It all starts one Sunday evening in Heart-lake City. In one of the old houses no one lives in anymore, one family has settled in. It was a 15-year old girl named Tao Huang. Her mom, Tamyah Huang, and her Aunt Thanh were inside one of the houses. They had just finished putting it together about an hour ago. They were really enjoying it.
"I like this place" Tamyah said to her sister and her daughter.
"Me too" Thanh commented. "I just feel sorry Tao's dad and older sister won't be able to see it. We really did a fine job."
Tao walked in and said hi.
"Hey Tao" Thanh said to her. "How are you liking this so far?"
"It's cool" Tao responded. "It's just I'm gonna be starting my time at a new school tomorrow. I'm really nervous."
"I heard" Tamyah replied. "It's bad enough I have trouble sleeping from time to time after splitting apart from Tao's dad. I don't want anything super horrible to happen to our little sugar."
Thanh thought for a moment before getting an idea in her head. By the time it was 8:45, the 3 of them were all in their pajamas.
"Brilliant idea" Tao said.
"I agree" Tamyah commented. "Sleeping together will surely take our worries off our minds. Goodnight ladies".
The other 2 said goodnight to her before falling asleep.
The next morning, the Huang family was enjoying a lovely pancake breakfast.
"So" Tamyah started saying. "You got everything you need for school?"
"Yeah" Tao said. She then used Chinese to tell her mom and aunt "I got my backpack, notebooks, some pencils and my acoustic guitar. It might go well despite the anxiety."
Thanh responded "you'll be alright. Besides, all this coping with being mentally disabled runs in the family. Your mom and I got Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after going through with that divorce, and your sister's trying to deal with her depression."
"At least someone knows what I'm going through in life" Tao said. "Where is she anyway?"
Tamyah answered "remember? Your sister goes to college on the coast of North Carolina. She's not going to be back for a while."
"Oh" Tao Huang said. "I did forget about that."
Thanh came over. "Hey. Is my little niece ready for her first day of school in Heartlake City?"
"I guess" Tao answered. "I just hope my social anxiety doesn't turn into a problem. This is the 5th school I had to go to since starting my days in junior high school."
Tamyah reminded her that she's gotten older.
"That is true" Tao commented. "I can always play my guitar whenever I don't feel right. Maybe that'll help me get through my first day."
"That's the spirit" Tamyah said. Both she and Thanh gave Tao a hug to remember.
At Heartlake High School, Tao found her locker.
However, as she was putting her stuff in there, one of the students at that school said "hey look. It's the newbie with a bad taste in music".
That made everyone start laughing. Tao got really scared. Because of her social anxiety disorder, she had trouble speaking up about her feelings. She couldn't get her voice loud enough o ask them to stop.
"Hey" a familiar voice said. "Do you think it's funny? That poor little kid. You guys know better".
Most of the background students walked off.
The one who stood up for Tao came over.
"You okay?" that voice asked.
"I'm still shaken up" Tao said. "My name's Tao."
"I'm Nate" he responded back. "You're new here?"
Tao nodded. "No one's ever stood up for me like that before. In fact, I don't think anyone stood up to those who bullied me before at all."
"You poor thing" Nate commented. "No way they can push you around like that. If this happens again, come find me."
Tao nodded. Nate then walked off.
He thought to himself "boy. Tao sure is a quiet one. There's got to be a way to find the one responsible for the bullying."
He then continued on to his first class.
