~The Mysterious Chronicles of Benevolence High~
Sage Sugarhorn- short pink hair, blue eyes full of curiosity, short small figure. Is dating Bryce. Plays the viola. Cheerleader
Bryce Barry- red, unruly hair, dark brown eyes, tall bulky football player. Is dating Sage. Plays the drums.
Alastair Arlington- Anastasia’s older brother has black hair, and black eyes, lacrosse player. Is dating Lily. Plays the bass.
Lily Lockhart- Black hair w/ blue streaks, pink eyes, plays soccer. Is dating Hampton. Plays the cello.
Anastasia Arlington- Alastair’s younger sister, long brown curly hair, dark violet eyes, plays the flute, sings secretly, and has an interest in the Arts.
Blake Banister- Long black hair, emerald green eyes, plays the acoustic guitar, and electric guitar. Plays baseball, new at school. Mysteriously pale, and misses warm sunny days at school. Brother to Basilia.
Basilia Banister- Sister to Jason, dirty blonde hair, dark blue eyes, plays the piano, cheerleader, new at school. Mysteriously pale, and misses sunny days at school.










~Prologue~
Anastasia walks into the hall for her first day of ninth grade. She walks up to the office door with her best friend since kindergarten when she punched a guy for stealing Lily’s gummy worms. They approach the counter and found their schedules. “So do you think Alastair is going to take me some where special for our… what do you call it when you’ve been together for….four years?” Lily asked her excitedly. “It’s called your four year anniversary! You kind of said that in your question!” Anastasia told her, rolling her eyes. “Oh, yeah… I so knew that, now.” Lily said laughing nervously. Anastasia laughed too. She couldn’t believe that she was finally in the ninth grade! Last she could remember she was in her secret place with Lily, shouting “No boys aloud!!” at Alastair and Bryce! Now she was dying to get closer to that graduating day… soon she’ll be the greatest young writer the world has ever known… or at least one of the best.
“Stasia,” Lily said, waving a hand in front of Anastasia’s face, “come on if you don’t want to be late our first day of class!” She tugged at Anastasia. Anastasia blinked back into reality. She blushed, and began to hurry with Lily at her side to first period, Geometry. They took the two seats in the center front, little did they know, that was their teacher, Mrs. Braden’s, favorite torture spot. “Late on your first day, Ms. Arlington? Ms. Lockhart?” she fired off. They heard muffled giggles and snorts. “Yes ma’am, we apologize, we tried to hurry.” Lily said quickly. Anastasia nodded, briskly. ‘Well know this, you need to show up on time from here forth, and be punctual about it, yes?” Mrs. Braden said eyeing the both of them off the rim of her spectacles. They both nodded. “Mental note: sit in the back to avoid embarrassment” Anastasia thought.
At lunch she sat there quietly proof-reading her latest book, “Dawn of the Dead’ while Lily and her brother, Alastair made goo-goo eyes at each other talking about the romantic evening he has planned for her, Thursday night. Anastasia wanted to disappear. She had never cared that they were together; it was more of the fact that Lily had the guy of her dreams, and Anastasia had no guy at all, she wasn’t exactly the poster girl for “most datable”. Anastasia had a weight problem; she hadn’t always been that way though, when she started the fourth grade, she started to get a little chunky. People started to call her fat; well she was tall for her age, so her mother told her it was because she was big boned. But Anastasia knew different. Lily told her, “Don’t worry about it! That won’t stop you from being whoever you want!” But it did stop her from being popular, and dating. She had tried losing weight in the sixth and seventh grades, but none such luck, she had a self esteem problem, and she didn’t see herself clearly. So she didn’t usually eat a lot in public, but at home, she usually snacked, a lot. “This year,” she thought to herself,” it’s gonna be different, I will lose the weight, and I will be beautiful finally.”





~Chapter One~

“Oh! My! Gosh! Look at you! You spend one summer in Georgia, and you look like “America’s Next Top Model” winner!!!” Lily screamed at Anastasia. She had come back tan, slim, and confident, “I can finally wear a bikini and not feel like I’m gonna pop the straps!” she thought to herself, smiling, she laughed, “Was I really that much bigger?” “YOU were like a lil’ teddy bear, but you were perfect! Why do you girls always think about, losing weight?!?!” her mother asked. “Because this teddy bear felt, looked, and thought she had way too much stuffing.” Anastasia laughed. Her mother sighed, and rolled her eyes. “Go unpack your stuff, bring down your dirty laundry.” She huffed. “Yes, Ma.” She kissed her mother’s forehead and she and Lily tugged her bags upstairs.
“So, has Alastair popped the question yet?!” Anastasia asked. Lily’s eyes got huge, “How did you know?” she asked. “I wasn’t for sure, but know I do.” Anastasia smiled mischievously. Lily laughed bitterly. “It was supposed to be a surprise at dinner!” She groaned. Anastasia laughed again, “I will act totally surprised, scouts honor.” Lily rolled her eyes, and grinned. They unpacked silently for about an hour until, “OH! MY! GOSH!!!” screamed Sage, their other best (crazy) friend. “YOU’RE SO TINY!!!” she screamed. “Yeah it’s awesome, huh?” Anastasia asked. “Yeah, totally, but you were perfect before you left.” Sage said smiling. “That’s what ya’ll think…” she sighed. Lily and Sage rolled their eyes. “Where’s Bryce?” Anastasia asked, changing the subject from her wait to age’s annoying boyfriend. “He’s down stairs with your brother.” Sage said. Anastasia nodded, of course he was. They were almost as inseparable as Sage, Lily, and Stasia.




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Anastasia pranced up to the counter at the front office to get her schedule. “What’s your name?” Mrs. Haydon asked. “It’s me, Anastasia!” She told her. “My sweet heavens! It is you! My you’ve changed. Still as pretty as ever!” She smiled handing Anastasia her schedule. Lily ad Sage got theirs and followed Anastasia to her locker. Next to them was a new guy. He had long, black, swooshy hair that covered his eyes. “Oh, who’s that?” Sage whispered. “Blake Banister.” He told her quietly. She blushed. “He has exceptional hearing.” Thought Anastasia. “Thanks.” He said, and then blushed, because no one said anything aloud. “Sorry.” He mumbled and walked, (more like stumbled) his way down the hall. “He’s kinda’ hot.” Anastasia thought. A girl with dirty blonde hair, and piercing dark blue eyes glared at her. Then sharply turned and strutted down the hallway. “That must be his sister.” Anastasia laughed bitterly. “I don’t think she likes us, Stasia.” Sage said. They all laughed at that. They parted, Anastasia headed to first period, which was Art. (Though she hated to paint because she was no good, she did enjoy the observing part.)
She was almost late for class, so all the seats were filled. Except the table the “new guy”, Jason Banister, was sitting at. She sat down and got out her art pad. “Hi, I’m Blake.” He introduced himself. “We met in the hallway remember,” She smiled, “and I’m Anastasia. “ She replied quietly.