A small boy, eight years old, wandered rough the massive forest surrounding Crystal City. He had pale skin, green eyes, short blonde hair, and was dressed in a simple red shirt and blue shorts. He had a gloomy expression.

"What am I going to do?" He mumbled to himself as he briefly stopped walking. "I have no school, I'm practically starving, and these are the only clothes that my sisters allow to me wear that isn't my brother's clothes as well."

He resumed walking a bit, rubbing his head. In front of him, the eaves on a tree rustled and a sparrow zipped out, flying past his face. The boy stumbled backwards in surprise, and then groaned.

A squirrel jumped out of a small hole in the tree and skittered down the tree and right towards him. The boy jumped a bit as the squirrel took off between his legs.

"I hate this forest," The boy grumbled as he sat down next to a rock.

"Well, that's an unpleasant thing to say to your home," A female voice called out from behind him.

Just as the boy spun around to see who had spoken, a girl with very messy brown hair rode towards him on her red scooter. The boy screamed in surprise and stumbled off the rock as the girl sped past him, nearly running him over.

"Hello, Woodstump," The girl said. The boy spit grass out of his mouth and got to his knees, grimacing as he instantly recognized the girl.

"Brenda Collins," He hissed angrily.

"Isn't this fancy meeting you out here at 8:00 in the morning, isn't it Woodstump" Brenda said, glancing at her watch on her right shoulder. The boy groaned. Brenda never bothered to know his name so she just settled with calling him Woodstump after the tree she often found him at.

"Not really, you always meet me around here," The boy reminded, brushing dirt of his face. The ten-year-old girl skipped off her scooter and set it down on the rock.

"Well you barely ever leave here, anyways," Brenda stated. "You only enter the city to cause trouble with everyone else like a little brat. Why is that?"

"You mean like you always cause trouble," The boy shot back. "And I don't cause trouble at all. They messed with me, so I messed with them. It's an eye for an eye, simple."

"No, it's not simple," Brenda said. "You just spend your time in this forest like you live here. You don't go to school, you don't have any relatives as far as me or anyone else is concerned, and you don't have a home. It's like your some kind of hobo or something."

"I am not a hobo," The boy claimed. "I have a home, and relatives, and I don't need to go to school. I'm better off without it."

Brenda laughed. "You are such a stubborn little ragamuffin," She taunted. "If you have all these things you say you have, than where in all of Crystal City are they?"

The boy glared into Brenda's hazel eyes in deep hatred. He wanted to say something, anything, but then he realized he couldn't tell her about his home.

"That's what I thought, Woodstump," Brenda said, victorious, before hopping onto her scooter and turning around to ride off on it. At that point, the boy finally found a retort.

"My home is a lot better than yours, Collins."

Brenda planted her foot on the ground to stop her scooter. She dropped it on the ground, spun around, and stomped towards Sam.

"When you actually show me this home of yours, I'll take your word for it," Brenda said. "But until that happens, you are nothing but a little, measly hobo." With that, she ran off, got back on her scooter and rode off onto the road and towards her school.

"Yeah, well I'll never show you because it's too awesome for the likes of you!" The boy shouted out at her, but she was long gone. He snorted, then turned began to walk past over the road when a small black car drove up.

The boy screamed and leapt out of the way as the car drove past him at top speed.

"Crazy idiots!" The boy shouted. "You almost ran me over!" But the drivers didn't hear him. They were driving over to the same school Brenda was heading to.

"This is so going to blow," David said from in the car. He and Janet were both dressed up in church clothes, having been told by their parents that it would give off a good impression.

"I don't know, David, maybe we could actually befriend a few of those kids," Janet suggested hopefully. David groaned.

"This is even worse than when our parents agreed to have Brenda come over to have play-dates with us several months ago," David said. "And they still let her come over after all that time."

"Hey, quiet back there," Their father barked at them from in the driver's seat. "And besides, we're already here. The Crystal City Independent School District."

David and Janet glanced through the window to get a look at the school. It was certainly a meaningful name; the school was entirely made out of sparkling crystal. It was pretty big, ten stories high. It looked more like an office building than a school.

"Wow, this place is so huge," Janet gasped in amazement. "And weird," David added.

"Now, no more complaining," Their dad said as he and the two got out of the car. "This is your first day of school, and you're going to like it."

"Fast chance of that happening," David mumbled under his breath as he and Janet neared the giant crystal building.

As David, Janet and their dad began to near the school, David whispered to Janet, "Okay, if we're going to survive this day, here are a few tips. Avoid eye contact with Izzy and Brenda, avoid talking to Izzy and Brenda, and just all around avoid Izzy and Brenda."

And then the worst thing happened.

"Hey son, I looked at the school classroom boards, and you're in the same class as Izzy and your best friend Brenda Collins," Their dad said.

David paled.

"W-what?" He stammered. "N-n-no, that c-can't be t-true."

He raced over and glanced at the classroom boards, and his worst fears were confirmed.

Mrs. Worthington's Class

Izzy Olsen – 11

Brenda Collins - 10

David Barret – 10

Those were the only three names David read, and his eye twitched. His lips trembled, and he let out a scream.

"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Well, look what the brat dragged in," A voice said.

David grimaced as he forced himself to turn around and face his worst nightmare. And there she was, the 11 year old, red-headed little horror, Izzy Olsen.