The Story

About the Story

Lindsay Elton thought life was perfect. She wasn't alpha or queen bee of her school or anything, just a normal girl. A girl with great friends, good grades, passive parents, and a sweet crush was finally returning her lingering looks.

That is, until she collapses at field hockey practice and finds out she's in the final stages of kidney failure.

After an excrutiating month on the national donor list, the doctors at her local hospital finally recieve word that an organ has been found, and they should begin preparing her for the operation. And preparing her as in getting her ready to fly halfway across the country from her hometown in Wisconson all the way to New York City. With barely a few days notice, Lindsay and her parents have to pack up and move to New York, leaving behind her old life for a new one. New town, new kidney, and a new school too.

And the school she's forced to go to is so far from what Madison High was like, it might as well have been on another planet. Here the girls are model-worthy, the boys drool-worthy, and the social order so important, if you're not on it you don't exist. Lindsay feels out of place, especially considering she still looks like crap coming out of her operation, and the fact that her friends from home have ditched her is hardly helping the situation.

Is there anyway she can survive being a teenage transplant?


Chapter One: Blackout

"Alright girls, we're going to go some hurdles to stretch, and then I want you all to pair up and practice your passes! The big game against Hillside is on Friday, and do we want to lose to our biggest rival?" Coach Williams stood in front of her team, hands on her hips, waiting for a response. The crisp autumn wind tossed around her tight black ponytail, but she didn't so much as bat an eyelash. All the girls on the freshman field hockey team at Madison High School in Madison Wisconson were by now used to their coach's take-no-prisoners attitude and loved it. After all, it had given them the best season on record, 9 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. So of course they knew exactly what she wanted to hear.

"Yes coach!" Lindsay Elton screamed along with her teammates and pumped her arm in the air.

"Elton, Brennan, you guys are setting up today. Everyone else start stretching, we'll begin hurdles once Lindsay and Kate are done. Alright everyone, let's get moving!" Lindsay stood up and began to thread her way through the team to the shed where all the equipment was kept, and her best friend jogged to catch up.

"Linds! Wait for meee!" Kate skidded to a stop, strands of her long red hair sticking to her shiny skin. "God I wish I was as fast as you, maybe then coach would move me up to a starting position!" Lindsay fell into step with her best friend as they continued on towards the tiny house perched at the edge of the field.

"C'mon Kate, you know the goalie doesn't have to be that fast! All you need to do is make sure the ball doesn't get into the itty-bitty net behind you!" She laughed as she tugged on the door to the shed and it swung open, smacking her in the leg. "Ouch!" Lindsay tugged up her red kilt and checked the big bruise forming on her leg. "And if I wasn't so klutzy, maybe I'd be on varsity by now!" Kate laughed along with her as they pulled out the 5 heavy hurdles and began to lug them back to where the rest of the team was doing lunges to warm up.

"Thanks girls. Everyone, line it up!" Lindsay and Kate jogged to the back of the line and quickly did some stretches so they wouldn't collapse later in practice.

"Ugh I hate hurdles!" Becca Fuente groaned and turned around to talk to them. "How do you make it look so easy, Lindsay? Or should I say LindsE-zee?" Lindsay giggled and shrugged. The running joke on the team was that she should've tried out for track rather than field hockey because she was such a good hurdler, but she loved field hockey too much to give it up. The feel of her kilt as she ran down the field, chasing the tiny white ball. The WHACK! of her stick as she slammed the ball into the opponent's goal. The cheers of the crowd. Cheering for her and her alone.

You'd think with her field hockey skills and the fact that Becca was on her team, she'd at least be in the outer fringes of Becca's social realm, the realm of the populars. Gorgeous, smart, funny Becca was number one on every guy's crush list, same on every girl's "I want to be..." list. But she wasn't like the populars you saw in movies, the b!tchy girl who will do anything to stay at the top. That was her best friend Layla's job. Layla was the exact opposite of Becca in the fact that while Becca would love to hang out with you and joke around for hours, Layla would rather insult you to tears and then laugh about you to her friends. And she was almost like Becca's jailer, fiercely loyal and protective. Only people who were friends with Layla could be really friends with Becca. And for some odd reason Layla hated Lindsay. Probably because she'd made the freshman team and Layla hadn't.

But it didn't matter all that much anyways, because although Becca was the epitome of cool at MHS, Lindsay's friends were still pretty sweet. Kate, her best friend and fellow teammate, had been her friend since the very first day of kindergarten, and they hadn't seperated since. And then there was Emily Hawthorne, the dancer and dramaqueen. Add in Jessica Kimble, artiste extrodinaire, and Hadley Burke, the classic blonde cheerleader, and they were a great foursome. Friends to the end. KLEJ. In fact, they were due for a four-way phone call right after practice. Tradition, as usual. They'd do a run down of the day, going over homework, teachers, gossip, and crushes. Her heart fluttered as she thought about Jake Kessler, her crush du jour. With his bright green eyes and sandy hair, he was without a doubt the most gorgeous guy in the history of Madison High. If only he'd notice her instead of girls like Layla!

Lindsay watched as Becca took a running start and gracefully jumped over each podium, long legs splayed in an almost perfect split. She shook her brown hair out of it's ponytail and retied it tighter so that it wouldn't slip out when it was her turn. Once Becca had moved out of the way after easily finishing the last one, Coach blew her shiny silver whistle to signal that it was her turn. Lindsay took a few steps back to give herself room, then ran full speed towards the first hurdle.

But as she sailed over it, everything began to slow down. She felt like she was moving through water, like she was floating out of her body. With each hurdle, her jumps got lower and lower, coming dangerously near to knocking one over. And on the last one, she crashed. Lindsay hit the plastic with a thud, and it toppled over, dragging her down with it. She crumpled to the ground, splayed out on the grass. She heard shouts of alarm and the thud of cleats on dirt and saw the clouds of dust they made. The last thing she saw before blacking out was a swarm of faces, the range of skin colors, hair colors, and the too-blue sky behind them blurring together as it all faded out.Then all she saw was the back of her eyelids and nothing more.

See All
Readers
saralynn--is gone saralynn--is gone
Courtney Cullen Courtney Cullen

"16 at long last!"
Alyssa- Alyssa-

"volleyball season is over :("
lexiii- will come on as much as i can xoxo lexiii- will come on as much as i can xoxo

""you belong with me<3""
K K
See All
What the Critics Say
Alyssa- "volleyball season is over :("
I really like it! I think you got me hooked! :-)
Posted 01/23/08 - 07:49 pm
Casey - is sad
really interesting. keep going!
Posted 01/23/08 - 06:31 pm
saralynn--is gone
whoa
the first chapter for your book is wicked good
Posted 01/23/08 - 06:20 pm