My Beastly Love by Tyler White (the reading strategies book txt) 📕

The bowl of Froot Loops lay on the table, in front of my face. The cereal looked plastic, still in place. The skim milk was still also, so it looked as if you touched it, nothing would happen. The food didn't look edible; in the least it didn't look real. I concentrated so hard that the milk seemed to be swirling, a whirlpool of milk. The cereal seemed to be turning quickly. The little circles spinning rapidly. "Erica..." I heard the cereal whispering to me. Why was it talking? It spoke again, "Erica." I felt a punch in the shoulder. It wasn't pain, it was as lightly a punch as a baby touching your skin. Now it shook me. Hard. I blinked quickly and realized my mother, Pam, was standing over me, watching me, her chocolate brown hair in a messy bun, with loose pieces of hair dangling from her head. A smile crossed her faint lips. Her lime green eyes shined into mine, looking past my rotten amber eyes.
"You seemed to be concentrating very hard on something...Hopefully a test." She whirled around and stumbled into the kitchen, her baggy jeans dragging the floor and loose top, wrinkled like she has been tossing around on the ground. Her hands clamped down on a dirty dishrag. She lifted it under the sink and ran the water, it came pouring on the towel, the water seeping through. Pam scrubbed the crust covered counter, her hands catching the crumbs as she pushed them off the counter with her towel.
I have one brother and three sisters, all younger than me except for one. My youngest sibling is Mara who is four years old, she has the prettiest eyes, other than Pam's. Mara's are the lightest blue. Lighter than the sky. Hers are almost gray. A such light gray if they were any lighter, her eyes would be colorless. She's calm, calmer than most four year olds. She's always to herself and only comes out when dinner is called. No one knows what all she does in her little pink room.
My other sibling is Braydon, a boy so loud; he could literally destroy your eardrums. He's eight years old. When he comes for dinner, we all leave. He likes soccer, football, baseball, basketball and all those sports. Poor Pam is always having to drive him to whatever sport he needs to go to. Thank gosh we get him out of the house a lot.
Then there’s my sister Tayler and my other one Ally. Tayler is eleven and Ally is eighteen. Big difference huh? Well, I haven't gotten a chance to introduce myself. My name is Erica and I'm sixteen. I have the ugliest amber eyes and I have tan skin, not as tan as the models you see in magazines. I am not in the limelight nor known at school, I'm just another face in the yearbook.
"Erica, honey, please eat." Pam looked at me softly, her intriguing green eyes flashed at me, then to Tayler, who was gulping down her orange juice. The cup was half full, the juice was slowly starting to decrease, before my eyes could stare much longer, the glass was empty. Tayler slammed down the cup and jumped up from her seat, entering to her room. "What’s her problem?" Ally asked, taking a bite of her jelly biscuit. Pam sighed deeply and explained that kids were bullying her at school. Whatever I thought to myself, I could care less about what’s going on at Tayler's school.
"Well, that’s too bad." Ally snickered and took a giant bite of the golden fluffy biscuit. I lifted my silver spoon off of the table and tried to swallow a bite of Froot Loops. I didn't feel the lump go down my throat. I staggered as I couldn't breathe. The lump of food was jammed in my throat. I was choking. I barely murmured a word when Ally looked at me, her eyes popping out of her sockets. I tried to cough it up, then when that didn't work, I tried to swallow but the lump was fighting back, currently staying put, lodged in my throat. "Pam! Erica's choking!" Ally's voice echoed through out the house.
"My gosh! Erica!" Pam rushed to my side, her hair flopping from side to side. Pam slapped my back as hard as she could, staring into my eyes, a shocked look on her face. I felt the lump jump right up and out of my mouth, by the bowl. I coughed, getting the last bit of food out of my mouth. The yucky food was crushed up into bits, saliva dripping from the glob. "Eew! It looks like vomit!" Ally screeched, her hands flying up as she scampered out of the kitchen. I could still hear Ally scream "Eew!" as she ran down the corridors.
My mouth felt moist but my throat felt like pressure was still suffocating it. I felt like I really needed to barf. I felt sick to my stomach, I held my stomach and focused on getting medicine. I had finally realized Pam had left, she was running into her room when- School! It was time for school! I was going to be late! I threw my chair back and thrust myself into my room. I quickly scattered clothes on the ground and found a black Old Navy shirt. I pulled it over my head and leaped to my drawer to find a pair of old cut up jeans. I slipped the jeans on, ran the comb through my hair, trying to get the tangles out, and leaped out the door, my black backpack rubbing against my tan shoulder.
"PAM! TIME FOR SCHOOL!" I screamed, my throat suddenly feeling pain. I rubbed it gently and looked out the window. It was pouring down rain. Great. Just great. Since Pam was nowhere in sight, I slammed the door shut after I walked out and darted to my old bike. The silver shine was rubbing off the bike and the seat was torn. I hopped on my bike and thrust my hood on, only discovering the hood fell off after every turn I made. The rain was so cold I was shivering. I pulled my jacket tighter to my skin. The rain poured down on my face, blurring my vision.
I glanced behind me, checking to see if anyone was behind me. I turned my head back around, only to see two lights glaring at me. The lights were coming from a vehicle. It was coming closer, I was trying to turn but my bike chain was stuck. Stupid old bike. I tugged on it but it wouldn't come loose. I tried to turn but the cord was wrapped around the handle bars. I clenched my teeth and tugged harshly. Nothing. I heard one honk then felt my bike jerk to the right side, the bike slid across the concrete road, the water slipping it from under me. I plunged into the concrete, my bike falling on top of me.
I felt sticky blood rush down my leg and I could feel cuts burrowed deep into my flesh. I howled in pain and hovered my leg close to my body, the rain was washing the blood off my leg like a thousand red teardrops. My face was burning hot while the rest of my body was warming up from the blood sticking to my jeans. I wanted to crush this bike and leave in the road for a truck to run over but then remembered school and needed to rush before Mr. Cole would yell at me and scream (like he usually does anyway).
My brain was rattling in my head and my arms were squished under the pressure of my bike. I clenched my teeth hard and heaved the bike off of my body. When it was lifted I felt the pressure leave my body. I was barely lifting myself, my hands constantly pushing hard on the cement. I finally stood up, my legs buckled and I fell down again. "Need a hand?" a familiar voice spoke crisp into my ear. I turned around and surprised enough, it was my best friend Elizabeth, who we sometimes called Liz.
"Elizabeth? What are you doing here?" I turned around to see her dressed her regular ways. Black shirt with the band Slipknot written on it in blood print. Her black skinny jeans had rips in them, showing some skin. Elizabeths hair was normally wavy but the rain plastered it to her head, her hair now black and straight. She had dark brown eyes and pale skin since she only played video games in her house. Her almond eyes stared right through me. Elizabeth was bad. Very bad. She stole things, cussed, never paid attention, slept in class, brought her Ipod to school and listened to it in class, ditched school, broke school property, back sassed her teacher, vandalized the school cafeteria, and never turned in any homework. I was surprised she even made it to 9th grade.
Elizabeth helped me up and and ditched my bike, leaving in the street. We ran to school, the rain drenching our clothes. "Hurry!" Elizabeth stomped her feet on the moist grass and dirt. Mud clung to my shoes and pants but I didn't care, I just wanted to get to school. The school was close by, only a few blocks down. Cars zoomed past us and jogging moms stared at us as we ran by them, almost flinging dirt on them. The school was right in front of us, we rushed and slammed the doors only noticing they were locked. My side hurt from banging into the glass doors. We just banged on the doors. "Open up!" Elizabeth screeched, her black hood over her head made her look creepy. Mr. Owen, our principal, wasn't surprised to hear Elizabeth banging on the door. He rolled his eyes and sighed. He opened the door for us and in a glum voice said, "Come Gernon and- he paused before saying Elizabeth's last name- Vine." Elizabeth smiled and bumped into Mr. Owen, pushing him to one side.
Elizabeth and I ran to our class and flew by the blue lockers that surronded me like walls. I felt enclosed. Some flirty girls stumbled past us, one girl had nice tanned skin and chocolate brown eyes with bouncy blonde curls, her miniskirt was pink and purple with little daises covering it. She