Chapter 1
“WHAT?!” My best friend screeched, dragging her feet to a stop on her swing.
“It’s true.” I sighed. “My own father, who is 4 points shy of a GENIUS, has been fired, which is RUINING my life.” I was telling my best friend, Cad Shern, about how MY daddy, computer genius, accidently crashed his whole business’s system, and got himself kicked out of WLC incorporated.
“That’s not all.” I whispered. “It also means Alt and I are being expelled from WLC school.
Alt is my 8 year old sister. I am 11 and 3/4, and in the intermediate class at WLC. She is in the primary classroom, ages 5-8. Next year she WOULD have been in my class. You see, we didn’t have enough students to have a separate grade for each age. So we have primary, intermediate, and high classes.
Oh, I guess I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Shift Laimen. I am tall and have short straight brown hair, and blue eyes. Daughter of Sarah and Wilbur Laimen. Wilbur Laimen, my daddy, is a computer genius. He works in a company (WLC) that builds and repairs computers. And, um, the name stands for We Love Computers. Don’t ask. Anyway, they have been working on a new computer, even better than a Macbook Pro! Last Thursday, my dad was testing the meChat (Ya know, like iChat) on several different computers and accidently crashed them and erased all of the information on them. And there was ALOT of important information on some of them. So, yeah. He’s fired, and the school I go to is a school for the children who’s parents are in the company. This means we might have to move. There are no other schools in Monthill, Minnesota. It’s actually really small, most people have never heard of it. Daddy is looking for jobs in Freemand, the next town over. It’s not looking good though.
“Thats still not all.” I coughed.
“What? What else is there? It can’t possibly get worse.” Cad shook her head. She was biting her nails, a sure sign that she believed things could get worse.
“I’m probably moving.” I sighed.
“Where to? Freemand?” Cad’s nails had shriveled up to nothing.
“Hopefully. If my dad gets a job. You see, all of the adults are real angry with him. They don’t want him in the town anymore.” I shivered at the thought of leaving my home.
You couldn’t even see Cad’s nails now. Oh by the way, her name, Cad, stands for Control, Alt, Delete. That what you have to do when your computer freezes, on a PC. I know, some people in this company are real geeks. Including my dad. I mean, he named us after keys on a computer keyboard. A lot of people in this town are named like that. It’s pretty cool, if you ask me.
“You’ve got to stop doing that, Caddy.” I gestured toward her nails. “They’ll bleed.” I added. But we both know she wouldn’t care. Her phone beeped. She glanced at the text.
“I better go. Dinner’s ready.” She called as she ran away. “Bye, Shift.” And she was gone. I sat down on the swing, defeated. Because I had seen what the text message really said.
Chapter 2
“We’re moving. I found a new job in New York City. Won’t that be exciting?” My dad made the announcement at dinner one night.
“No.” I muttered. I was not surprised. I overheard Daddy telling Mom last night.
“What?” Alt whimpered. “Can’t I stay? I can move in with Carly. Or Deana! Pretty please? ”She whined.
“Alt, don’t be dumb, no on wants us here.” I slumped in my chair and closely watched my dad. He did not object, just looked down and swirled his potatoes around in the ketchup.
“Shift! That’s not true! We have lots of wonderful friends who will stand by us. A mistake is a mistake, no one is perfect. Forgiveness is the key, and…”
I tuned out the mom speech. When she was satisfied, I just nodded and apologized. Then I was excused. I went up to my room. I sat down at the big computer desk and stared at my unfinished homework. My essay on Microsoft’s monopoly would have been due today. I checked my email. None. I haven’t gotten an email in nearly a week. I signed into a chat room. It was Cad, Sam, Francis, and Qwerty. They all left when they saw my name. Except Cad.
yay4yellow: Hi
control.alt.delete.45: hey
yay4yellow: want to go to the park?
control.alt.delete.45: actually i have to go do geometry homework now. bye
yay4yellow: ok. bye.
control.alt.delete.45 has signed off.
So even my best friend was ditching me. Or had been told to ditch me. I laid down on my bed and stared up at the posters advertising the new computer my dad had been working on. I stood up and ripped them down, crumbling them into a giant ball and tried to slam dunk them into the can. I missed. Just then my mom walked in.
“Shift? I have a question for you.” Mom said, sitting down on my bed. She didn’t wait for me to answer.
“Where did you get the idea that we weren’t wanted here?” She asked, looking concerned. I buried my face in my pillow.
“I do not want to talk about it.” I said stubbornly.
“Come on.”
“
Here’s the rest of the story:
“No.”
“Shift!” She seemed angry. I gave in.
“FINE! Cad’s father told her to stay away from me. He said, if you’re with that Wilbur’s girl, get away from her. He said our family was nothing but trouble!” I began to cry.
“Did she tell you that?” Mom was back to her concerned mother face.
“No.” I sniffled, “I saw it in a text message. At the park the other day.”
“Oh, Shift I’m sorry.” My mother did not know what to say next. I could see it on her face. She is awkward like that. Good at lectures, but when the real trouble starts, not sure what to say. So she gave me a kiss and said I’d make new friends in New York. And then she left. I stayed in that spot, staring at the ceiling, until I eventually fell asleep.
Chapter 3
Well, the moving truck is packed. We are packed. We’re ready to move to 235, 12th street, New York, New York. I didn’t even say goodbye to Cad. All of our conversations were like the one we had in the chat room a couple weeks ag
“Shift? Are we there yet?” Alt, the queen of whiners cried.
“Yeah. I think about 20 minutes.” I replied, checking my watch again. “One minute less then when you asked me last time.” I groaned. I tried to sleep. I woke up to the flight attendant saying we had begun to land so please buckle our seat belts. Alt grabbed her barf bag and whimpered. I sighed. Here we go again, I thought. Her face turned green, but nothing happened. We landed uneventfully. When we got off the plane, no one seemed to know what to do next. We stood there, like deer in the headlights, watching traffic. We saw a man behind stand on the curb, flail his arms and yell, “TAX-EEEEE!” Alt giggled. But sure enough, a yellow cab aproached him and he climbed in. Daddy stepped on top the curb and followed the mans lead. A cab weaved through the traffic and stopped in front of us. We piled in.
“Wheh to?” He asked in a husky voice without looking at us.
“235 12th street, New York, New York.” Alt declared proudly.
“
w. But Rocky tipped his hat to her sped down the street to Kennedy Middle School. I slowly got out and paid Rocky. I gave him a tip, too. As I walked inside, I saw a lot of people wearing nice clothes. One girl had a shirt that said JUICY on it in big letters. I didn’t really get it. Another girls jacket read BCBG which stands for biggacites and boragigs, which is a kind of measurement for computer software. That didn’t make much sense either. And people had names written on the back of their jeans. One girl’s jeans said Ralph Lauren. The girl right in front of me had jeans that said Calvin on the back pocket. Maybe they wrote the names of their dad’s on their butts so people would know what family they came from. I read a book once about how in Scotland, everyone had a family pattern and that’s what’s on their kilts. In Japan, they have a family crest. But this is New York, not another country.
“So… corner uh 12th ok?” He asked.
“Yes, that will be fine.” Daddy told him. The ride was not long. when we got there the man held out his hand and said, “That’ll be twelve fifteh, sir.” Daddy pulled a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and looked frantically at Mom. She rolled her eyes but pulled out another 10. The taxi driver’s eyes lit up.
“Thank yuh, sir!” He said, “And remem-buh to use Sunshine Cabs!” And with that he drove away.
“What?” Mom yelped.
“I- I guess he thought it was a tip.” Daddy shrugged.
“Well he got a nice tip.” She scuffed.
“Let’s go go go!” Alt called and skipped down 12th street. She sure got over air sickness fast.
We found our apartment quickly and got our room. When we stepped in Alt gasped.
“It’s little!” She said. And it was. There was the living room when you walked in, then on one side to kitchen and a bathroom, one side 3 steps leading up to two bedrooms. The moving men had delivered some of our furniture already.
“Where is the rest
“This is it.” Mom said. “We didn’t need the rest so we sold it.” She added, not at all phased. Before we could protest, she offered to show us our room.
“OUR room?” Alt whined.
“Yes.” Mom said quickly and led us up the little stairs and into a light blue room. It had two beds, ours, and my desk. Then there was Alt’s dresser.
“Shift will use the closet, Alt the dresser. You two can share the desk.”
“Where are our computers?” I asked cautiously.
“Well you know the company owned those so…” Mom shrugged. We groaned.
“And girls don’t forget! School tomorrow!” And then mom left.
“Ughhh…” Alt whined. “I cannot believe we are sharing a room.”
“Don’t be a baby, Al.” I said, throwing my suitcase on the bed. “We’ll figure it out. But let’s go to bed. It’s nearly 10.”
So I tried to go to bed. But I kept tossing and turning with an awful stomach ache. My nerves are in my stomach, so I always get a stomach ache when I’m nervous or excited. This one was awful. Alt’s snoring d
id NOT help. I don’t think I got a wink of sleep. The next morning, I woke up to mom shaking me.
“Time for school!” She called. We rolled out of bed. Literally.
I moaned as I looked through my suitcase. Thankfully, I’d packed some decent outfits. I put on my WLC t-shirt and nicest jeans. Then I found my sneakers in the bottom of my backpack and fastened my special shift necklace. It’s the shift key off my dad’s first computer. I was ready to go. I grabbed Alt, who was wearing a black t-shirt that has a picture of 3 peas in a pod. Each pea is labeled, control, alt, and delete. It’s pretty cute. Together we ran to the taxi that dad hailed for us.
Our taxi driver was really nice. He said his name was Rocky Morton, and he worked mornings in our area for Sunshine Cabs. We would probably have him as our driver alot. He drove us to a HUGE building that said Parker Academy Elementary. Alt got off. She had been very upset we wouldn’t be going to the same school, and she looked scared no
w. But Rocky tipped his hat to her sped down the street to Kennedy Middle School. I slowly got out and paid Rocky. I gave him a tip, too. As I walked inside, I saw a lot of people wearing nice clothes. One girl had a shirt that said JUICY on it in big letters. I didn’t really get it. Another girls jacket read BCBG which stands for biggacites and boragigs, which is a kind of measurement for computer software. That didn’t make much sense either. And people had names written on the back of their jeans. One girl’s jeans said Ralph Lauren. The girl right in front of me had jeans that said Calvin on the back pocket. Maybe they wrote the names of their dad’s on their butts so people would know what family they came from. I read a book once about how in Scotland, everyone had a family pattern and that’s what’s on their kilts. In Japan, they have a family crest. But this is New York, not another country.
Mom told me when I get to school, go straight to the office for my schedule. So I gave them my name, and they gave me a paper and said when the bell rings to go to the next class on the list. My first class said Language Arts, room 104. I walked around until I saw a sign above the door that said 104. I walked in. Everyone stared.
“Hello!” The teacher said. I am Ms.Brooklyn. You must be Shift Laimen! Have a seat right here,” She added, pointing to the seat in front of her. I sat. Next to me, a girl with wavy blond hair sat filing her nails. She didn’t even look at me.
“Hi!” I said. “I’m Shift. What’s your name?” I tried to be friendly. The girl stared at me. Her eyes were a piercing brown.
“Allison.” She said simply, turning her attention back to her nails. Wow, I thought. Way to be friendly. I turned to the other side. There was the cutest guy I had ever seen in my life. And he was looking at me!
“Hi.” I said shyly.
“Hey. Are you, named after the shift key on a computer? If
you are, that’s way cool. By the way, I’m Tanner Matthews.” He held out his hand. I shook it.
“Yeah, I am. Hi Tanner.” I showed him my necklace. Mostly though, I just stared at him. Then the teacher started talking. As soon as she began the lesson, Allison sighed and took out her cell phone and began texting under the desk. Ms. Brooklyn caught me staring at Allison.
“Miss Shaw, Do you happen to have a cell phone?” She asked, peeking over Allison’s desk.
“No, Ms. Brooklyn, no cell phone here!” She sang in a sweet voice, while shoving the phone under her thigh. Ms. Brooklyn smiled, and continued the lesson. Whoa. What a liar! I thought as Allison pulled out her phone again. After an lesson on conjunctions, (which I totally tuned out of because I was too busy looking at Tanner,) the bell finally rang. I checked my schedule. Physical Education, in the gym. After directions to the gym, I arrived late. Everyone was filing into a room. I followed. They all began to change from their r
gular clothes into t- shirts and shorts. On my schedule, next to gym, was written, LOCKER 409. I found locker 409, the only one with out a lock on it. Inside was a t- shirt and shorts with KENNEDY MIDDLE printed on them. I put them on. Around me, kids were staring. I just stood there. Finally everyone left the room. I followed suit.
Gym was uneventful. We ran. What else do you do in gym? The only problem came after gym. As I was changing out of my sweaty clothes, everyone was giggling and whispering. Finally the girl from English, Allison, came up to me.
“Hey, Shift, sweetie? May wanna try some of this.” She handed me a stick of ANTIPIGSWEAT deodorant and then waved the air around her nose, still smiling. Everyone began laughing. I quickly finished changing and left. I hid the stick of ANTIPIGSWEAT in Allison’s binder. That would embarrass her later. You see, ANTIPIGSWEAT is a super strong deodorant for men.
My next class was History. I found it with the help of the janitor. I sat down in the back of the room. No way would I be humiliated again. But guess who is in my class again? You guessed it. Allison. As soon as the teacher started talking, she tuned out and started passing notes. One note passed all around the classroom. Some one tapped me on the shoulder and handed it to me. It read:
get ur phones! www.privatechat.com chat room name: Allison password: PIGSWEAT (all caps)
I knew what this was. Sometimes me and my (ex)friends used it. You can make a chat room and get into it with a password. Some how I knew this chatroom wasn’t meant for me, but oh well. I pulled out my phone and got onto the internet. Soon enough I was in the chat room. I signed in as my usual name, yay4yellow.
alli=D: heyyyy all! omg is this boriiiiing. mr shan drones ooooon and ooon!
bkg<3frogs: omg ikr!
shanedraker: who cares aboout cold war?????
alli=D: ikr?
ROCKelle: hey it’s raquel did you
smeell that new grl in gym!?
amandapanda: ewwww i was next to her!
tanner: hey all. who’s miss stinky?
bkg<3frogs: shift LAMEn. ew.
tanner: hey shes not bad. pretty cool, met her in eng. ibet ur overreacting.
Suddenly I felt such an overwhelming love for Tanner I got an idea.
yay4yellow: I LOVE YOU TANNER MATTHEWS!!!!!!!
yay4yellow has signed off.
Chapter 4
After that little announcement, the bell rang. I ran to 4th period, art. Thankfully, Allison wasn’t in that class. But Tanner was. I sat down next to him.
“Hey.” he said. He sounded depressed.
“You sound upset.” I commented.
“I am. My girlfriend’s real upset. Her best friend announced in the chat room that she loved me. And now she’s worried she’ll steal me away.” He explained softly.
“Who is your girlfriend?” More importantly, who is my best friend? I thought.
“Allison DeWitt. You know her?” Tanner asked.
My stomach hurt.
“Uh, yeah.” I shakily replied.
“Well her best friend since kindergarten said she loved me. So Alli’s pretty mad at her. And if Alli’s mad at her, so if the rest of the school. Ya know,” He shrugged. “I feel kinda bad.”
“Uh huh.” I nodded. “How do you know it was her?”
“Well everyone knows she’s obsessed with yellow. And usually her screen name has something to do with yellow. So were pretty sure.” He answered.
“My favorite colo
r is yellow too, you know.” I said quietly.
“Uhm hum.” He murmured, concentrating on the teacher now.
At last, the lunch bell rang. I walked into the cafeteria. People were already at their tables. All of them looked exclusive and/or full. I ran to the bathroom. I burst in, already thinking of my turkey sandwich, And ran right into someone. She had huge green eyes, and was tan for October. She has wavy shoulder length dark brown hair pulled aside with a barrette. And she was crying.
“Oh! Sorry.” The girl sniffled. She backed out of the way. I was about to leave when I saw her lunch on her lap.
“Are you new here too?” I asked, sitting down and pulling out my sandwich.
The girl winced. “No. In fact, I was actually pretty popular until about an hour ago.” She chomped on her sandwich so hard a glob of mustard shot out of the end and onto her jeans. She didn’t seem to care.
“Oh, uh sorry. Well I’m new. I’m Shift Laimen.” I smiled. She smiled back.
“I’m Emma Rose Kori.” She r
plied.
“So, uh, what happened?” I was curious.
“My best friend dumped me. She thinks I like her boyfriend.” Emma rolled her eyes. My stomach began to hurt.
“Your best friend isn’t Allison, is it?” I asked cautiously.
“Yea. She said I was in a chat room in history when I proclaimed my love for him! But I didn’t! I didn’t even have my phone. I left it in my locker.” She moaned.
Okay. I honestly felt like throwing up. I put down my sandwich.
“So now I’m little miss nobody.” She started to cry again.
“I’m- sorry….” I murmured.
She looked up. “Sorry to be dumping this on you, it’s just-”
“No, it’s fine.” I cut in. “Look, Emma,-”
“Thanks so much. I think we’ll be great friends.” And with that she got up, tossed her trash, and left.
I sat there for a while, feeling terrible. Motionless. I went through the rest of the day, not feeling a thing.
Chapter 5
The next day, Emma wanted me to some over to her house after school. When I asked my mom, she was so excit
Ok, just to let you know, the ending is like her dad tries to conduct the chat experiment again, at the same time 7 laptops are stolen from her shcool. So shift is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and gets blamed for it. and then… idk what happens next. should the dad have really stolen them? and people, what details should i cut out? everyone says unessesary details…
ed that she said I could stay as long as I wanted. So after school, Emma’s mom picked us up. It was a long ride, but worth it. I gasped.
"This is your houise?" I cried. Emma and her mom giggled.
"Yes, sweetie." Ms. Kori replied. We reached some black iron gates and she punched some numbers into the keypad. The gates opened. There was a huge bueatiful green lawn, and atopit an even more beautiful house. It really was a mansion.
Ok, the end of the story is like her dad tries to conduct the experiment again, at the same time 7 laptops get stolen from her school. so shift gets blamed. and then… idk. Should the dad have really done it? Trust me, i wasn’t planning for it to be a move and adjust story, how should i fix it?
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