CHAPTER ONE
ENDLESS SUPPORT

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     MAYBE IT WAS BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T HAVE A CAR or a friend with a car to drive her to wherever she wanted to go, but she truly didn't mind taking the public transit. It wasn't so bad so she had no idea why people complained about it so much. Maybe it was because they had their own car or their parents or a friend was able to drive them but she didn't see a reason to complain about it so much. Sure, it was a pain to stand in the cold while waiting for the bus or train, especially on days where it was snowing heavily. She remembered one winter where the weather was so bad that the busses were delayed for a very long time and she didn't get home from school until four hours later and she couldn't feel her hands and feet. Other than that, she didn't have much of a reason to hate public transit as much as many of the other kids from school. After all, she could still go wherever she needed to go.

     "So, you don't actually think about getting your driver's license and getting a car so you don't have to keep taking public transit?" her best friend, Nadia asked as she looked at her.

     Alma just shrugged her shoulders. "I actually don't mind taking a bus and a train to get to school everyday. Getting my license is something to think about but for now, I am perfectly fine with public transit," she said as they walked through the front doors of Midtown High.

     "You're not worried about some homeless person sleeping right next to you?" Nadia questioned and Alma shook her head.

     "I've only seen one homeless person on the train but she was really nice and I gave her five dollars to get a sandwich," she said as she smiled at the memory of the kind woman she met on the train on her way to school a few months earlier.

     "Sometimes you can be too kind for your own good," her best friend said as she smiled and shook her head.

     "It doesn't cost anything to be kind to someone, even if they're complete strangers," Alma replied.

     "Maybe Flash Thompson should take some notes from you," Nadia said as she nodded at the brown skinned boy who was leaning against his locker with a smirk on his face as he spoke to one of the girls on the cheerleading team.

     "He wouldn't listen to me. His ego is far too inflated to even think about listening to the girl who keeps dying her hair every time she's having a crisis," Alma said as she grabbed a piece of her blue hair. "Speaking of which, I'm thinking of going blonde this time."

     "I love the blue hair and I loved the pink hair even more, but I truly think blonde would suit you really well but I'm thinking bleach blonde might be the best way to go," Nadia said as she visualized Alma with the new hair colour in mind.

     "Well in that case, you can help me," the shorter girl said with a wide smile and Nadia wrapped her arm around Alma's shoulders as they walked down the hallway.

     "Oh, what you would do without me, we will never know," she said and Alma laughed.

     She honestly didn't know what she would do without her best friend. She and Nadia had been friends since the third grade and they've been joined at the hip to this very day. Alma could always count on Nadia and vice versa and that's what they loved about each other, their endless support for each other.

     "You know, maybe this year will be different," Alma said with a smile on her face.

     "That's what every female protagonist in every teen drama says before everything goes to shit," Nadia replied and Alma scoffed.

     "You swear too much," she said while her best friend laughed.

     "Oh no! I am a teenager who swears, whatever shall you do?" Nadia asked dramatically and the blue haired girl rolled her eyes with a crooked smile.

     They had a few minutes before they needed to get to class but stopped walking when they saw the TV playing the school report with Betty Brant and Jason Ionello as the news anchors. "Rise and shine, Midtown Science and Technology," the blonde said with a bright smile.

     "Students, don't forget about your homecoming tickets. Do you have a date for homecoming?" Jason asked as he looked at Betty who didn't look very impressed.

     "Do you have a date for homecoming?" Nadia repeated Jason Ionello's question as she looked at Alma with a smirk.

     "Do you?" Alma fired back.

     "Everybody here sucks so I'm not asking anyone," Nadia replied.

     "But what if someone asks you?" Alma asked.

     "Who the hell would ask me?"

     "Who the hell wouldn't?"

     Nadia grabbed Alma's arm and pulled her to the side of the hallway and grabbed her shoulders. "Enough about me. If you could pick anyone to be your date, who would you choose?" she asked.

     "Is Flash an option?" Alma questioned.

     "Hell no!" Nadia said as she cringed at Alma's question.

     "Thank God," the blue haired girl sighed with relief.

     "Alma, focus!" Nadia said as she shook Alma by her shoulders.

     "I don't know!" she replied while laughing at Nadia's random burst of energy.

     "Jesus Christ, you're such an overgrown child," Nadia said with a faint smile as she let go of Alma's shoulders.

     "But you still love me, right?" Alma asked with a smile as she wrapped her arms around her best friend's body.

     "Of course I still love you," Nadia replied with a faint smile of her own. "Your innocence and light shall be protected and I will cut a bitch who threatens that."

     Alma laughed as they walked to class. Alma loved having such a good friend like Nadia in her life. She didn't really hang out with anyone else at Midtown High, and her minor encounters while passing other students in the hallway didn't count. Some of them liked having a little chat with her but there were others who thought she was too dumb because of her bubbly personality and how she could always be so happy. Maybe her smile was a little too bright for some people but Nadia still loved her so she would ignore everyone else's judgements as best as she could. It was just high school. Teenagers could be the meanest people anyone could ever meet and Alma had seen plenty of them when she started going to high school at Midtown High. She was happy to have Nadia and that was all she needed.

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     Alma may have had a very bright personality but she still wished for school to finish just like any other teenager. The first few classes were okay and she was able to get through them. She still hated when her teachers would call on her to answer a question even though she didn't raise her hand but she still knew the answers. Despite what a lot of the other students at Midtown High believed, she wasn't an idiot. She was one of those students who paid attention and wrote down all the notes and studied for all her tests and handed in her homework on time. Given her exterior, no one would've guessed upon their first look.

     Pretty soon, lunch hour came by and all the students headed to the cafeteria. An hour long break before heading back to class was what she and Nadia needed.

     "So many classes in a day and you're telling me we only have one together?" Nadia asked as the two of them looked for a table to sit at.

     "We still get to see each other at lunch," Alma said and Nadia laughed.

     "Typical Alma, always looking on the bright side," she said.

     "Maybe if you looked on the bright side a little more often, you'd find getting through the day a lot easier," Alma replied as she nudged Nadia's arm with her own.

     The two of them walked into the cafeteria and Alma's eyes immediately went to the large blue homecoming banner that Liz Allen was hanging up. Neither she nor Nadia went in their freshman year and instead they chose to stay home and watch Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses because Alma was feeling nostalgic. Also, she still loved watching the Barbie classics along with other movies she watched all the time when she was little. Nadia would lightly tease her and ask her if she was five years old and Alma would respond by saying, "Maybe I am!"

     "Alma! Nadia!" The girls turned their heads and saw Ned Leeds waving at them with a big smile while Peter Parker was sitting next to him and looking somewhere else.

     "What's up, Ned? You two still being nerds or what?" Nadia asked with a teasing grin.

     "God, you know me so well. Come sit with us," Ned said and the girls agreed.

     Alma set her tray down on the table and sat down in front of Peter who seemed very interested in the plate of half eating pasta on his own tray.

     "Hi, Peter," Alma said with a kind smile and the shy boy in front of her finally looked at her.

     "Hi, Alma," he responded.

     "That is the most awkward greeting I've ever seen," Nadia said and Alma simply shrugged her shoulders.

     "It's only a little bit past noon and we have two more hours left of what you call psychological torture," Alma said as she laughed and then looked back at Peter. "Is school already getting you down?"

     "I guess you could say something like that," he replied while shrugging his shoulders.

     "Did you two losers multiply into four or what?"

     Everyone turned around and saw Michelle Jones sitting a few feet away from them and staring at them with a book in her hands.

     "Why do you even sit with us?" Ned asked.

     "Because I don't have any friends," Michelle replied.

     "I'll be your friend!" Alma said as she got up and wrapped her arms around Michelle's shoulders and she groaned.

     "Didn't anyone ever tell you about personal space?" she asked.

     Nadia laughed at Michelle's attempt to shake the smiling petite girl off of her. "You might wanna get used to it if we're all gonna sit here at this table together. She's like this all the time," she said.

     "Someone, please get her off me. I am deathly allergic to human contact," Michelle said as Nadia got up.

     "But Michelle said she didn't have any friends," Alma drawled out as Nadia pulled her away from the other girl.

     "And for the love of God, just call me MJ," the curly haired girl said and Alma just smiled.

     "Okay!" she replied.

     "Settle down before you break her," Nadia said as the both of them sat down. "Did you put too much sugar in your coffee again?"

     "It wasn't sweet enough!" Alma said in her defence.

     "How exactly do you store this much energy and excitement in your tiny ass body?" MJ questioned with her eyes narrowed.

     "We have no idea, but you can guarantee that she will always liven things up," Nadia said and the blue haired girl nodded.

     Alma had always been such an energetic person and Nadia often wondered how she never got tired after running around in circles with excitement over pretty much anything. There were times where Nadia had to ask Alma to slow down so she could keep up with her and so far, no one else had the patience to be Alma's friend like Nadia did. Maybe Ned wasn't exactly her friend but he also had the patience. Also, Nadia would sometimes point out that Alma and Ned were very similar and nearly the same person. The difference was that Ned got excited over certain things and Alma got excited over everything.

     "Is anyone going to homecoming this year?" Peter asked.

     "Me and Alma will probably just have a sleepover and watch My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake or The Powerpuff Girls," Nadia said and the boys looked at Alma who shrugged her shoulders.

     "You were right to assume I picked those," she said before taking a sip of her orange juice.

     "What about you guys? Do you plan on asking anyone if you even go at all?" Nadia asked.

     "Still not sure if we're gonna go," Ned replied.

     "Well, if we're all gonna sit this one out, then maybe we can all watch something," Nadia offered.

     "Are there any options that aren't children's animations?" Ned asked while looking at Alma.

     "We could watch Labyrinth with David Bowie," she suggested. "If you're gonna ask me what all my movie and TV options are, they are either children's animations from the early two thousands to the early twenty tens, or they're old movies from the seventies to the nineties."

     "Is there a chance your options include Star Wars?" Ned questioned.

     "Never watched it but I'm open to giving it a shot if that's what you guys wanna watch," Alma replied.

     "You guys really are a bunch of nerds," MJ said from across the table.

     "Says the bookworm," Nadia replied and MJ rolled her eyes before returning to her book.

     "Wait, so are we all doing this movie night on homecoming?" Peter asked.

     "It's a maybe. Usually it's just me and Nadia when events like this happen but if you guys aren't going either, you could join us," Alma said while shrugging her shoulders.

     It was still a little early to be talking about plans for homecoming but at the same time, it was coming faster than they could blink. Maybe they could all still go but without dates and just go as friends. Alma would like that a lot. Since she didn't go last year, maybe she could give it a try this year and see what all the excitement was about. But if not, she would still get to spend the night with her best friend.

i will be completely honest, i was very excited for this book which nearly caused me to impulse post it before i even had this chapter finished, but i will just say that alma is a baby who shall be protected at all costs