The Russell Sisters

The Russell Sisters

chapter 1

Harper

I sat up on my pillow and looked at Jaycee laying on her bed across the room from mine. Her red curls were mussed and she was out cold.

I slipped on my houseshoes and robe and tiptoed across the hall to Teagan and Alyssa's room. Alyssa was laying in her bed, reading a book, but Teagan was nowhere to be found.
“Alyssa,” I said.

“Teagan's downstairs. Mama left the spa unlocked and she snuck down there. She's probably in the hot water.” Alyssa ponytailed her long red hair.

“Okay, thanks. I'm going to go grab her.”

I walked down the hallway, past Mama's room, and down the stairs that led to our bathhouse. We lived in a small apartment above it, on Bathhouse Row.

Bathhouse Row was known for its hot water baths. Lots of tourists came to town to come relax in them and do some sightseeing. Some came to fish in Lake Hamilton. Either way, we usually stayed busy.

“Teagan!” I called.

I heard nothing in return except some bubbles that sounded like they were coming from the big tub, which Teagan had figured out how to run lukewarm water in instead of hot. I ran towards it to find Teagan in her swimsuit relaxing.

“Teagan!” I scolded. “Mama said don't come down here again!”

“I know,” she smiled with a mischevious grin on her face. “I just wanted to because it's the last time I'll ever do it as a 4^th grader.”

“It's no excuse. 5^th graders are supposed to know better. In fact, if I tell Mrs. Lamont, she might kick you off the quiz bowl team and then everybody will call you 'the stupid little girl who got kicked off the team because she snuck around.' You wouldn't want that, would you?”

At this point, Teagan was already toweling herself down. I knew I had struck a nerve.

“No, I'm good. I'm going to go get dressed.” Teagan ran out of the room and upstairs.

Score.

Me-1, Teagan-0.

Mama waved to us as we boarded the bus that would take Teagan, Alyssa and I to Hot Springs Intermediate and Jaycee to Hot Springs Middle.

We seemed a bit out of place as we walked down the aisle to our seats. I, of course, sat by my best friend, Katie Peters. Jaycee sat in front of us, by herself. Teagan and Alyssa sat together.

I adjusted my navy athletic shorts that I had worn especially for soccer tryouts, which were after school. I had already signed up for 6^th grade quiz bowl and mathletes also.

“Hi, Harper,” Katie said as I took my seat.

“Hey, Katester,” I replied, using my special nickname for her.

“Did you hear that Coach McIntosh left and now they have a new soccer coach named Coach Brayden or something like that?” Katie flicked her bangs out of her face.

“Oh my gosh, really? I can't believe Coach M would leave us!”

“I know, right!”

We continued our conversation until the bus stopped and we exited. I grabbed my backpack and walked to Science, my first class of the day.

In Science, I sat in the front. I didn't want to miss anything and experiments usually look more detailed in the front row.

I adjusted my ponytail and aligned my pencils on the desk as the teacher walked in. She was a young lady, with short blonde hair, light blue eyes, and freckles.

“I'm Ms. Drew and I will be your Science teacher this year. I have always loved Science, and I hope that my class will make you love it too!”

I knew that this would be a great year.

After school, I went to soccer tryouts with Katie. We were both dressed in mesh shorts and t-shirts, with our hair pulled into ponytails and wearing our cleats.

The new coach, Coach Brayden, was a woman with long, strawberry blonde hair down to her waist and pulled into a braid. Her rosy, heart-shaped face was covered in gingery freckles. She reminded me of a strawberry in a way.

She blew her whistle to call us over.

“Girls, I'm your new soccer coach, Coach Brayden, but you can call me Coach B, whichever you prefer. I used to coach at Springdale, but my parents live here and so I decided to come here and do a teacher-swap type of thing with Coach McIntosh. This year, we will be taking 20 girls for the team. Now, I want you to do 50 sit ups and then run 5 laps. After that, come and sit down. Go!”

I ran over to the grass and started the sit ups. I tried to hurry, because it helped to be fast and efficent at your warm ups. When I had completed them, I started running. The only other girl running was Piper Adams, a shy girl with dark hair and brown eyes.

More girls started their laps, with Katie behind Piper and I. I ran a little faster, struggling to stay in front. Piper was fast, and she was closing in on me.

We had done four laps and were three quarters of the way through the fifth. Piper and I were neck and neck, with 50 feet to go. I slowly pulled ahead, but Piper was right behind me. 25 feet to go. Piper gained a slight lead and I willed myself to go faster. We were still next to each other. 10 feet to go. We kept an even pace as we ran across the line where Coach Brayden was.

She beamed. “Great job, girls! You should be on the track team!”

Piper smiled a little.

“Thanks, Coach,” I said.

A few others came sprinting across the finish line, Katie amongst them. She ran over to me and gave me a high five.

“Good one, Harper.”

“Thanks, Katester.” I smiled.