I stared at the obese wizard boy and the elf king boy for a while. This was unnerving. I've never had to make such a difficult decision before.

But I then figured this could be some kind of intricate trap, so I decided to go outside to hang out with the animals instead of the two boys for the rest of the day. I wasn't upset about continuing my misanthropic lifestyle at all, in fact, I welcome it.

Before leaving the house, I told my parents I needed to get some fresh air. I went a bit far in the neighborhood, though not too far so I could easily find and return to my house.

It was quite cold outside, the wind blowing every now and then made me shiver a little bit. Despite that, I hardly flinched. The weather was mostly fine to me. In fact, it was similar to the weather in Connecticut.

I sat down on the ground, and began humming. I many animals then materialized. They all ran towards me, like if they were being magnetized to me.

I fed, petted, and played with the animals, which consisted of squirrels, bears, birds, rabbits, foxes, and raccoons.

Before I knew it, it was time for dinner; my mother called me back. I bid the animals farewell as I returned to the house and was greeted by my mother.

"Alyssa," my mother began, "how come you've still haven't made any friends yet? I thought you would make friends when you said you wanted to go outside."

"I'm sick of going over this again," I groaned. "People are annoying."

"But sweetie, you have to make friends. Not all people are annoying." My mother said pointedly.

"But mom, you and dad are expecting too much out of me. I don't have to do something if I don't want to." I said.

I didn't say anything else despite my clear enmity and anger. I get told to make friends every single day by my parents. I held my tongue and just shrugged them off. I was worried that if I ever badmouthed my parents, I would possibly get sent to a a foster home, and my new caretakers there would be even worse than my biological parents.

"You're correct about not having to do something you don't want to," my mother said. "But me and your father won't be here forever. You have to become responsible and make friends. Alyssa, you're ten years old. Of course we have high expectations for you."

"You're very funny, mom," I said.

"Alyssa, I'm being serious. But anyhow, you'll be going to school tomorrow," my mother said. "Dinner and then straight to bed with you. You've a got big day tomorrow."

I dreaded going to another school. In the school I went to in Connecticut, the kids were super irritating, the boys were drooling over me, they wouldn't stop pestering me, and the girls would always talk smack about me, because they were jealous of my apparent beauty, which I didn't really care for. I never want to go through that purgatory again, but I couldn't skip school everyday, and my parents want me to graduate college.

So during the following day, I decided to do everything possible to disguise myself as a boy to avoid attention. I put on a face mask, fake eyebrows, a hoodie, and tried utilizing a male accent I recently made up. The accent sort of hurt my throat, so I intend to stay as far away from people as possible to avoid talking.

I arrived at the bus stop, all alone. When the bus arrived, I went in and took a seat somewhere in the middle. I hoped none of the kids on the bus were looking at me. As the bus was moving, I stared out of the window, observing the town.

Before long, the bus was at the school entrance. I got off, and took a deep breath before entering via the front door. Kids were causing a ruckus everywhere. I tried to ignore them and made my way to my first class. There were two paths. I took the right, but a man with a mop and a bucket stopped me in my tracks.

"Sorry, but you've gotta go the other way around," he said.

"Are you the school's janitor?" I asked.

"Yep," the man said. "Cleaning all these messes these rascals make is such a pain in the neck." He looked down at the mess on the ground, which consisted of spilled water, food, and paper that I just noticed.

"I'm sorry you have to clean all that up," I said. "I know you hate your job. If you'd like, I can help you."

The janitor smiled. "Thank you for your concern, but please, don't worry about it. By the way, why are you wearing a mask?"

"I'm sick. My parents made me go to school." I said.

"Oh, I hope you get better soon. You should head to class now. You don't want to be late, do you?" The janitor said.

"Yeah, I'll go right now. See you later! Bye!" I said, waving the janitor goodbye.

I headed down the left path, but I shortly spotted a crowd ahead of me yelling and cheering.

"Huh?" I said, curious.

I walked closer, and in the middle of the crowd, there were two boys going at it. One of them was slightly taller than me, had black hair, a blue chullo hat, and menacing yellow eyes that made my blood freeze. The other was a boy slightly shorter than me, who had red hair and blue eyes. They were both Caucasian, like me.

The red-haired boy wasn't fighting back at all; he was cowering and crying as he was getting beaten. He was covered in bruises.

"Please stop! I'm sorry!" he said.

"I'll stop when I'm satisfied. Right now, I'm not. So just relax." The black-haired boy snarled. His voice was extraordinarily deep. Despite that, I assumed he was also ten-years old since he didn't look much older than me.

I didn't want this chaos to continue. I despise violence and humanity, but I can't let an innocent little boy get beat up. I pushed my way through the crowd, and yelled, "Hey, you! Stop!"

The black-haired boy turned around.

"Huh? What did you say?" he said.

"You heard me. Let that boy go!" I demanded. "He did nothing wrong!"

The black-haired boy was only a few inches away from me within two seconds. "I'm not sure about that. You'd best stay out of my way. I don't have the desire to harm a weirdo like you. But what are you going to do? Fight me? If so-"

"No! I don't want to fight! I don't want you hurting anybody! Just please stop and apologize to him!" I shouted.

"It'll take more than petty words for me to stop. So what will it be?" The black-haired boy said.

My face was turning red. This boy was such a piece of work. I didn't really want to do anything for him, but I can't let him beat up anyone else, I don't want to fight, and I don't want to add fuel to the fire.

I was desperate to save the red-haired boy, so I said with slight hesitation, "If you swear to not to get into anymore fights, I'll do whatever you want."

The black-haired boy smirked. "Interesting. So, you'll trade your life for his as long as I don't beat anyone else up?"

"Yes," I said. "I promise."

"Class starts in thirty seconds. Meet me at the lockers at the end of the day. You better be there." The black-haired boy said.

Before I could go to class, the black-haired boy said, "Wait. Why are you wearing a face mask?"

"I have a cold," I said. "I went to school because my parents made me."

"Are you making an excuse?" The black-haired boy asked. "I have a feeling something fishy is going on."

"No. I truly am sick." I said. "Just let me go to class." I then hurriedly walked to class.

The school day went by swimmingly. There were little to no difficulties, but I was feeling a bit uneasy throughout the day due to the promise I made to the black-haired boy. I made a promise to a stranger, not just any normal stranger, but a stranger who could potentially become a criminal in the future. I hate listening to people, but I have to let that grievance go if I didn't want him harming anyone else. What's worse, I had to further keep up with the disguise and the male accent while around him.

I immediately headed for the lockers and waited for the black-haired boy. A few minutes have passed, and I was watching the majority of the other kids leave the school.

I then heard a familiar voice behind my back that caused me to turn around.

"You're here," the black-haired boy said, "Good."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked.

I was slightly nervous. I can't read minds, so I'm not entirely sure what the black-haired boy was thinking, or what he will say. But whether it would be a crime or a forming deep bond with him I had to commit, I have to obey.

"I want you to do all of my homework for me." The black-haired boy replied.

"Alright, but do you want to stay here? We could go to one of the classrooms. The school is still open." I said.

"No. We're going to my house." The black-haired boy said. I took a deep breath. That was close. If he demaded to go to my house, I would be screwed. There's no way i could feasibly maintain this disguise while around my parents.

"Okay, but I don't know your name. Could you tell me your name?" I asked.

"Craig Tucker," the boy said. "What about your name?"

I froze. I hadn't thought of a name for when I'm under this disguise. I then came up with something random.

"Alan Johnson," I said. "I'm new to this town. I would appreciate it if you-"

"I would appreciate it if you kept your mouth shut for now. You can tell me your story later. Now come on." Craig said, cutting me off and leading me out of the school.

When we both made it to a house, Craig knocked on the door. A blonde-haired woman with blue eyes opened it from inside in a few seconds.

"Craig!" the woman cried, "You're home! But who's that?"

"I'm Alan. Alan Johnson. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Tucker." I said.

"You're so sweet and polite," Mrs. Tucker said. "But why are you here?"

"I'm here to help Craig with his homework," I said. "I'm wearing a mask because I'm sick."

"You're his new friend, aren't you?" Mrs. Tucker asked.

"Y-yes," I stammered. I wasn't sure if Mrs. Tucker would trust me had I said I wasn't Craig's friend, and worse, an argument could possibly start.

"Well, come in, you two!" Mrs. Tucker said, leading us into the house and into the kitchen.

Craig promptly dumped all of his homework on the table from his backpack. It was equally as big as the microwave in his house when it was stacked up all on top of each other.

"Do all that. I'm gonna go watch Red Racer." He said before leaving the room.

I quickly started to get to work. After what felt like three hours, I was finished and completely exhausted. I headed straight home. Once I got inside the house, I immediately took my disguise off.

"Alyssa," my mother began, "Why are you home so late? It's almost ten o'clock."

"I helped a boy with his homework at his house." I said. "It was a lot."

"What's his name?" My mother asked. "Did you become friends with him?"

"Craig Tucker. We're friends. I met him at school today." I said.

"Well, come in. I made sirloin for dinner!" My mother chanted.

I decided to eat the lunch at school in the cafeteria the next day, since my parents had no time to make me lunch, were busy with work, and they suggested such. This was going to be somewhat tough, as I had to take my mask off in order to eat. I figured I could find someplace quiet to sit. Maybe one of the classrooms.

But then, I slipped on something, causing me to fall on the floor and my food falling on me. Everyone in the cafeteria immediately froze, stared at me, and they then were in stitches. I tried getting up, but I fell back down. I was still being laughed at. I managed to finally get up after a lot of struggling, and ran to the bathroom.

Staring at myself in the mirror, I immediately took my dirty mask off to wash my face with water from the faucet and used paper towels to dry it. I tried washing my mask, but it broke off. I was slightly startled, but nonetheless I took off my hoodie and then began washing it. I scrubbed the stains as hard as I could with the paper towels. When I was nearly done, I heard the door open. I was hoping whoever came in was just a girl who had no interest in me.

"Hey, kid," a voice behind my back said. I flinched and I turned around. The janitor from yesterday was there.

"I thought you were a boy. This is the girls restroom. Didn't you tell me you were sick?" The janitor said.

"I am sick," I lied. "I sounded like a boy because of that. My throat really hurts."

"Well, young lady, you should go to the nurse," the janitor said. "She can let your parents know you need to stay home for the time being."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine. I will get better soon." I said. "My parents are terribly busy. They don't have time to talk until school ends today."

"Young lady, do not make a fool out me. You're either sick or you're not. If not, then head straight to class. It's already started, and I need to clean the bathroom. You can't stay here any longer." The janitor said.

"Y-yes, sir," I said, leaving the bathroom as I carried my soaking hoodie in my arms. I was upset I didn't get to dry it.

I placed the hoodie in my locker, and went to class. My disguise was destroyed, so I had no choice but to hope and pray I would get ignored for the rest of the day.

As I entered it, the teacher and the students stared at me.

"You there, girl," the teacher said. I turned my head at him.

"Yes?" I said.

"Do you know any Alan Johnson? Alan is a boy's name if I'm not mistaken, and this Alan hasn't arrived."

"No. I'm Alyssa Johnson." I said. "I hated my name and gender, so I disguised myself as a boy named Alan." I didn't need the teacher nor the students to know the whole truth. It's not like many of them would understand or feel bad for me. I hate anything feminine and attention.

"Miss Johnson," the teacher began, "why are you fifteen minutes late?"

"I had really bad stomach problems," I said. "I threw up for that long."

"Detention next time you miss class, Miss Johnson," the teacher said. "Now go to your seat."

I was seriously trying to focus on what the teacher was saying and doing, but I couldn't, because the students were staring at me a lot. They also were bothering me a lot, by asking me questions that I didn't want to answer, throwing paper balls at me, and making irritating noises. I tried to keep my cool nonetheless, hoping class would end soon.

The school day soon came to a close, and only at my house was I feeling even remotely comfortable, though I had trouble sleeping.

During physical education the next day, my partner was a blonde-haired Caucasian girl with light blue eyes named Lola Brown. She was a cheerleader who seemed sweet but a was bit condescending, airheaded, and irritating.

She later asked me if she could escort me to my classes, as she thought I was lonely and needed a friend. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I said she could. She kept on talking and pestering me throughout the day, though I really wanted to either tell her to be quiet or leave me alone.

There was no physical education the next day, so that's one less class to worry about.