Today had started terribly and it didn't look like it was going to get much better. She had woken up an hour after her alarm had gone off, giving her only five minutes to get ready before the bus came. After hurriedly pulling on the nearest clothes at hand, which happened to be a ratty old jumper that she had worn yesterday and knee socks, that, as she had discovered after getting to school didn't match. One was a particularly violent shade of orange and the other a drab brown. As if this wasn't enough, she broke her brush on a particularly stubborn tangle in her dark brown hair. So, hoping one of her friends would have a brush on them, she gathered her backpack and a scrunchie and ran out to the bus stop, wishing she had inherited her mother's naturally manageable golden locks.

Then, in French class, as she proudly reached for her project on which she had spent so much time working last night, she realized that it wasn't in her backpack. She must have left it at home! Now she remembered, she had shoved it atop the refrigerator with a collection of other odds and ends that had been covering the counters. And her mother wouldn't be home to bring it to her since she worked the opening shift at McDonalds's today through noon. Mademoiselle Klein would never let her forget this, especially when she had handed in her take home test last week half done and smeared with grease from when she had accidentally set a box of French fries on top of it. And worse yet, Mademoiselle Klein might call her Mother, who already had enough to worry about without adding her grades.

Of course this had to be the day that Rachel Southland had to taunt her about her father, or rather her lack of one. She had heard this one before but that did not mean that it hurt any less. Having had enough, Anna grabbed a twinkie and lobbed it at Rachel's face with as much force as she could muster. Not one to take an attack passively, Rachel grabbed a handful of applesauce and hurled it at Anna. Soon a full fledged food fight was going on, trapping several unhappy teachers in the middle.