The Split

right|300pxThe Split is the 38th book in the All About Middle School series.
==Synopsis==
The biggest split that hit Silver Hills!
Sierra and Will are in disbelief that their parents are separating. Sierra knew that her parents have been fighting nonstop, but she never thought they would break up. Will is having trouble dealing with her parents’ split, which she has to deal with her younger sisters’ feelings. How can the Jennings sisters deal with this sudden news?
==Quotes==
Write the second section of your page here.
==Excerpt==
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
 Sierra Jennings just couldn’t believe this was happening. She thought it was like a bad dream or something. Just last week, she was in high school, because she had a chance to skip a grade and experience high school life in a high school world, but she missed her best friends Alicia Alcott, Nikki Merrick, and Kristy Castelli and her middle school life in the middle school world, so she decided to go back to 8th grade and finish her last semester of middle school with her girls. Now, her life was turned back upside down when her parents, Samuel and Susan announced to her and her older sister, Will (Short for Willow) that they were separating. Yep, separating. That means they were breaking up, after—god knows how long they been married. Sierra has never being this upset in her life. She thought that her parents were happy. But for weeks, Mr. and Mrs. Jennings have been fighting constantly. Sierra and Will could hear the fighting from their bedrooms to the living room where Samuel and Susan have their argument.
 Sierra laid on top of her paisley-print bed staring at the ceiling in despair. Tears were falling down from her eyes. The news of her parents’ separation hit her hard. How she thought that the Jennings were a tight-knit family and now, all of a sudden… they weren’t a tight-knit family anymore.
 Sierra hears two knocks on her bedroom door.
“Come in!” she hollered with her voice cracking. It was Will, entering Sierra’s bedroom, checking to see if she was okay.
“Hey, Sierra. Can I come in?” she asked. Sierra nodded her head as Will entered the room, closing the door right behind her. Will sat down next to Sierra.
 “You okay?” she asked again, being the concerned older sister, which she is. Sierra was too upset to talk to Will. She didn’t want to face anyone right now. Not her sisters or her best friends.
“No, I just can’t believe this is happening. They just can’t break up.” Sierra’s voice began to crack again. Will leaned closer towards her sister and hugged her.
Mr. and Mrs. Jennings were once this happily married couple in Silver Hills with three beautiful daughters and a lovely home, but it was a different story behind closed doors. 
Will had a hard time seeing her kid sister in pain. Mr. and Mrs. Jennings thought that Will and Sierra were old enough to understand why their parents were breaking up, but Will was the only one who understood it.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen, Mrs. Jennings took a sip of her Green Tea in her coffee cup, depressed over her failing marriage; she was much worried about her girls, about how they were taking it.
She sees Will coming downstairs, walking slowing.
“Hi, honey,” She said in a soft—yet—sad tone of voice.
Will walked towards the refrigerator and opened the door.
“Hey, Ma.”
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m hanging in there. I’m just worried about Sierra.”
“I know you are. So am I.”
Both Will and her mother are just devastated about the sudden split, but their focus was on Sierra, who was even more devastated.
Lulu, Will and Sierra’s five-year-old sister came downstairs looking for her daddy.
“Mommy?” Leslie asked.
Mrs. Jennings wiped the tears off her face as Lulu walked towards her mother.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
“Where’s daddy, he didn’t read me a bedtime story?
That crushed Mrs. Jennings even more. Mr. Jennings wasn’t around to read a usual bedtime story to Leslie, which he does every night.
 
Chapter 2
On a Monday morning, Sierra was washing up for school. Her house sounded quiet without her dad around. She knew that when the father leaves, the house becomes quiet and her house was definitely quiet without her father in the house. Her mother was brushing her hair in a short ponytail, while Sierra was brushing her teeth.
She had on her burdundy polo collar shirt and her grey skirt, along with her knee-high socks and beige oxford shoes. Sierra was an eighth grader at Silver Hills Middle School and the smartest girl in her class. Her outfit was actually a uniform, because Silver Hills Middle School had a uniform policy every student had to follow. If any student was out of uniform, they were going to be in big trouble.
 As Sierra packed up her backpack, she heard her mother snapping from the distance to her other daughter, Will to pick up Leslie after school because she made up an excuse to work late tonight.
Apparently, Mrs. Jennings was still upset about her big fight with her husband. She tried to put on a brave face for her three daughters, but she couldn't hide it. The fight did happen and she wanted to tell her girls about it. But she wasn't ready yet, not until Mr. Jennings returned home.
Sierra applied Chapstick lip balm on her lips due to the cold weather in sunny Silver Hills, California. She looked in her mirror and saw that she didn't have on her new navy sweater vest her mother brought from Old Navy over the weekend, during her usual Dad-and-I-are-fighting-again-and-I-need-my-space shopping weekend.
Sierra takes off her navy blazer and puts on her navy sweater vest.
Category:All About Middle School books
Category:All About 8th Grade Arc