Chapter 4

Ugh my back hurts, I thought as I woke up from a strange dream. It was easy to see why I was in pain only the lower half of my body was still on the bed. I picked my head up off the floor and checked the clock it was 5:30am. No wonder I was still tired. It had been 3 weeks since that girl Amber had made up those rumors about me. Honestly it doesn't really seem like anyone honestly believes it. It's more like they like having an excuse to harass someone or gossip. If everybody has a common enemy it's easy to get along with each other.

As I got up off the floor something didn't feel right. My head felt lighter and everything was so breezy. I looked down at myself just to make sure everything was there, when something brushed against my neck. I launched myself across the room and turned on the lights. "H-hello?" I asked looking around but no one was there. I put my hand on the back of my neck that's when I felt it or well didn't feel it I guess is more accurate. It had been 3 weeks since I cut my hair 3 weeks and I still hadn't gotten used to it. My long and beautiful amaranth hair that usually hung down to my waist had been chopped up to my neck. I trudged to the bathroom to get a good look at it. My hair was a chopped up mess. WHAT HAD I DONE! My body gave out and I sunk to the floor. 3 weeks and I still wasn't over it. Like most girls do after cutting their hair I regretted it. I wanted it to be a dream. I got up off the floor and turned around in the mirror. "I really got a tattoo?" I asked myself as I slowly pulled down the back of my shirt. 3 weeks and I still wasn't over it. I have a tattoo. An amazingly beautifully awesome tattoo. There at the edge of my shoulder was one of the loose feathers. I gasped. Wow. Of course the piercings were still there too now sticking out from my short hair. I made sure to twist each like I was supposed to. I went back to my room to start looking through my closet-that had the full length mirror I didn't think of using. I spilled ketchup on the hoodie I usually wore to hide my hair so i needed to find a new hoodie to cover me . I looked and looked but the only one I could find was my dads oversized jacket. It was the one with the fur around the edges like a parka. Well it would have to do I needed something tao over up this awful massacre of a haircut I did all the way until I could get it fixed. I only waited this long because I thought that maybe it would grow out a little… It didn't.

It was probably the ugliest jacket I'd ever seen and I'd complained so much when he gave it to me. Who knew it would come in handy now? I felt tears sting my eyes but I held them back, and put on the stupid ugly hoodie with a smile. It smelled just like him.

Man did I look stupid in that hoodie and it brought more attention to me. Of course when people realized that it was me in here they'd all start talking about what happened. THANKS A LOT DAD! Honestly I could hear him laughing now telling me I had to get over embarrassment. Fine then I couldn't let that that blonde brat Amber win! I walked down the hall proudly stupid looking hood firmly pulled in place when I caught a glance of Violetta ducking in a classroom. Since the incident Iris, Violetta and I haven't talked. That first day back in science class Iris and I sat in silence it looked like she wanted to say something and of course I did to but no words came. At first I was kinda disappointed but it was understandable I was the object of ridicule right now there was no reason for her to suffer with me. Hopefully she didn't believe all of the awful rumors too. It's alright I don't blame her. I was about to run off to my class when someone grabbed my arm.

"There you are," Nathaniel said huffing. Nathaniel was another story. At first I went looking all over for him trying to apologize but anytime I laid eyes on him I'd chicken out and run away. Had he been running to find me? "We have to talk," he said pulling me away, but the warning bell rung. I could see the conflict in his face, the want to follow the rules and be on time to class and the want to clear things up with me, were fighting each other in his head. I'd make it easy for him.

"Go to class we can talk later," I said trying to escape I was chickening out again.

"No, we'll talk now," he said firmly and pulled me away.

We were on the roof again sitting in awkward silence and I finally realized what Nathaniel had been dragging behind him the day of the incident. Sitting in a ripped up pile in a corner was the nerd bird banner Amber made. So he took it down and was going to yell at his sister about it. I remembered what happened this time without the veil of hurt and betrayal. Nathaniel had stormed into the building yelling for Amber dragging this behind him. Now I really felt bad for jumping to conclusions.

"I'm sorry!" We both shouted in unison. "You're sorry why?" we said in unison too. There was an awkward pause. We both busted out laughing at the same time.

"I'm sorry about what my SISTER did to you," he said emphasizing the word sister. "I didn't give her the pictures but it is my fault that she got them," he sounded so guilty it hurt my heart to watch him.

"No I'm sorry for accusing you, I jumped to conclusions even when you were obviously trying to help," I motioned to the ripped up banner. Nathaniel blushed red.

"I forgot to throw that away," he whispered to himself.

"You were so kind to me and I accused you without any evidence, the haze of emotion makes the eyes blind," I sighed quoting my favorite book. I looked up hesitantly at Nathaniel, but he was smiling.

"You like Bowen's detective stories," he asked a light in his eyes.

"Yeah, I love police novels, my dad was a detective for the police force," I felt a pang of pain in my chest. That detective job was what got him, mom and Sota killed. A drug lord that dad had put away wanted revenge, he got some guy from his gang to plant the bomb in the car and… well the rest is history. There were a lot of reminders of dad today.

"Really," Nathaniel asked that light still shining in his eyes.

"Yeah, when I was a kid he used to pull out some of his old cases and see if I could choose the bad guy," I laughed at the memory. "My mom hated it, especially when he worked in homicide. I used to run around the house yelling, I got the killer I got the killer, and mom would through a fit." I suddenly felt something warm roll down my cheek.

"A-Amy," Nathaniel said worriedly. I wiped the tear away quickly.

"Sorry I just miss him," I told him.

"Where is he?" Nathaniel asked hesitantly.

"My family isn't really around anymore," that was all I could say, and Nathaniel didn't push me.

"Oh," he said flatly

"We should probably get to class," I sniffed. It had been how many weeks since I started going here and I've been to first period maybe a handful of times. I started to walk away when Nathaniel grabbed my arm. I looked up at him but he didn't say anything. "Nathaniel?" I asked. He looked like he was choosing his words carefully or maybe just hesitant to speak.

"I'll understand… if," he paused "If you don't want to talk to me anymore," he said and I had no idea why. "I don't want you to get hurt and there's no guaranty that Amber won't do this again," he sighed. "I understand if you want to avoid me," Nathaniel finally said but his hand was gripping my arm so tightly. I bet there were a lot of people that avoided him because of his sister hell I'd considered it myself but it wouldn't feel right to abandon him. I looked in his eyes and smiled.

"No way are you getting rid of me that easily," I said and to mess with him I leaned in and pecked him lightly in the cheek. His grip immediately loosened and I slipped out. "See you later Natty," I said with a wink his face was completely red.

I was about 30 minutes late to first period, and I'm pretty sure that my first period teacher hates me. All throughout class Ms. Fergus my Spanish teacher was making all these little remarks about the importance of being here and how she couldn't remember my name cause I never showed up. Ugh. Honestly I was thinking of a way to duck out of class early till I noticed a note slide out of my desk. What? I flipped it open and read the hastily written note. Amy we need to talk –Iris (that was never a good sign). I flipped her note shut and looked up to try and at least look like I was paying attention when the projector came on. Huh? Everyone looked around curiously- even the teacher. Then when the picture finally loaded I saw a face I knew.

"Uh u-uh Hi Amy-chan? Uh I miss you so much Mr. Black told me you weren't feeling well and that's why you left. I hope you get well soon and come back, class isn't the same without you!" a cute blonde girl with her hair in pigtails exclaimed in a shy voice. Her name was Mimi and we were in ballet class together.

The screen flashed and a new face showed up this one I knew to. "Hey Aim's where the hell are you and why haven't you called me!" she shouted into the camera. "Black and white won't tell me anything, and Kenny skinny here," she reached past the camera to pinch, I'm guessing, Kens cheeks.

"Ouch," yup that was Ken's voice.

"Is keeping his lips sealed too, call me already," she yelled. I laughed so did everybody in class, well almost everybody. Ms. Fergus was glaring at me from the front of the room. Great if it wasn't official before it was now. This lady hated me, but I wouldn't let it get to me I was having too much fun seeing my friends. Another face flashed on the screen and another. I can't believe Ken did this. Tears started to form in my eyes and my vision blurred. Don't get me wrong it was still kind of mortifying that everyone in school was seeing this but when did Ken ever do anything that wasn't at least a little mortifying. Some of my said some really embarrassing things. Some showed really embarrassing pictures they told little stories about old times and even briefly caught me up on new ones. They told people who I was one after the next after the next. "And if I find out that someone is bullying you I'll kill'um," once Rika said that I knew the little slide show was over, and so was first period.

The second class ended I had to run for it, before Fergus caught me but waiting out in the hall for me was an even bigger surprise. On every locker on every wall on every surface of the hall way were pictures of me. Real pictures of me. Ones of me in my leotard at ballet, my first field trip, my first modeling job when I was 13 and my second and third, there were hundreds of pictures not one the same. Oh god this was embarrassing! As I looked around at all of the pictures the principal came into view. Oh great.

"Why am I not surprised that you are at the center of this? It seems that ever since you got here it's been one disturbance after another!"

"But ma'am it wasn't me!"

"Oh if not you then who I will punish them properly," I'm guessing she hadn't seen the whole video that went with it. As I looked around I saw Ken coming out of a closet with AV gear.

"… Okay it was me. Some mean girls made these fliers with mean messages on them so I wanted to show people they were not true. So I used their tactic against them." I said covering for Ken.

"My office now," the principal snapped. I followed, but then something distracted me.

One picture really caught my attention it was a photo of my family. I remembered it well, Ken had tagged along with us on a family vacation to the cabin in the woods. It was my favorite place in the world to be, it was the only time I really got to relax. I was swept away in the pain of nostalgia. I backed away unconsciously

"Ms. Briggs!" the principal noticed. I ran.

My heart raced painfully and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't make it to the roof so I went to the tree in the courtyard and huddled there with my head between my legs. What's going on? My body started to convulse and it became almost impossible to breath. Oh my god I'm gonna die! I thought in fear but the sound of Kens voice snapped me out of it.

"Amy?" he called out to the court yard. I had stopped shaking by the time he found me. Once the panic stopped a surge of anger flashed.

"What is wrong with you?" I exploded. I don't know why but suddenly I had all this anger that just needed to go somewhere. "Why do you always have to follow me around and do all of these crazy things," years of bottled feelings were all coming out. "I have TRIED to be your friend, I have TRIED to protect you, so why do you always, always have to do these crazy things that end up blowing up in MY face. Why can't you get over me and get your own life! God I am so tired of protecting you and babying you! What am I gonna do about Ken? I wonder how Ken is doing. I better go check on KEN! How long do I have to wait for you to stand on your own two feet, so that I can start my own life?!" I knew I would regret these words sometime and that sometime would be soon but right now I was too angry to care. "Why do you always have to embarrass me like this with these big shows of affection Ken?! I didn't tell anyone that I was leaving FOR A REASON! I DIDN'T TELL ANYONE WHERE I WAS GOING FOR A REASON! So that I could start fresh and not be burdened by crazy things like this!"

"But Amy I thought…" Ken lowered his head yup there was that regret right on time. Before I got a chance to apologize Ken ran off.

"Ken!" I yelled after him but he didn't stop. I was about to run after him but the principal showed up.

"Ms. Amarantha!" she shouted. Crap Ken was gonna have to wait.

While Amy was receiving her punishment Ken went off to hide and cry alone in the green house. He had really thought that he was helping he had spent days on that big surprise for Amy but it all just blew up in HIS face. He replayed her words in his head over and over. "Why do you always have to embarrass me like this?" "! God I am so tired of protecting you and babying you!" It was all true and he knew it Ken had always had Amy protecting him. Ken knew that he was useless to everyone around him but he was okay with that as long as he could be even a small help to the one he loved. Now that that was proving to be untrue ken didn't know what to do with his life he had no meaning no use he was worthless. A sob slipped through kens lips. He was weak and short and dorky and clingy he knew all that, but Amy had accepted that about him… well he thought she did. She had always smiled at him and told him it was okay she had always comforted him and done things for him. Ken was feeling worse and worse. He was a leach hanging onto Amy sucking the life from her and the thought of that continuing made him sick. Ken pulled out his cellphone. He pulled up his father's number.

"Kentin! For shit's sake you better not be calling to ask me to bring you home already!" his father yelled through the phone. The truth is every day since he got to Sweet Amoris high he had called his dad to come get him. That Amber girl had been picking on him so much he couldn't finish a whole day. Not once! His dad was so ashamed he threatened to send ken to military academy. Amber and her friends had stolen his money, so he started to pack a lunch, then they'd throw his lunch on the ground and shove his face in the dirt. They hit him and kicked him. He intended to just wait for the next semester and change into Amy's classes and stick close to her. She was strong and brave and while the girls openly picked on him they never approached her directly. Ken felt shame he was going to hide behind the one he loved again. "Kentin! Kentin boy answer me!" his dad shouted.

"I-" he took a deep breath. "I've decided to go," he said into the phone bleakly.

"Oh no I have to be on base at least till 12:00 so you're gonna have to tough it out until-"

"No to training. Dad I want to go to that military program… I want to get strong FOR AMY!" Kens dad loved Amy. Called her the son he never had. He had always wished she would rub off on ken, though he could see clearly that with his son the way he was that wasn't likely. So he tried settling for having her as a daughter in-law. He was always pushing ken to become a better man or at least a man at all for Amy. It wasn't until now that ken accepted it and it made his dad a little proud to see his son growing up.

"Really! You want to go." His dad sounded proud. "Well there is a term starting next month. I think I can get you squeezed in, but you have to know the terms are 9 months long and once you go in I am not coming to get you out you have to stay the whole term I won't even except your phone call Kentin, got it!" his dad said firmly but you could still her the pride he had for his boy oozing out.

"I understand Sir," Ken said firmly. For the next month he would try to make up with Amy and spend as much time with her as she would allow to hold him over for those 9 months. He would become stronger and faster and truly manly so that he could be dependable and useful he wanted Amy to love him but more than that he wanted to be worthy of her love. The next time he saw her he wanted to be the shield she could hide behind when she was in trouble.

Once I finally got to second period it was about half over too. For some reason Mr. Reiner wasn't there so I searched the back row for a good spot to hide in and sprinted for it.. Surprisingly next to the only seat left open in the back was Castiel. For a guy who I only met when we were technically skipping class her sure was showing up a lot more lately. I don't think he's missed a class since well about 3 weeks ago. But I wasn't complaining he was really the only person I talked to lately.

"Another hoodie? What's up with all these ugly jackets little Eskimo," Ugh but it didn't make him any less annoying. Another nickname was everyone in this school so repetitive?

"Don't ask," I said but he had an evil smirk on his face. Faster than a whip he grabbed at my hood.

"No!" I wrestled with him over it one hand pulling it down the other elbowed him in the ribs. till Amber chimed in.

"You know I find it amazing that you bother to show up everyday," Amber said in mock sympathy. Cas let me go and I fell into my seat. Again I sat there silently trying to think of something smart to say. Dang it I'm off my game, in the past I could spit venom with the best of them. Before I could think of anything good to say the teacher came in carrying a stack of papers.

"Alright everyone alright quite," he said as he crossed the room to his desk.

"Um Mr. Reiner I believe no students are allowed to wear any type of headwear inside," the hateful she witch said. I sunk deep in my seat so deep I was practically under my desk.

"Yes Amber that is correct," Mr. Reiner said absently as he organized his papers.

"Well it seems that one new student didn't get the memo," the dirty hag said oh so innocently looking back at me. Mr. Reiner looked up this time.

"Ms. Briggs," he motioned to my head. Why, why now he had let it slide for weeks it just because she says something everything has to change. Maybe it would have been better to wear the stained hoodie this one seemed to garner too much attention.

"Uh-um I-I can't," I told him hesitantly tying the strings of my hoodie under my chin.

"And why not," he asked skeptically.

"Uh m-medical reasons," I said like a question. "I could get you a doctor's note tomorrow," I offered. Mr. Reiner still looked skeptically at me but then he glanced at Amber.

"Fine I expect to see that note tomorrow," he said letting it go.

"Wha-a-at," Amber shouted slamming her hands on the desk.

"Amber down," he said pointing at her seat. I heard a snicker come from beside me. I looked over at Cas who had his face covered.

No matter how hard I looked I couldn't find Ken. Though I couldn't blame him, the way I blew up at him I wouldn't want to see me either. It didn't make it any easier that every time I stepped out of a class that microphoned girl- whose name I found out from Castiel was Peggy a journalist for the school paper- followed me everywhere asking all kinds of questions. At first I answered honestly but A: she looked like she didn't believe anything that came out of my mouth that didn't match up with what was on those fliers- which was nothing and B: she so didn't believe anything that came out of my mouth that didn't match up with what was on those fliers. Even with the beautiful video that Ken made glaring her in the face she was still chasing me asking the same stupid questions. It was a waist talking to her she was gonna put whatever she wanted in the paper and I had no control over it. The old me would have freaked obsessing over and over again about what to do and how screwed I was but not now. The new me didn't care what Peggy wrote about me cause I didn't have anything to lose. Still it was so annoying having her chase me around the school firing off question after question. The second free period started I shot out of class like a rocket, but amazingly enough Peggy was a few steps behind.

"Amarantha Briggs!" She called after me. God I wish she would stop yelling my full name. I quickly rounded a corner on the second floor but it was a dead end. Crap, Crap, Crap I looked around there was no escape just a window that overlooked the courtyard.

"Hm," one of the trees was close enough that I could reach the branches from where I stood. What the hell was I thinking? I shook the idea out of my head, but then I heard Peggy's footsteps down the hall.

"Amarantha Briggs," she called. Screw it I'll take the chance. I made sure no one was looking- no need for people to think I'm suicidal- and then positioned myself in the window. One, Two, Three I launched myself onto the limb I thought was thick enough to hold me but I was mistaken. The branch crumpled under my weight and I went tumbling down into the tree.

"Ah!" I let out one swift shriek and tumbled head over heels through the branches till I hit one big one that was big enough to hold me. Ugh, I looked to see if anyone noticed. A few people must have heard the shriek heads swiveling around to find the maker but none noticed me or so I thought. A strangely dressed boy with hair that changed from white to black sat under the tree.

"I don't think you'll learn to fly like that," he said in a serious voice.

"I wasn't trying to fly," I groaned in a raspy voice. That's when I realized that this was the boy Castiel wanted to ditch with on my first day.

God it felt like this branch broke my back. I slowly straitened myself out and dropped from the tree. "I was running from a Peggy," I said plopping down next to him. "Ugh," I touched my toes stretching out my back. "Ouch," it cracked but now I felt better. I sighed. "You mind if I stay here?" I asked. I didn't want to spend the rest of free period running from Peggy.

"That's fine," he said he hadn't once looked up from what he was doing. Whatever. My attention was somewhere else. Iris and Violette came out with their lunches. I watched them from afar.

Violette and Iris went out to the courtyard to eat lunch like usual, both worried about Amy. "I should have been faster," Violette said guiltily. She and Iris sat in their normal spot.

"It's okay Violette she'll come," Iris said patting Violette on her head. The truth is when Violette saw Amy this morning she wanted to talk to her right away but because of her shyness Violette didn't know what to say so she went to get Iris. By the time they got back Amy was gone. Violette sigh again looking down. Neither of the girls believed that Amy was that kinda person and though others were looking at her harshly they still wanted to be friend. Amy was so nice. As they sat out there eating Melody, Nathaniel's lab partner comes over.

"Have you seen Amy?" Melody asked. She knew the flyers were lies and after talking to Nathaniel she knew Amber was behind this.

Amy watched the three of them eating wishing she were there.

Ugh I couldn't watch their happy normal life anymore so I tried to crawl away.

"If you want to join them why don't you," the boy asked.

"I'm not very desirable right now," I pouted.

"Oh?" he said lamely.

"I guess you haven't heard about what happened," I was getting down again.

"No," he said calmly.

"Lucky you," that's all I said. I didn't want to go around broadcasting my embarrassment to those who missed it. I wasn't feeling much for conversation and watching the girls all laugh and giggle from afar was making me feel like a stalker plus As punishment I had to go clean up lens fliers from the hall so I crawled around the building to the side entrance to get to work.

"You will not leave until this hallway is clear of all of these papers!" the principal yelled at me. I was given a broom and a trash can and put to work.

"Yes ma'am," I said dejectedly. Ken was a very thorough boy he had entirely covered the hallways with my pictures. This was gonna take forever! And I still hadn't seen Ken all day to apologize. UUUUUUgggggghhhhh! Why did I have to open my big mouth? Ken had been trying to make me happy… like always and I was when I saw the little video I was happy and all the pictures… well that was embarrassing but I wasn't mad at Ken at all till… Ugh I closed my eyes and started pulling the pictures off the wall and sweeping up the pictures that were gathered on the floor without looking at them seriously what was wrong with me. I needed to finish this up fast and find Ken!

I had finished one third of the hallway and was headed for the second section when I found the person I was looking for.

Ken was stooped on the floor neatly stacking all of my pictures. He had finished the last of the hallway and just had a few left to go. "Ken!" I yell unintentionally. He jumped.

"Uh u-um Amy w-what u-uh," he stuttered. Guilt surged I had really freaked him out. He backed away from me unconsciously.

"Wait, don't run away, I didn't mean to yell at you like that earlier. I'm… going through some stuff right now and I directed it at you and that was wrong," I told him sincerely.

He looked down and shook his head. "Everything you said was true, I-"

"NO! It wasn't Ken I was just having a bad day and I unintentionally took it out on you. Ken you are my BEST friend and you have been since like kindergarten. I'm glad you came to this school looking for me I'm glad I have you around. I'm even glad you do these crazy things. I didn't mean to say those thing I am truly lucky that I have a friend like you who has my back," I told him trying to will him into believing it.

"Have your back or hide behind your back," he murmured lowly.

"What?" I asked I couldn't hear him, but he just shook his head.

"Amy my love, one day I will be able to do more than just back you up," he smiled I'll be able to protect you with all of my heart. He added silently.

Finally the dreaded period came honors biology. I was dreading it cause I didn't know what to do about Iris I didn't want to make her have to suffer through having to be my lab partner but there were no more empty seats, but science was my favorite subject unlike math which I was so bad at I had to be placed in remedial class with kids from 9th grade. As I got to the classroom I saw Iris, Violette and Melody waiting for me. Uh oh. Part of me wanted to run from whatever this was but I knew this had to happen sometime. I sighed and walked to my doom.

"A-Amy," Violette came running up first and grabbed my hands. "Are you o-okay," she asked.

"We were worried about you," Iris chimed in.

"What Amber did to you must have really hurt, are you okay," Melody asked.

"What you mean you guys don't believe all that stuff," I asked. I mean as we spoke people in the hall were giving me dirty looks and whispering.

"What of course not," Iris smiled. "Even before we saw today's announcements we didn't believe it, but … I didn't know what to say so I waited for you to talk about it,"

"And you didn't show up to lunch," Melody said glancing at Violetta who nodded.

"We didn't want to force you," Iris whispered.

"There's no way we'd buy into all that stuff Amber did," Melody said. Violette just tightened her grip and nodded.

"Even so I don't think I'm someone you girl want to be hanging around. You might be treated coldly to," I warned them.

"No such thing," Melody said reaching into her backpack. "My birthday is next Friday and I'm having a sleepover I want you to come, promise," She said holding out an invitation. Iris and Violette nodded along.

"You're so kind to me, even when I get lost in class," Iris said.

"Y-you haven't done anything to make us avoid you," Violette said.

"We never believed in those rumors one bit," Melody added. I felt like crying.

"Girls Thanks," I said and the bell rung.

After the final bell rung and the day came to an end I finally made my way to the lost and found. I looked at the notebook. I really didn't want to let it go the poems were so beautiful and the really lifted me up, but it wasn't mine. Finally I dropped the notebook in the box. I never did learn what the word Lysander meant. I searched it on the internet but all I got were a lot of pictures of some anime guy. Oh well.

When I got outside I saw Melody and quickly catch up to her.

"Melody," I called. Catching her. I had something important to ask her. She stopped.

"Oh Amy," she smiled

"Hey, um, thanks for today," I said kind of shyly. "I just wanted to ask you something," I paused it felt kinda weird to ask. "Um, why did you decide to be my friend, not that I'm not thankful or anything but why,"

Melody smiled. "Well I felt like something was fishy and when I talked to Nathaniel about it he told me how great you were that I wanted to see for myself," she said with a smile and slight blush. I have a feeling that Natty was someone very special to her. I don't know why but that gave me a pain in the center of my chest.

"Do you like him," I said. It came off a lot angrier than I meant it to but Melody didn't seem to notice. She blushed and looked away. "S-sorry that was a weird question and we just met you don't have to answer," I said waving my hands. "Well this is where I split," I told her coming back to my senses.

"Uh yeah okay," she waved her voice sounded caught in her throat.

Before I looked for a hair salon I walked the familiar way to the tattoo shop. Since the piercings and tattoo were a spur of the moment thing I hadn't brought enough money to pay Sarah I had been trying to think of a way to ask aunt Aggie for the money till I remembered my piggy bank that was stuffed to the brim with 15 years of birthday Christmas and allowance money that I had been too busy to spend. Sarah was manning the desk she smiled at me.

"So how much do I owe you," I said coming in.

"Whoa you can't just come in here looking like your prepped to face the Siberian winter and not expect me to ask questions," she said

"Yeah I went through a bit of temporary insanity the other week and…" I pulled off my hat and showed her my butchered hair.

"Wow what did you do," she said coming around the counter to get a closer look.

"I know, I know that's why I'm here to pay you so I can use the rest of my money to find someone who can fix this," I told her pulling my hair like I could somehow stretch it out to its old length.

Sara tilted my head this way and that. "I think I can help you with this but it's gonna be really short," She said.

I honestly think Sarah can do anything. I looked in the mirror at my new layered A-line bob. To balance out the edgy look of it she bleached my hair to a light pastel pink that kept me girly, and she did it all in the back room sink. "Sarah you know you're seriously a genius," I said hugging her tightly.

"Whoa okay, okay, you're welcome," she said patting me awkwardly.

"How much do I owe you?!" I yelled taking out my piggy I'd give it all to her if she wanted. Sarah doesn't know how much she's saved me. Sarah looked at my piggy bank skeptically.

"Why don't you just pay the 150 for the studs and the tatt when you can and we'll call it even," she sounded like she just wanted me to get out of the shop but I couldn't accept all her help without giving her something.

"No, no you really saved my life here," she did, so I popped the corks on my piggy's belly and pulled out two handfuls of money not even bothering to count it I laid it on the counter. "Thank you, Sarah, thank you!" I said waving goodbye. She let out one hysterical laugh like I was crazy as she started counting my piles of money. I left the shop with the ugly jacket folded under my arm.

That night when I got back to the apartment I couldn't help but think about my old friends. For the first time since the incident I went online and responded to my friends. My inbox was loaded with email after email of my friends worry I was starting to feel guilty about shutting them out. It took hours to go through the year worth emails. I was scrolling through the last of my emails when one caught my eye. It was titled: WELCOME TO LAUGHING MAN. Normally I would just delete this email it was probably spam or something but the date it was sent was the same date as the incident. I stared at the email line for who knows how long, it was just a stupid email but for some reason I felt a sense of fear emanating from it. Like it's a gateway and once I pass through it it'll slam shut and there will be no going back. I closed my eyes held my breath and opened the email… Well there was no explosion no flash light no alien come down to abduct me… So that was good. I opened my eyes and found waiting for me on the screen was a simply laid out email.

Welcome!

You have been nominated to participate in the Laughing Man Trials. A game of truth, lies, revelation and revenge. By opening this email you have accepted your competitors challenge. Within the next week you and your competitor shall both be marked and given a full rule book. But just so you don't K.O. Yourselves before the game begins here are a few basic rules.

No cops – the involvement of police is strictly forbidden breaking this rule will result in an instant termination

You are allowed 5 accomplices- a maximum of five people may help you perform in your part of the game Exceeding this limit will result in an instant termination

Once a person has been included in the game they will permanently be part of the game – no backsies

To win the game you must guess the person who nominated you

After every clue you are aloud to make one guess- with a maximum of 5 guesses you may choose to use or pass on guessing after any challenge

If you can not figure out who your opponent is within the 5 guesses and you opponent can not win according to their perimeters then you both & your accomplices will enter into another game

The removal of your marking band is strictly forbidden and will result in an instant termination

Thank you for your participation and good luck. Let the games begin!

… What the heck. Okay I was officially confused. This was obviously some weird prank or something right. Ugh. I rolled my eyes and exited out of my internet browser when all of a sudden my screen went black. "W-what," I banged furiously on the keys. "No, no, no no, no," nothing. "Come on, please," no it wasn't some practical joke it was some computer virus that shut down my computer. I slammed my head down on my keyboard UGH! I just started replying to people again and this is what I get. I sighed to myself when an ear splitting sound busted from the computer making me jump. "Ah,"I squeezed. I looked at the still black screen but it wasn't all black. In white letters spelled across the screen were the letters S-M-I-L-E, "smile?" The second I said that the flash on my web cam went off and a picture of me looking confused pope on the screen. A red grid slid over my picture.

"Facial recognition complete," my computer said. I jumped back. What the hell was happening? "Amarantha Briggs, age: 15, height: 5'2," weight: 120 pounds, location," it started reading off line after line of personal info my old school my new school every relative I stayed with this past year everything was there. How did it know it's not like any of that information was on my laptop. It's not like I went around putting my height in my diary… And I do not weigh 120 pounds! It listed insanely personal things like my medical history not just from the incident but from way back to the time I got chickenpox when I was 3. At the end of this invasion of my privacy my laptop flashed the words welcome . Would you like to make a guess? It showed me a blank space to put my answer in… Someone that nominated me for this game. One name came to mind. A-m-b-e-r and ENTER… The screen went completely black again for a moment… "Incorrect" it flashed with a flashing sad face with x's over the eyes. My 5 dashed to 4 and my screen went back to normal. I closed it immediately what the hell was that!? I shoved my laptop under my bed. Yeah like that actually did something. Then I got ready for bed.

As I took a shower panic started to hit me. What the hell was that? How did it know all that information about me? What should I do? Call the police? But that was rule 1 don't involve the police. So what at means I lose the game big deal these people have been stalking me! Disputes the fact that I was showering in steaming hot water I got a cold shiver. Maybe I' ask aunt Aggie what to do she should know? All of a sudden it really creepy to be in the apartment alone. After my shower I got dressed like an 6th grader after gym class with my towel still wrapped firmly around me. I sat in a ball waiting for aunt Aggie to get home but the silence was driving me crazy. It was almost 1:00 so calling anyone to chat was out but maybe one person wouldn't let me down, he never has before. I grabbed aunt Aggie's old sell phone. She had just changed plans and got a new one so until my cell came back from being fixed I was using this one. I flipped the relic open and started texting the one person that never let me down.

Hey you up? I typed. With in 2 minutes ken texted me back.

Yeah are you okay? He texted back.

I'm fine just can't sleep.

You're lying.

What no I'm not – I started to type but ken was faster.

I know you Amy I know when you're lying what's wrong?

Nothing I'm just a little freaked out, I'm home alone and the house is super quiet.

Should I come over?

No I don't even live that close anymore, just talk to me would you?

As long as you want :)

Thanks I can always count on you :)

Anytime my love.