It was finally the first day of school. I was wearing a new outfit that I picked out a couple days ago. I was already waiting by the door for my mom to take me to school. Travis was spending hours in the bathroom fixing his hair for the "ladies." It never worked before so I don't know why he thinks it was gonna work this year.

Travis came down with his hair slicked back and he was practically wearing a suit. I was laughing when Dad sent him back upstairs to change his clothes. He came back with his regular clothes on. When we finally left, I was giddy.

When I got out of the car I went to find my friends. I found Soda first. I knew it was him because he was looking good. He was with Steve and Keith. Then I found Dallas on the other side of the gate. I didn't know who I wanted to go to but Soda saw me first and smiled and literally pulled me over. His smile won me over.

"Hey guys." I said.

"Hey Typh, you look… nice." Soda complimented me. Steve and Keith laughed. Soda blushed.

"Why is that funny?" I asked.

"Nothing." Steve and Keith stopped laughing like nothing funny happened. Then Dallas saw me and came over. He came to stand right next to me.

"Looking good, Taylor." He said sizing me up and down. "And sorry about getting you in trouble last week."

"It's okay." I reassured him. The bell rang and we all went to class. Unfortunately I had my class with my flirtatious brother. But I didn't have to sit next to him like Margret Tanner. I felt sorry for her because Travis was gonna hit on her all year. Poor Margret. I got to sit next to a girl luckily. Her name is Jennie O' Connor. She was a sweet girl, definitely someone my friends, even Travis, would hit on. She was blonde and wore a light pink dress. She was too girly for me. Now that doesn't mean I would never have a girl friend, I just don't want them to be perky Polly.

Finally it was lunch time. I found Soda and Dallas sitting at a table eating lunch already. I sat down and started eating as well. Keith joined us a few minutes later. But he didn't have anything to eat.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" I asked.

"Nah, I ain't hungry." He said.

"Well you're gonna be later." I warned.

"Stop babying me please." He demanded.

"Sorry, sorry. Then you can starve yourself to death for all I care." I responded.

"Fine with me." He said stealing my cookies. I let him have them because I really didn't want him to starve to death.

The year went by slowly. I was doing my homework and serving detention. I got grounded and occasionally awarded. More and more times my parents would tell me to make new friends and again and again I would refuse to listen. I didn't enjoy getting in trouble for staying loyal to my best friends but if that's what I had to do to stay with them, then that's what I would do.

It was the middle of March and nothing was going right. I was failing math and Dallas wasn't being his rebellious self. His parents kept fighting and he just got more and more upset. But one day, he was like a whole different person.

"Dal, what's wrong?" Soda asked.

"I've got some bad news. My mom is taking me with her to live somewhere else. I don't know where and I don't know if it's permanent." Dallas admitted.

"Moving? You can't move it's just gonna make things worse! If you move, I may never see you again and then we will forget each other and never be friends again!" I complained.

"That's not gonna happen. When I'm eighteen I'll come back." He reassured me.

"I'm gonna miss you!" I hugged Dallas to death.

"Get off me, Taylor." He instructed. I let go immediately. "I'll miss you too, though." I smiled, flattered by his comment.

"When you leaving, Dal?" Steve asked.

"First day of April." He sighed. The bell rang and we all went back to class.

At the end of the day, we all met up and walked home together. It was silent up until the point Keith sneezed but other than that nobody talked. I guess because we were so upset about Dallas moving. We all went to Keith's house so I could do my homework. I mean the boys had homework, they just didn't do it. I tried to help them but they just wouldn't listen.

I worked silently because I was still upset. The boys sat silently on the couch and ate food that Keith's mom, Sherri, put out for us. Steve turned on the TV. He switched it to cartoons. He turned the volume down so it wouldn't disturb me. I loved Dallas to death and I didn't know how I was going to live without him. Then Keith's little sister, Hannah, came home and said, "Hey losers."

"Shut up, Banana!" Keith called Hannah the name his mom called her and threw a pillow at her. She dodged the pillow and stuck her tongue out at him. Hannah had a bit of an attitude. I think Keith rubbed off on her.

"Keith, please be nice to your sister." Sherri demanded. Keith ignored his mother. Keith started grabbing our Coke cans and staking them up and then tried balancing his shoe on top. I got up to get another Coke and on the way I knocked down Keith's tower and he got mad but I just laughed. He yelled some inappropriate words at me and his mom yelled, "Keith, what have I told you about speaking like that? Just because your father says it doesn't mean you should!" Once again Keith ignored her. All my friends talked like that, especially Dallas and Keith.

Keith's dad, Mike, came in. He was not in a good mood. I could tell because his sleeves were rolled up and he was sweating like a pig.

"Feet off the coffee table, Randle." Mike instructed. Steve did so immediately. If Mike told you to do something you had to listen. "Keith, I take it you finished your homework since you're playing with Coke cans." Keith grabbed his homework and started working. "That's what I thought. You better raise that grade in English." Mike repeated the same words Keith said earlier.

"I've got to go. See you guys later." I gathered my stuff and waved good-bye. I walked home silently. I was thinking about Dallas moving away. I had an emotional attachment to him and I didn't want him to leave. He was like my other half, not Travis. Or maybe Soda was my other half because we were such good friends or maybe Steve because Steve was the first one I met. Well whoever was my other half, I wouldn't want Dallas or any other of my friends because… I had an emotional attachment to them. Huh, well I guess all seven of them are my best friends and as long as I don't have them by my side, I was going to be miserable.

I finally got home. I opened the door and my dad was standing there waiting for me. His arms were folded against his chest. His face was stern and serious. He sighed r as I closed the door.

"Hi dad." I hesitated to say.

"Where have you been? School ended an hour ago." He asked.

"I was at Keith's house. I told you that yesterday." I reminded him.

"Okay, but you didn't remind me this morning. Typhani, you could have called at least! You go to your room and I never want you to see those boys again. If I hear one word about them or see you with them ever again you will be in so much trouble." He warned. My eyes filled with tears and ran down my cheeks impatiently.

"You are the worst father in the world! I am never going to speak to you again!" I screamed in his face and then my mom came out when she heard all the racket. I heard them talking as I ran up the stairs.

"Jonathon, is that necessary to yell at her like that? She just needs friends and those are the only ones she has, so we're just going to have to deal with it." Mom whispered loudly.

"You were the one to tell me that you didn't like her friends and that she should get new ones. Ann, come on, which one is it?" He argued back.

"Jonathon, it is not our decision of who her friends are. We can only tell her whether we think that person is good enough to be her friend. And so if she wants to be their friend, then so be it." She concluded. I was listening from the top of the stairs, still crying my eyes out.

"So what if one of her friends was a criminal? We can just let her be their friend whether we like it or not?" He argued again. Dad didn't like losing fights, especially one against mom. He believed he was always right and that his word was law.

"Typhani is a smart girl and she will make the right decision. You just have to trust her and I don't believe you do." Those last words stung. But she was right, my father didn't trust me, otherwise he wouldn't be so hard on me. I stopped listening and went to my room. But I heard my dad say one more thing I didn't want to hear, "That's the problem, Ann, I don't trust her." He said more but I blocked him out. Out of my life…