Alice Fowlers

So, I have no idea if anyone checks this blog anymore especially since I have been putting so much time on my livejournal but I had an idea and I was thinking of maybe working on it. It would be about Alice Fowlers and her son, Simon from The Flower Girl. I would be continuing Soldier Boy but much of it would be tweeked and there would be some changes along the way. Would anyone be interested in reading this? Please just let me know.

Alice

Inspiration

Good morning, everyone. I should be packing since I am driving to Ohio this morning to spend Memorial Day Weekend with my parents but I just wanted to drop by and see how everyone is. I am doing good - trying to relax and slow my mind down for a little bit. I also bought True Blood first season DVD so I have been kind of watching nothing but that lately.

I know I have a lot of stories unfinished at the moment but with everything that has happened, a story idea has popped into my mind and I wanted to run it by all of you to see what the general consensus in regards to it was.

Fall from Grace

by Kate

Grace Prince seems to be the perfect girl. Straight-A student. Daddy’s girl. Best friends with mom. About to start applying to some of the best colleges in the country. But then she meets bad-boy Evan and as they grow closer, everything else around her begins to fall apart.

This story would be a bit more on the dark side like A Pocketful of Poppies was. It would follow Grace and her slow descent into falling in with the wrong crowd. There would be drinking, partying, experimenting with drugs and having sex. Despite all of this, it will also be a love story - a strange, slightly fucked-up love story but one nonetheless.

I am working on the first chapter but I am taking my time with it, not wanting to rush anything. Does this sound interesting at all? Please leave me a comment and let me know! I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions (keep the cruelty to yourselves) Thank you and I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Grace

Evan

Rob

Lauren

Alphabet Challenge

Good morning, everyone. My mind is kind of tired at the moment in the creativity department – I think it might be spring fever – but I wanted to try something a little different and hopefully, something that turns out to be a lot of fun to get my muse juices flowing.

I got this idea reading through some livejournals. This is how it works. First, you pick any letter in the alphabet and then you pick a pairing that you want to read about. For example – T is for Temptation, Brady/Ali (Something Pretty). It can be ANY topic for ANY letter using ANY couple I have created – both on Fictionpress and for those who read my stories on Fanfiction.

I think this could be a lot of fun and I want to give it a try. When people start making suggestions, I will post the letters that have been used so everyone knows which ones are still available. I will write more than one story for a couple if that couple gets requested more than once. Have fun with this!

UPDATE:
The following letters have been taken and I will think of short one-shot stories to write using the suggested topics:

A - Adjusting for Ben/Olivia More than Anyone
B - Birthday for Brett/Ella The Prettiest Thing
C - Children for Andrew/Carrie A Fairy Tale
D -
E - Enchanted for Harry/Anne More than Anyone
F - Family for Hawkin/Molly The Flower Girl
G
H - Housewarming for Reed/Cami Beyond the Grey Sky
I
J - Jealousy for Andrew/Carrie A Fairy Tale
K
L - Love for Preston/Jane Ghetto Gospel
M
N - Natural for Mark/Lexie Greys Anatomy
O - Obsession for Ben/Olivia More than Anyone
P - Passion for Tyson/Amy The Prize
Q - Quiet for Justin/Poppy A Pocketful of Poppies
R - Reeling for Brian/Rowan The Waverly Myth
S - Spinning for Brett/Ella The Prettiest Thing
T - Trouble for Matt/Lindsey Blood and Honey
U - Unbreakable for Ryan/Rachel Circle Park
V - Vacation for Trevor/Joy The Prettiest Thing
W - Wedding for Will/Lucy Everything Will Be Alright
X - X-Rated for Casey/Amelia Some Kind of Wonderful
Y - Youth for Patrick/Maddy The Lion and the Lamb
Z - Zoo for Tyson/Amy The Prize

You Found Me

At the moment, all of my concentration is being focused on More than Anyone and When Night is Almost Done but that does not mean that my mind is not churning with more ideas for future possible stories.

Austin Gallagher from A Pocketful of Poppies became a fan favorite and I must admit that I fell in love with him as well as I created and developed his character. I was not sure if I wanted to write a story for him but... I think I just might. The plot may sound cliched but I promise, it will steer away from that. Most of my stories start with a cliched idea but I usually stem off of it and I hope I can do so with Austin and his story as well.

Rating: M

Timeline: Five years after the end of “A Pocketful of Poppies”

You Found Me
by Templeton21

Their arrangement is simple enough. Friends. Roommates. Bed buddies. No strings attached and no falling for one another. They had shaken hands and agreed to the terms. But now Austin and Delia will learn that even the best laid plans can go awry.

..XX..

Chapter One – I Can Feel a Hot One

The air-conditioner was broken again and the apartment was rising to a nearly unbearable degree as they slept, naked and on top of the covers. His arm was thrown heavily across her stomach and her legs were tangled with his.

It was a restless night for both of them.

Austin Gallagher kept tossing and turning and anytime she heard a noise through the open bedroom windows, Delia Bateman would open her eyes, tensing for a moment before her tired mind realized that it was just a dog barking or a car driving by with its stereo turned up too loudly. Austin had placed two small fans on the nightstands on either side of the bed and situated them so the air could blow on their bodies all night but so far, that was offering little comfort and a sheen layer of sweat still covered them both.

Summers in the city were always miserable. The relentless sun beat down on the high-rises and the black asphalt with little comfort or shade offered to the thousands of people piled on top of one another.

Austin hated the summer. The only good part about it in his opinion was that Delia always slept naked and usually in his bed - nothing out of the ordinary but usually, they were both too uncomfortable for sex and just slept together. Actually slept.

There was something comforting to Austin about that.

Those are just the first couple of paragraphs and I am trying something with the first chapter that I have never done before. It may work out. It may not. But I do not want to say what I am trying until the first chapter is complete. And of course, Justin and Poppy will be in the story as well since Austin and Justin are best friends. Would anyone be interested in reading a story about Austin? Let me know.

Austin

Delia

Better Together - Chap. Three

I am glad some have showed interest and excitement about these two stories being posted once again after a little fine tuning. Chapter three of Better Together is up on Fictionpress if you want to read and review it.

More than Anyone is also going to be seeing some editing and even more fleshing out into a long novel-type story. I am going to add more with Toby and Olivia and Ben and his conflict with his ex-girlfriend, Jillian as well as include an epilogue of sorts with Ben and Olivia getting to know one another in the bedroom since I know many were dying for a love scene between the two.

Also, in case you missed the previous post, chapter three of Soldier Boy is also posted so check that out if you want.

I have noticed that not many people visit this blog anymore, traffic severely down than what it used to be, and I know that I have lost readers along the way so I am thinking about giving the blog a makeover or maybe... abandoning it completely. I am not sure what I am going to do but thank you to everyone who does visit this blog. I put probably almost as much work into it as I do into my stories so it does mean a lot to me. Thank you to everyone who does stick by me through everything. I am certain that if I did not have you, I would not be putting as much time into writing as I do and therefore, I would not be doing something I love to do so much. Thank you for everything.

Jamie and Violet

Hamlet

Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much to you all who helped me with the “incident” yesterday. It seems as if the author has taken down her story on fanfiction.net and hopefully, something like that will not happen to me again. A million thanks to everyone who came forward and reported the plagiarism. If I ever have to go into battle, I definitely want all of you watching my back.

Though I am going to take a few days before I update again just to collect myself, I am going to continue working on A Pocketful of Poppies and When Night is Almost Done. When these two stories are completed, I am going to continue my work with Soldier Boy as well as start on a new story that has been in my head for some time now. I have posted the summary below so please let me know what you think. It is going to be a mixture of family drama and romance and while working on the first chapter, I have already fallen in love with my newest main character, Hamlet Abernathy.

Have a lovely Wednesday.

Quarter-Life Crisis by Kate
Hamlet is twenty-five and has just been fired from his job with no idea what else he wants to do with his life. On top of that, his parents are getting a divorce, his father wants to start dating again, his sister is getting out of rehab and moving in with him, and he finds himself falling for Rebecca, his best friend’s ex-girlfriend.

Hamlet

Rebecca

A Pocketful of Poppies

As usual, my mind is running in twenty different directions but I cannot seem to help myself. If the post below is any indication, Justin Aldridge and Poppy Sheppard have been on my creative mind lately. Wonderwall was the first romance story I ever posted and my writing has improved much since then. I have always wanted to give Justin and Poppy a story that they, in my opinion, deserve.

A Pocketful of Poppies by Kate
Justin Aldridge has a gun being pointed at his face and he doesn’t know if the person is going to pull the trigger. Possibly about to die, instead of his life flashing before his eyes, he thinks of Poppy Sheppard, the only girl he has ever loved and her heart that he broke.

The first chapter would be of Justin when he is an adult and a police detective - an introduction to the man he has become - and the rest of the story would be a flashback to when he was in high school and met Poppy for the first time.

I do not know when I will post the first chapter. I am working on it as well as my other stories but I am excited about this one. I think I can make Wonderwall a much better story than what it currently is. I will, of course, let everyone know if/when the story is posted. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I still sometimes cannot believe how awesome all of you are to me.

Justin and Poppy

Please read the unfinished story below. It is of Justin and Poppy and would be an exert from Wonderwall - a missing scene from the story so to speak. This just came to me randomly and though I have to finish it, I am interested in seeing what everyone thinks about it. And I found the most beautiful, perfect pictures of Poppy Sheppard - more of which I will be posting later. Although Wonderwall is one of my - in my opinion - worst stories, it was the first one I ever posted and Justin and Poppy have always had a special place in my heart because of that. Also, please read part eleven of The Flower Girl if you want and let me know what you think. Thank you very much.

..XX..

A Pocketful of Poppies by Kate

She had the saddest smile he had ever seen.

Even when she was laughing, even when she looked as if she was happy, he saw something in her eyes; in her face. Where there should have been a brightness in her eyes, when her smile should have overtaken her entire face, that never happened. He would wait for it but it would never appear like it did for most people.

When Poppy Sheppard smiled, it passed across her pale pink lips like a ghost, barely appearing, barely staying, barely taking the time to fully form before disappearing.

Justin Aldridge normally wasn’t the type of person to watch those around him. He had a small world and it consisted only of his friends, basketball, school, his mom and plenty of ready and willing girls eager to be with him. He didn’t pay attention to anything around him but for some reason, Poppy Sheppard had caught his interest.

He watched her in the cafeteria as she sat at her usual table with her tight circle of friends. They were loud, boisterous, always joking and making fun of one another, and she never seemed as if she fit in with them. She smiled and laughed along with them but when Justin truly started watching her, he noticed that she seemed to always be so far away when she did so. Her eyes never lit up. Her smile was faint, brushing over her face.

Justin watched her, wondering what would truly make her smile.

Before he started watching her, Justin had never noticed how beautiful Poppy Sheppard was before. Her long, brown curly hair, tumbling down to almost the small of her back, her dark brown eyes, pale rose lips, pale skin. When his eyes seemed unable to leave her, he didn’t understand why he had never noticed her sooner than he did. He had been going to school with Poppy since they were both in kindergarten but he didn’t first see her, truly see her, until they were juniors in high school.

He started watching her in their shared English class. She didn’t talk a lot but whenever Mr. Gardocki called on her to answer a question, she always knew the answer. Most of the time, she spent the forty-minute class period staring out the window. Justin sat in the row next to hers, a couple seats back, and he began passing the time in class by watching her watch the world outside.

She wasn’t like the other girls he surrounded himself with. Her hair wasn’t dyed a bleach blonde and her skin wasn’t tanned to an unnatural shade of bronze. She didn’t wear clothes that left nothing to the imagination. She wore jeans and tee-shirts and hooded sweatshirts with Converse or Puma sneakers. She dressed for comfort instead of for fashion and Justin really didn’t hang out with girls who did the same.

The girls he knew wore outfits that made them look so much older than seventeen and eighteen years old. And though their short skirts were easy to maneuver around while in the backseat of a car, Justin was intrigued with Poppy’s complete lack of sluttiness.

He was the most intrigued by her smile though and the fact that she never seemed to actually produce a real one.

Justin didn’t talk to her. They were in two completely different social circles and he didn’t know if he had ever actually talked to her before. He wanted to though and he was Justin Aldridge. He could talk to any girl he wanted.

Already though, he knew that Poppy Sheppard was different.

He supposed that he had had preconceived notions about her. She was a nerd, a bookworm, a genius, a skater – mainly because of the others she hung out with. Of course, before he started watching her, Justin hadn’t thought much of her at all. She was just another face in the crowd, another girl that went to the same high school. Someone he didn’t know but knew of.

The rain had pouring down all day and Justin got out of basketball practice around five o'clock when the sky was completely black and the rain poured down in thick torrents that made visibility weak. He ran across the parking lot towards where his car was parked. His mom had told him to wear his raincoat that day but like most stubborn teenagers, he hadn’t wanted to and his sweatshirt was completely soaked and plastered to his body by the time he unlocked his car doors and slid in the front seat behind the wheel.

He sat up slightly, looking at his reflection in the rearview mirror, rubbing a hand through his dripping wet dark shaggy hair. He needed to get home and change his clothes. The basketball season had its game opener in three days and the last thing Justin, the team’s starring point guard, needed was to go and get sick because he refused to listen to his mom and wear a stupid raincoat that day.

He drove carefully, his windshield wipers on at full speed but the street in front of him was still too hard to see. He wasn’t sure how but he managed to see a flash of red walking down the sidewalk. Slowing the car down, he peered out his window, trying to see who was stupid enough to be walking through that storm.

He stopped the car completely when he saw dark brown curls sticking out from underneath the hood and he rolled down his window.

“Poppy?” He shouted out, trying to be heard over the low rumble of thunder shaking off in the distance.

The person stopped walking and turned her head. He smiled when he saw that it was her. Lucky guess.

“What are you doing?” He asked, sticking his head out the window.

“What does it look like?” She shouted back. “I'm walking home.”

“Couldn’t one of your friends give you a ride?”

“Not today, they couldn’t,” she said with a shake of her head and then began walking again.

Justin put the car in reverse and slowly followed her. She stopped once she realized what he was doing and turned her head to look at him again. He smiled at her.

“Let me give you a ride.”

She stared at him for a moment as if she didn’t quite comprehend the words he had just spoken and he smirked. It was a bit strange. Justin Aldridge, a boy she didn’t even know, offering Poppy Sheppard a ride home.

“If you haven’t noticed, Justin, we are heading in two opposite directions.”

He smirked a bit wider. “I don’t mind. Let me give you a ride. It’s pouring and it feels pretty dry in my car.”

Poppy hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip, looking up the street for a moment. Justin watched her as she pondered his offer. He really didn’t know why he only started noticing her. In English class, her answers to questions asked were always well-thought out and intelligent even though it looked like she was a thousand miles away when her name was called. And that sad smile of hers… he didn’t know why but he was almost becoming obsessed with that ghost-like smile and his determination was growing.

For some reason unknown to him, Justin wanted to get her to give him a real smile. He didn’t even know her and yet, getting a smile out of her was his newest goal.

“Come on, Pops,” he said, using the nickname he heard her friends use towards her. “No funny business. Just a ride wherever you need to go.”

Poppy gave him a doubtful look. “Somehow, I think you are incapable of getting a girl in your car and just giving them a ride.”

“Oh, I give plenty of them rides,” Justin grinned and then laughed when she rolled her eyes in disgust. “Come on.”

She looked at him for a moment before sighing heavily and Justin grinned again. He leaned over the seat, unlocking her door as she crossed in front of the car to get in, sliding into the front passenger seat. She knocked the hood of her red raincoat back from her head and he immediately directed one of the heat vents towards her so the warm air blew directly onto her.

“Thanks,” she said softly and he saw the perpetual sadness on her face had returned.

He shifted the car back into drive and pulled into someone’s driveway so he could turn around. “Where do you live?”

“Covington subdivision,” she answered, scrunching the ends of her wet hair and he nodded, heading in the opposite direction of which he was originally heading.

“Comedown” by Bush was playing through his stereo at the moment and Gavin Rossdale’s voice sang softly through the speakers. Justin kept glancing over at her, debating whether or not he should try talking to her. He talked to dozens of girls ever day but this was different. Poppy Sheppard was different. He would actually have to make an effort with her. He couldn’t just use who he was as a way to get ahead with her. Poppy wouldn’t fall for his typical “I'm Justin Aldridge” line.

He wet his lips with the tip of his tongue, his fingers tightening slightly around the steering wheel. “You coming to the game on Friday?” He asked.

Poppy glanced at him before staring back out the windshield. “Basketball, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know. My friends and I… we aren’t really into school sports like that,” she said softly and he smirked.

“That’s obvious.”

Poppy looked at him. “What does that mean?”

“Your friend, Brady, he’s always surrounded by his own stratosphere.” Justin shook his head slightly. “You sit anywhere near some of your friends and you can get high.”

She stared at him for a moment and then shrugged. “Just something they do. Doesn’t mean I do it.”

“I wasn’t suggesting that you did it,” Justin said, looking at her again, slowly easing the car to a stop at an intersection with a red light.

Justin

Poppy

Story Idea

Hi, everyone. I hope everyone is having a good Saturday so far. It is freezing here and I am trying to stay warm while watching Lifetime movies - which can be rather addicting. I have a new story idea now that The Waverly Myth is completed and I want to post the summary as well as character pictures to see what others think. Please let me know in the comments section if this sounds good or not. The story would take place in a span of 24 hours and would focus on four main characters and their intersecting lives and stories.

Winter Solstice by Kate
A lot can happen on the longest night of the year. Meg, Lou, Libby and Tom are four complete strangers, living completely different lives. But on this night, their paths will cross in the most unexpected of ways, giving each other just what they need and what they have always wanted.

Meg

Lou

Libby

Tom

Sooner or Later

I am still working on updating newly edited chapters of The Prettiest Thing but inspiration struck me today and pulled me down a different route momentarily. Sooner or Later is going to be a one-shot, possibly two chapter story, following Maggie Bennett, Reed Simms' half-sister from Beyond the Grey Sky.

Sooner or Later by Kate
Maggie Bennett is sixteen years old and has always been a tomboy. Playing soccer, hanging out with the boys and constantly getting into trouble, Maggie is completely unprepared when she develops feelings for the new boy at her school, Finn, and convinces herself that she has to become a girly-girl in order for him to like her in return.

It is going to be a sweet, comedic story and I am writing it as I post it. Hopefully, I will have it completed by tomorrow. Let me know if anyone would be interested in reading this. Thank you and I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Maggie

Finn

Promo Chapter

Hey everyone. I cannot believe that it is already Wednesday. This week has seemed to go by so quickly - must be that Monday was a holiday here in the US. While I am watching the second season of Dexter (a television show I highly recommend as well as the book it is based off of), I have a favor to ask of everyone. Below, I am going to post a chapter that I have been working on and even though it is unfinished, I still want everyone to let me know what they think of it. As many of you know, I am working on editing The Prettiest Thing and I have rewritten a new first chapter since I was never completely satisfied with the introductory chapter. I have posted it and I would really appreciate everyone's opinions on it so please read and leave me a comment. The new version of the story would begin with Ella's 17th birthday and the last chapter would be around her 18th birthday. If this chapter works out, how many want me to post the chapters of The Prettiest Thing as I re-edit them? Let me know. Thank you very much. I love you guys.

..XX..

Chapter One – Birthday

Song: Birthday by The Beatles


On Friday, August 18th, Ella Scott turned seventeen-years-old, but a birthday celebration of any kind was the last thing she wanted. She had never enjoyed celebrating something that everyone went through. She didn’t see the point of it. The most she would ever allow was her mother making her delicious chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and receiving cards from her family. But that was it. She never wanted anything more than that. No parties. No making a big deal out of what Ella looked to as just another day.

The first day of school was Monday and Ella was going to be a junior in high school. The year of SATs, prom and finally being an upperclassman after two years of being nothing more than minions taking up space in the hallways. Ella was excited. She loved school – thrived in it, excelled at every class she took. By the end of August after two months of lounging around, doing nothing except reading books and going to the movies with her brother, Trevor, and his best friend, Brett Dawson, Ella was anxious to get back into a classroom.

Trevor and Brett were going to be seniors that year and already, their lives seemed to consist little of anything except partying and football practices. Over the past few days, Ella had actually seen very little of them – which was odd considering how inseparable the three always seemed to be. They had had football camp during the past week and with the two otherwise occupied, Ella was left to her own devices. She finished reading “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera for the fourth time and went to go see ‘Talladega Nights’ even though she knew Trevor would be mad at her for seeing it without him. Her brother had a slightly unhealthy crush on Will Ferrell – one she did not encourage whatsoever. There were so many comedians more skilled at the art of making people laugh than Will Ferrell. Clark Cable in ‘It Happened One Night’ for instance. Now that was a movie she always laughed at no matter what kind of mood she was in.

On the day of her birthday however, Ella awoke to the sounds of heavy rap music pounding through the thin walls and she groaned, rolling onto her stomach and burying her head under her pillow like an ostrich in the sand, knowing immediately that it was Trevor. It felt early – too early to be woken up to “Ghetto Gospel” by Tupac, even though it was a spectacular song. So much for spending her birthday how she wanted to and sleeping in.

Peeling herself out of bed with an unhappy sigh, she glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand next to the bed, and stretched her arms above her head, grunting softly as the still-tired muscles stretched. It was just a little bit past eight o’clock and she couldn’t believe that Trevor was up so early when he didn’t have practice to get to. If he could, Trevor would sleep the day away. Him being up before her was rare indeed and Ella, slipping on a green Pacific Sunwear hoodie from off the back of her desk chair, opened the door to her bedroom and went down the hallway towards Trevor’s room, the door partially opened.

“Trevor!” Ella exclaimed, her voice still rough with sleep. “Tre, turn it down!” She knocked on the door but the music was too loud, he couldn’t possibly hear her. She pushed open the door to find her brother wearing boxers and a tee-shirt, doing pushups and counting off each one to himself.

The music was so loud that Trevor didn’t hear Ella walk into his bedroom until she stalked over to the stereo on his dresser and turned the cd off. He immediately stopped his counting and looked at who dared interrupt his morning workout routine, but upon seeing Ella, he grinned widely and hopped to his feet happily.

“Happy birthday!” He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug despite his sweaty body. “What are you doing up so early?”

Ella stared at him and then grabbed the plastic case belonging to the Tupac cd he had just been blaring, holding it up for him to see. “His music isn’t exactly the stuff lullabies are made of,” she informed him and he grinned wider, almost laughing.

“Sorry about that, El. You know nothing gets me pumped up quite like dead rappers,” he said, plucking the case from her fingers then leaning past her, hit the ‘play’ button again, the heavy bass immediately pounding into the bedroom again. “I’m glad you’re up though. Mom said that she’s not making the pancakes until you are awake so go and get your ass downstairs. I’m starving.”

“Can I at least brush my teeth first?” She asked.

“No time for that. There are chocolate chip pancakes to be eaten,” Trevor said then physically turned her around and pushed her out of the door back into the hallway.

Ella and Trevor were extremely close to one another and not only in regards to their age. Trevor was born June 2, 1988 and Ella was born fourteen months later in August of 1989. Trevor was fiercely protective of her and in turn, Ella depended on him. It may have seemed odd to others but they really were best friends. Ella could talk to him about almost anything and Trevor, in turn, DID talk to her about everything – some things that, as his sister, she never, ever wanted to hear about.

The only downside to now being a junior in high school was that Trevor and Brett were now seniors and they would be graduating and going off to college, leaving her behind. Ella had always been so painfully shy and with the way Trevor and Brett looked out for her, threatening anyone who got too close to her, they were really the only friends she had. She had never minded though. She adored Trevor and Brett and knew that the two were the only friends she really ever needed. She liked being by herself but it always had been that if she did need company, Trevor and Brett were never too far away.

She didn’t like to think about that though – especially when chocolate chip pancakes were waiting to be consumed in a gluttonous manner. She didn’t want to think of the time when Trevor or Brett would no longer be around for her to talk to or hang out with. And even though she may not have particularly liked birthdays, that didn’t necessarily mean that she wanted to be depressed on hers. It was time for happy thoughts – like what she was going to do that day, the last Friday of freedom.

Connie Scott was downstairs in the bright yellow kitchen, mixing the batter for the pancakes already as if she had known that Ella would be up and about already – mainly because of Trevor’s music – and she beamed happily when her youngest daughter shuffled into the kitchen, caught in the middle of a yawn.

“Happy birthday, Ella,” Connie smiled, walking around the island in the middle of the kitchen to embrace her in a tight warm hug. “I just started the pancakes but your cards are already on the table.”

“Thanks, mom,” Ella said, hoping that this would be the last of the birthday festivities though knowing her family, there was also a dinner to come that night.

There was a bouquet of colorful helium balloons in the center of the table and Ella knew immediately that they were from her dad. Nick Scott bought balloons for her every year on her birthday and she smiled when she saw them. There were two cards on the table – one from her parents and one from Trevor. Lyla, the oldest Scott child at twenty-years-old, had spent the summer in Seattle and her card would either arrive in the mail that afternoon or the next day.

Ella sat down and picked up the card from her parents first, sliding her finger underneath the flap of the light pink envelope and pulling the Hallmark greeting card out. Reading over the usual flowery poetry, she then opened it, smiling widely as a fifty dollar gift card to Barnes and Noble fell into her lap.

“Since I don’t even know what books you own anymore, I thought that this would be the safest bet,” Connie said, watching her with a smile.

Ella got up to hug her, in the back of her mind, already trying to decide what books she would buy. There was that new one, ‘Special Topics in Calamity Physics’ by Marisha Pessl, that she had been reading such good things about. Maybe she would by herself a copy and see if it was as good as all the critics seemed to think it was.

“My turn!” Trevor announced, grabbing his card, this one in a mint-green envelope, and thrust it towards her excitedly.

She laughed, opening it as he watched with a grin, quite pleased with himself for what awaited for her inside the card. A fifty dollar gift card to Best Buy fell into her hand and he snatched it up, holding it proudly for Connie to see as well.

“Very sweet, Trevor,” Connie nodded with a faint smile. “You didn’t steal that, did you?”

“No. Kyle Colfax got a job at Best Buy this summer because his dad wanted him to learn something about responsibility and he got it for me. Nothing too good for my baby sister,” Trevor declared, handing it back to Ella.

“We should go after breakfast,” Ella said eagerly though she knew Trevor had already planned on that. “And to the bookstore. I already know what I’m getting. Do you think Brett will be up already?”

Trevor nodded, grabbing a handful of chocolate chips from the open bag on the counter and tossing them into his mouth. “His dad needed him to mow a couple of lawns so we need to track him down.”

After eating her weight in chocolate chip pancakes, Ella took her cards and balloons up to her bedroom. Her mom and dad would probably take her out for Chinese food – her favorite – that night but the rest of the morning and afternoon were hers. For some reason, she felt herself become excited though it wasn’t because it was her birthday but rather because of the gifts she had just received. Barnes and Noble and Best Buy were her two favorite stores and could literally spend hours roaming up and down the aisles of each, looking over everything carefully, making sure she didn’t miss anything in case that was the thing she wanted.

The steaming hot water of the shower felt good as it drowned her skin, wrinkling her fingers, pouring around her as the soap slid from her body. Ella loved taking hot, extremely long, showers, especially during the summer when the sweat and the humidity always made her feel so dirty and uncomfortable. In the summers, she never felt as if she was clean enough. She dropped a dab of the cool kiwi body wash gel into her loofah sponge and began to scrub at her naturally tanned skin, closing her eyes, letting her hands glide over her body and take control.

Maybe she was excited because she was going to be spending time with Trevor and Brett again after going nearly a week without their company. Brett Dawson and Trevor had been best friends since they were eight-years-old and Trevor had brought him home with him one day after school like he had just found a puppy on the side of the road. And back then, a lost puppy was exactly what Brett looked like. His mother had just died and the young boy was still registering the loss. He didn’t talk much and had no problem letting Trevor have the spotlight. The two boys became so close, they were more like brothers, and Ella was pulled into their duo by the time they were ten and she nine, making them a trio.

To some people, it was hard to understand a friendship like theirs – completely and unwavering loyal. No matter what one did to piss the others off, the anger never stayed. Their bonds they shared seemed to be unbreakable. They were all so different, only adding to peoples’ confusion as to how they all remained friends. It was easier to understand Brett and Trevor. Both played football – Trevor was quarterback for the high school team and Brett was fullback – and had played together since they were old enough to join the pee-wee leagues. They were both handsome – resembling two boys who had just fallen out of a Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch ad. They had their fair share of friends and had slept with their fair share of girls. Everyone knew them and most wanted to be a part of their lives.

Trevor craved the attention. He loved it, thrived in it, wanted it to never go away. He loved being popular and the center of attention. He loved the girls, the parties and the perks he came from being captain of a winning football team in a small town. He was a flirt, had a horrible temper when pushed, and was extremely competitive in seemingly everything he did. Brett, on the other hand, didn’t mind the attention either but one could tell that at times, it got on his nerves. He was more laid back than Trevor, more at ease, able to enjoy football more since the whole town didn’t look to him for explanations if the team lost like they demanded from Trevor. He was the calm one, always the one to pull him away whenever Trevor got into a fight.

Ella was simply always referred to as – depending on the conversation – as either Trevor’s little sister or Brett’s best friend’s little sister. The more poetic students at their school saw her as the princess locked away in the tower with Trevor and Brett as the guard dogs protecting her from below. No one really knew her or spoke with her, which was fine with her. Ella preferred her own company to those of others. She liked reading and watching movies by herself, liked keeping to herself. She heard of the bitchiness and cattiness that seemed to be involved with most friendships at their high school and Ella wanted nothing to do with that. She enjoyed her quiet life.

Letting her long dark hair dry naturally instead of frying it to death with her blow-dryer, she changed into a pair of green sweat shorts and a gray vintage Rolling Stones tee-shirt, not feeling like sweating to death that day, especially after taking such a refreshing shower. Northwest Indiana in August was nearly unbearable. Dog days of summer indeed.

As she began making her bed, her cell phone began to ring on her desk across the room and without looking down at the caller i.d. screen to see who it was, she flipped it open. “Hello?” She answered, going back to straighten the quilt lying across the foot of her bed.

“Happy birthday, El. Did I miss pancakes?”

Ella found herself smiling widely upon hearing Brett on the other end of the phone. She was surprised as she realized how much she had missed him. She hadn’t talked to him in a few days and she was so happy that he had called though she had never doubted that he wouldn’t.

“You did and unfortunately for you, they were the best pancakes ever,” she teased and he snickered. She could imagine him shaking his head at her and she smiled. “If you’re at home, Trevor and me are going to come and get you in a little bit. I have birthday money to spend.”

“And I still have to give you my present,” he reminded her. “I just finished my last lawn of the morning so give me about a half hour to get showered and changed.”

“Sounds good. I’ll tell Trevor,” Ella nodded, sitting down on the foot of the bed, finding herself reluctant to hang up even though she would be seeing him soon enough. “How have you been? How did camp go this week?”

Brett sighed heavily from the other end. “I feel like my ass has been kicked by a semi truck. Our defense still needs a lot of work but…” he sighed again. “Who knows how this season will turn out?”

“You guys are going to be great this year,” Ella said with such conviction, she could hear him grin, almost laughing.

“You always have been my best cheerleader,” he teased.

“And we both know you have had a lot of cheerleaders,” she blushed, standing up, suddenly feeling antsy, caged in. She did not like the turn this conversation had taken and she went to the window, staring out over the front driveway.

“Yeah, well, you’ll always be the only one who matters,” Brett said and he sounded distracted to her, as if he was scanning through the radio, trying to find a song to listen to. “I’ll see you and Trevor in a little bit, okay?”

Ella nodded her head. “Okay. Bye,” she said before slapping the phone shut, keeping her eyes glued out her window.

That had been happening more and more lately and she had no idea what to make of it. It had never happened between her and Brett before so she didn’t know why it would now. The awkwardness that she felt whenever he spoke about the other girls in his life was now there inside her when it never had been before. She had heard plenty of stories straight from both Trevor and Brett’s mouths about their conquests and she had only nodded her head as she pretended to listen. But lately, whenever Brett mentioned something like that to her, she felt as if she desperately needed a place to hide for some mysterious reason.

Tyson and Amy

Thank you to everyone for the suggestions of helping me get my inspiration back. Many of the songs that were listed are songs I already have but I gave them another listen. I love how everyone knows how much I love music and how much it has to do with my writing. For some reason, I have been listening to a lot of Nine Inch Nails lately so we will see what comes of that.

Right now, I am working on a one-shot for Tyson and Amy from The Prize. I have a lot of ideas for their story but I just am trying to figure out how to start it. It is going to take six years after The Prize ended and Tyson and Amy are now married with a five-year-old son, Sonny, and four-year-old daughter, Betty. Tyson and Amy are happily married but they have their problems - mainly Tyson's desire to want to return to the world of boxing and Amy's own professional aspirations. I make no promises as to when this short story will be finished but I just wanted to give everyone a head's up about it. Thank you everyone. You guys know that you are the best.

Tyson

Amy

Sonny

Betty

The Beauty and the Tragedy

*deep breath* Okay. I am nervous about talking about this because I do not know what people will think but I am almost done with the first chapter and I wanted to tell everyone about this newest story I am working on. It is called The Beauty and the Tragedy and I have decided to add another installment to the popular "Wonderwall" series that I have created. This particular story will follow Danny Aldridge and River Conway, Abe and Cecilia's daughter.

The Beauty and the Tragedy by Kate
River Conway is seventeen years old and has never had a boyfriend. Staying the summer at his house, she asks Danny Aldridge to teach her about relationships and sex. The arrangement starts simple enough until love enters the picture.

I want to write this story because I wanted a story that is about first love - the innocence and the excitement about it all. A Slow Burn is dark, The Nicest Thing and Between the Lines is angst-filled, and The Flower Girl is mysterious and supernatural. I wanted to work on a story for a while that is about those first-time moments in our lives that wind up changing us. There will be drama in this story but it will also be terribly sweet and romantic.

Some tidbits going into it - Many things have changed in the Wonderwall world:

- Abe and Cecilia have moved to Providence to raise their two children, River and Grant. He no longer speaks to Chase and he has rare contact with his other friends back in Boston.

- Nikki is married to Chase. Her relationship with both Chase and Lawson will be explained.

- This story is going to cover several years - something I have never done before but something I am excited to try.

- Though this story is about teenagers (though we will eventually see them in their twenties), Danny and River act maturely. I promise.

Please let me know what you think. If no one is really interested in this, I will just put it on the backburner for a while. Writing this does not mean that I am putting a hold on any of my other stories. I just need to take a break from them and write something that makes me smile and makes my characters smile too.

River

Danny

Wallace and Hannah

As I write this, I am also working on a one-shot, possibly a two-part, story called Between the Lines and it is about the relationship between Wallace Aldridge and Hannah Smith. It will also feature Amelia Aldridge-Reed and Casey Reed from Some Kind of Wonderful. I hope to have it posted either tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Between the Lines:
She was the love his life. He just never told her when she was around. The only way he can now is by writing a book about her. He needs her back in his life but he has not seen her in almost a year and no one will tell him where she is. Wallace Aldridge is determined to find her though because whether or not Hannah Smith wants him, he knows he needs her more than anything.

Wallace

Hannah

Amelia

Casey

The Twins

Nate and Gretchen

Here I am in beautiful - but hot as hell - New Orleans and our hotel tonight has internet access. I just wanted to write this down because I haven't written anything in days and I feel like I am going crazy from not doing so. I have been thinking about my next one-shot, both for Fictionpress.com and for Nothing Else Matters and I think I am going to write about Nate Hardwick and Gretchen Sheppard from Wonderwall and Even After All. This couple has always had their own story but I never told it and I am thinking that perhaps it is time I do. If you remember, Gretchen is Poppy's older sister with an eating disorder and Nate is her boyfriend then later, her husband. I really think that this is something that I want to write but would it be a oneshot anyone would be interested in reading? Let me know. Now, I leave for Bourbon Street. Have a good week everyone! Stay cool!

Gretchen

Nate

A Slow Burn

With The Prettiest Thing coming to a close much faster than most people want and with Nothing Else Matters being updated whenever I am inspired to add another one-shot, I will be working on my next story. This is going to be a mature story. It is going to be dark - a story of passion, jealousy and obsession - and it is going to be a story that I have been wanting to try and write for some time.

A Slow Burn by Kate:
From the very first time they meet, Rob and Lauren have always shared an intense connection with one another that neither could explain. But as they grow closer and fall more in love, they begin to become consumed by their feelings and seem no longer in control of themselves when around each other. Their love will lead to a dangerous obsession that will threaten to tear them both apart.

Of course it is going to be a love story with its sweet moments. It just won't be as conventional as some of my other romance stories. I hope this sounds interesting to at least a few of you. I really want to write something different and I want to see if I can succeed at writing something that would be considered going against the grain for me. Below are pictures of the main characters Rob Moseley and Lauren Vandermark. The model I found sort of looks like Tyson from The Prize but I assure you that he is a completely different man. This is one of the rare instances that the moment I saw this picture of Jamie Dornan, I created the character of Rob. Normally, I create characters and then find the pictures. But I was inspired by him and he has become my muse for this story.

Please let me know if A Slow Burn interests any of you. I really can't wait to finish the first chapter, edit it and then post it. I really want to try something different and I hope this works out. Also, if you haven't yet, please read and review chapter thirty-five of The Prettiest Thing for me. Thank you!

Rob

Lauren

Beth and Graham

I am not sure where it came from but I am currently working on the first chapter of that collection of one-shots I mentioned earlier in the week and the first chapter is of Graham Bishop and Beth Morrow, who were first introduced in The Lion and the Lamb. It takes place a few years into the future when they are both adults and just a warning - it is going to be angst-filled. I hope to have it posted soon. Below, "Konstantine" by Something Corporate is one of my all-time favorite songs and it is kind of the soundtrack to the one-shot so please give it a listen. I will let everyone know when this chapter is completed and posted. Also, if you have not read and reviewed chapter thirty-one of The Prettiest Thing, please please please do so. Thank you so much and have a great Thursday everyone!

An Idea

This weekend, I was watching one of my favorite movies: Paris, Je T'aime - a movie which consists of 20 short films about love in Paris. Some of these short little films make me ridiculously happy whenever I'm in need of smiling. And watching this movie, I began to think of something and once The Prettiest Thing is complete, this particular thought is going to be my next project.

Each chapter of this new story is going to be a short story involving all of my couples from previous stories:

Chapter 1 - Poppy and Justin
Chapter 2 - Lawson and Nikki
Chapter 3 - Brady and Ali
Chapter 4 - Holden and Sarah
Chapter 5 - Abe and Cecilia
Chapter 6 - Casey and Amelia
Chapter 7 - Riley and Samantha
Chapter 8 - Lucy and Will
Chapter 9 - Violet and Jamie
Chapter 10 - Ben and Olivia
Chapter 11 - Lindsey and Matt
Chapter 12 - Patrick and Maddy
Chapter 13 - Reed and Cami
Chapter 14 - Ryan and Rachel
Chapter 15 - Tyson and Amy
Chapter 16 - Andrew and Carrie
Chapter 17 - Trevor and Joy
Chapter 18 - Brett and Ella

How does this sound to everyone? I think it will be fun to visit each of these couples again and see what it happening in their lives. Is there a particular couple you want to read about that isn't on the list? Perhaps a secondary couple? I can't promise that they will get their own chapter but if one gets enough requests, perhaps I will write one for them. Please let me know and also, let me know what you think about the idea. Thank you. Happy Monday. Oh! Chapter 31 of The Prettiest Thing is coming along wonderfully and I hope to have it finished within the next few days.

A Winged Cupid Painted Blind

Though The Prettiest Thing is no where near close to being finished, and I do have to do some work on Ghetto Gospel, I have ideas churning in my head as usual. If you remember my story idea for The Wit of the Staircase, I have decided to maybe use that particular idea for my manuscript for publishing - which I hopefully will get published someday - but I want to have another idea ready for my next story on AFF.net for all of you to read. The story is called A Winged Cupid Painted Blind, which is a line from Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream.

PLOT:
As the oldest daughter in a very traditional family, Lena must marry before her sisters. Desperate for her to find someone, her mom decides to help by putting an ad for her in the newspaper. Lena wasn’t expecting anyone from it - especially him.

Despite all of his long hours and hard work, Tim is finding that it is impossible to move ahead at his company unless he is in a relationship or married. When he sees Lena’s ad in the newspaper, he figures that she is desperate enough to help him until he gets promoted at work. But he wasn’t expecting falling for her.

Please let me know if this is a story you would be interested in reading. Thank you!

Tim

Lena

Random Post

Happy Tuesday everyone. I woke up, trying to convince myself that it was Wednesday, but alas, it is only Tuesday and I have about a foot of snow out my front door so I am trying to put off shoveling by posting on my blog. I hope everyone is doing well. I am working on chapter thirteen of The Prettiest Thing and I think I have finally accepted the fact that pleasing everyone is damned near impossible. I received a lot of criticisms for chapter eleven and how choppy it felt as I jumped from Ella to Joy to Lyla back to Ella again. Few people seemed to actually like that chapter. So for chapter twelve, I focused on Brett and gave more insight into his mind and actions. People didn't like that chapter either because they wanted to know what Trevor and Alex were thinking too. I just cannot win with some of you it seems lol.

This story is my own and I am going to write the chapters however I feel like. I also need to apologize for the past few chapters being less than perfect. I had some point out that my grammer wasn't the best or my writing not being necessarily good and I suppose that I was thinking faster than I was thinking. I know you all want me to post as soon as possible so I think I was just typing so fast and posting afterwards that I didn't read and edit as closely as I usual do. I apologize for this. I suppose I'm just so busy, I get so excited to post a new chapter just like you are excited to read it. I will take more time on my writing from now on.

Also, in regards to Ghetto Gospel, for the few people who read it and like it, thank you for letting me know what you honestly think of it. I know some are having a problem reading it because of the less than perfect English but I am trying to be realistic and this is how some of these characters would actually speak if they were in fact real. I understand that it might be difficult to read but thank you for trying. I knew when I started that not a lot of people would like this story but I am glad some of you are enjoying it. In regards to chapter thirteen of The Prettiest Thing, we are going to have a Trevor and Joy talk as well as a Brett and Ella talk. Remember that this is going to be a long story so the pacing is a little bit more slow than my other stories. I am building different storylines up and I know already that there are going to be some things in this story that people won't like but remember that I already have my outline so I am sticking by my stories and will not change any of the plots just to please.

I suppose writing and posting on-line is a double edged sword. I love writing and I love posting my stories for anyone to read. And I have some of the best readers in the world. I consider you all to be my friends. But posting on-line, I am opening myself up to a lot of criticism and some less-than kind emails. I appreciate the CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and take it all to heart and keep it in mind as I write but it is the cruel criticism that hurts me. Just remember that I don't have to post my stories. I think my skin finally might be getting a bit thicker though which is good. The picture posted below is a piece of art Alessandra made for me of Amelia Aldridge-Reed and I love it so thank you once again, Alessandra, for making it. Have a great day everyone and I will let you know when chapter thirteen is complete.