Logan:

Ok, look, before you get any ideas about how all this came to be and you think this is awesome, stop. Just…stop. I never asked to be bullied, getting socked in the stomach, failing my PE exam, or anything else that was bodily damage. I didn't even ask to run another fifteen laps around a huge gym if my class didn't run faster or choose a near-by-death warranty. And lately, my decisions haven't been that easy and I didn't have all the time in the world to decide on it either. So, just to give you a bit of background before I start on the long and complicated and sometimes absolutely, uh, exaggerated quest that I did not want, here it is:

"Logan, honey, get up or you'll be late for school!" my mom said, down the hallway.

"Ok mom," I grumbled as I got out of bed, checking the clock. "I've got en-oh my god! I've only got 20 minutes!" I yelped.

Soon I had gotten dressed and was in the kitchen.

Ok, let me tell you about my mom before I go to school and forget to tell you later. My mom is the nicest, funniest mom in the world. She has never yelled at me, gotten mad, or punished me (though my grades could never get above a C and I have been kicked out of numerous schools). I was also born with ADHD, have dyslexia and was diagnosed with ADD yet my mom still thinks that there's nothing wrong with almost being the only one in school with that many mental difficulties. (Notice how I said almost.)

I finished a bowl of cereal hastily, brushed my teeth, gave a quick goodbye to my mom and shot out the door like a rocket. I checked my watch, cursing silently under my breath as I realized that I had only five minutes left.

I managed to catch a taxi, and told the driver where to go. As the cab sped down 5th Avenue, I thought about the exams that were today, and how was I ever going to make the grade in Mr. Johnson's class.

"Here we are," said the taxi driver. "That will be five dollars and eighty cents. I paid him in exact change and jumped out, sprinting towards first period, P.E. So like I was saying in the first place, when Coach Nusley was threatening us to become the fastest land animal alive, that's when my day began to go wrong. I looked at the water fountain, desperate for a drink. I was about to head for the fountain, when I remembered Coach's first words at the beginning of the year: 'You are not allowed to get a drink unless you think you're going to pass out, or you have finished your warm-ups.'

Yeah, or until you really have passed out, I thought. What kind of mad man made a rule like that anyway?

I looked around and my eyes fell on Griffin Woodland, my best and only friend. He was scrawny with bits of wispy hair on his chin and curly brown hair. He was sitting down in the bleaches with his crutches next to him. Griffin was excused from P.E. because of a muscular disease that was spreading through his legs and since we were all required to take P.E., he was required to be present at least in class. I mean, he 'walk' for like a few minutes but he can't walk for long periods like everyone else. But don't let the fact that he's cripple completely mess you up. You should seem him limp quickly/run when he's got Mackenzie-a girl with a rat face and bullies everyone-chasing him down, screaming how he ate her homework or class work. He just about ate anything which was pretty weird but then again, I couldn't say anything considering I was ADHD, ADD and dyslexic.

Anyways, I was thinking about how I was going to get a drink of water without being noticed by Coach Nusley. Coach's warning began to echo through my head making it spin. Maybe I could lie and say that I felt like I was going to pass out. But wait. That would make me look pathetic in front of everyone. Not just that, I would fail Coach's exam. Nevertheless, that didn't matter. What kind of exam is this if the teacher keeps assigning more of it? I looked at the water fountain, then at Coach, and back at the fountain. Coach was too intent on grading the kids, glancing up every few seconds.

Maybe I can catch up to a group of kids, blend in with them until the water fountain is close enough and then snatch a drink of water, I thought.

I scanned the gym for a cluster of kids and found some boys that were always hanging with one another, loosely scattered but close enough for me to blend in. I jogged a little faster until I was right behind the last one. I got right next to him and an idea crossed my mind. Maybe I could pretend that I was one of them and be talking to them and then Coach just might assume that I'm interested into talking with them.

"Hey," I said to one random kid.

"Hi. Who are you?" the kid asked.

"I'm Logan Moore. You?"

"My name is Cameron. Cameron Hall. What are you doing here in this group? I've never seen you in it. Wait a sec. You're the one who got tripped in the pool room a few days ago and fell into the pool? The troubled kid?" he asked timidly.

I would've have said something smart like, "Yeah that's me." or "I guess so" but no I decided to say, "Yeah. I think it happened on accident. All I did was mind my business."

"Um, yeah. Anyways you don't belong in this group. Go jogged in the loser group or even worse by yourself," he sneered.

I looked ahead and saw that we had half the gym to go before I could try the plan.

No! I thought.Just let me stick for a little while so I can get a drink!

"I'm not a loser. I'm just different that's all," I said trying to control my anger.

"Yeah, ok, sure," he grumbled.

Suddenly, another idea popped in my head.

"Hey, what do you like to do? Do you hate all these exams? How are you when you're on breaks? Do y-"

"Why are you asking all these random questions all of a sudden?" Cameron demanded. "You sound like you need something desperate. Just spit it out. I won't tell. Especially if you're trying to get something secretly."

I looked at him like he had just appeared out of thin air. I had barely known this guy for like five minutes and he's saying that he can keep a promise? Well I guess it doesn't matter. He's probably too stupid to know that it's something I'm trying to get, I thought. Here goes nothing.

"Ok well, I'm trying to blend in with you guys so I can get a drink of water. I know it sounds stupid but we've been running already eight laps, and I'm exhausted," I whispered.

"Oh, ok no problem," he said.

Was that a smirk that appeared across his face? Or was that just a funny, playful smile that was playing across his lips? I thought. No time to think about that now because the water fountain was a corner away.

"Ok. Thanks Cameron," I murmured.

As we veered around the corner, I looked at Coach and was relieved to find that he wasn't paying attention and neither was anyone else. So I made a dash for it. Getting to the water fountain, I began to drink, feeling the coldness trickle down the back of my throat. I was so thirsty that I had forgotten that I was suppose to get a quick drink and get back in line. Just a little bit more, nagged a voice at the back of my brain. That's when things went wrong.

"Logan Moore!" roared a voice from behind me. "What did I tell you at the beginning of the year and at the beginning of class! Are you so dumb-witted that you forgot?"

I spun around and saw that everybody had frozen in the gym and was staring at me. I looked at Coach Nusley who was on the bleacher bench, face as red as a cherry, and twisted in anger. And next to him with a triumph look on his face was…Cameron Hall. I should've known. But I would deal with that later. First I had to deal with Coach Nusley.

"Did you hear me Logan Moore! I told you at the beginning of class! You are not allowed to get a drink from the water fountain unless you think you're going to pass out, or until you have finished you warm-ups!Are you that dim-witted!" He roared. His face was going from red to purple from lack of oxygen.

Great, I thought as anger burned a fresh hole in my stomach from being called a dim-wit. Just great. Lets all watch Logan get chewed out by Coach and fail his exam.

"Sir, I-I felt like I was going to pass out," I said quietly.

"You felt like you were going to pass out!" roared Coach.

"Yes, and you said that we could get a drink of water if we thought we would pass out," I replied, starting to feel ticked off with this guy.

"No you weren't! Cameron just informed me what you told him!"

I stared at Cameron rooted on the spot. Why did I even trust this guy? He told me that he wouldn't tell anyone let alone the Coach.

"Did you hear me,boy! Don't make me say it again or I will gi-," he roared across the gym, his voice echoing off the walls. I snapped in half like a toothpick.

"Yes! I heard you already! You said we're not allowed to get a drink from the water fountain unless we think we're going to pass out from exhaustion or until we've finished our warm-ups and that if you have to say it again, I'll get detention! I know!" I practically screamed at him.

"Boy, if you yell at me like that again, I swear I'll give you detention for a whole month!" he roared.

"Well that's just too bad because I just did and I am right now, you old grandpa! And besides, you wouldn't want to babysit me for a whole month!" I sneered back.

"Don't you dare call me old grandpa again! If you do you'll get detention for a whole month, and I don't care about baby sitting you! It'll be fun to watch you squirm!" he screeched, his face wild.

"So either way I'm going to get detention! Good to know! I'll put you on my hated teachers list!" I yelled back at him.

"You know what! That's it! You've passed my limit and now you've got detention for a whole month starting Friday!" he thundered.

"Well I don't care!" I screamed. "You've hated me ever since the first day of your class and when you thought I was a wimp because I couldn't do any of your drills of sit-ups, pushups, pull-ups and all that other junk! And you teachers think that you guys know it all, and you won't give us a chance to improve and then we hate you and are determined to get back at you and bottle our feelings and then it explodes in the nice, kind way of shouting!" I yelled at him sarcastically.

I grabbed my backpack and stormed out of the gym, my ears hot, and everyone's eyes burning on my back. Well, the detention never came because something horrible happen Thursday afternoon and I was kind of glad and mad but I'll get to that later. Anyways, after struggling through Mr. Johnson's French exam (I don't know why I took the class in the first place). I decided to skip lunch because I just couldn't stand it with everyone in there after the incident in the gym and I was sick of people talking, whispering, and pointing at me behind me back in Mr. Johnson's class. As I was heading down towards my dorm room, an arm shot out of no where and pulled me inside an empty classroom.

"I guess you did skip lunch after all," said an irritated but familiar voice.

"I told you he would!" said a girl's voice that sent a cold chill down my spine.

I spun around to see my best friend Griffin and Christina standing there.

Christina Blake. Possibly my friend, possibly my enemy, and always my crush after she helped me on some Algebra. She was dangerous looking, but subtly, and rarely had I seen her get in a fight, and if I had, she always won. She had a deep tan, was athletic looking and lean. Not to mention, she was stealthy. She had long black hair with natural thin dark brown streaks in it. Her hair went halfway down her back, and always shined in the light. Supposedly it had six colors in it, including gold. She also had sea-green eyes, just like me. All the guys said she was one of the prettiest girls in the grade and maybe the school, despite the fact that she had given most of them lovely shiners.

"Wait. What are you talking about?" I asked. "How did you know I as going to skip lunch?"

"I just do," said Christina crossing her arms.

"Well if you thinkyou're so smart and think that you are good at guessing, lets see if you know why I skipped lunch?" I challenged.

"Hmmmm. Let me "guess". Oh I don't know. Maybe because you just couldn't stand it with all those kids in there after the incident in the gym and you were sick of the people talking, whispering, and pointing at you behind your back in Mr. Johnson's class," she answered, glaring at me.

"Wh-what in the world? How did you know? And why are you glaring at me. I didn't do anything wrong. Oh wait, that's your natural look every time you look at me," I taunted, rolling my eyes at her.

"Shut up!" she hissed. She continued to glare at me and I kind of figured that she would stay that way until her face froze like that forever.

"Um, yeah, anyways, aren't we suppose to be telling him something Christina?" asked Griffin obviously trying to stop us from fighting.

Christina looked at Griffin, and for one scary second, I thought she was going to sock him or something. However, I could've have sworn that her face softened a tiny bit.

"Fine, I guess so. But you start it," she sighed heavily, as if it was a big hassle to tell me anything or just even to look at me.

"Well, you told me that you've been struggling to understand the algebra chapter and I thought I could help so, I asked Christina and she said she would help as long as you didn't get absurd with her because I just found out about the incident in the gym," he said.

"Yeah well I don't need her help anymore. I think I understand the chapter better now," I replied. Really I did want Christina's help its just that I didn't want to be stuck with her. She looked at me as if I were some kid that was born yesterday but born to know everything already.

"Logan, you doneed her. I saw you in Mrs. Clark's class. You weren't paying any attention to her and you looked like you were about to fall asleep," he answered.

"No I wa-," I started but it was Christina who interrupted with a comeback

"He's got a point you know."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not mad with you Griffin. I mad with Christina because all she does is make fun of me and expects me to know what she does.

"You know what? I want you to do a favor for me," she replied sourly.

"What?"

"Just shut up."

"Make me."

"I will."

"I'd like to see you try, smart aleck."

"Call me a smart aleck, one more time and see what happens," she answered with egging tone, intensity hidden behind them.

"Smart aleck," I said testing her.

As fast viper, she punched me in the gut really hard. And I mean really hard. I'm nottalking about when a girl playfully punches you in the arm or stuff like that. No, I'm talking a powerful blow to the stomach that made me stumble backwards into the wall which was only five feet away.

"Holy sh-," Griffin yelped

"Ouch," I mumbled, cutting his profanity off.

"Want to test me again, Logan?" she questioned threateningly.

"No," I whimpered, clutching my gut. I was pretty amazed that she had a powerful punch like that for a girl and I began to wonder where she had learned it. Yeah, I've gotten punched before by bullies but her powerful blow was enough for bullies that bullied me, run for their older siblings (if they had some that were bigger and buffer). Now I know why she always won.

Christina looked at her silver watch and said we've got three minutes. "We better get going and head up to the lockers before the teacher who owns this classroom comes back." Griffin and I followed her out the door with Griffin wide-eyed with shock and me still, of course, clutching my gut.

"I can't believe she did that. I just can't believe it," murmured Griffin as we climbed the staircase.

I didn't want to ask him what he meant because I was still in a slight bit of pain, and if I asked Griffin what he meant, he would probably look at me and say, "What are you talking about?"

As Griffin, Christina and I climbed the stairs heading for Language Arts, I made sure I kept clear of Christina. After punching me in the gut, I was sure that if I spoke to her again, she was going to punch me in the entered the room and sat down on the beanbags. This was the only class out of all my other classes that had the huge beanbags for chairs instead of regular chairs. Also this was the class I would relax in because our teacher, Ms. Whitney didn't care if we talked as long as we talked quietly and we got our work done.

She handed out a vocabulary worksheet over the words we had been studying for almost a week. She told us to finish the worksheet and then when everybody was done, she'd give us five minutes to study before she'd hand out the test. I sat there, staring at the vocabulary worksheet, trying to read. I made out a few words and sentences and tried answering the questions or fill in the blanks. But not before long, my dyslexia started acting up and the letters started floating off the page and spinning around.

Now how am I suppose to even try filling in the blanks if none of the words are on the page, I thought to myself angrily. I pushed the paper away and looked over to see Christina face turning from concentration, to confusing to frustration. She turned her paper over and put down her pencil sighing.

"Do the words on the page float off?" I asked her.

"Why? Do they float off the page when you try to read them?" she answered.

"Yeah. It's my dyslexia," I replied. Christina looked me in the eyes as if she were studying me.

"Being dyslexic sucks," she told me as if she were dyslexic too.

"I know. I can't believe I have dyslexia, ADD, and ADHD all at once. What else could be worse? I'm probably the only one who has all these mental problems," I said miserably. She was still studying me but way more carefully as if she had figured something out and was putting more pieces together. But what Christina said next surprised me even more.

"Your not the only on who has dyslexia and ADHD," she said.

"Really?" I questioned.

"Just to let you know because I bet you didn't even know this, but, I have dyslexia and ADHD too," she said.

"What? No way," I said, surprised.

"Yes way."

"What about ADD?"

"No.

"So letters do float off the page then when you try to read, don't they?" I reasoned.

"Yeah."

"So, what else is new?" I said.

For the rest of time before the vocabulary test, we talked. When Ms. Whitney gave us the test, Christina said, "Watch us bomb the test. I'll probably get a B+."

"Yeah, and I'll probably get a C or a big fat F," I answered. Christina chuckled and we started the test. When I had finished, Christina and I talked some more only this time with Griffin.

"I can't wait for tomorrows field trip," Christina said. "Finally, a break from this idiotic, wretched school."

"I agree," I answered.

"And I'll be off to camp which will be relieving where I can fight and train," she muttered to Griffin who nodded. I looked at her confused for a second, wondering by what she meant. We reached our lockers and Griffin said goodbye and me and Christina went to our last class of the day.

"How was school Logan?" my mom asked me. I had just gotten home and I could smell part of dinner slowly cooking on the stove.

"Good," I replied.

"Anything new with Christina?" my mom said. My mom was always asking me that question because I was coming with something new about Christina almost every other day.

"Yep. Did you know she's ADHD and dyslexia?" I answered. My mom hesitated for a second.

"She is?"

"Yeah. She told me in the middle of Language Arts. I just can't believe that we both have ADHD and dyslexia." my mother looked and there was sadness in her eyes which always shown when we talked about my mental problems. I don't know why she got all sad. But I guess its because she probably didn't think of ever having a mental kid; one that was born with dyslexia and diagnosed with ADHD and ADD.

"What are we having for dinner?" I asked. Her eyes brightened and said, "Your favorite."

My heart skipped a beat. "You made that? Really?" I said.

"Yep. I made tacos!" she replied.

"Finally!" I yelled. My mom smiled and told me to go sit down and watch TV while she finished making dinner. Once she was finished, she brought over the tacos and we sat down watching a funny show called '30 Rock'. When we had finished, I got showered, and got my bag ready for tomorrows field trip. Once I had crawled into bed and shut off the lights, I thought about the detention I was going to have Friday. I thought about it for awhile and then thinking to myself, you better get some sleep because tomorrows a big day, I pushed the thought aside and went to sleep.