Chapter One

My name is Hallie, that's not my real name actually, my real name is Hallena Kazanov. My parents are from Kazakhstan and i come from a pretty traditional family; I'm lucky in my family; girls are allowed to go to school and be educated, even if were not expected to go to university or anything serious like that; we're allowed to learn how to read and write and do well in our subjects.

I'm not from a particularly wealthy family you see; my family is middle class and I have 3 other siblings that are all boys and due to that; my parents send me to school with them and they bring me back safely as well. My father is a civil servant and my mother is a shopkeeper, she sells all sorts of food items in her small store as well as little toys, and knits little caps, mittens and scarves for babies. Before I was born named her store 'Blue Allstar Shop', she had a neon sign at the location of the shop with a big red arrow showing the entrance.

She named it based on my two older brothers preferences; my eldest brother Anatoly was 8 at that time and was completely obsessed with the color blue while my second brother Fyodor was a huge fan of basketball at the time. My mother loved literature alot and so even before giving birth to my brother she named him Fyodor after Fyodor Dostoevsky.

She named me Hallena after Helen of Troy; she'd hoped that she'd have a very beautiful daughter just like Helen especially because my mother is extremely beautiful and she was lucky I guess, I have nice features; big brown eyes, a small pointed nose, full lips and a heart shaped face. I have long black hair that's usually in a braid and I have a willowy figure and I have a moderate height, and slightly thickened black brows. All in all, I look just like my mother.

My youngest brother is 8 now, his name is Julius obviously named after Caesar, he's the nicest one, he always walks me home after a long day of school and tells me about his day.

I'm a 15 year old high school student right now; there aren't alot of girls in my class anymore; they've either been married or it's not very safe anymore for them to go to school because of the traffickers, that's why my brothers have to walk me or I cant go alone. I'm a pretty good student so despite not much being expected of me; my mother hopes that I can get into a teaching college and get a job as a teacher.

As for me; I wanna be a star.