Umm....Chapter 1! :D

Jacob was sick of the society that he was living in. He sat in front of his computer, contemplating how he was going to begin writing his play. Not just any play...but something decent, of course. But he was having character trouble.

He flung both hands at the side of the computer screen. It seemed ridiculous. Why was it people can relate to women better than to men? He understood why; women were brought up to be empathetic and caring, and men to be independent and "autocratic", but it made for a very boring play.

"Boring play?" He chuckled sarcastically to himself, "It makes for a boring lifestyle". Jacob sighed, and then turned towards the window. The foliage outside was in it's final stages of colorful fireworks. He rised quietly from his desk and his laptop and walked slowly toward the window, mesmorized by nature. His brown eyes attempted to take in every pigment from the tree in his front yard, and then moved slowly around the landscape...the grass was getting long underneath the fallen leaves...the Petersons' kids were playing an imaginary game on the sidewalk across the street...a dog was barking up the street - probably Mrs. Leckly's - Freckles gets nervous on walks.

Jacob folded his arms across his chest and adopted an "at ease" pose. There was so much life had to offer. But where? In this small town? Probably not...but then where? As Jacob mulled it over, there came a knock at his door. Whatever semi-trance Jacob was in, he snapped out of it. His parents always called out his name before knocking on his door. "Come in," he requested the back of his door curiously.

"Dude, your mom just invited us to dinner again," a girl in a pink hoodie replied as she opened Jacob's door and brisquely plopped on his bed. Her hoodie, Jacob noted, was one of her favorites; she had asked him to fix the hemming on it once - in fact, demanded it with urgency. Instead of retorting with witty remarks after long days, she would simply point to the words printed in black font on her chest: "Bite Me." Behind her was a taller, more meek girl, with long brown hair and hazel eyes. She shuffled in quietly, in reverence of Jacob's room, and shut the door quietly behind her.

Jacob smiled; he had only known them since freshman year of high school, but within the last three years they had gotten close. "What's wrong with that? Don't you like my mom's cooking?" he teased.

"No, it's not that," the girl in the hoodie replied, "you know I'm a picky eater." She shrugged her shoulders and looked at Jacob to guage his reaction. It might just be Jacob's eyebrow length red hair, or the freckles that dot his nose and spread out across his face, but she swears that sometimes Jacob can make the funniest faces when he doesn't try to.

The girl with brown hair spoke up - "Cassie and I are gonna go to the gas station to get some drinks and then we're gonna go to the park to sit on the swings and watch what's left of fall...wanna come? That is," she glanced in the direction of the empty word document open on Jacob's laptop, "if you're not too busy."

"Sounds great," Jacob replied, "just let me snatch a jacket." Jacob went to his closet and, after a couple of seconds deciding, reached for a green hoodie instead. He pulled the hoodie over his head while slipping into his shoes simultaneously, almost loosing balance in the process. Cascade bounced off of Jacob's bed and double checked her hair in his dressor mirror. She was mixed, so she usually ironed her naturally curly hair straight, but it meant that at this short length it sometimes stood on end. The girl with brown hair and hazel eyes stood behind her in the mirror and did a once over herself. Her coat was starting to look tarnished, but it was ok with her. Her family could afford to get her a new one, sure, but she rather liked the comfort of this tattered brown one, and she secretly thought that her family could use the money on something else.

Jacob's mop top appeared from the top of his hoodie, followed by the rest of his head, and he grabbed his keys and then held his door open for his friends. They trudged down the stairs one by one into his living room, where his mom was knitting away at a black tube of yarn. Knitting, sewing, quilting...his mom pretty much did it all. That's why they moved to this town three years ago anyways, when his Great Aunt Beth had died and left her treasured "Sew What?" to the only person who loved sewing as much as she did, his mom, in the will. Jacob sometimes worked there after school, to help his mom out with the heavy tabestries and to take on the seasonal demands of Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and the Prickle Elementary School's spring and fall plays.

"Hey mom, we're going out to the park down on Fairchild Ave," Jacob informed her.

"Ok, but come back before it gets dark. Dinner's going to be around eight. Cascade, Julie, are you sure you won't stay for dinner? We're having spaghetti..." Jacob's mom coaxed lyrically.

"No thank you," Julie said, smile graciously "...but thanks for the offer."

"Raincheck then; you two know you're always welcome," his mom replied, taking a moment to wave with three free fingers on her right hand. Once she started knitting for the day, she was determined to make exponential progress.

"See you later Mrs. Short," Cascade called over her shoulder as the three of them crossed the threshold of Jacob Short's abode into the last bursting moments of fall.