Change.

"AJ, where are you? You're going to be late on your first day." That was my mom calling me for breakfast. I was only 16 and going to a new school. I was just making it to 5'2 and I had long brown hair and today I wore skinny jeans, and shirt with Harley Quinn, the comic book character, on it. I was not like most girls in my school because I did not wear loads of makeup like a clown; at most I would have on eyeliner and mascara. I also did not dress in the latest fashion trends going on like leggings and UGGS or mini skirts. I liked wearing my Chucks and T Shirts.

"Coming mom," I yelled down as I put on my pair of black converse.

As I walked into my new school I could already tell I was not going to fit in well.

"Dang office, office, where are you?" I half mumbled, half thought to myself.

"Excuse me where is the office?" I asked a tall raven haired boy. His lip was pierced and he had a bit of stubble. He was talking to another boy. As I asked he turned to look down at me with a smirk on his face. What was I thinking walking up to him? I should've just gotten lost. "Yeah sure I'll show you." He turned to his friend. "I'll catch up with you later Colt?" His friend nodded at him and walked away. "So are you new here?" he asked me.

"Yeah, my name is AJ. I moved from New Jersey," I told him as we were walking the halls of the school.

"Well my name is Phil. I've been here all my life in Chicago. You will love it. And we are here," Phil said while holding the door open for me.

"Phil, already here for a detention I see?" said a middle aged woman at the desk.

"Haha Miss Birdie. No, I'm actually showing the new girl AJ here to the office and I guess to all of her classes," he said looking back and forth from me to the woman. I just looked at him, shocked because he was willing to show me to my classes.

"Why hello AJ, I'm Miss Birdie and I hope you will enjoy your time here. Let me just print out your schedule." As she was printing out my schedule Phil was tapping on the top of the desk. I looked around the office at the posters and awards that the school had.

"Here you go AJ. It's a good thing you met Phil because you guys seem to have all of your classes together." Phil's eyes went wide.

"Thank you," was all I could say. When we made it into the hallway he was still looking at me shocked. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him.

"My classes are all advanced classes for can't be a senior."

"Well, I'm not. I'm a sophomore. That likes comics and videogames."

"That's cool. I really like them too." Soon we were talking about our favorite video games and comics I found out he likes Batman and thinks he is Batman sometimes, and I told him that I like Harley Quinn. After talking for some bit we had to get to class. My worst nightmare was about to come true and it was only the first day.

I overheard a platinum blond and over tanned boy say to his buddy. "Hey check out the new girl. What's with the comic book character on her shirt? That is totally lame-o. Go figure she is friends with Phil." And the two guys started laughing.

"Hey Dolph leave her alone," Phil said as I tried to scoot behind him to hide.

"Why should I? It's obvious she does not look like the normal girls here," Dolph said. I looked with my head down and didn't take my eyes off of my shoes. Was this really happening? My cheeks were burning up with embarrassment. I was so focused on my laces I didn't notice that Phil and Dolph were throwing punches until I heard a teacher yell.

"DETENTION NOW FOR YOU TWO!" the teacher yelled at them.

"But the new girl started it!" exclaimed Dolph What! I did nothing all I did was walk into class and hide from him.

"AJ has nothing to do with this. I started it because he was making fun of her. What else was I going to do?" Phil tried to explain. The teacher was not too impressed by this. From what I could tell from our time in the office together this morning, Phil has gotten into a lot of trouble in his past four years at this school. All I could do was stand there and thanks to that Dolph kid, feel bad for liking what I liked and wearing what I was wearing.

"I don't care what happened. Get to detention now," the teacher said pointing to the door. I looked at Phil with sad eyes.

"See you at the end of the day kid, alright?" I looked up and just nodded my head.

Phil was in the office all day, but he texted his friend Colt to find and sit with me at lunch so I would have someone to talk to. Colt and Phil seemed so similar. They were both funny, caring and smart. So when Colt confessed he was not a huge comic nerd like Phil and me, I had to hit his arm and gasp.

I decided to walk home rather than take the bus and set myself up for more embarrassment. A black car pulled up next to me.

"Hey AJ get in the car. I'm driving you home," exclaimed the driver. Phil and Colt were in the car.

"Really? Are you sure?" I asked him in disbelief. I had known him for less than six hours.

"Yes, now get in before I change my mind," he said jokingly. So I quickly go into the car and told him the way to my house.

"AJ, I don't live too far away. Why don't I pick you up tomorrow morning?" asked Phil.

"Sure. See you then." Minutes later I was saying bye to my new friends and walking into my house with a big smile on my face.

But seconds later it fell when I thought back to what Dolph had said about my clothes so I ran back upstairs to my room to find something that I know would make me fit in. I hope this will make people like me more and I hope Phil likes it too. I thought to myself.

The next morning I was dressed in the outfit I picked out last night: a black skirt and a pink tank top with a white cardigan. But gosh did I hate pink. I packed an outfit I would normally wear to school in case it got cold or rained because you never know with Chicago weather! Soon I heard a honk of Phil's car waiting for me.

"Hey, AJ, you look...different today," he said to me.

"Thank you. I changed it up to fit in a little bit more today. Hope no one bothers me," I say back at him smiling but he looked like he has a fake smile on. "Well I think we should go or we will be late Phil." He just nodded his head and opened the door for me as we drove to school. When we got to school all I could think about was what people would think.

As we walked into the school people were looking at me noticing something different. Then it was the moment of truth to see what Dolph would say about my new clothing. Phil was walking next to me as we entered.

"Well looks like the new girl has stepped up in the clothes department. But you're still weird for hanging with Phil and Colt. I bet you hang out with them because they are seniors and you're just a sophomore," Dolph said harshly to me.

"Really, Dolph. She changed herself to make you and the whole school happy because you think all of the girls have to be the same," Phil said back. This made me even more upset because that means he never liked my new outfit that I had on so I ran out of the classroom to the hallway Phil and Colt hang out in.

"AJ, come back," I heard Phil yell after me.

"Why should I? No one will ever like me." I spat back at him.

"I liked it when you wore the comic shirt yesterday."

"Really?" I said questioning him.

"Yes, and AJ you don't need to change to make other people happy. You are not wearing what you want to wear. I liked the real AJ that I met yesterday, not Pretty in pink AJ."

I grabbed my bag."I'll be right back." I ran to the bathroom to put on the extra clothes that I packed.

"How do you like me now?" I asked Phil.

"You look wonderful. Much more my style. AJ, how about we go to the arcade after school?"

"Sounds great. Then I can see how good you really are at Batman."