Chris raised her head from where she lay. The hustle and bustle of morning time Manhattan sounded all through the streets and reached the little alley where she sat. There was a drizzle falling down, which most people ignored, but the girl shivered when the droplets and the cold air hit her. Wintertime in Manhattan was not to be taken lightly; it could be freezing one day and just pretty cool the next. However, it usually stayed at the freezing range. Chris pulled her jacked tighter around her and ventured out of her safe haven. Almost immediately she was swept away with the crowd of people rushing to get to their jobs. No one really noticed the girl as they swept past her in a flurry.

"I'm in Manhattan; I need food; I am cold."

Chris found a small deli that was open and went in. The workers took no notice of the shivering girl at the door, so she went and sat down to try and decide what she could eat.

Chris was a fifteen year old girl, a sophomore at her old school. She was tan and had jet black hair that fell to the lower part of her back when let down. Right now it was in a braided ponytail and her long bangs were swept to the side, as usual. She was dressed in a light blue, long-sleeved T-shirt with a black jacket over it. She wore blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a necklace with a multi-colored heart pendent on it. She held a shoulder bag which carried a few belongings. She used to live in Pennsylvania, but left; the people there didn't like her very much. She left her adopted parents when she realized that no one wanted her and headed to somewhere that was away. She was a street-smart girl, most of the time, and was now wandering the streets of Manhattan.

Chris ordered a sandwich and water, ate it, and walked back out into the frigid cold. The wind had started blowing again and nipped at her cheeks. Her face was a bit red and her nose was running. She ducked into an abandoned building after she had walked for a while to sit down and warm up.

Dusty, but it'll do.

Chris started swiping off the dust and pulling out the cobwebs and attempted to make the place homier. There was a little bed in an upstairs room of the two-story building along with a small desk and a chair. The place had many windows for an old house, but Chris was fine with that; she liked the light. Chris found a stick outside and a rag on the floor and put them together to make a makeshift broom-mop-duster thing.

Night had fallen and Chris lay on the mattress, trying to sleep. The lumpy bed with no sheets and one blanket was the most comfortable thing she had slept on for a while.

That's sad isn't it? I wonder how everyone back home is doing… Ugh, that isn't your home anymore kid! Geez, why am I talking to myself now, I should be sleeping.

Chris' thoughts strayed for a while before finally rolling over on her side to sleep.

F4F4F4F4

Chris woke up with the sun the next morning and went out to find some food. She needed a job and wanted to continue with school. She would have to find a public school nearby to this house; she would have to walk to school and back. Chris knew she had seen a high school earlier so she decided to give it a try.

Walking out of the house and into the sunshine, Chris felt her spirits lift and she semi skipped to a bookstore that was hiring. They were willing to hire her, if she wanted to work from three to seven. Chris agreed, for she needed the money and she loved reading, so it was the perfect job. The owner was a kind, old man who she liked already. He said that she could start work on Monday, since they did not open on Sundays.

"Just two days!" Chris smiled, now she had a job so she could eat and buy clothes and other things.

F4F4F4F4

Chris was a smart girl, so she got into the school without anything from her parents. The office people had been concerned when they saw a girl trying to get herself into the school, but Chris figured out how to get them to let her enroll. She was still curious to why they were in there on a Saturday, though.

Chris spent most of her day buying materials and the items needed for school and she memorized her schedule quickly.

Chris returned home to find a cat lying on the bed; it was a brown and black tabby. It meowed at the girl and Chris let it stay. She found another blanket and bunched it up for the cat to sleep on at the end of her bed.
"You can be my first friend!"

Her response was a meow and a yawn before the tabby, who Chris was now calling Dusty, fell asleep.

F4F4F4F4

Sunday came, Chris found a Church to go to, and Sunday passed.

When Monday rolled around, Chris was excited about going to the new school. She made it there early to see a large number of students waiting for the 7:10 bell to ring. Chris walked through the students and reached a door to wait at. A few minutes later, the bell rang to let students in and Chris was the first in. She found her locker and her first classroom with ease and sat down in an empty seat. The boy next to her smiled a bit and she smiled back. Their teacher, a younger man, came in.

"I just thought I'd mention it, but we have a new student here, Christina."

Chris smiled at all the kids who looked her way and looked back at the teacher as he began.

"I hope all of you know about your American history, because that's the chapter we're studying next."

The boy next to her whispered, "My name's Alex, what's yours?"

She whispered back, "He told you already, Christina"

"Yeah, but do you go by Christina?"

"Oh," she paused, "I go by Chris"

"Gotcha."

"What about you?"

"My name's Alex and I go by Alex"

"Key-dokie."

They turned back to their teacher before they got caught and listened to him drone on.

F4F4F4

Chris made new friends throughout the day, but her two best friends were Alex and Leona. Leona was a blonde and straight haired girl with an outgoing personality, and Alex was a black haired, down to earth boy. Leona was willing to jump into any situation head on, but Alex liked to think things through. In short, they were usually polar opposites. There were some things that they agreed on though.

Chris was now an outcast from the popular girls since she stood up for some kid who was unlucky enough to be picked on by them. "She wasn't pretty enough," they said, "She has those awful glasses on," and, "Who would want to be your friend?" Chris was ready to give their little leader a black eye, but that would have gotten her sent to the principal's office and she couldn't afford for the faculty to find she was an orphan. So she did the next best thing; pulled the girl away and threaten the populars. She may have accidentally dumped a cup of milk on Stacy's, the leader's, head. Chris had received cheers from many tables around her, but gotten a chilling glare from the populars' table. She could live with that.

F4F4F4F4

Chris walked Leona and Alex home, saying she lived "not far from here". Chris entered her little house to be greeted by dust, cobwebs, and Dusty. She collapsed on the bed after putting all her school stuff away and rolled onto her stomach to look at the cat.

"So, how was your day?"

"Meow!"

Chris smiled and set to work on homework.

"Well, mine was better!"