece of glass before I make another cut, this time in my hand. I lift my hand up and wipe my cheek. I look at my sleeve and find that its stained red. I shake my head and close my eyes. CHAPTER FIVE “Jade!” My eyes

12/6/12 2:20 PM

12/6/12 2:20 PM

The invisible story 12/6/12 2:20 PM