1st 5 Pages March Workshop- Thakare Rev 2

Name: Sanyukta Thakare

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Some Girls Are meets Gilmore Girls.

Title: Time And Again

Pitch:

For 17-year-old Ashley Lockwood, no feeling could compare to the joy of being acknowledged by her mother. Unfortunately, it only lasts for three months before Ashley hits rock bottom again.

Ten months ago, when in a drunk accident Ashley set her house on fire and things take a turn for the best. She decides to trade her high-end life for a secluded one to focus on future and her mother's happiness. Just when the bullying at school dies down, Ashley gets dragged back into the spotlight due to the return of her presumed dead father. Ashley's trust in her mother falters when she admits having kept him a secret.

Anxious about changes in her life, and ambushed by her manipulative stepsister, Ashley writes a controversial piece for the school paper. In turn, it only brings her misery and invites more trouble. When she finds out the love of her life might be scheming with her stepsister, it breaks her strength.

Having experienced love and heartbreak Ashley beings to sympathize with her mother. To give her a chance at a perfect life Ashley must first forgive her conniving father and her manipulative sister or let her past get in the way.

Pages:

Ashley paced around the crowded living room resting her eyes on the envelope. In hot bold black letters, it read Pemerson Lawyers. The room grew smaller as she patrolled through every corner. All the tossing and turning gave her a splitting headache but what matter stayed inches away from her, in the sealed envelope. Spiraling deeper in thoughts she plunged into self-doubt, sure that the notice came for her. A reminder of the mistakes she had made in the past. Things she did with pride until a few months ago. She hadn’t been part of any foul play at school as long as she remembered. A few possible verbal clashes with her former clan, but they were nothing worth calling the lawyers over.

However, Ashley’s opinion held no mass in front of the Windrip High winzes, who had their own sense of righteousness or the entire school that hated her to the core. Not her batch of juniors but also the entire high school. The thought of being publicly called out yet again for another reason dried her throat and the urgency to know what the package held consumed her. Three more steps and it would be in her hand. First step in and the flickering yellow lights of her mother’s blue Ford Fusion beamed through the window, behind her.

Without thinking she jumped the remaining two steps, grabbed the letter and scratched the sealing sticker off. It pulled off a little piece of the brown paper making it impossible to cover up. Ashley didn’t care. Eventually, she'd have to come clean. For now, she needed to know whose ruin it dictated and didn’t have time to read the detailed bunch of pages that came falling down. The doorknob clicked, and Ashley turned wasting another second of her time. She picked up the dispersed papers without stuffing them in and ran to her room, next to the passage hallway.

She knew, the end of the papers and the beginning always had names, always. She’d seen it in movies. Ashley could hear her mother walking in, moving towards the living room, opening the paper bags. Rushing through the pages twice as fast, she found only one familiar name in two places, luckily not hers. Valerie Lockwood rested at the start and a signature hard to read at the end of the paper, she figured it’d be T. Lockwood that looked like an N.

“Ashley, did Randol stop by?” Ashley heard Valerie pass by her room.

In a fit of panic, Ashley blurted, “One sec Mom.” she stuffed the papers back in again and walked out. Fidgeting as though she committed a crime.

“You said something?” Ashley asked clearing her dry throat.

“Randol told me he’d dropped something off earlier. Did you get it?”

“Oh, Ya. It’s in there. I’ll bring it for you.”  Ashley stumbled at each word, pointing her room.

She knew her name wasn’t on it, but it didn’t settle the uneasy feeling in her stomach. Hesitant she brought the packed to the kitchen counter again and pushed the package forward, towards her mother. “Here.” The Roman font still daunting her, Ashley’s eyes widened thinking about the words she’d found inked on the papers.

Valerie dusted her hands and took charge of the papers, “Did you open it?” she looked at the torn sticker.

“I was curious, I am allowed to be.”

“Did you see who is it from?” Valerie asked.

“I don’t know, all I saw that it had your name, and a signature that could be… ” Ashley watched her mother remove the papers and calmly began at the first page unlike her. In less than three seconds her expression changed from calm to chaos. She chewed on her lips turning them a thin straight line and touching her face again and again.

Ashley scanned the papers spread on the counter. A White envelope with red ink on the cover said, Valerie. She picked up the small letter to read it.

“What are you doing?” In a panic, Valerie snatched the letter back and pulled scattered contains from Ashley’s side of the counter.

“It had your name on it, there is another one, let me see.” Ashley reached for it leaning over the counter.

“Stop it, these are legal documents you can’t just read them.” She quickly picked up every one of them careful not to miss and sealed them back into the envelope.

“It was just a letter for you.”

“Yes, and I will read it.”

Ashley reached for the package in her hand further trying to lean on the counter. She walked away and lifted it up in the air. Unable to grasp it she retrieved.  “Why won't you let me see it? That's from uncle Tony.”

“No, it isn't. And I am the adult here, I get to decide what happens.”

“Well, then why don't you start behaving like one, maybe start from the grocery lists,” Ashley smirked at her own clever mark.

“Hey, you volunteered for it.”

“That's because you forgot half of the things. You still do with the list.” She pointed at the half-empty bags still on the table.

“Ya, because I got things on my mind, like these legal papers.” Valerie continued fidgeting around the kitchen.

“They just got here, give me the papers I wanna see what’s in the letter,” Ashley demanded.

"Its nothing, and its none of your business. How about you leave me all the legal documents that come through the door, unopened? and I’ll leave grocery lists for you.” Ashley followed her mother walking back towards the stairs. And finally ran to her room.

She tip-toed after Valerie suspicious of the wary behavior. Instead of reading the papers or keeping them in her usual drawer, Valerie headed straight for her closet to hide them. Ashley peeped through the almost closed door. Valerie stood on her toes, pulled out a blue box from the top shelf and turned to check if the door is still close.

Ashley pressed to the ground hoping to still stay hidden. Valerie then picked up any cloth that she could find to clean the box. When cautiously done, she placed the papers in. Running back down Ashley made a mental note to sneak in when Valerie wasn’t home after school.

Ashley hated her mother’s need to know bases behavior. She was an ideal mother, by all means, but she hid things all the time and acted like nothing ever happened. A few months ago, Ashley wouldn’t have noticed or cared but now it drove her crazy. When Ashley decided to support her mother in the house and do everything she missed as a kid, she hadn’t thought she would still have to use her sneaky skills even with her mother.

When she came back down empty-handed Ashley stood in right before her so she couldn’t avoid her, “Is it from uncle Tony? Is it the shop again?” The topic had always been off-limits in the house. Ashley learned to live with the distasteful memories of Tony and Valerie arguing every now and then. Though they remained on good terms with his wife Becky, the arguments never ended.