Krystal109
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« on: January 07, 2010, 03:04:47 AM » |
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Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margie Stohl
9.02 New Girl
Written by Krystal
Eight streets later, Link and Ethan arrived at school, but not before running into Fatty at the Stop & Shop. The two tried to sneak inside, but due to the pouring rain and squeakiness, failed miserably and were caught by Miss Hester. Amma, no doubt, would have already heard about their impending detentions; that’s what it was the thing about small towns. Everyone had their own secrets and everyone else knew them, even that was no secret. Miss Hester handed them their detention slips and sent them on their way to class.
In Gatlin where nothing every changed, including teachers, it was already determined whether you were smart or stupid from kindergarten. Ethan, of course, was smart due his parents profession while Link was stupid. This determined your grades in high school, since the teachers never read your papers, and Ethan had proven this by spouting random nonsense mid essay. This didn’t apply for multiple choice quizzes though and he now found himself failing one on To Kill a Mockingbird. That was unlike him seeing as he was a huge book lover, but reading wasn’t exactly encouraged for a basketball player.
Chemistry wasn’t much better either as Ethan was assigned Emily Asher as his lab partner by Mr. Hollenback; Emily started hating him after last year’s formal was a bust. This current conflict in their ‘relationship’ was a source of entertainment for all the guys, but little did they know that Ethan wasn’t really interested in Emily at all. She was pretty no doubt, but her looks did little to make up for what came out of her mouth.
As the day went on it only seemed to get worse, as he’d be having US History with Mr. Lee again. Lee was one of the few teachers that hated Ethan due to a paper he wrote entitled “The War of Southern Aggression”. As Ethan sat down next to Link, in preparation for the redundant class, he was filled in about the new girl at Jackson. In most towns a new girl wasn’t a major event, but in Gatlin very few people came and went throughout your education. It wasn’t two minutes later when Link was professing his love for classical music, not that kind of classical, and the teacher was interrupted them. After class Link’s interest in the new girl hadn’t desisted and he was practically proclaiming her his soul mate when they headed off to ASL, American Sign Language, where no talking was permitted.
Lunch was a step up in Ethan’s day as he sat next to Shawn Bishop who’d actually met the new girl. As they discussed the new girl, Savannah, the girl by which all other girls at Jackson were measured, and Ethan-Hating-Emily made their way over to join in. Apparently, the new girl was Old Man Ravenwood’s niece. That was the third strike for the poor girl and Ethan was saddened by his shattered dreams of the perfect girl. You see Old Man Ravenwood was the town recluse and made Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird look like a social butterfly. The conversation continued as Ethan thought about how much he hated Gatlin and all their opinions of people.
After school, Ethan attended basketball practice, like any normal kid in Gatlin should. Earl and Ethan were shot for shot and as he went to take a shot he saw the long black hearse in the parking lot across the way. Ethan froze and then he saw her. At first he wasn’t even sure he’d really seen her until the other boys remarked as well. So it was true, she was hot, but she was also the bad omen.
Characters Involved
Ethan Lawson Wate
Wesley Jefferson Lincoln a.k.a. Link
Fatty
Miss Hester
Mrs. English
Mr. Hollenback
Emily Asher
Mr. Lee
Charlotte Chase
Shawn Bishop
Savannah Snow
Emory Watkins
Earl Petty
Billy Watts
Characters Mentioned
Amma Treadeau
Amanda
Mrs. Lincoln
Lila Evers Wate
Carlton Eaton
Kelley Wix
Macon Melchizedek Ravenwood
Places Visited
Stonewall Jackson High School
Memorable Quotes
Ethan: It’s not like there was any actual news. Every house had its secrets, but everyone on the street knew them. Even that was no secret. (Page 15)
Ethan: Because I was smart, I got good grades on my paper; because Link was stupid, he got bad ones. I guess nobody bothered to read them. Sometimes I wrote random stuff in the middle of my essays, just to see if my teachers would say anything. No one ever did. (Page 15)
Ethan: Last year, on a dare from Link, I had written a paper called “The War of Southern Aggression,” and Mr. Lee had given me a D. Guess the teachers actually did read the papers sometimes, after all. (Page 17)
Ethan: Emily was a flyer, the girl at the top of the pyramid, the one thrown five or six feet into the air to complete a flip or some other crazy cheer stunt that could easily result in a broken neck. Emily would risk anything to stay on top of the pyramid. Savannah didn’t need to. When Emily got tossed, the pyramid went on fine without her. When Savannah moved an inch, the whole thing came tumbling down. (Page 20)
Ethan: The bad omen wasn’t just the hearse. It was a girl. (Page 23)
Questions for consideration:
Link immediately thinks they are soul mates, after all 16 years of the same girls must get boring. Even Ethan harbors the hopes that this new girl is the girl he’s looking for. If it is true for these two, how many other boys do you think will be after her? What do you think her reaction was like on her first day?
Why doesn’t anyone seems to have information on the new girl, despite the fact that she is in their grade and therefore must have classes with some of them?
In small towns like Gatlin, image is everything it seems. For example, Ethan is on that basketball team because it’s normal. How do you think this new girl is going to affect Ethan’s normality with others and do you think she is indeed a bad omen?
Did you notice something in this chapter that you’d like to discuss with the book club?
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