2Well, here's chapter one of the story. It's pretty long but I hope you enjoy it.
As another note, I find it important to tell you that I won't always be able to have a new chapter up every few days. This one I already had written last summer. But with the end of the school year, it may take a while to get chapters up very often. However, I will still try hard provided that I have reviews. I plan to try to get a new chapter up every friday, but I make no guarantees. However, check on fridays for new chapter updates as that will be my day for uploading. Enjoy the story.
Jenna
I: The Hoverboard
It all began, as most stories do, in the most unlikely of places, on a day just like any other. But, in Nimbus XIII, a day just like any other isn't exactly a dream come true. It meant no food to eat. It meant another day to hide for those who couldn't defend themselves from the more violent members of the not so ideal community.
But for us, it wasn't just a normal day. No, this day would change our lives. It all began with three simple words.
"I did it!"
To most people, the fact that this was said by a ten-year-old boy would be cause enough not to pay any attention. However, this was no ordinary little boy. This was my friend, TJ Jenkins.
"I did it!" TJ shouted excitedly as he ran up to the small bedroom that my best friend Madge and I shared.
"What did you do?" Madge laughed. "Did you find your first girlfriend?"
"No!" he defended, looking pretty embarrassed. "I made this!" he held up a complicated looking, yet small piece of machinery. "It's a fuel consumption regulator!"
"A what?" Madge asked confused.
I sighed. Sometimes she was so blonde that I wondered if we switched hair colors. He couldn't have given it a simpler title if he tried.
"It's gonna keep the board from eating up the gas too quickly," I translated.
"It's not exactly finished, yet," TJ admitted. "I'm not sure if it'll even work on something as small as Jenna's board."
"Well, there's only one way to find out!" I said enthusiastically. I picked up my scrap of a board that I was so proud I'd been the first to invent. "Let's install that baby and get to the testing stage!"
"But what if it doesn't work?" TJ protested. "You could get yourself-"
I grabbed the machine part from his hand.
"I'll just install it, myself," I said with a smile.
"If you think that's gonna get me to go along with this then you're wrong!" TJ said, actually thinking he had some sort of secret plan figured out. I just ignored him.
"Done!" I said as I finished installing the part on my board.
"How do you do that so fast?" TJ asked, sounding really depressed.
"Give yourself a few more years and maybe you'll be half as good as I am," I said with a smirk.
I heard him mutter something about me always getting my way. I just ignored it as I walked past him, completely unaffected.
We were on the roof of our old, three story house and no one seemed to notice us. Madge stood a safe distance away as I strapped my feet to the board and secured my makeshift helmet. TJ's curiosity eventually got to him and he showed up to make sure that all the board's components were safely secured.
"We're ready to go," TJ said with a smile.
"Let's get this thing started, then!" I said excitedly.
"Just do me a favor," he said with a worried look. "Try not to get yourself killed."
"I'll do my best," I said with a salute.
I used my free foot to kick myself off the roof. For a moment, I was just falling. I almost wanted to scream at the impact I knew was coming, or I would have thought was coming if I didn't have my board handy.
A second after I was off the roof, I kicked the gas pedal on the board and was immediately flew up toward the sky. I gave an excited laugh as I flew toward the clouds that soared above us. I kept going up as high as I could, perhaps a bit too high for comfort.
With my foot still on the pedal, the engine suddenly just stopped.
I desperately pounded my heal on the pedal, hoping- no, praying for it to start up again. I took a glance at my feet to find that a single wire had been misplaced. For a second, I almost thought that I could mentally move the wire back into place. And for a second, I imagined it worked, too because the wire moved back just in time to keep me from flattening out on the street below me.
I was launched back into the air. However, this time, I carefully steered the board toward the roof where my friends waited, in awe at my flight.
"Jenna, that was awesome," Madge cheered
"I can't believe that actually worked," TJ said, his hands smoothing back his short, brown hair.
He threw me a glare as I ruffled it all over again.
We all laughed out loud at the successful test run. I heard a few applause from a few bystanders and smiled.
That night we celebrated. We decided to go all out and break out the last of the fish in our stores. It wasn't going to last too much longer, anyway.
"Can you believe that we actually did it?" I giggled. "Just a few more tests and we'll have a finished product on our hands.
"You're in a rush," TJ reprimanded. "A project like this could take months, even years! We've barely scratched the surface!"
"Whoa, why don't you just cool down for a second," I suggested with a smirk. "Just relax for a bit, buddy."
"We shouldn't relax!" he corrected. "There's too much work to be done, here. If you start just letting yourself get overconfident, something bad could happen!"
It was then I realized what was going on, here.
"T.J.," I began. "Are you... worried about me?"
"I-it's not that!" he defended with a sniff. "I just don't have anyone else to go to if you go and get yourself killed, Jenna."
"You'll still have me!" Madge piped in with a giggle.
T.J. looked terrified by that thought.
"Don't worry," I told him. "If that makes you feel any better, I'll be extra careful."
"Promise?" he asked, averting his gaze by just a bit.
"I promise," I answered with a grin.
I had no idea what this had really meant to all of us, or that it would change our lives forever.