Chapter 1: Beginnings

I hear my alarm clock ringing in the distance. I reluctantly open one eye, and smash the snooze button. "Ashtynn! That darn clock has been going off for ten minutes! Up! Now!" I groan. That would be my annoying caretaker, Iris. We all call her "The dragon". I roll out of bed and trip over something- correction, someone. Madee, the girl I share a bunk with, had fallen out of the top bunk and landed on the floor about a foot away from my bunk in the middle of the night. She wakes after I land with a thump.

"Hey Ash. Sorry, I fell out of bed again." She looked away sheepishly.

"Yeah, I noticed." I grin.

"You better get dressed and get downstairs quick, Iris sounded pretty mad when your alarm went off for the third time."

Shoot, had it been going off that long? Great, now I'm gonna be off to face the dragon. I wave at Madee as I make my way down the steep steps of the orphanage. I love that girl. She may be ten, but she cares more about me than I do. But, no matter how much I love Madee, my best friends don't live at the orphanage. I only see them at school.

I walk into the dining room for breakfast, and see the rest of the girls at the orphanage have already been here. The only person in the room is Iris. She is staring at me with cold, angry eyes. "You are fifteen minutes late! The girls have already been and left! Why are you so lazy? Why are you always late? Why can't you be normal?" She rants. Normal. Not like that's a word I hear every day. I hurry up and eat, then make my way back upstairs. Madee has gone, but there is a note and a pile of clothes on my bunk. "Thought I could help make your morning a little easier after facing the dragon! -Love Madee" Yep, couldn't be luckier to land with Madee as a friend. I smile and get dressed. At least I can get away from the dragon at school. I grab my backpack, go down the stairs again and out the door. Thankfully, I don't have to be humiliated by riding the bus to school. The school is within walking distance. I chuckle, glad I can be left alone with my thoughts as I walk.

I go to Rockford Middle School, stuck in the eighth grade. Yawn. At least my friends make it a little bit better. That and being away from the dragon for a full eight hours. As I walk into the courtyard, I notice the popular girls are starting to stare. Ugh, of course they are. Anyone different is never welcome in their group.They are the "It" girls and nobody else. Suddenly, the leader of the pack, Arianna, walks up to me. Great, what does this walking piece of plastic want? "Morning, Ashtynn!," she says waaaay too cheerfully. "I just wanted to congratulate you!, " Excuse me, what? "What for?" I ask. "For having the worst hair!," She laughs. How can she even tell what my hair looks like? I always wear a hat! "Can't you put it up in a ponytail like mine? At least then you won't look like a pile of dog poop." She flips her long, dark reddish-brown ponytail and walks back, still laughing. I hate her. The reason I don't put my hair up is because my hair won't let me. My shoulder length, mousy-brown hair spits out any hair tie that comes near it. In an hour, a perfect ponytail will come out, even with adjusting.

I ignore her gang cackling, and head to the front doors. Suddenly out of nowhere, I hear screaming. I turn and see my best friends running towards me. Cookie, Luchi, Luci, Rach, and Ally are my bestest friends in the world. If Madee was my age, she'd be in the group too. Unfortunately, she's in elementary school for another year. Cookie gets to me first and hugs me so tight, I nearly topple over. Yep, she's a hugger. Complain, and she'll hug you again. But if you mess with her, or any of us, and you'll find the demon that lies underneath all that joy. Everyone else gets to me after Cookie lets go, but they don't hug me. Luchi and Luci are identical twins. They are Hispanic, just like me. You can tell them apart because Luchi always wears space buns, and Luci always wears a ponytail. Not as long as Arianna's, but close. "Wassup, amiga?" They say simultaneously. Why are twins so good at doing that? Rach is the book nerd of the group, and she knows it. She always has a book with her. I'm convinced she came straight out of one. Ally is the cool one of the group. She could join Arianna's posse, but chose people who'll stick with you no matter what, rather than people who will leave you in an instant. Thank gosh she chose us. We all love hanging out with each other, especially because we don't fit in anywhere else- except for Ally, she can fit in anywhere.

We walk into our first hour class and take our seats. Fortunately, we all have first hour together, and sit at the same table. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, Arianna and her group are in first hour with us too. The bell goes off, and first hour goes by as usual. It isn't until the bell for passing time goes off that I realize Arianna is giving me an evil look. Are you kidding me? I thought this morning was enough! Everyone gets up, and Arianna walks over to me. "Hey Arianna. Whatsup?" I say, trying to sound nice even though I really want her to leave me alone."''Whatsup'," she says using air quotes "is that I wanna talk with you. Lunch. Meet me at the third standing-table from the lunchline. Got it?" I nod and head off to second hour. Cookie, Ally, and Luchi were waiting for me by the doors. We're all in choir, while Rach and Luci are in band. I don't normally sing, but I guess they got me to join anyway. Sometimes I wish they didn't do that. We enter, and Ally and Cookie run off to find a few of their friends. I would go with them, but I am way too shy. At least I have Luchi.

Luchi and I take a seat in the risers and wait for class to start. We sit, people-watching until Luchi speaks. "How come you were late getting out of first hour?" I hesitate, and she guesses."Was it Arianna?" Can she and Luci read minds or something? "Yeah…" I say slowly, "What did she want? Does she want to give you a secret makeover in the bathroom or something?" I chuckle. " No, but I think you're close. I don't exactly know, but yeah, I think you're close." At this point, the bell rings and Ally and Cookie scramble to their seats. I see Cookie giggling, causing concern to the people she sits by. The rest of second hour goes by just like first hour did. At the end of second hour, I say goodbye to my friends and head to my third hour. The hour right before lunch. Third hour seems to go by like that because before I know it, I'm at my locker grabbing my lunch. Cookie pops out of nowhere behind me and scares the daylights out of me. "Gah! Where the heck did you come from?!" I gasp. She smirks and adjusts her glasses "You know me, Ash, I can be anywhere at any time!" She laughs and grabs her lunch, I poke her in the side. "Luchi told me about your meeting with Arianna. Good luck." she says. "Thanks" I nod. Cookie hugs me and runs off, leaving me to face the teenage demon of the school.