This is the rest of Chapter 1 of Spark.

 

  Gigi was standing in front of the front door. A girl was standing outside. 

      “Tessie, this is Beatrice. Her mom was a friend of your parents and Beatrice is transferring to your school! Isn’t this perfect?” Gigi adjusted her Rasta cap.

     “Hello!” Beatrice waved to Tessa. “I’m here.” She laughed awkwardly.

     “Hi, uh, do you want to follow me to your room?” Tessa led Beatrice up the stairs and into one of the guest rooms. 

     Tessa’s parents had died right after her twin younger brothers were born, and Gigi had moved into their house to take care of Tessa and her brothers. 

     Tessa opened the door to the guest room and held it while Beatrice walked through. 

    “So, this is your room,” Tessa sat on the bed. “You can put your stuff in the closet and whatever.”

    “Okay,” Beatrice said quietly. Tessa was paying more attention to her features now. Beatrice was lean and muscular. She had straight black hair and blue—almost purple—eyes. She had a worn denim jacket on with patches in various places. She was wearing thick pants, even though it was the end of the school year, in summer.

    Tessa remembered that she didn’t know where Beatrice was from. “Where did you move from?” 

     “Oh, I came from Greenland. My parents have moved all around the world, and I’ve spent most of my life in France, but we decided to change it up a year ago.” Beatrice took out a phone. 

     She opened a photo album. She scrolled through the pictures. There were images of dry savannas, rainforests that were full of life, big cities, countrysides. The list went on and on. Finally, it ended with a picture of a seaside, taken from a plane. Tessa recognized it as the shoreline of North Carolina, her home state.

    “Wow, I can’t imagine moving all around the world like that. I’ve been stuck here forever. The last trip that I went on was right before my parents died. We were celebrating the birth of my brothers.” Tessa said.

     “Oh, I’m sorry,” Beatrice frowned sympathetically. 

    Tessa nodded. “Well, I have to go do some homework, so I’m going to leave you here. My room is right next to yours, if you need anything.”

    “Okay, bye!” Beatrice waved back at Tessa.