fyi: i dont own Harry potter or anything like that
“Dammit!” the girl whispered angrily. She shook the small book light and flipped the power switch on and off. When the light failed to turn on, she threw her head down onto the pillow and sighed. Her thick dark hair nearly covered the entire pillow. Turning her head to look at the clock on her dresser, she almost had a heart attack. 4:14am?? How could she do this to herself? She made silent vow that she knew she wouldn’t keep never to read in bed again. She carefully closed her overused copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and hid it between her bed and the wall.
Getting only three hours of sleep did not suit Anna Moore. She pressed snooze eleven times on her alarm clock before her parents woke up and wrestled her out of bed.
“You missed Lab,” her mother scolded. “You know you can’t afford that!”
“But—”
“No excuses,” her father interjected, “you can’t earn anything but A’s if you want to get into Stanford like Kate did.”
Now that was cold. Anna hated being compared to her genius older sister Kate. She ate in silence and rushed out the door for first period.
At lunch, Anna ate with her best buddies, Madi and Nora.
“You look exhausted,” Madi said. Nora nodded her head in agreement
“Thanks a lot,” Anna said sarcastically, still grumpy from lack-of-sleep. “I stayed up reading. Why I do this to myself, I don’t know. I don’t think I will be able to survive the application process. I mean, it’s only a month into the school year and I’m already behind. That’s just with schoolwork, too.”
“Well, you’ve got a better start than I do,” said Nora. “You already wrote two essays and got a merit scholarship.”
“Yeah, excuse me little miss straight-A’s I don’t think you should even talk about that around me,” Madi said.
“Problem is though, I won’t be able to keep my straight A-minuses,” Anna said, “when I also have to fill out bazillions of complicated forms and write inspiring essays.”
“Whatever, you don’t exactly need all A’s to get into college,” comments Nora.
“Well, you do to get into Stanford.”
“Then don’t go to Stanford!” Madi was practically shouting.
“But that’s not exactly my choice, is it. We’ve been over this, guys. If you keep getting all worked up about it I’ll just stop talking about it.”
“Anna,” her mother yelled up the stairs, “What are you doing up there?”
“College apps,” she answered, quickly shoving the book she had been reading into a drawer as her mother climbed the stairs.
“How are they going? The UC app is due at the end of the month, right?”
“No, the Stanford early application is due at the end of the month. The UC app is next month.”
“How far are you on the Stanford essay?”
“I’m doing pretty well.” That was an outright lie. She had barely written two sentences. And they were crappy sentences. She just had to psych herself up for the writing, she though. Just a bit of inspiration then she’d be on a roll as usual. Then she wouldn’t have to lie to her mother. Anna really was good at writing. She took immense pride in being able to convince someone of nearly anything by just writing them a personal, persuasive letter. Writing was the one thing that she was better than Kate at. For a younger sibling, that means a lot more than you think.
As soon as her mother walked back down the stairs, Anna opened the drawer slowly, staring out her door, and recommenced reading. She really was addicted. Stupid Harry Potter.
Several weeks later, the essay had gained a couple of paragraphs but was still relatively lifeless. Somewhere, Anna was really disappointed in herself, despite her insistence to damn herself by procrastinating. She knew she could write a beautiful essay, she just couldn’t bring herself to stop reading for long enough. As much as she knew she would regret it, she knew the essay would not be done until the weekend before it was due. She almost wanted it to be that way.
The day finally came when Anna had to practically force herself to write the damn college essay but she made the deadline and the essay was beautiful. Maybe someday she would actually mess herself up by procrasti-reading and learn a lesson from her stupidity for once.
Then came the time for waiting. A junior in Anna’s Spanish class asked her which part was worse, the application process and essay writing or the waiting. The waiting was definitely worse. Much worse. Maybe that was just for Anna, though. Most people didn’t have genius older sisters who went to Stanford and pushy parents who were practically forcing them to get into said school.
Fortunately for Anna she had the biggest surprise of her life waiting for her in her room when she got home. On her bed was a letter. The same letter that had been delivered to her sister two years ago to the date. This letter was not an acceptance letter to Stanford, nor was it a denial. It wasn’t from Stanford at all. It was from the prestigious Palo Alto College of the Magical Arts.
A.N: REVEIW!!! sorry this is kinda short... it's just the prologue. i know i will at least have another chapter soon, but would rather have some feedback first
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