"Welcome back students!" My homeroom teacher said faking excitement. She most definitely did not miss this class. It's obvious that it's the most destructive.

I never really explained how this works, so let me tell you. Each morning you are required to go to your homeroom class immediately after eating breakfast. That means that I have t take my violin with me to homeroom each day. After homeroom, we have ten minutes to put our stuff up and get to class.

Everyone else in the class didn't hear the teacher since they were too busy talking. "HEY!" the teacher screamed making everyone jump and look towards her. "This is the second semester which means that the teachers here will have no patience for you. STAAR testing is coming up and things will get harder for you!"

Ah, the State of Texas Assesment of Academic Readiness, or as the acronym is called, the STAAR test. If you live in Texas you are required to take the test every year once you start third grade. There's a test for every subject, but you don't get tested on all of them each year.

This year I'm taking the Reading and Math STAAR tests. from third grade to eighth grade there will always be a STAAR test for math and reading. It's just that sometimes you get also get tested in other objects. For example, in fourth and seventh grade, you also have to take the Writing STAAR. In fifth and eighth grade, you also take the Science STAAR. Then, there's the Social Studies STAAR that you only get tested on if you are in eighth grade.

Anyways, homeroom was boring as usual. In this school, homeroom is considered a class to teach students proper grammar and help them improve their writing. Each morning every student has something to work on in homeroom. Whether it is a final draft or a page full brainstorming, there's always something to do.

Once again, the first (and probably only) period I didn't do any work in was second-period. Like usual, when I came in I immediately saw a substitute sitting on a chair on the little stage in the middle of the room.

I sat down in my usual seat. By the looks of it, nobody moved anything since two weeks ago. Everything is organized in the same way we left it.

Addison was telling Lizbeth and Lindy what she did during the break. While they did that, I read my book. As I read I could tell that Zoey was trying to get my attention. She was probably still mad about the whole Diego thing, but I couldn't care less. I still think that they make a good couple.

"Can you listen to me for once?!"

"What do you want!"

"At least I know you're listening," Zoey murmured.

"What is so important that you needed to interrupt my reading time?" I asked her with an irritated tone.

"Oh," I hear someone behind me say, "So Zoey can interrupt your reading time without getting chased or hurt and I can't?!"

I looked behind me to come face to face with Diego. "What do you want?"

"Can I sit with you guys?" he asked.

Zoey and I looked at each other and then said, "No."

"Please?!"

"No."

"They're trying to dare me to do something!"

"Again?"

"Again."

Zoey and I looked at each other again and then we both said, "Fine."

In a matter of seconds, Diego was sitting beside Zoey with a chair of his own. He kept glancing at me which told me that the dare had something to do with me.

"So, what's so bad about getting dared to do something?" Addison asked Diego. "You used to do it all the time."

"Well you see," Diego said. "At first I was all up for the dares. They were always fun to do. They also easily annoyed other people, but then she happened. I was dared to do something involving her in October. The dare was successful. The only thing that wasn't successful was the aftermath. She realized what I did and I almost died."

Zoey immediately burst out into fits of giggles. I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

"What's up with you?" Lizbeth asked Zoey.

"I know who the girl is!" Zoey said in-between giggles.

"You do?" Lindy asked. "I want to meet her. She sounds like the type of person I would hang out with."

"You do hang out with her," Diego said.

"I do?"

"Who's the girl? Is it Zoey?" Addison asked.

"No," Diego said, "It's Vanessa."

Story time! Diego was dared to distract me during the Lock-In. What was he distracting me from? He was distracting me from reading my book and he succeeded. He had hoped that I wouldn't have noticed until I was home. Unfortunately for him, I noticed.

"What was the dare?" Lindy asked, intrigued.

"I had to distract her from reading her book."

"You actually did that?"

He nodded.

"You interrupted her reading time?"

He nodded again.

"Then how the heck are you still alive?"