Sweet Saturday Samples: Jumping Right Into My Middle Grade WIP: Sensational Friends Forever

Welcome back to the last Sweet Saturday Sample of January. I can't believe this month is almost over!

This week, I'm sharing another snippet from the Middle Grade book I'm working on right now tentatively called, Sensational Friends Forever. I'll be switching samples from this one with two other YA projects I have on the go over the next few months. One is called, Just Shut Up and Drive, which is about an 18-year old guy traveling across Canada with his Granddad--each teaching the other something about life. The other is going to be a sequel to Undertow, which is still in the outline stages at this point. So...YEAH!!

Ready for this week's sample? Let's get straight to it!

If you remember last time, our narrator was introducing you to the story of Maddie and Jaimie. I've pretty much decided that Maddie's character is going to tell the story, with the exception of our narrator at the beginning and end.

In this snippet, we get a glimpse of a typical morning with Maddie:

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September 2008
Maddie’s Typical Morning

“Maddie, let’s go! You don’t want to be late for your very first day of Kindergarten!” Penny Aikens called to her five-year old daughter. “You know how Mrs. P. is when kids are late.”

Maddie sauntered into the kitchen, jumping into the bar stool beside her brother at the kitchen island. “Why do I have to go to Kindergarten?” she asked, reaching for half of her buttered toast. “I’m not going to know anybody. It sounds boring.”

“Shawn will be there,” Maddie’s brother, Chad, said around a mouthful of cereal. “You know him. Doesn’t he like you or something?”

“Shut up, doofus,” Maddie said, punching Chad’s shoulder. “He doesn’t ‘like’ me. He just gets crazy and hugs everyone sometimes.”

Chad shoveled another spoonful of cereal in his mouth. “Yeah. And you’re one of the 'everyones' he seems to hug the most.”

“Whatever,” Maddie said, sighing. “I guess it’ll be okay. You’re gonna stay until the bell goes, right mom?”

Penny joined the other two at the kitchen island. She put her coffee mug down on the counter and leaned across to hold Maddie’s hands between her palms. “Of course, hun. I’ll stay there until Mrs. P. comes out to get ya. I mean, I have to take a picture for the photo album, right?”

The side of Maddie’s lips stretched into a half-smile. Then she nodded, picked up half of her toast and took a huge bite.

I wonder who else is going to be there, she thought, washing down her bread with a swig of milk. I hope there’s more girls than boys this year.

Something tugged at the back of Maddie’s hair, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Ow! That hurts!”

“Sorry, Mads, but you have a real rat’s nest back here this morning,” Penny said, brushing hard with one hand and smoothing out Maddie’s hair with the other. “We gotta brush that out or it’s really going to hurt later.”

Maddie breathed in through gritted teeth with each stroke. “Just make it fast, will ya? It feels like your ripping my hair out.”

“She is," Chad chimed in, putting his bowl in the sink and wiping his face on his sleeve. "Then you’ll be bald and be funnier looking that you already are.”

“Oh, shut up, you loser,” Maddie yelled, her shoulders relaxing after the bigger knots had been tackled and her hair was flowing through the brush bristles more smoothly.

“Now that’s enough, both of you,” Penny said, pointing the brush in Chad’s direction. “You know not to tease her about that kind of stuff. Go get your backpack. We have to leave soon.”

“Yeah, okay,” Chad said, rolling his eyes. On his way out of the kitchen door, he flicked his sister on the head then ran out.

“You jerk. Mom! Didn’t you see that?” Maddie whined.

“I’m right here, aren’t I?” Penny answered, releasing a slow breath. “I can’t jail him for every tease or he’d be locked up for life. Now hold still so I can put your ponytail in.”

“He gets away with everything.”

“And you lead such a hard life, don’t you?”

Maddie dramatically folded her arms across her chest and slouched. Brothers!
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Well, that's it for this week! Hope you enjoyed it. Remember that starting next week, I'll be moving my Sweet Saturday Samples over to my author blog HERE. And be sure to go back to the Sweet Saturday Samples' main blog to check out the other amazingly talented writers we have participating this week, HERE. Until next time...