A/N: I think the characters are really interesting in the episode, "Innocent" from the new interactive webseries, MATCH. If you want to get involved, you should check out the webseries at match-dot-colaborator-com and take a look at the cool interactive features. There are a bunch of great opportunities to write some fanfic and post your work to the MATCH forums for a potential chance to have them featured in a future episode. If the creators decide to choose your story, you'll be awarded writing credit and you'll even get paid! Awesome, right?


"Board [sic]"

Allie sat quietly in the loathsome Mr. Albert's U.S. History class, bored out of her mind. It'd been a sleepless night, and she was not in the mood for humans in general. She leaned forward and placed her sweatshirt hood partially up over her head. That way, she could pull off her signature move of sneaking a headphone bud into one of her ears. Joyce Manor's Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired album was on repeat. It was the only thing that was going to get her through this dreaded day.

Mr. Albert was in the process of giving one of his long-winded lectures. After he finished jotting some notes on the blackboard, he slapped his hands together and a puff of chalk smoke swirled into the air. He stood directly in front of Allie's desk. "You!" he said. "Who gave the Gettysburg address?"

Allie ignored him.

"Hello?" Mr. Albert said.

Allie continued to ignore him.

Mr. Albert slammed his hand on Allie's desk.

"You're being extremely rude, Ms. Now, I'm going to ask you once more… Who gave the Gettysburg Address?!"

Allie slid down her hood, took the headphone bud out of her ear, and spoke out:

"The Gettysburg address was given by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Also, President Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861, not 1871. You have the date written on the board wrong. Oh, and your fly is down."

Mr. Albert's face became rose red. He turned his back to the class and not-so-discreetly zipped up his zipper. A couple of chuckles emerged through the classroom's collective gasp. He walked over to his desk and opened up the drawer where he kept the principal's office slips. 'Oh what a travesty,' Allie thought.

After Mr. Albert filled out the slip, he marched over to Allie and presented the ever-so powerful piece of paper. Allie apathetically grabbed it, gathered her belongings, and trotted out of the classroom.

When she stepped out into the hallway, she gazed down at the slip. It read, "Being disruptive and failing to comply with rules." And—her last name was spelled wrong, because of course it was. She rolled her eyes, crumpled up the piece of paper, and shoved it into her pocket. 'Not this day,' she uttered, channeling Aragorn's speech from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Instead, she decided to wander the halls and listen to her music for a couple of hours until lunchtime. It was better than going back to another class, and definitely better than going to the principal's office again.

As lunchtime approached, she came to the conclusion that it would be best to ditch the whole cafeteria thing. She was sick of its superficial lunch table seating politics. Each day was a struggle, especially ever since her corner spot got taken over by a new breed of preppy girls. So, she hit the vending machines. It probably wasn't the healthiest resolution, but she didn't care at this point.

She grabbed her chips and candy and staked out the perfect place to sit down and eat: her locker. She was small enough to squeeze in and take a seat. The halls were ghostly vacant and refreshingly peaceful as she dug into her snacks.

Just when Allie bit into her last candy bar, she began to slowly doze off… ~

Abruptly, Allie awoke to the jarring sound of the school bell. Lunchtime had ended and the halls were flooding with a frenzy of students. She looked around and noticed that there was orange Cheeto dust scattered all over her dark sweatshirt, along with some melted chocolate on her hands and face. 'What am I, 12? 'she thought to herself.

Then, she looked up and saw Danny and his obnoxious crew of popular kids walking by. One of them glanced over and pointed toward Allie. The group busted out into laughter. Danny hesitated for a moment, and then joined in on the laughing. Allie's heart sank, and she shot Danny a glare as he passed. He acted like he didn't even know her at all.

When the group reached the end of the hallway, Danny peered back at Allie with concern. She turned away.