"Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity."
—Kahlil Gibran

Ally's POV

The second week of school came and nothing changed yet. I didn't get why we had to move to Austin. This is the stupid Lone Star State and I wish we went back to Pasedena.

"Ally, time to go to school," yelled Mom.

My mother, Penny is a lawyer and after she and my dad divorced, she had to move my brother, Tyler and I to this stupid town.

Unlike me, Tyler loves it here. He's a kid so I knew he was going to enjoy it. He's made a lot of friends and is already wanting to join football.

For me, on the first day of school, nobody talked to me or even tried to befriend me. During class, I would be wide awake in my seat either reading or chewing on my pen. At lunch, I wouldn't even sit in the cafteria. I would take something from the vending machine and ate in the bathroom like a loser.

My mom wouldn't listen to me about this. Since she's a lawyer, she is very stubborn and aggressive. That's why all of the other lawyers are afraid of her.

"Tyler, Ally, let's go!" Mom yelled once again.

I looked at the mirror quick. I wouldn't say my style was bad. My old blue jeans, my black and blue striped shirt, and brown boots weren't a bad combination. Then, I grabbed my bag and hopped into my mother's red Toyota Corolla.

As my mom drove us to school, I nervously bit on my nails like if they were a snack.

"Ally, stop chewing on your nails," commanded Mom.

I pulled my hand away from my mouth. "I'm guessing there's no guarantee that we are going back home." I smirked.

"Ally, please not today." begged Mom. "I do not know how many times we have discussed this. There is nothing in Pasadena left for us. This is our home now. We are starting fresh."

"Did Dad say when he's coming to visit?" Tyler interrupted.

"No, honey." answered Mom. "I have not talked to him so I don't know."

Dad was my best friend. He was the first person I went to before Mom. He never yelled at me and he never put me down.

We stopped at the middle school to drop off Tyler.

"Bye, sweetheart," Mom said to him.

"Later, Pipsqueak," I teased.

"Bye, Chicken Legs," he replied back.

As Mom drove me to my school, I was busy worrying about everything that might happen today. Hopefully instead of being called a freak, I will enjoy another day of ignorance and humiliation.

We stopped in front of the school. I sighed in frustration and got out of the car.

"Bye, Ally," said Mom. "Have a good day at school."

"I'll try." I rolled my eyes and slammed the door shut. As my mom drove away, I walked into the school hallway as everyone else did.
Everybody didn't look at me or even bothered to care if I existed. Back in Pasedena, there were a few people I would talk to, but I wouldn't say that they were my friends.

At my locker, I put away my backpack and took out my English text book. I slammed my locker door and headed to Mr. Ramsey's classroom.

Next to me was Trish De la Rosa, the school's most popular girl. She was short and curvy with black ringlets dangling down her back and brown Latina eyes. She lived in one of the big mansions in the rich neighborhoods.

Ring! Everybody got in their seats as Mr. Ramsey walked in. He wasn't too old or too young. He was like in his thirties with dark brown hair and silver eyes. He was built like a high school weightlifter.

"Morning, class," he said. "Now today if you expect me to come in with a boring book I took from Barnes & Noble…you thought wrong. Now today we are talking about…character. When you read about a character in a book, you really need to understand the type of character they are. How can you tell a person personality?"

I raised my hand faster than anyone else.

"Allyson?" He pointed to me.

"Perspective," I guessed.

"Yes." He pointed to another person. "Trish?"

"Their style." She smiled.

"Yes, that too. There are a lot of things you can tell about a person. Now I'm going to pair four of you in a group. You guys will be assigned to write about one person in your group. You must ask them about their past, perspective, traits, family, interests, and favorite things. Now since there's sixteen of you, it will be…Hunter, Rochelle, Ethan, and Caleb…Penny, Veronica, Kayli, and Will…Christopher, Ben, Abby, and Carly…and…Dez, Allyson, Trish, and Austin."

"What?!" shrieked Trish. "Uhh…Mr. Ramsey, could I exchange to another group?"

"Trish, you need a grade for this assignment," he reminded her. "And you need to get to know a person."

"Ugh!"

"Now you guys partner up and talk about it. You guys can work on it after school, at your house, under a tree, I don't care as long as you get it done."

I turned around to Trish and said, "Hi."

She looked up at me and asked, "Do I know you?"

"I'm Ally."

"Isn't that a boy's name?"

"No, it's a girl's name too."

A guy sat next to us. He was lanky with blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was built like a swimmer's body.

"Hi, I'm Austin," he introduced himself.

"Ally," I introduced myself.

After he came, another guy came behind him. He was a weird-looking guy with bright orange hair and freckles. He had blue eyes and was tall.

"Hey, I'm Dez," he said. "Let me guess…Austin, Ally, and Trish."

"Right." I said. "So we should do our project at one of our houses."

"Oh, not mine," said Trish. "My mom is having some colleagues over."

"Not my house," said Dez. "Y'all live in houses, while I live in a cracker box. My house is messy and I'm guessing that my mom is still pass out drunk on the couch."

"We can do it at my house." I said. "My address is 2130 west Mockingbird."

"I'll be there," smiled Austin.

"So will I," said Trish.