Chapter 1
I walked slowly through the hallways. I hate new schools, I thought to myself. Before I knew it, I was at my classroom door. I turned the doorknob and quietly entered. I looked around the classroom; all eyes were set on me. The teacher, who was reading a book, casually glanced over to the door, and a smile appeared on her face, one that looks heavily overused. "Ah, you must be Chrissie Standler," she said in a kind, caring voice. I nodded my head. The teacher pointed to a chair, "Why don't you take a seat over there next to Michael?" I looked over to where she was pointing. I headed over to my chair. While walking between the rows of desks, everyone's eyes kept staring at me. This is really uncomfortable, I thought. I pulled out my chair and sat down. I turned to face the boy who was sitting next to me, who the teacher called Michael. "Hi," I said in a nice gesture. Michael just kept fiddling with his pencil. The teacher started to write numbers on the chalkboard. Ugh, I hate math.
The bell rang loudly and everyone pushed and shoved to get outside. I was the second last person to get outside. The last person was Michael. Once I got outside, I held the door open for Michael. He turned to me and said, "Thanks," in a quiet voice. "You're welcome," I replied. It was nice for someone other than an adult to talk to me. Michael barely walked five steps when a small group of kids from our class walked up to him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I knew they were bullying him. One of the kids pushed him to the ground, and they all burst into hysterical laughter. I don't know what was so funny. To my surprise, Michael didn't run. He kept watching them. His dark stare frightened me. He looked so focused. Eventually, the kids stopped laughing, and then they stomped on Michael's leg. He wanted to say something, I could tell, but he just held on to his leg, where dirt and mud now lay. This was wrong. I stomped over to the boys and kicked one of them in the groin. He fell to the ground. His face was a new shade of red. He stood, and ran away, along with the rest of his friends.
"Wow, nobody's ever stood up for me like that," said Michael. He said a full sentence, we're making progress. I gave him a smile, and he gave me a small smile, but it quickly faded away. I left the school and started walking home, and I saw Michael standing at the school fence, waiting. I walked over to him. "Are you waiting for someone?" I asked. "Either my mother or my sister," he replied in a frustrated tone. I asked if he wanted to come over to my house, but he declined my offer. "Okay, can I come over to your house then? We can walk there together, and I don't have to be home by five," I offered. He turned and looked at me for a second, and nodded his head.
The walk to his house was very quiet. While I looked at the many homes and tried to think up of conversation topics, Michael just kept looking straight ahead. We arrived at this house that looked quite old and Michael walked up to the front door. I followed behind him. When I walked inside, this teenage girl was sitting at the couch and looked over. "Aw, you finally got a girlfriend Michael," she teased. "I'm just his friend," I shot back. She turned back to the television and said, "Whatever." I didn't like her. Michael gestured me to come upstairs with him. "Leave the baby alone," said his sister. Michael didn't reply, and we went upstairs. Ignoring his sister's commands, he went over and held this cute little baby in his arms. "She's so cute! What's her name?" Michael faced me and said, "Angel, her name is Angel." I didn't know his last name, so I asked what it was. "Myers," he said. Michael handed me the baby and I took her into my arms. She smiled at me. The door downstairs opened and I heard a female voice. Must be his mother. We both ran downstairs and met up with this mother. "Hi sweetie, who's your friend?" Asked Michael's mother. "It's his new girlfriend," Michael's sisiter called form the couch. His mother shot a dirty look to her, and she smiled at the both of us. "I'm Chrissie," I said, shaking Michael's mother's hand. "I'm Deborah," she replied. At least his mother is nice.
It was 4:45 p.m. when I left. I made arrangements to go trick 'r treating with Michael on Halloween tomorrow. The next day, I'm walking down the halls when I see Michael enter the boy's bathroom. I see the group of boys from yesterday enter too. One of them had a poster that looked very similar to Michael's mother. A couple minutes later, I return, and I see the principal dragging Michael out of the bathroom by the ear.