After Janelle took a long shower, she ended up having no problems with sleep. Once she got to her bed, her eyes were red from crying and she went to sleep quickly. Her alarm woke her up and she didn't even want to go to school. She had to walk to and from school, which she didn't like. She wasn't used the bell schedule for West Summit, so when she got to the school at around 7:30, she was early. Very early. Her hair was straightened and she was wearing her old high school's grey sweater with dark blue jeans. She was also wearing her black converse. She took her white G-shock and put it on her left wrist. She took her glasses and her backpack and left. Janelle didn't bother to say bye to her parents because they were still sleeping and she didn't want to disturb them. She put her backpack in her locker and only managed to bring her iPod and her notebook and pencil for first period. She was walking around campus and she hated the school so much that she wanted to ditch, but she didn't. She wasn't that type of girl; her parents expected much more from her and she didn't want to disappoint them. Her iPod was blasted so loud that she wasn't able to hear anything but her music. This was how she relieved her stress or her anger; blasting her iPod so loud that she would shut out the world. Janelle checked her watch and it said 7:45. She decided to go to her first period already. Mr. Gardner's door was closed, but not locked. She turned the handle to see no students in their seats and only Mr. Gardner at his desk looking over papers. He looked up as he saw Janelle open the door.

"Wow, you know, you're really early."

"Yeah, I guess." Janelle replied, walking to her seat and removing one of her earphones.

"Oh, you don't sit there anymore. You sit up here." Janelle stopped in front of his desk and gave him a confused look. Janelle thought Mr. Gardner was just doing that so she wouldn't get into trouble in his class, honestly, she didn't care at all. She took her new seat up front and it was facing his desk, perfectly. She put her earphones back on and opened her notebook. Janelle started drawing. Students started walking into first period, but since she couldn't hear anything or anyone, she didn't notice, until Mr. Gardner walked over to her seat and stood over her. Janelle looked up at her teacher, irritated and said, "Um, yes?"

"Janelle, class is about to begin, can you please turn your iPod off?" Janelle didn't answer; instead she just removed her earphones and put it in her pocket. She didn't really pay attention to what Mr. Gardner was saying because she kept on drawing. She didn't care if Mr. Gardner saw her not paying attention or not doing work. When the bell rang, she was the first one out. She wanted to get this day over with. When lunch came, she passed Ashley and Ashley gave her a dirty look, but Janelle just simply smiled and kept on walking. The last bell rang for school to end and she was at her locker gathering her things so she could walk home. She didn't realize how far her locker was from the school's entrance. Janelle put on her backpack and blaster her music again. Everyone in the hall was gone by the time she got her stuff. She was walking and didn't notice who she bumped into.

"Oh, my bad." Janelle said, not really caring who it was. When she looked up, it was her teacher, Mr. Gardner.

"Yeah, it's your bad." Mr. Gardner laughed and Janelle just forced a smile.

"You come to school early, yet you leave school late."

"It's not really late, Mr. Gardner."

"Come to my classroom, I need to talk to you." Janelle didn't notice before, but Mr. Gardner's classroom was near the school's entrance. When Janelle walked behind Mr. Gardner, she couldn't help but notice that he had a nice butt. She grinned to herself, but once they got to the classroom, the grin disappeared. Mr. Gardner sat in his seat at his desk while Janelle just stood over his desk.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" Janelle asked.

"Why weren't you paying attention in class earlier?" Mr. Gardner said, removing his glasses.

"Look, Mr. Gardner, I really don't need a lecture right now. I've got to go." Mr. Gardner stood in Janelle's way.

"You're smart, why waste it?"

"Don't give me that bullshit, Mr. Gardner. Sure, I'm smart, but I can care less." Janelle tried to reach for the door to open it, but Mr. Gardner would not let her through.

"Sit down, please."

"Why, Mr. Gardner? To hear a lecture from you then go home and get another lecture from my parents?"

"Talk to me. Why do you hate it here? I mean, I know it must be hard –"

"No you don't know how hard it is. How hard it is to make new friends and start over. To get in a fight on the first day and I get in trouble for it. This school is shit, no wonder things got out of hand a couple years back with a guy named Charlie Bartlett. I wonder which idiot principal let him get away with selling drugs before a guy had to overdose to find out." Janelle raised her voice and she was getting mad because Mr. Gardner didn't get it, he didn't get the fact that she just simply hated starting over.

"I was the idiot principal." Mr. Gardner looked away, but still stood in Janelle's way.

"Oh, sorry." Janelle felt guilty for saying that, but she was still angry.

"Listen, I know this school isn't the best school, but you're going to have to deal with it since you live here." Mr. Gardner thought that he was calming her down, but Janelle was far from calming down.

"Can I leave now? I have to walk home and it's getting dark."

"Here, let me give you a ride and before you deny, I'm not taking a no for an answer." Mr. Gardner locked his classroom door before leading Janelle to his car. She sat down in the passenger seat with her backpack on her lap. Janelle told him the address of her house and he knew where it was.

"So, why exactly did you move here?" Mr. Gardner asked.

"My Dad got a new job."

"Oh."

"Yup." There was an awkward silence, but Janelle didn't really find it weird that she was in the same car as her teacher. She didn't really care because she didn't want to walk home.

"So, tell me. How'd you react when you found out?"

"That's a stupid question. I was pissed, duh. I wanted to runaway right when I found out." When Janelle and Mr. Gardner arrived at her driveway, she took her backpack, and got out of the car.

"Thanks, Mr. Gardner."

"No problem. Janelle, if you have any problems, you can always talk to me." Janelle smiled at that and she was glad she knew she can rely on someone, even if they were a teacher. She felt much better after hearing that.