Novel News: A snippet from the world of Atticus Abernethy VI

The first draft has been finished for a few weeks. I'm eager to dig back in and get cracking on revisions, but my mentor and Dumbledore tells me to stay away. I respect her advice and understand why she gives it, but this is really hard!

Honestly! It's like baking a cherry crumble. "Great!" I exclaim when I remove its sweet deliciousness from the oven. "I can't wait to spoon on the cream and have a taste!"

"NO!" booms the mysterious figure hovering above the microwave. "NO CRUMBLE FOR YOU!" A vapory hand swats my own. "YOU CAN EAT THIS IN A MONTH."

A single tear runs down my cheek. "Crumble..."

You get the idea. Suffice to say, it's grating.

Strange micro-story aside, I'm excited to revise. I'm so excited, in fact, that I thought I'd share a snippet with y'all. You wanna read it, right? Well, if you insist. Pulled from a random chapter. Enjoy:


"Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Tell you what?” Claudio popped a pretzel into his mouth.

“That you had a driver’s license!”

“Driver’s license?” He cocked his head. “I don’t have one of those.”

"What?" I must have misheard him. Surely he had a...

“I said I can drive. Just not legally.”

Great. Not only were we driving a car I took without Grandfather's permission, but also illegally. I began to yell at Claudio when something caught my eye. A black figure. I tensed. Paranoia welled in the pit of my stomach.

“Lighten up. You got bigger things to worry about.” Claudio finished the pretzels and discarded the bag into a nearby trash can.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Atticus, you and I both know you love Jessica. It’s that simple. You’re in love wit’ her. Which is why you need to make a move at this carnival-thing.”

“I know I do.” I had been thinking about it all week. I had been thinking about it since that moment on Christmas Eve.

“I’m nervous,” I confided in Claudio. “What if she doesn’t like me back? What if she rejects me?”

Claudio scratched his head. “That is very much a possibility. Ask yourself this: Would you rather stay friends and have a big crush on her forever? Or would you rather take a chance?”
I didn’t answer. I had no answer.


I hope you enjoyed! The working title is A Teenage Host and it is subject to change. Honestly, I just made that title up.

Alex