"Akari!" her mother shouted. "Why can't you be more like your older brother, smart? Or more like your older sister, beautiful?"

"I'm sorry mother," Akari whispered. "But I was born this way."

"Are you trying to talk back to me?!" her mother yelled furiously.

"N-no," she stammered, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Don't you dare lie to your mother! And don't cry, it's unsightly!"

xxxxx

"Onii-chan," Akari asked her brother. "Can you help me with my math homework?"

"I'm busy," her brother responded. "I have to practice for the upcoming national spelling bee. Go away."

"Oh, okay," she said, stepping away.

Just then, her sister walked by.

"Onee-chan!" Akari called. "Can you..."

Her sister brushed right by her, ignoring her.

Oh... that's right... I'm not worthy of attention...

A tear rolled down her cheek as he walked to her room.

xxxxx

"Look, it's her," the other girls whispered.

"Oh yeah, she's so lame. I mean, a famous singer as a mother, famous guitar player as a dad, super smart brother, gorgeous sister, and she's just... you know."

"Yeah, I can't believe it."

Akari clenched her fist tightly.

I'm sorry if I'm not as good as them! she wanted to shout. But she kept her mouth firmly shut, and squeezed her eyes to force the tears in as the insults flooded her.

xxxxx

"A singing club?" Akari whispered, looking at the poster.

She walked into the class.

"Welcome-" the girl stopped short when she saw Akari.

"C-can I join?" Akari asked shyly.

"We can't turn her down," another girl whispered, "even if we don't want her, it's the rules to let everyone in. And we only have two members, so we might need her. We can dump her when someone else comes."

The words stabbed into Akari like a knife. I can hear you... why are you being so rude? You can dump me?

"Are you good at singing?" The first girl asked.

"I've... never tried..." Akari admitted. "But... I want to try. So can I?"

"Here," the second said, handing her a sheet of paper. She turned on some music. "Sing along."

Akari opened her mouth, and let the music overwhelm her.

"That was amazing," the girls said, their jaws dropping.

xxxxx

From then on, Akari was admired as an amazing singer, but no one tried to get close to her. She was the queen, they were her subjects.

Then, one day, she saw a poster welcoming students to Four Star Academy.

The school S4 goes to! Maybe there, I'll fit in!

xxxxx

It didn't work. Akari was still a loner. Pretty much everyone already had a small group of friends that was settled.

Her attitude became frustrated and bitter, and her singing grew worse and worse.

"What's wrong with her?" The others whispered.

Akari clenched her teeth. Things had gotten back to the beginning, when everyone hated her.

And then one day her whole life changed.

"I want to help you find a boy."

"Can I call you Akari-chan?"

"No prob!"

And then...

"We're friends, right, Akari-chan?"

Her eyes widened. My dream... came to me.

xxxxx

For the people who don't know anything, the last part was a but of a pun. Yume means "dream" in Japanese, so yeah.