Chapter Two

Renelle's POV

Nettie and I went to the lockers by my friends. When they saw us their eyes widened and then stood up.

"Are you the new kid?" Elsie asked.

"Yeah," Nettie answered in a nervous tone.

"This is Antoinette, guys," I said, motioning to her with my thumb. "Antoinette, this is my squad: Elsie, Izabel, Jenna, Kevin, and Justin."

"It's nice to meet you, Antoinette," Elsie said, smiling and nodding. She was the most kind of my squad of friends. She had nice blonde hair that fell to below her torso, with hazel eyes that were always full of kindness and protectiveness for everyone. Elsie didn't like fights and she would always be there for you no matter what. Now she wore black leggings along with a navy blue and white striped shirt and white Nikes.

Next to her was Izabel, the one who didn't really do her homework, but she was a good friend. She had brown hair that reached her shoulders, with blonde highlights. She wore blue jeans, along with a white sequined shirt and black high top Converse. Those silver eye were always amused and full of curiosity.

I could see that Julie was absent. She was the smartest one of the group and the most talented in a way. When she sang, the emotion was strong and she had such a beautiful voice, although she told me I had sang the best, which wasn't totally true. Sure, my voice sounded like a peal of bells, and when I sang it was nice, but she was better. Her milky eyes would always be filled with laughter, happiness and those math problems she always worked on for fun. She always wore like a school uniform type style, but it looked with her dark brown curls that fell below her waist.

Then there was Jenna. Jenna had dyed all of her hair this bronzey looking color, which always reminded me of someone I couldn't quite remember for some reason. She was the shortest one out of all of us, about four feet and eleven inches. Her hair fell past her shoulders, although not quite past her torso. She usually wore jeans and striped shirts, and her mint green eyes would always be full of sincere, protective, and mischievious. She would always pull stunts that we wouldn't know about until the last minute. Jenna was cool and a good friend, and she could be goofy and funny, but she was also kind of a rebel. Once, she even threw ice at a police car and her parents made her raise money to pay for the fine and cracked windshield. Her parents didn't want us hanging out with her, but my Emily and Jerry thought we all were a good influence on her. They also said that we could help her.

Lastly, there was the cute gay couple of the school. Their names were Kevin and Justin. We even made them a ship name that they're very fond of: Kevinstin. They came to us and smiled. Justin had bright blonde hair and sea green eyes. He wore a black Polo shirt and jeans, along with his red and white Nikes. Kevin was more of the hoodie/jeans kind of guy, with his black Vans. His red hair looked good on him, showing his gold eyes. He was super hot I had to admit, but he was gay, and I accepted it. Plus, I wasn't ready to start dating. We've been friends since I moved here and he trusted me when he'd first told me he had feelings for Justin. I still remembered that day very clearly...


"So, I need to tell you something. Please don't tell anyone, as I don't think I can come out of the closet yet. " He'd said after school ended, and we were at Wendy's, because he wanted to talk to me.

"Of course, Kevin, I won't tell anyone," I'd answered, nodding, to back my statement up.

He leaned over the table, pushing his Coke to the side, looking side to side, as if to see that no one could hear him. His gold eyes showed he was scared, and I could tell he was moving super fast. Finally, he cleared his throat.

"You know Justin Cleveland?" He questioned.

"Yeah, why?" I raised my eyebrow, wondering if something bad had gone on between them.

"I think I have feelings for him." He leaned back, and had taken a sip of his Coke, acting as if he'd said nothing.

"Oh my God!" I whispered excitedly. By this I could tell he was gay. I accepted the fact that he was, and I was proud of him from that time on.

"You're not mad at me for it?" Kevin asked nervously, his voice cracking at the end.

"Of course not, it doesn't matter to me what sexuality you are. I am so happy for you. Just know that I'll always have your back no matter what."

He'd smiled and a blush filled his cheeks, and I could tell he really liked Justin.


Now, two years later, they were dating, and I was happy for the both of them. Justin had actually come out and told Kevin he had feelings for him, and that's when they had their first kiss.

"Nice to meet you, Antoinette." That was Justin, and he held out his hand. Nettie shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Justin." She looked at me and her expression showed happiness and relief. Nettie was smiling hugely, and I couldn't help but smile back. I focused, though, to read her mind, looking at her eyes.

Oh my God! Gay goals! The rest of them are cool, too. I can't wait to tell my mom about my new friends!

I smiled at that. I looked to them. "Mind if she sits with us today?" I asked my friends.

Izabel's eyes widened with surprise at having a new friend.

"Sure thing," she said. Izabel turned to Nettie, smiling. "You can sit with us whenever you want." I was glad that they were getting along already. But then again, who wouldn't like Antoinette? She was likable, and that was a good trait to have.

"Just to warn you, Jenna's the badass," Justin said, laughing.

"I am not!" She retorted, glaring at him, but I could see that she was suppressing a smile. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Nettie was laughing.

We talked for another five minutes and then the warning bell rang.

"Ugh," Izabel groaned. "Well, all I'm gonna do when I get in class is take nap."

We all laughed at that and then headed to our first period. Sixth and seventh grade had been a blast and now eighth grade was going to come to an end soon, as it was already the middle of the year.

"Can you come with me to the office to get my schedule?" Nettie asked me, before I headed to the right and down the gold hallways to the last classroom on the left.

"Sure thing." We went to the left and down the maroon hallways. The walls on the right were gold, but for some reason the walls on the left were maroon. The classrooms in this particular hallway were getting filled and ended on the right, with the STEM class. Oh, how I detested that class. Not only was it boring, but the teacher didn't explain things very well. It was a good thing I got choir this year.

The office was on the right, and the nurse's office was on the left of it. We went into the warm office, with chocolate brown colored carpet, and to the secretary's desk. Her wooden "name tag" had her name on it, Mrs. Ramsay.

She saw us coming, her straight caramel hair in a ponytail, turning as she turned away from the computer.

"Mrs. Ramsay? Antoinette here is a new student. Can she please have her schedule?" I asked as we came up to the desk.

I heard her heart stop when she saw me as she always did. My face was always a surprise to her, and she couldn't believe my mom and dad didn't really look like me. That confused me as well. Her beating went back to normal and her breathing relaxed as she smiled.

"What's your last name, Antoinette?" She asked Nettie.

"Claverly," she responded.

"Okay, let me pull up your schedule and then I'll print it."

"Thanks, Mrs. Ramsay."

Mrs. Ramsay nodded and she turned to the computer once again. I could see that before she pulled up Nettie's name that she had looked up Izabel's name. What for, though? What did she do now? I thought.

A moment later she got out of her seat and went to the printer, which was in the middle of the office, behind the desk for signing in and out of school if you had to leave early. The warm paper came out. Everyone in the office added to the warmth of the office.

"Here you go, Antoinette. Welcome to Round Lake Middle School." Nettie took the paper and she smiled at the secretary before we went out the door. She looked at it on our way down the halls and I could see from my phone that we would be a few minutes late for our first classes.

"What's your schedule?" I asked curiously, wanting us to have most classes together.

She handed me the paper and I took a look at it:

First Period: Mr. Jennings-English

Second Period: Ms. Luna-Gym

Third Period: Ms. Carrillo and Ms. Hernandez- Biology (SPLIT PERIOD)

Fourth Period: Lunch

Fifth Period: Mr. Jimenez- Math l Honors

Advisory: Ms. Jackson

That was wonderful! We had five out of six classes together.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed as I gave her the paper back. "We have almost all of our classes together, with the exception second period, 'cause I have gym until tomorrow."

"That's awesome!" Nettie was smiling widely. "What do you have for second period today?"

"I'm in choir."

"That's cool. Wait, I've wanted to hear you sing since I first heard you speak, on the bus earlier."

"Umm, maybe later on the bus after school." I was nervous about singing in front of new people. Even though she was now one of my friends, I was still nervous with new people."

"Ok, well let's get going to English." I hadn't realized that we'd stopped walking halfway there. We walked into the classroom a little later than I thought we would, but when Mr. Jennings noticed Nettie by my side, he nodded and said he wouldn't mark us tardy.


First period went by so fast and I got to sit by Nettie today and that was her seat for the rest of the year. I was happy about that and she told me she was glad that someone she knew was in almost all of her classes.

"Do you want me to walk you to your gym class?" I asked her, happy to help.

"If you don't mind..."

"Of course I don't, don't worry."

We started walking down the hallway and she surprised me with the question I was hoping she wouldn't ask.

"Why is Jenna the badass?" She asked, and I could see that her cheeks were turning pink, and I thought it was from embarrassment.

"Umm, long story, I'll tell, you sometime later today." She was blushing even more now, and I was able to tell what was going on. I could sense that she was embarassed about asking too many questions.

I looked at her eyes, and I could feel her thoughts coming into my mind.

I feel like I'm asking too many questions but I can't help feeling curious. Hope she doesn't mind.

"Okay," she said, relief coloring her tone.

We continued walking and we said "bye" to each other before I went off to choir, downstairs. I smiled as I thought of the questions she'd ask at lunch.


Nettie's POV

"Ms. Luna, can I have a uniform? Or will I get it tomorrow?" I asked.

"You're the new kid, aren't you?" She questioned, her voice almost drowned out by all of the other kids' talking.

"Yeah, Antoinette Claverly." I was embarrassed because of my last name, but at the moment I didn't care. All I cared about at the moment was being able to be in the next class, where Nellie was.

"Today you will be sitting on the bleachers, but tomorrow you will start gym officially."

"Ok, thanks."

I walked off to the bleachers, and I caught some people looking at me, curiosity and questioning in their expressions.

"Alright, listen up!" called one of the other teachers, a guy and boy was he super loud. There were a total of five teachers."Time for exercises! Abigail, Merissa." Two girls, one short and the other taller, about my height, five feet and six inches. One had brown hair that was past the shoulders and dyed blue at the ends. The shorter girl looked a couple inches less than five feet, and she had dark brown ringlets in a ponytail, that went below her torso.

The girl with dyed hair said,"Twenty jumping jacks everyone!" Everyone was counting with them, doing the jumping jacks. Then they put their each arm behind them, counting for ten seconds each time. Then they did the bicep stretch, and followed with a twenty second plank. After that, they did some more exercises and ended with twenty sit-ups. At my old school we had to do only ten. After they were done, the guy teacher spoke and the girls started to go back to their places. The taller girl came by and sat next to me.

"Hey, you must be the new girl. I'm Abigail, or Abby," she said. Her silver eyes glowers with curiosity yet they were careful.

"Yeah, my name is Antoinette, or Nettie. It's nice to meet you, Abby," I said, smiling.

She returned the smile, and I could see the dimples on both sides of her mouth. The teacher announced that they would be doing two rotations, whatever that was, and Abby waver goodbye before getting up and going.

"Girls will be jogging first and the boys will be walking." The guy teacher said. He had light dirty blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was like one of those teachers that scared you as soon as you glanced at them. The girls went to the yellow lined part of the gym and the boys went to the "army greened" lines. Music started to play in the back proud and meanwhile the girls started jogging, and the boys walked. I noticed that the short girl that was with Abby during exercises was jogging with her. They must have been best friends for a while now.

Ms. Luna walked towards me and told me they were doing kickball and if I wanted to I could go to the choir room, as they had a room for these kinds of situations. Abby was just passing by and stopped jogging to volunteer to show me where the choir room. The teacher agreed and motioned for us to go ahead.

When we walked out, she told me about how there was about fifty students in choirs, and those were just the eight-graders.

I opened my mouth in surprise and almost forgot how to close it. She laughed at my expression and smiled again, those dimpled cheeks flashing.

"Do you know Renelle?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, why?" I responded. I honestly couldn't come up with a reason of why she would ask me that.

"She's a good singer, and it sounds like a peak of bells when she does. Nellie's the best singer in the eighth grade. She even went to compete in regionals in the summer Glee club here." Wow, she competed?

"Yeah, when she talked to me on the bus, her voice sounded like many instruments in harmony with a lot of bells at the same time. She must be really good." I knew when I first looked at her that she was talented.

"Yup, she's pretty amazing." At that exact moment, I could hear what I guessed to be her voice. It was so amazing. We weren't even at the choir room, according to Abby. The peal of bells seemed like it went along with many instruments at the same time. Nellie's voice was music louder than the other voices.

We finally reached the choir room, the doors were long and wide. We pushed the, open and the choir teacher stopped them, and I could see Nellie. She was in front, center, as if she were the one doing the solo and the others were just singing along quietly to create harmony.

She smiled and her smile beamed, standing out from the other smiles that indicated curiosity and their eyes full of unspoken questions.

"Have fun!" Abby told me excitedly before heading out back to the gym.

"Miss?" The choir teacher didn't know my name of course. Then how did all of the students seem to know my name?

"Right, um, Ms. Luna sent me here. Where's the room?" I asked, feeling embarrassed and my cheeks were red from it.

"It's on the right over there. If you need anything, let me know," he said, pointing to the door that led to the room. The milky chocolate carpet felt soft under the soles of my feet. I opened the wooden door with the small archway and entered it the room.

The room was wide, compared to the small archway around the door. Three desks stood around the walls. One in center, the other ones on the left and right sides. They were brown, and the nameplates read the names: Mr. Bergundy, Mrs. Diamond, and Ms. Garcia. Huh. One of the adults' last names was Diamond. What a pretty name. I walked to the black chair that was in front of Mrs. Diamond's desk. It was an armchair, soft and comfortable.

The students continued to sing, and Nellie's bell-like voice sounded so beautiful. She sounded confident and sung with emotion. Nellie was singing Bye, Bye, Bye by NSYNC, my favorite band. The song's words rang through the room and the other students were singing the background music.

I wanna see you out that door, baby bye, bye, bye.

Don't wanna be a fool for you, just another player in your game for two.

You may hate me but it ain't no lie, baby bye, bye, bye.

Soon, before realizing it, I was singing along with them, as this was such a good song, and one of my faves.

I wanted to join choir, and thought about talking to the office about it.


Renelle's POV

We finished singing Bye, bye, bye and now has free time before singing the next song, It's Gonna Be Me in about ten minutes. I went to the room to talk with Nettie. She was in the black armchair, by Mrs. Diamond's desk. Nellie was on her phone, and she looked up when she saw me. Her face beamed and her smile was radiant.

"You are such a good singer!" She exclaimed, smiling so big.

"Thanks," I responded. My cheeks got red from embarrassment and I went to sit by her, on the ground, crossing my legs. I took my phone from my pocket and turned it on.

"How is your bell so peal-like?" Nettie asked curiously, all of a sudden.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I answered honestly. "The only other person I know who has the same bell-like voice is Kevin."

"Hmm," was all Nettie replied.

The next five minutes passed by slowly, Nettie listening to music and playing some game on her phone. I went on Snapchat and checked my messages, as well as putting some things on my story. It was silent, until Jeremy came in.

"Yo, new kid," he said. Jeremy was one of the most popular kids and he usually talked in slang words. He wore sneakers along with shorts, no matter the weather, and a T-Shirt. He was cute, but not necessarily my type. All the girls would flirt with him, but I didn't really care. Rumor was that he has feelings for me to this day, but I didn't like him back. He smirked at me and I only smiled a little smile to be polite, although it didn't take away the fact that it was awkward when he was around.

"She can't hear you," I told him and then as if to back me up, Nettie started to sing along to her song. Jeremy looked confused and then yelled "New kid" really loudly, and I had to cover my ears. Nettie looked up and looked surprised, removing one earbud.

"What?"

"What's up new kid? All good?" Jeremy asked. She laughed a little at his use of words.

"Yeah," she said, laughing. "My name is Antoinette, or Nettie."

"Nice to meet ya, Nettie." Jeremy smiled and went out of the room.

"Who is he?" Nettie asked me, and I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"That's Jeremy, he just talks like that all the time. He's one of the most popular kids in the school. Rumor has it he likes me still, from grade school."

"Wow," she said."Well, he is kind of cute. He seems cool, but really weird. But, nevertheless, I ship it!" My mouth opened wide in surprise, I couldn't believe it, she was going to try to get us together. That was not going to work. I almost forgot how to close my mouth, but finally did.

"I'm kidding!" She said, but that mischievous smile was playing with her lips, finally breaking through. I sighed and continued playing on my phone. Finally, Mr. Baltzer called us to the risers to sing the next song, and I wanted to take Nettie with me so badly.

"You wanna come?" I asked her, and she looked surprised, but her smile beamed. She nodded and stopped her music, putting her phone in her pocket. When we got to the front of the risers, I asked Mr. Baltzer if she could sing with us. He nodded and motioned for her to go ahead, and I went to the front, as usual. She was right behind me, and she looked so happy. I looked into her eyes to see what she was thinking.

Oh my God! I should join choir so I can sing! I hope I can go to the office and ask to be switched.

Huh. She had already planned before now, and I was glad. Singing was my hobby, and when I was home alone, I would sing to the tops of my lungs, and sometimes the neighbors would tell me politely to please sing quieter, although I didn't necessarily care how loud I sang.

Mr. Baltzer started to play the piano to the song and we all started singing.

You might have been hurt, babe.

That ain't no lie.

Nettie was such a good singer, singing at the right pitch and melody. She was right in planning to talk to the office. After we finished the song, we all sang Bruno Mars That's What I Like. I could tell that Nettie liked that song, as she sung with a lot of emotion.

After singing the songs we were going to sing at the next concert, we all had the last twenty minutes for free time. Nettie and I decided to talk to Mr. Baltzer about her joining choir. When we asked him, he smiled and his mustache lifted up.

"Of course you can join, but just so you know you will have to haw gym tomorrow. I'll talk to the office about it and see if they can change your schedule." Nettie was beaming with so much happiness.


Jenna's POV

Ugh. I hate being at school, as it's so fucking boring. Mrs. Jones kept droning on about math, but what was the point of that? We weren't ever going to use math in our lives, unless you wanted to be an accountant. Bored, I slouched in my seat and crossed my arms over my chest. I tapped my feet, hoping that would make time pass by quickly. When I looked at the clock, I could see that there was still a dreadful half hour left.

"Jenna?" That was Mrs. Jones, and apparently she wanted an answer from me. I just shrugged.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know the answer. I wasn't paying attention." A few of my classmates laughed and Mrs. Jones frowned. She turned away after narrowing her eyes at me and asked Nikki, the smart yet really cool girl, what the answer was. I hated first period so much, and I didn't get the point of school anyways.

"You need to get educated, Jenna Rose," my mom had explained to me one afternoon after I had showed her my report card, mostly full of C's and D's, and one B, but that was in gym and that was actually the only good part of school. "You need to get your act together or else you won't be able to go to college."

The boy next to me was bored too, but he had his chin on top of his folded hands. He was smart, but I could tell today he wasn't in the mood for learning, which was me basically 24/7. I sighed and threw my head back in tiredness and boredom. Mrs. Jones told us to pick a partner for the project that we were going to do based on transformations. We were to create a graph of fifteen different places and transform at least ten of them in one way or a compound transformation. I immediately locked eyes with Nikki, and she smirked.

Everyone went to find their partners and Nikki immediately came to me. She was one of my friends and was nice enough to give me answers.

"Lazy much?" Nikki asked me, and I nodded, smiling with no shame showing in any way and she mockingly frowned. "You know, you should try to get better grades and not make people give you answers to copy from.

I laughed as I said, "You sound like my mom." She laughed with me and sat down.

Mrs. Jones reached us and I could tell by the look from her face that she was upset with me for the thousandth time. I wished she would understand that the way I felt about school was not going to change. She shook her head and sighed as she gave us a packed with three papers.

Nikki started right away, reciting the directions to me.

"You are asked to demonstrate your knowledge by transforming shapes and making places. For this project you will need to transform at least ten of the fifteen different places. You should create your own city with your partner and then make it colorful, although you should spend most of your time getting accurate results and making sure that you do this right."

"Ok, let's get started then," Nikki said excitedly, and I knew she loved math so much, which was weird but I didn't judge her based on that.

As we worked on the project, I learned a lot thanks to Nikki, as I had asked a lot of questions. The main transformations were: translating, reflecting, and rotating. Rotating was the hardest one for me and eventually I did some of the transformations. That didn't change the fact that I didn't like school or math any more, though. I hadn't noticed when Mrs. Jones came by but she was there, overlooking our work and was proud of us, of our progress. When she looked at me, she smiled and said, "Nuce job, Jenna, you are finally starting to participate more." I smiled back and continued to work on the project when a thought came to me.

Who am I and where is the rea Jenna?

Nikki acted as if she could read my mind and chuckled. "Looks like you're finally taking my advice, as well as your moms, eh?" I shook my head but continued working.

After about twenty five minutes, said it was time to clean up and we were to clean up and we started to. As we were cleaning up our things, Nikki made sure that I studied tonight but I shook my head and gave her her notes back.

"I don't think anything like that has changed at all. I'm still not into school, I'm still the real me." I laughed at her expression and she went back to her seat, suppressing a smile herself. When the bel rang, I rushed out of class and went to my technology class, 21st Century. When I got there, Nikki was already there in her seat, and I took my seat next her. I prepared for the next dreadful and slow eighty-one minutes.