7:00 a.m...

The bell rang. We ran inside the school building. I followed Kennedy up and down the hallways, just to find my locker. I ended up finding my locker after fifteen minutes of looking. Finally! I opened my locker. I saw a boy, who was next to my locker, trying to open his lock.

"Do you need help?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you." Replied the boy.

I asked his for his combination and he gave it to me. I opened his locker. He grabbed his English books while I grabbed mine. English class is actually interesting, compared to other subjects like Spanish, Reading, and Social Studies.

"I'm Alli. What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Joe. Nice to meet your Alli." Joe replied politely.

"Nice to me you too, Joe." I replied.

"Gotta run!" He yelled.

I ran to English class five seconds before the bell rang. As I walked in, I took a seat in the back left corner of the room. The English teacher, Mrs. Felesky, had her mouth dropped open as soon as she saw the person sitting to the right of Joe. Cassidy Stewart, queen bee in ninth grade. Poor Mrs. Felesky, she has to deal with Cassidy Stewart. Everyone is afraid of Cassidy. Cassidy is bossy. When she doesn't want homework, she demands it from the teachers, just so she could call the only people who like her, Amanda Arnold and Diana Hillenbrand, to egg other people's houses. Afterwords, Cassidy calls her boyfriend, William Shepherd, and they go out to dinner with the money that the rest of the school reluctantly gives her. Amanda and Diana were the new kids in seventh grade at Stephen F. Austin Middle School. They met Cassidy and they became great friends for two years. Diana doesn't egg houses like Amanda and Cassidy do. She just sits in her car, waiting for them. I think Diana's hanging out with the wrong people. I don't think so, I know so.

Mrs. Felesky started her lecture about how to write a business letter. The heading, the body, the signature, and the closing. The bell finally rang to go to the next period. Joe and I stuck together during the next six classes and it flew by ever so quickly. The bell rang to go to lunch. I ran out of seventh period, Reading, and ran to my locker to grab my money for lunch. Joe followed me to the cafeteria. Cassidy Stewart walked into the hallway. She aimed a punch at Joe's face. I jumped in front of him and punched Cassidy back. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Nice try, Mitchell." Cassidy said arrogantly.

I'm lucky I legally changed my last name when I was nine, right after the car accident happened, from Martinez to Mitchell, just to be different from father. I punched Cassidy again. And again. And again. I quit after five or six punches.

"New boy, just be grateful that Mitchell saved you. I'll get you next time." Cassidy spit in Joe's face.

"Shut up, you piece of shit." I spit in her face.

Cassidy left and walked out of the school. I walked to the cafeteria with Joe, relieved at what just happened. When we arrived at the cafeteria, I ordered the usual, a baked potato, when Joe ordered a salad. When Joe and I were walking towards our seats, everyone clapped.

"Go Alli!" They yelled, "Cheers for Alli!"

When we sat down, I looked at Kennedy, who was sitting across from me. Kennedy raised up my left arm in the air.

"What is this?" I asked.

"You stood up to Cassidy Stewart. You're the only person who has ever done that in history." Kennedy replied.

I cheered for myself, as I raised my hand in the air.

After lunch, we headed to science class. The science teacher, Mr. Hiassen, looked at the class for a brief moment.

He announced, "Today we will be working on a science project at school and at home today. We will have partners that I will assign. Amanda Arnold and Diana Hillenbrand, Kennedy Cresky and Janet Smith..."

The teacher finally called, "Allison Mitchell and Joseph Edwards."

"Who's that?" I mumbled to myself.

"Me." Joe whispered in my ear.

Oh! Joe and I are partners! That's great! We started on our science project on chemicals and stuff until the bell rang. We only had one question left on our lab sheet! The bell rang. We ran to the next few periods. Finally, the bell rang to go home. I grabbed my backpack and ran to my bike.