Monday March 16th

Ashley Spinelli was woken up at six in the morning by Flo, her mom, yelling at her from outside.

"ASHLEY SPINELLI, GET YOUR BUTT IN THE SHOWER NOW OR YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Flo screeched.

"Good morning to you too, Mom," Spinelli said, sitting up in bed. She turned her bedside radio on and 'American Idiot' by Green Day started playing. Spinelli turned the volume up to full blast and smiled. Nothing like a great song to wake you up in the morning, she thought to herself, getting out of her red single bed.

Spinelli opened her black curtains and looked at the sky. "Here's to an awesome day," she said.

Spinelli had a quick, cold shower- it only took her ten minutes to wash her mid-length black hair. Then she returned to her room.

Spinelli's room was quite small, but she didn't mind. She had black walls, and you couldn't even see the floor, it was so messy. She had black curtains, a red single bed and her light had a red bulb in it, which had a really cool effect. Her closet was made of dark wood, and in one corner of the room was her red guitar; she'd been learning to play since she was eleven and she was getting pretty good now.

Spinelli had a whole wall of pictures in her room. There were posters of a few of her favourite bands- Blink 182, Evanescence, Green Day, Linkin Park and Paramore, and posters of her favourite wrestlers and skateboarders. Spinelli loved drawing and a lot of her artwork was up on the wall too; both portraits of her family and friends and made up cartoon figures. There were loads of photos, too; various photo of her family standing outside the cottage they always stayed at over Christmas, year after year after year. A photo of her with her guitar on the day she got it. A photo of her brother Joey cradling her on the day she was born; he was just two and a half at the time, he was now nineteen and had left home, Spinelli missed him tons. There were pictures of Spinelli with her friends, too; loads of pictures of her new friends, Sam and Dave (formerly The Diggers), Ruby (formerly Upside Down Girl) and Kate (formerly Swinger Girl). She only had one picture of the whole gang from Third Street, taken by Hustler Kid on the last day of fourth grade of the whole gang standing in front of Old Rusty. But sadly the gang went their separate ways; Gus got relocated in sixth grade and Spinelli never saw him again, Vince became a jock and Mikey got heavily involved in drama. Spinelli remained friends with Gretchen throughout middle school and freshman year, however at the end of freshman year Gretchen got transferred to a school for geniuses and they only spoke about once a week. Spinelli had, however, stayed friends with TJ; he too was part of Spinelli's new friendship group. Spinelli could trust TJ with her life. She told him everything; well, apart from her love life. Because he was the one she had a huge crush on. It had been that way since fourth grade, and now they were in sophomore year that crush just got stronger.

It took her five minutes to dry her hair, and then she put on her clothes, which she'd chosen on the spot; a purple tye-dye T-Shirt with black skinny jeans and black Converse. She went downstairs to have breakfast with Bob and Flo, her parents. Bob was a mechanic and Flo was a waitress at a café. They ate cereal in front of the TV- Bob and Flo liked to watch the news in the morning. They talked about a lot of things- Spinelli liked her parents, they were embarrassing sometimes, but at least they were around a lot.

At 6:45, she went back upstairs to brush her teeth and apply her makeup. She only wore a little bit of makeup- concealer when she had a spot, and black eyeliner- but nothing more than that.

She quickly glanced at herself in her wall mirror. She'd never really been bothered about her appearance- but now, she started worrying about how she looked when TJ was around. She sighed- she would never be good enough for TJ, but it couldn't be helped.

It was 6:50 when Spinelli left the house. She walked to school- since she was sixteen, she could have driving lessons, but her family couldn't afford them at the minute, and she had to work after school and on Saturdays to save up to learn to drive and buy a car. But Spinelli didn't mind, because she walked to school with TJ.

Her and TJ lived four doors down from each other. Spinelli walked down the street and knocked on TJ's door. TJ hadn't changed at all since he left Third Street- except he'd grown taller and he wasn't as stocky. He was still obsessed with Senior Fusion, he still wore his backwards red baseball cap, he still had a crush on Spinelli. But she had no idea that he did. They walked down the street together, chatting about things. On their way to school, they passed Third Street School, their elementary school, and the memories flooded back to them. Apparently, Hector was king now. It was weird to think that he was now king- he'd only been in second grade when they were in sixth grade theirselves. Growing up was scary, Spinelli decided.

They arrived at Second Street High School at 7:20. School didn't start until 7:30, so Spinelli and TJ had time to find Ruby, Kate, Sam, Dave and Francis and talk.

They saw Ashley A. walk up the path.

"Morning, Spinugly, morning, Dorkweiler," Ashley A. said automatically in a mean tone of voice.

"Get lost, Powderpuff," Spinelli said, replying by instinct. They'd hated each other for so long, insulting each other came naturally to both of them.

"Hey, Spinelli! TJ! Over here!" came the voice of Kate, who was standing with Ruby, Sam and Dave.

"Hey, guys!" TJ said brightly.

There was a chorus of hellos.

"Hey TJ, Spinelli, guess what!" Ruby said, looking happier than they'd seen her in ages. "Dave asked me out last night and I said yes!"

"Awesome!" TJ said.

"Congratulations," Spinelli said, grinning. Dave and Ruby had liked each other for ages, just been too shy to admit it. Kate and Sam were already going out and had been for nearly three weeks now.

"So we're going to the movies and then for pizza on Saturday, on a double date," Sam said. "Me and Kate, Dave and Ruby. You two can come with us if you want."

"As friends," Spinelli and TJ said at the same time.

The other four exchanged glances, then the bell rang.

"Well, see you later," TJ said; he, Sam and Dave were in a different homeroom to the girls, who waved and walked down the corridor in the opposite direction.

"So, Spinelli, when are you gonna tell TJ?" Ruby asked.

"Tell TJ what?" Spinelli said.

"You know what," Kate smirked.

"No, I don't." Spinelli snapped.

"That you like him!" Kate said, tossing back her wavy red hair.

"I don't like TJ!"

Kate and Ruby raised their eyebrows.

"It's true! We're just friends. Nothing more."

"There's no such thing as 'just friends'," Ruby said.

"Yeah there is!" Spinelli argued. "I've had plenty of other guy friends. In elementary school, I was friends with Gus, Mikey and Vince. Now I'm friends with Sam and Dave. No one's ever thought anything was going on between me and any of them."

"Look, Spinelli. There's a very thin line between 'just friends' and liking each other," Kate said. "You never crossed that line with any of your other guy friends. But you're way beyond the line with TJ. You have been since that experiment in fourth grade."

"You're talking trash." Spinelli scorned. "Since when did you two become boy experts anyway?"

"Spinelli!" Ruby sighed. "TJ likes you. You like TJ. It doesn't take an expert to work that out."

School was over now, and Spinelli was at the mall, behind the counter in a toy store. She worked here on Saturday afternoons and for a few hours after school each night.

She didn't really like her job that much. She would rather spend her Saturdays watching TV, hanging out with her friends or going to the skate park. But it couldn't be helped. Her family weren't exactly rich- and if she ever wanted to drive then she needed to work. Even at home, she only got her allowance if she helped with the chores- washing the car, doing the dishes, watering the plants, vacuuming the living room floor.

Spinelli didn't actually know what she did want to do when she left school, and it was kind of scaring her- after this semester was finished, she'd only have two more years until graduation. She'd have to make her mind up soon. She would probably try to get a career in art or music. She really wanted to make a band- she'd already written some songs, but she couldn't sing at all.

Spinelli sighed- even though she knew it was never going to happen, it would be amazing to be the lead guitarist in a band- if she closed her eyes she could see herself on the stage, playing her guitar, while tens of thousands of fans roared adoringly in the audience…

"Hello?" A little boy said, and Spinelli sighed. She was back in the real world, and the real world was in this toy store, behind the counter, putting this little boy's new action figure in a plastic bag for him to take home.

Spinelli sighed. The one good thing about working here- besides the money- was that as it was a toy store, no one she knew would see her- the store's uniform looked awful on her, it was a red polo shirt and a red cap with the store's logo on it. But no one she knew would walk into a toy store, so she would have nothing to worry about.

Or so she thought.

She heard the word "Scandalous!" and sighed, as all four Ashleys walked in, grinning evilly.

"Ew, like, look at Spinelli. She looks even more gross than usual in that stupid uniform," Ashley A. said, and the other three squealed with laughter.

Spinelli scowled. "I know you Ashleys are a pathetic, immature bunch of babies, but I didn't think I'd ever see even you in a toy store."

All four Ashleys raised their perfectly plucked eyebrows.

"If you don't wanna buy anything, then get out of here, you lowlifes," Spinelli growled.

Ashley A. laughed. "You're calling us lowlifes? Look at you!"

"I'd, like, rather not look at Spinugly," Ashley T. said, and the other three laughed like hyenas again.

"If you don't wanna look at me, then fine. You can buy something or you can leave," Spinelli said.

"Like, whatever, Spinugly." Ashley B. said.

"'Like, whatever, Spinugly'?" Spinelli echoed. "Is that really the best you brats can manage?"

"That not good enough for you, Spinugly?" Ashley Q. said. "Well, like, how about you're a fat, ugly loser who'll, like, never get a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, even Dorkweiler wouldn't date you!" Ashley A. said. "I mean, like, look at you. You have to work in this pathetic little store just so your trailer trash family don't, like, starve."

Spinelli lunged for them, but they all squealed, "Scandalous!" and ran out of the store, giggling.

It was evening. Spinelli had just had dinner with her family, and now she was in her room, practising guitar. She was so wrapped up in it that she didn't even hear someone knocking on her door, three times.

Suddenly, the door opened, and TJ walked in. "Sounding good," he said, grinning.

"TJ!" Spinelli shrieked, putting her guitar down. "Don't just barge into my room like that! I could have been indecent!"

TJ blushed a little. "Well, I did knock. Three times. Ain't my fault you couldn't hear me."

Spinelli flopped down onto the bed. Since that encounter with the Ashleys at work, Spinelli had forgotten all about what Kate and Ruby said to her about her and TJ. But now TJ was here, it all came back to her.

As if TJ could read her mind, he said, "Sam and Dave were grilling me a bit this morning. Saying that we were more than just friends."

Spinelli nodded. "Yeah. Kate and Ruby were doing the same."

"Isn't it annoying when people do that?" TJ said, and Spinelli smiled weakly. They talked about how annoying it was when people thought boys and girls couldn't just be friends for a while, until Spinelli found she didn't want to talk about it more. Because deep down, she wanted to be more than just friends with TJ, and hearing TJ say otherwise hurt her.

"You wanna watch TV?"

"Yeah, sure!"

As they went downstairs and sat on the sofa, Spinelli's miserable mood disappeared. They put their feet up on the coffee table. Beanie McChimp was on. Even though they were both sixteen, they would never be too old for cartoons.

"Anything I can get you guys?" Bob Spinelli asked.

"Ice cream, please," Spinelli said.

She grinned. Great friends, great family and the ability to stand up for herself. Life couldn't be any better.

This is the life, Spinelli thought to herself.

Sorry if those chapters were a bit too long. I suppose I got carried away. I just wanted to get across the fact that Ashley A is a rich, spoiled brat, and Spinelli comes from a normal family and has to work hard to get money. That's important in the story. And the real story starts in the next chapter.