Cress sighed happily to herself, skipping along the sidewalk as a breeze whipped her waist-length hair around. When she was younger, having long hair had sometimes annoyed her because it got in the way of everything. But now she enjoyed having something to fiddle with when she was anxious or nervous, something to hide behind. It was almost like a curtain between her and the rest of the world.

Right now she felt like she was floating on top of the world, elevated by a cloud of pure joy that she hadn't felt in years. Because she had a friend. A real friend, not like the fake ones who had been nice to her for about a week before "dumping" her for cooler girls. Cress could tell that Cinder was the kind of friend who would stick around. Who would be there for her. Who would supply the friendship Cress had craved since she was little.

"Look! It's Loony Moony!" called a jeering voice from across the street. Cress stared at the ground, happy mood gone. "Walking home by yourself? Where are all your friends? Oh, that's right, you don't have any!" The kids erupted into laughter. She knew that she should be used to this now. She knew that she should have had a snappy comeback for their taunts, or at the very least an unfazed eye roll. After all, this had been happening for years. But Cress never quite got used to the sting of the teasing. She could feel the heat of embarrassment in her face. Ducking her head, she hurried away.

Glad to finally reach her street, she climbed up the steps of her family's uber-modern, environmentally friendly and ecologically sustainable house. Her father, Sage Darnel, had designed the house with the intent of raising a family in the world of highly advanced technology. With Cress, he had definitely succeeded in getting her interested in coding and programming. Working with technology was the only thing that made Cress feel like she was worth something. It was essentially her only pastime.

Unlocking the door, she was met with an empty house since her father was still at work. He had been a leading scientist and doctor of the Commonwealth Hospital Medical Research Team, but he had become a science teacher at the high school to be closer to Cress. It was nice for him to be around more since he was the only other person Cress shared the house with. Her mother had divorced him when Cress was very young, and their family had split up: Cress and her father had stayed in Commonwealth City, and her mother and her little sister had moved far away. Her heart ached for her sister, wanting some company after the long day.

As fast as she could, Cress kicked her shoes off and raced up the stairs to her bedroom. She was met with the usual mess: computer screens left on, bed unmade, dirty clothes and papers strewn across the floor. She ignored all of it, smiling around at the newly decorated room. Recently, Cress and her father had redecorated her formerly plain room. She had been begging for a satellite-themed room since she was little, and he had finally caved to her begging. Together, they had bought new furniture, all sleek and gray like a real space station, and a new bedspread covered in crescent moons, inspired by her name. They had painted the walls shiny silver with a pretend skylight in the roof and windows in the walls - they were actually screens that flicked through different images, from the Earth in all its blue-and-green glory to the glowing silver moon to constellations scattered through the night sky. When she looked around, she felt like she was actually in a space station.

Cress went to one of the screens on the wall and tapped it to turn it on. Luckily for her, her father had been so thrilled that she was interested in technology that he had been willing to buy her tons of screens to use for various ongoing projects. Over the years, her interests had evolved from science to politics to geography and more, and she was always happy to use technology to research or record ideas or create slideshows.

Once she had turned on the monitor, she pressed the icon for a voice command. "Call Little Cress," she said. Her father had helped her set up the screen to be able to initiate video calls to other people's iPads, phones, or computers. Cress beamed as her little sister's ever-cheerful face blinked into sight on the large screen.

"Hi, Big Sister!" Little Cress chirped. "I missed you."

"Missed you too," Cress couldn't help being exuberant when around her sister; Little Cress's enthusiasm was infectious. She wished, for about the millionth time, that they still lived together. The day her mom and Little Cress moved out had probably been the saddest day of her life. Cress had only been about ten, the age that her sister was now. Their parents had fought fiercely over who would take custody of them after they got divorced. In court, both parents had been so desperate to keep the children that the only solution had been to split them up. Little Cress, only about four years old, had screamed and cried when being taken away from Cress; she loved her so much. After all, the nickname Little Cress had come from her following Cress around when she was a toddler, even dressing like her and copying everything she did. Cress hadn't seen her sister in person in three years. The last time they had been together was their great-grandma's funeral. Apparently their parents hated each other so much that they couldn't even bear to be in the others' presence. It made her sad just thinking about their torn-apart family.

"Little Cress, you'll never believe what happened today," she said excitedly. "I made a friend!"

Her sister squealed. It had been so, so long since Cress had had a friend. She knew her social status was pathetic, but she couldn't help it. It was in her nature to be shy and bookish. Somehow, she seemed to repel friends. Or maybe the popular kids who tortured her told all the other kids to ignore her. "What's her name? Does she like programming? What kinds of clothes does she wear? How did you meet?"

Cress laughed at her sister's outburst. Curiosity ran in the family. "Her name's Cinder," she told Little Cress. "She doesn't code, but she likes mechanics, and that's sort of close. She joined Robotics Club. She wears...baggy clothes, like cargo pants and T-shirts."

"So a techy nerd like you," Little Cress smiled.

That could not be denied.

After a long talk with Little Cress, she flopped back on her bed. It was always nice to see her sister, but her presence constantly reminded Cress of what she had lost. She pushed the sad thoughts away. Today was a day to be happy. After all, she had made a new friend.

Cress hopped to the floor, grabbing the lever that made her bed fold up and disappear into the wall. This revealed the panel on the floor normally hidden beneath the bed, which she pulled open. This was a secret compartment she had found that even her dad didn't know about. She dug through the mess of junk in there, prized possessions that she hadn't wanted to throw away, until she found what she wanted.

A notebook. Well-worn and beaten-up, creases showing in the cover, the shiny silver crescent moon Cress had painted on fading. This was her vault where she stored hopes and dreams, plans for the future, lists of achievements, every wish and secret and deep desire and optimistic aspiration she had ever had. This was a notebook of only positive things. Cress believed that there was no room in your life for negativity. Why waste time writing about all her problems when she could write about things she was looking forward to? She flipped through, searching the silver-trimmed pages for her latest entry. A bucket list for the school year.

Cress Darnel's Senior Year Bucket List

1. Make a friend. A real one, not the girls who pretend they're my friend and then leave me two days later. Teachers don't count. Neither do animals.

2. Talk to my crush. I'm pretty sure Carswell has never said one word to me. Even if he doesn't like me, it would be nice to be noticed. If I go off to college without ever having an interaction with him, my poor, desperate heart will break.

3. Be the valedictorian. This should be easy.

4. Learn how to hack the school grading system. It's not like I care about other people's grades, but this is the one site the school created that I can't figure out how to hack. It severely annoys me.

5. Sing in front of people. I'm so over singing in the shower and praying for Dad to not hear me.

6. Star in the school musical. I'm probably too shy for this to ever happen...but it doesn't hurt to dream, does it?

7. Help the robotics club create a winning invention for the state fair. I'm sick of losing to Luna Academy every year.

8. Get my revenge on Levana and her gang. It can be something small. I just need to do something to her. I'm not going to let them beat me down any longer. Then again, I say this every year, and look where it's got me... Well, this is going to be the year I actually do something.

9. Learn a new programming language.

10. Beat Little Cress at chess. I have no idea how she beats me every time!

11. Get in better shape. I seriously need to work out more. I couldn't even run a half-mile during gym last year. Little Cress can help motivate me.

12. Try a new hairstyle. I love having long hair, but sometimes it really gets in the way.

Cress smiled down at her work, written in flourishing blue ink by a hopelessly optimistic girl who thought every school year was going to be different from the last, only to be disappointed time and again. But this year, things were changing. She had already made a friend, and hopefully, more were on the way. It was time to start changing her life for the better.

Of course, maybe these were all just impossible dreams. But that was fine. Cress was nothing if not a dreamer.

I'm sorry, I know that nothing much has happened in this story. But I wanted to explore Cress's character a little more. Please review!