Liberty's Kids Fan Fiction ❯ Impress Me ❯ Chapter 1

[ A - All Readers ]

James ran his tongue over his upper lip. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he continued to write his article on what he claimed to be the "biggest news yet". He wiped away the sweat that was trickling down his cheek with his sleeve, as he managed to dribble in, one more sentence into his article.

Henri made his way down the stairs, skipping every other step, with difficulty. He scanned the room and spotted James -- who's front was faced in the opposite direction from Henri. Henri quietly sneaked over to James and peeked over his shoulder.

Henri held his breath as James ran his fingers through his light golden mess of hair, trying to remove his stray strands of hair away from his eyes. "Say James?" Henri asked, loudly, causing James to lose his concentration. "Where is Sarah?" he questioned, rubbing his stomach with two of his hands.

James stood up from his stool and faced Henri, planting his palms on his waist. "I don't know, Henri. I was about to go looking for her too." he exclaimed, with a wide grin on his sweaty face. "I just finished my best article yet, and I wanna show that Tory how good my articles really are!" he flashed Henri a thumbs up.

"Yeah, yeah, but I need Sarah to cook for me!" Henri whined. "I am hungry~" he bawled, rubbing his stomach. "C'mon Henri. You ate thirty minutes ago!" James groaned. Henri paused briefly. "Yes I know that, but I am still hungry!" he cried out, childishly. "Is anyone there?" A strong British accent filled the room. The front door swung open and then shut. "I've brought some lunch -- if anyone is hungry-"

"SARAH!" Henri threw his hands into the air, overjoyed with her return. "Sarah! I am so hungry! I was starving, I almost died, Sarah!" Henri exclaimed, dramatically. James walked over to his friends and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, he almost died for going through thirty minutes without food." he retorted, sarcastically. Sarah arched a brow as she placed fruits and other tasty

dishes on the table. “Your appetite is as mundane as the sunset, Henri." she exclaimed.

Henri paused, not knowing what Sarah meant, and frowned. "But I am hungry, Sarah!~" he whined. "Oh, alright, Henri. If you could just give me a moment..." she said, giving in to Henri's complaints. "Oh, how magnifique!" Henri jumped in the air with glee. "I am hungry, and in a moment, I will no longer be hungry!" he cheered, in a thick French accent.

James lazily observed Henri running around the print shop in many circles. His blue eyes were dull for a few seconds until he realized his article was still on the table. He dashed to his desk and quickly snatched up his first draft of his "brilliant" article, and bolted to Sarah, with lit eyes.

"Sarah, look at my article!" James excitedly held the paper in front of her face. Sarah, who looked quite surprised, took a step away from James, for she had thought that James was too close to her for her comfort. She took the article from James' hand and briefly scanned it, mainly for any mistakes.

Aha, spotted one. She thought and lowered the paper to reveal her green eyes, which met James' blue pearls. "I'm not impressed," she said, flatly. James' eyes immediately dulled, his lips curved to form a straight line. "I see many spelling and grammar errors in your article." she exclaimed, defiantly. James hastily snatched his article from Sarah and tightened his grip on his fists, wrinkling his article in which he put much work and thought to create.

"Of course!" James sneered, flustered. "There's absolutely nothing in America that can impress the likes of you!" he shouted in frustration. "Great Britain is where all the amazing people live!” he rolled his eyes. Sarah's mouth dropped slightly open. "You're one to talk. The only things that impress you, are either disgusting or repulsive." she retorted

"Hey," James frowned, offended by Sarah's remark. "That's not true!"

Sarah shook her head and held her index finger up in the air. "May I remind you about the innocent gentleman who had been covered with tar and feathers?" she stated, recalling the incident at Boston. James took a step back and paused, remembering how he had cried when he saw the man in bed, covered with bandages and how the man cried from the pain of his skin -- most of which, were peeled off.

"You see?"" Sarah said, raising her voice. "A realgentleman should have and would have helped him out instead of laughing -- like how you did." she exclaimed, glaring at James. "I visited him later that night!" James said, in defense. Sarah raised and eyebrow. "So you could what? Laugh at his misery some more?"

"I went to interview him!" he sneered. Sarah held her breath, speechless and in shock. "I realized something that night. I shouldn't have laughed, and I know that now." James said, slowly calming down. "I learned from my mistakes." he exclaimed and then glared coldly at Sarah. "But you only praise those who don't make any mistakes! You're only impressed with perfection."

Sarah shook her head. "That isn't true. James, this argument makes such non-sense! It's not very gentleman-like for you to yell at a lady." she replied. "You see?" James threw his arms in the air. "You want everyone to be perfect! Do you really expect everyone to have good manners?"

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but closed it shortly after. Words would not come out of her mouth, so she allowed James to continue ranting.

"Sarah, I know you're from Great Britain, and you're a proper lady and everything," James exclaimed, sounding less frustrated. Sarah was fascinated by James' words and listened to him eagerly. "But not everything in America is as barbaric and uncivilized as you say it is." he said, finishing his sentence.

Sarah frowned. "James! Do you hear yourself?"

"Sarah, I know I'm not good at listening to other people, but I know for sure that my hearing is good enough for me to hear myself." James exclaimed. "I'm trying to say that there's a lot of amazing things happening HERE, around you!" he stated, reaching out to her and putting a hand, firmly on her shoulder. "The most amazing things in life, are people who have failed many times, but they still have the will to keep trying."

"Well, I would have certainly given up. I'd rather quit than suffer another miserable failure." Sarah remarked, quite bluntly. James shook his head in dismay. "Like I said, you're only amazed with those who get it right the first time."

Sarah crossed her arms and frowned. "Well, you should be speaking for yourself!" she pointed her index finger at James. "You despise my people!" she said, in an un-lady like manner. James rolled his eyes and scoffed. "You mean the rich and snobby?"

"No! The people subjects who have stayed loyal to our King!" Sarah stammered, feeling embarrassed. James crossed his arms and leaned back slightly, deciding to give Sarah a turn to rant. "You've seen the British, including me, as foul people! Some of us aren't as bad as you think!" she exclaimed, quickly calming down. "James, do you really hate the British that much?" Sarah, questioned in a seldom tone of voice.

James arched a brow and shrugged. "I don't hate them, but I don't really like em' either." he replied. "Hey, Sarah. You've never seen an American do something amazing yet, right?" he asked, trying to change the subject. "No, I haven't. Why? Are you trying to turn me into a half-wit American of some sort?" Sarah asked, raising her brows, suspiciously.

James' mouth twitched. "Hey! We're not half-wits!" he shouted, quickly gaining anger. "You know something, Sarah? Out of all the loyal British subjects, I don't like you the most!" he said, pointing at Sarah, rudely. Sarah huffed and turned away. "Well, out of the Americans I strongly dislike you the most!" she crossed her arms in a dignified way. "I can almost certainly guarantee that no American will ever amaze me." she added.

"Well, I can one hundred percent guarantee you that no British will ever impress me!" James raised his voice, jabbing his thumb to his chest, pointing at himself in a dignified way. "Would you like to bet on that?" Sarah turned to James, challengingly.

James' lips curved into a tiny smirk. "You bet." he stated. "Let's make this official!" he suggested. "We need someone to witness this bet being made!" he exclaimed. "I'll go get Moses!" he said, turning around to ran upstairs. Sarah reached out to him and grabbed the collar of one of his sleeves. "No, James! I don't want Moses to witness this childish act! He'll think it is utter nonsense!" she exclaimed, imagining Moses laughing at their little bet.

James rolled his eyes and groaned. "Alright, fine. I'll go get Henri!" he suggested and ran off to find Henri, who was playing outside -- trying to pass time until the food was done. "Hey Henri," James laid a hand on Henri's shoulder and spun him around to face him. "I need you to be a witness." he stated, excitedly.

"Witness for what?" Henri asked, with a blank expression. James shook his head and grabbed Henri's wrist. "I'll explain inside. C'mon!" he pulled Henri by the arm and dragged him into the print shop. Sarah's expression was dry, as she saw James running to her while dragging Henri.

"You're hurting him." Sarah, frowned. James shook his head. "No I'm not. He's a strong, healthy boy. He eays a lot, don't he?" he grinned widely as he panted. Henri raised his arms in the air. "What's going on?" he asked. "Is the food ready yet?"

"Sarah and I are making a bet." James explained. "I have to make Sarah be impressed by an American!" he grinned, proudly. Sarah cleared her throat and tapped her foot impatiently. James turned to Sarah and scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh yeah, and Sarah has to make me be impressed by a British." He said, emphasizing the word 'British' in a bad way.

Henri nodded. "O-kay, and if either are failed to complete this bet...?" he asked, trying to process all this information into his brain. "If James fails to complete this task," Sarah spoke up with a small smirk on her lips. "Then James must learn how to be a proper gentleman for a week." she stated. James frowned. "You mean I have to stay clean, and possess manners?!" he said, wide eyed.

Sarah nodded. "You must act like you are a royal prince in a palace. You must show polite manners and you mustn’t demonstrate the act of rudeness to anyone." she added. James groaned and ruffled his hair in frustration. "And if you can't keep your end of the bet, then you're gonna have to wash a weeks worth of my laundry!" he said, laughing wildly.

Sarah shuddered, but nodded her head in agreement. "Very well." she said, dryly. Henri nodded once again. "And what is this bet called?" he questioned the two friendly rivals. James' blue eyes twinkled as his gaze met with Sarah's glowing emerald eyes. The two glared at each other briefly and smirked.

"Impress me."