Ten year old Kelley O'Hara was walking around her new school. She was scared, she had never been to any other school than her old one. But she had gotten a scholarship for this school, one of the most prestigious in the state.

She tugged on her uniform skirt. She didn't understand why she had to wear that thing. It was uncomfortable and she was so used to shorts.

"Oh hey newbie," she heard a voice from behind her.

It was a girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes. She gave me a small smile. "Hi, I'm Kelley," I said, sticking out my hand.

"Hope," she responded. "I'm a year older than you though."

Kelley smiled. "So you're in fifth grade?"

"Yup, next year I'll get to move up to the middle school! I'm kinda nervous though to be honest."

Kelley shrugged. "I probably won't survive in this school long enough to get into the middle school."

She gave me a small smile. "Don't worry," she said. "I didn't think I would survive either, but it gets better, I promise."

Kelley smiled back and the bell rang. "We better go," Hope said. "C'mon, the fourth grade room is right next to the fifth grade."

Kelley nodded and followed the older girl down to her classroom. Hope waved goodbye to her as she entered, then went into her own room. The fourth grade teacher began the assignment. "This is called the 'Get To Know Me' project. Every year we do this, making sure that the new kids to the boarding school get to meet people. We will be pairing you with people who are not in your dorm. You may have people in different grades, since every grade in elementary school is doing this."

Kelley sighed and threw her head back. She wasn't usually a very social person, and now she had to do it for a grade? She groaned in her head as the teacher told them to talk among themselves about the project. For the person they got paired with, they had to make a poster about that person. Kelley just decided to get out her notebook and began drawing, until suddenly her notebook was on the floor, the drawings everywhere.

"Oops," she heard a snotty voice say.

She didn't say anything back, just picked up her stuff. She went back to drawing, until once again it was on the floor. She sighed and picked it up again. She looked over to see another girl looking at her with narrow eyes. "What are you? Stupid?"

She looked at the girl standing next to her desk. "I'm Rachael," she said, no more like hissed. "And I don't need to know you're name, it won't ever matter to me."

The bell then rang for them to go to lunch. Kelley walked down with her class but sat alone. She thought she would continue to do that, but give minutes later, three girls sat in front of her. "Hi!" one of them said, she had dark brown hair. "I'm Christen, what's your name?"

"I'm Kelley," she said quietly.

"Nice to meet you! This is my best friend Julie, she's a year younger than us but I don't care."

Kelley chuckled. "Nice to meet you too Julie."

Julie then spoke up. "And that's Moe. She's my best friend in my grade. She's really quiet though."

Kelley gave her a smile. She looked over at the lunch line to see the girl who had talked to her earlier. It took her a minute to remember her name.

Hope.

She liked the sound of her name. It meant Kelley could have hope for this new school. For a better life than what she left behind.

Hope locked eyes with the younger girl and smiled. She walked over to the table she was sitting at. "This seat taken?" she asked, motioning towards the seat next to Kelley.

"Nope," Kelley replied.

Hope sat down. "I see you met these three," Hope said. "They're really nice, good on you for making some friends."

Kelley smiled sheepishly. Another girl walked over to their table. "Oh heh Carli!" Hope said. "Carli this is Kelley, she's new in the fourth grade, Kelley this is Carli, one of my dorm mates."

Kelley nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you Kelley," Carli said happily. "Hey I'm gonna go sit with Alex, since they already told me I was gonna be with her for the project."

A little girl who looked to be in about kindergarten or first grade came up. "Hey Mal Mal," Christen said. "Something wrong?"

The little girl nodded, tears forming in her eyes. Christen sighed and picked her up, setting her on her lap. "She's my little sister," she explained to Kelley. "Now, Mal what happened?"

"Those mean big kids shoved me!"

Hope got up and sat next to Christen. "Do you know who they were Mal?"

"I th-think one of their names b-began with J-Jae."

Hope stood up. "I know who that is," she growled. "It's that stupid third grader Jaelene and her friends."

Mal gasped. "Hope did you just call someone stupid?"

She shook her head. "Sometimes I forget you're in first grade."

Julie and Morgan both looked at each other. They knew Jaelene. "Is one of their friends named Rachael?" Kelley asked.

Hope nodded. "Why?"

"She was being really mean to me in class."

Hope gritted her teeth. She sat next to Kelley. "Just don't worry about them, they're jerks," she said.

Kelley sighed and nodded. The bell rang for them to get back to class. Everyone got up and left for their classes. Christen and Kelley walked back together.

...

"Alright class, listen for your name."

The teacher went through many names before getting to Kelley. "Alright Kelley, you're gonna be with a girl named Hope Solo, she's in fifth grade."

Kelley smiled. She was glad she was with Hope. They brought all the people in for the projects. "Well hey there newbie," Hope said, smiling. "Glad I got with you and not anyone else."

They began working on the project, but soon they had to leave. Hope smiled at Kelley and they walked out to the playground together. "Okay wait, so your favorite animal is what?" Hope asked.

"SQUIRRELS!!!" Kelley replied with a hint of insanity in her eyes.

Hope laughed and so did Kelley. Suddenly three girls came by. Kelley recognized one of them as Rachael, but the other two she didn't know. They both looked younger.

"Oh look, Ms. Crazy made a friend," Rachael said.

"Ew," one of the younger ones said.

"Shut up Jaelene," Hope said.

"And what if I don't?" she responded, looking directly in her eyes.

"I will hurt you."

"Oh yeah?" the other one asked. "Prove it."

Hope shoved both third graders to the ground in one push. "You wanna mess with me too Rachael?"

Rachael went in to punch her but Hope dodged. She smirked. Realizing she would get nowhere attacking Hope, she attacked Kelley. She shoved her to the ground and began kicking her. "Hey!" Hope said, shoving her down herself and picking up Kelley.

By this time all three girls were up. They began attacking Hope and Kelley so Hope used her body as a shield to protect the already hurt younger girl. Hope gritted her teeth as a teacher ran towards them. She pulled the three off of Hope and Kelley. "Oh goodness," she said, getting down next to them.

Hope helped Kelley sit up. Kelley was covered in bruises but not as bad as Hope. Kelley also had a nose bleed and Hope had a black eye. "Let's get you two to the nurse," the teacher said.

Kelley then realized when Rachael had pushed her down that she hurt her leg. She couldn't put any weight on it. Hope helped her stand on the other one and the two limped to the nurse's office.

...

"Hope, why did you do that?"

The two were now sitting in the nurse's office, both of them bandaged up with ice packs.

"Because I couldn't let them hurt you."

Kelley sighed. "But now you're hurt."

"So? Kelley they could've hurt you a lot worse."

Kelley got up and sat next to Hope. She hugged her tight and Hope hugged back, keeping her arms wrapped protectively around the girl.

"Thank you," Kelley whispered.

"Always."