SPC: The Spud Sisterhood (Chapter 1)

Okay, so here is the first chapter of a book that I've been meaning to write forever. It's a novel for my best friends, loosely based on our actual lives. The first six chapters of the book are just going to be about one character, and then the seventh chapter is going to about how we all meet. Here you go!



Characters: Gabby

Setting: Middle of Nowhere

Gabrielle Cod is seventeen. She has long, brown hair, emerald green eyes, and a smile that lights up a room. She is small; about five foot four in height, and weighs only ninety four pounds. She is driving a 1987 red Chevy pick-up, is on a half tank of gas, and doesn't know where she's headed. It is two in the morning, and her cell phone has rung twice.
She peeks over at her phone, which is severely scratched from the multiple drops and tosses. It reads, "Two Missed Calls" both from her best friend (or ex-best friend, now) Shannon, but Gabrielle refuses to return her calls.
Her phone rings a third time, and this time it is a different number. She recognizes the ring tone, which is "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service, and she realizes it is her boyfriend (or ex-boyfriend, now), for the song is "their" song, ever since he dedicated it to her last Valentine's Day. She would have to change that. Or just delete his number completely.
She answers, trying to sound pissed off but still lonely and sorrowful at the same time.
"What do you want, Toby?" she asks, tears welling in her eyes.
"Babe, come home," he pleads, "Shannon is worried about you."
"Shannon?" she asks, genuinely disgusted. "You're with her?"
"Yes, Shannon," Toby says, "Please, Gabby, I know you're mad at us, but just come home. I miss you. Please, for me."
"No, Toby, nothing for you. How could you do that to me?" Gabby responds. "In six days I'll officially be eighteen and I can get my own apartment wherever I'm going. Then I'll never have to see your stupid face again."
"Well at least stop for the night, babe. I don't want you driving like this," he whispers.
"Don't call me babe," Gabby says. "And don't expect to see me anytime soon. I'm not coming back with her or you around."
Gabby slams her flip-phone shut. Tears are streaming down her face now, and she is getting tired, for she has been driving for several hours now. She pulls over and opens her glove compartment, digging for a map. If she left New York around four, and now it's about two-thirty, then she must be at about... Ohio? Or maybe Virginia? Gabby doesn't know, she was never good at geography. And she hasn't been paying much attention to what direction she has been going.
She sighs, thinking about the day's events. Coming home from school, finishing her paper, heading over to Toby's house to surprise him for his birthday, where Shannon was going to meet her. Walking through the back door and into Toby's room, just to find him and Shannon, on the bed, kissing. Her best friend and her boyfriend, kissing. The two people she trusted the most, betraying her. She then packed her bags and she ran (or rather drove) away.
Gabby sighs again, trying to think about what she had just done. She turns the key to start up the car again, and begins to drive, searching for a Motel 6 or 8 or some kind of place to bunk for the night. Bunk, alone. Alone.
All alone.
A feeling, she felt, that she would feel for a very long while.


*****

I'll probably add more background in the actual book.