Harmony's life was perfect. She had a loving family, loving friends, and was actually known by many people at school. She loved doing ballet with the other people in her group. Funny how easily something can get flipped upside down.

Harmony never wanted to move. She liked where she lived and didn't want to leave her family because of her father's job. It wasn't fair! Everything she had ever known was where she was currently. And then her parents just up and announced to her and her younger brother that they were moving. This was obviously a big impact on Harmony. She spoke her first word there, she took her first steps there, she even made her first friend there! She didn't want to move halfway across the country just for her father's job. But Harmony never said she didn't want to move. Why would she? She was doing the right thing, anyways... there was no point in trying to selfishly pester her parents to let her stay. Begrudgingly, she packed her things for the big move.

The thing that she was looking forward to was meeting her aunt and uncle. They had always lived there, and she had never gotten to meet them. They didn't have any kids, her mother had told her.

Josh, Harmony's nine-year-old brother, was also excited to meet them. Unlike Harmony, who had auburn hair and blue eyes, he had light blonde hair and blue eyes.

So then came moving day, when Harmony said goodbye to all of her friends and most of her family one last time before boarding the plane. It was a smooth ride- which relieved Harmony. She didn't need anymore stress about riding a plane.

They got off the plane and headed towards their new home. Her mother told her to go outside with her brother to the local park and try to make friends there.

But Harmony didn't want to. She did go to the park, but she didn't want to make new friends. They seemed to intimidate her, anyways. She spotted some kid in the distance with an orange bandanna, but didn't even bother trying to talk to him. He looked... tough. The exact opposite of Harmony. At least she saw a few girls who looked like they were ballerinas as well. She went over to greet them, but found that they weren't very good people. Harmony already hated this place. Whilst Josh was making friends, Harmony was feeling homesick. She even watched a group of four kids in the distance, whom looked like they were having fun. She couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but didn't try getting closer. She didn't want to interrupt that. She sat on a bench and waited for her brother to be done. He excitedly told her about the new friends he had made. She gave him a thumbs up and forced a smile. He didn't seem to notice how forced it was.

One boy was hanging upside down from a tree.

"Aiden, don't do that." scolded one of the two girls, fixing her ribbon.

"I live for the head rush!" Aiden exclaimed, hanging from the tree more dangerously.

"Weren't those the exact words you said when you last climbed a tree and broke your arm?"

"Oh, shush."

Aiden's brother was sitting at the trunk of the tree his notebook open as he scribbled down notes. "Aiden, that is not a good idea." He warned his brother.

"Say whatcha want, Ivan." He yawned, seeing the world from upside down.

The second girl was picking some flowers. "When you get killed, don't blame us."

"Emily that's not very nice of you." huffed Aiden as he swung back up and the world wasn't upside down anymore.

"Sorry that it's true." Emily shrugged. She was picking lilies. "Hey, Tessa, have you seen any sunflowers?" (I'm very sorry I'm no flower expertise)

"Yeah, over there." She pointed down the path and in the distance.

"Okay! Thanks! I'm making a bouquet for my mom!"

Tessa frowned a little at that. "Oh... I could go help."

"Sorry if I made you feel bad..." Emily apologized to her friend, knowing she lived with her dad and her parents were divorced. "But yeah! You can help! Mom would appreciate it!"

"Okay!" She followed after her friend.

"Aiden, you are such a hypocrite." Ivan sighed, closing his notebook.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Yesterday, you were just telling me not to climb up trees because I could get myself hurt like you did, and here we are today, and you still haven't learned anything from your last experience."

"I like climbing trees. And I wouldn't want to see my baby brother getting hurt." There was that babyish tone in Aiden's last sentence that could easily tick anyone off.

Ivan didn't show any emotion towards this, but just stared at his brother.

Things could only seem to go downhill from there. On top of all of that, her aunt and uncle didn't like her. Not at all. They told her she wasn't good enough. They told her she needed to change. They had said they deserved a better niece.

Even though they didn't ever physically harm her, they did always mentally. Her confidence in herself was lost. She could use a friend. But she was just the new girl. No one knew her. No one cared to know her. That all changed one day. That was day Ethan came into her life. The day he defended her from those bullies. He was the polar opposite of her. Tough. Brave. Optimistic.

"Heya! Come on, let's just forget about what happened! How about we get to know each other instead?" That was all this boy seemed to want. A true friend.

Harmony nodded, though she doubted she could forget about those bullies. But they always seemed awfully intimidated by Ethan, so they never said anything to her unless Ethan wasn't around or wasn't paying attention.

She didn't have a brave bone in her body. She wasn't tough. She was more of a coward. Ethan didn't seem to think so. Somehow, this boy that she barely even knew was defensive of anyone who challenged her. She... appreciated him. She looked up to him. And so did Josh. He tried being as tough as Ethan was- and couldn't succeed- but always admired him.

But Ethan wasn't necessary the most modest person, either. He fibbed an awful lot, but tried not to do it much for Harmony's sake. He only did it so his parents wouldn't guilt trip him.

This led to Harmony developing a crush on him. He was so sweet and caring- and despite how much he hated ballet, he went to every single recital she had. And no matter how many times they fought, Ethan always seemed to be the first one to apologize, even when most of the time the conflict started because of Harmony. She never understood why. It was a constant war of them both apologizing and saying it was their fault. The cycle typically never ended until one of them forgot about the argument.

"You're the worst friend ever!" Harmony yelled at him.

"Well so are you! You're a coward! You just run away from your own problems and expect me to fix them!" Ethan countered. That actually stung her a little. She seemed hurt.

"You're right Ethan. I won't deny it."

Ethan felt a wave of guilt. "I didn't mean it, I swear! I was just so frustrated with you!"

"No. I get it, Ethan..." Her expression was downcast.

"I'm serious! I'm sorry!"

"I know you are. But what you said is still true. Nothing you say can change that."

Ethan frowned before walking over and hugging her. He felt really bad that he had said that to his best friend...

Then came the day when Aiden met the two. He was pretty laid back, Harmony judged at first glance. And he was. He introduced them to his brother and two other friends. No matter how much she knew they cared about her- and how much more happier she had felt since she had moved there- what her aunt and uncle said to her still swirled around in her mind. Not even Ethan was aware of this mental abuse. She didn't want to tell him. She was afraid of what he'd say. She knew she was overreacting when she thought he'd turn his back on her if he knew. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't.

She did admit a lot of things to Ethan. Like her fears. Her insecurities. He listened to everything. He trusted that her telling him everything that would help her feel better. He'd even end up hugging her and telling her how good of a friend she was just to make her feel better about herself. That meant a lot to Harmony. And when she was being entirely honest, Ethan was too good for her. Ethan would deny it, but that wouldn't stop her from thinking it.

Harmony watched the others from the sidelines. Ethan plopped down next to her. "Aren't you going to come with us to play tag?"

"Ah... I'll just watch." She told him, trying to not look at him.

"What's wrong." Ethan's expression hardened. He instantly knew something was up.

"I just... am unsure whether or not I fit in here..."

"Of course you fit in!" reassured Ethan, throwing his arm around her casually. "I fit in, and I'm a doofus!"

Harmony laughed at his enthusiasm. She had never met anyone before Ethan that looked so proud about insulting himself. "If you say so."

"I KNOW so." He grinned and pulled her to her feet. "Come on. Let's just play with them. I'll be it first and you can run."

"Okay." She forced a smile.

She still didn't know if she ever truly fit in with that group of friends. Well, not until they had fallen Underground. Before then, she trusted them, but she knew her biggest weakness was that she trusted people too easily. She only truly felt she could truly trust Ethan. That was why she always stuck around him... because if anything went wrong, he'd be there...

The day she was told that Ivan and Aiden had disappeared had shocked her. She had heard everyone talking about the girl who climbed up Mt. Ebott and never came back down. She knew what would happen. She couldn't bare the thought of being alone again. So she said she'd go with them to look for them. When they got to the cavern, they found Ivan's glasses. Harmony just wanted to get a better glimpse of what they'd be getting into. She slipped and hung onto the edge of the hole. She couldn't even see the bottom. She wondered if this was it. If her destiny was to die. She lost grip and Ethan caught her hand. But even he wasn't strong enough to pull her up, and ended up sliding down on top of her. When she woke up, her body ached. She was on the bottom of a pile of four people. That's when the journey started for her and her friends. She was still herself. Just more cautious so she wouldn't feel hurt if they did leave her in the dust.

But the more she went through with them, the more she trusted them. The more she felt like she had found her place. The more she felt glad that she had met these people.

Maybe... falling Underground wasn't such a terrible thing after all.

This was a lot