War Torn

War Torn — page 1 — Chapter One Kelsey Charges Ahead Here’s another spot Kelsey Wanna come to our group Matt hopped his chair a little sideways to make room A little thrill ran up Kelsey’s spine Matt wanted her to be in his group Matt Already sitting oh-so-close on Matt’s other side Bettina leveled her gaze at Kelsey Kelsey tried not to get sucked into the black hole of Bettina’s stare Breathing through her mouth to slow down her crazy heart Kelsey said all fake perky Sure That would be cool She almost tipped her chair over in a rush to get on Matt’s other side before someone else moved in Kevin and Julie joined the misshapen circle Matt and Bettina had started Once the circle was complete Bettina’s hand shot up 6

War Torn — page 2 — It looks like Team One is already formed said Mr Cole writing the names of Kelsey’s group on the chalkboard Nice job making it work Everyone else you have five more minutes to get into a group of four to six I’ll be handing out job assignments as soon as you’re settled When Mr Cole passed out the project slips Bettina grabbed it before anyone else could read it Newspaper crew she announced That’ll be easy Matt and I’ll do the ads and Julie you do sports We can do a close up of Joe Namath my cousin dated him and Kelsey was about to open her mouth when Matt said Whoa Nellie I wanted to do sports Julie can do the ads with you For an instant Bettina looked like a bee stung her But she recovered quickly Oh you Fine I’ll help you with that then Julia doesn’t need me for ads And Kevin what do you want as your specialty You’re good at comics aren’t you Or something with food Isn’t your dad a chef or something 7

War Torn — page 3 — Well Miss Investigative Reporter Kevin shrugged He wasn’t much of a talker like Kelsey But Kelsey couldn’t afford to sit and get leftovers from Bettina There was too much at stake We need something serious Kelsey said I can do a news piece on Vietnam Like interview a veteran about the war and talk about peace protests and stuff She sat back pleased It would be the real core of the paper the most important part started Bettina but Matt cut her off That’s great Kelsey We need something big to get an A Which gosh knows I need I know Kelsey wanted to say And that’s exactly what I am doing here Matt Locatelli I am here to save you She knew Matt didn’t excel at history and she did She’d been waiting for this chance all semester She’d already imagined how it would be next year when they were in the same honors track Study buddies Check Heads together over the textbook Yes 8

War Torn — page 4 — Well if you can handle it Kelsey okay said Bettina As if she were the editor But it’s going to have to be good to beat Deborah’s team It’s not a competition said Julie weakly Mr Cole grades on the bell curve and you know it Julie said Bettina There’s only so many of us on the top She doesn’t even know what a bell curve is thought Kelsey The highest part of the curve was the middle They needed to be at the beginning in the low part where the few excellent students were The groups made plans and elected Julie secretary to keep track of everything They made a date to meet after school the next day at Bettina’s house After class Kelsey packed up her binder and folders tucking the notes she’d already started into the history section That was cute Kelsey getting into our group like that But don’t think I don’t know why You should know that Matt’s hanging out with me after school today We’ll probably 9

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