Chapter 1. The New Girl.

What do you do when there's nothing to do, man? Where do you go when the one place you called home abandons you? Who do you confide to when all your "friends" would rather worry about their primitive, sheltered lives than about issues that truly matter? The world is such a vast landscape of space that is wasted on a society that deems it to not be good enough. Life can be such a bitch at times – times when people only care for themselves and not those who are truly suffering.

My life growing up was anything but a walk through the park, but I managed. And by managed, I mean I toned out the excessive shouting and swearing with rock music. My parents – when I was a young girl - weren't exactly a good, positive influence in my life. My mother refused to work and spent her days drinking which meant my father had to go out and work his ass off all day, every day. My father, while he has always been an amazing person, had to deal with an alcoholic woman who didn't care for anyone but herself. However, eventually, they had a divorce, he was able to claim custody of me and we went on our way. Because he needed to find a job that didn't take up all his time but still paid well, we had to move around all my life. Eventually, we were able to make it out to Seattle and remained there for a few years, but recently we were forced to move all the way to Point Place, Wisconsin. While Wisconsin seemed nice, not much happened early on in my arrival, causing me to be a bit skeptical of the place.

After the first few days of being there, my father set me up into the public school system. I wasn't nervous for my first day of school, rather bored since every school thus far in my travels has been the same. School – to me – always seemed like one of those pointless things that adults made you attend so you'd stay out of trouble with the law. While that's all fine and dandy, I could think of plenty more exciting ways to keep the youth out of trouble, such as allowing them to find their own constructive hobbies and learning skills for the world through their own resources and minds.

It was my first day of public education in Wisconsin and I started my morning with a headache that cried for caffeine. I woke up late which meant that I'd have to settle for a simple black t-shirt with a band logo on it and dark, ripped jeans. I hurriedly straightened my hair and penciled in thin, smoky eyeliner around my eyes, made myself a cup of tea, and ran to catch the bus that almost abandoned me in my front yard. If there was one thing that irked me more than the education system, it was buses. If it was up to me, I'd have a nice motorcycle or van to hop in and ride everywhere I needed or wanted to be. However, that is not a luxury I can – or will – be able to afford anytime soon considering that my father and I are lucky enough to have found a nice, small house for a relatively affordable price.

The bus ride to the high school was loud and obnoxious, considering that high schoolers should've learned maturity in intermediate school but clearly didn't. Once I arrived at school, I was able to drown out the chatter for at least the first half of the day. My classes went by rather quickly and eventually it was the end of my first day. However, after exiting the building, I realized that my bus left without me since I had taken an extra minute – more than I should have – to talk to one of my teachers about his class.

With a loud – and obnoxious – sigh, I realized that I would have to trudge the five miles it would take me to walk home in the cold. As I made my way through the school parking lot, I noticed a few jocks wrestling a foreign student to the ground. Angered by this, I ran up to the scene and tried to get them off of him. While I wasn't able to beat my way through them, I was able to get some attention from others who decided to help me. A redheaded girl came up and yelled at them.

"Yo! Just because he's a foreign exchange student doesn't mean that you can hit him like that!"

The jocks turned to see me and the redhead girl.

"I'm sorry ladies, it's just our duty," The tallest one said.

"What? To be a complete asshole and make him hate America?" I fired back.

One of the other jocks squealed, "Well, he shouldn't have come here anyways!"

"Screw you guys," The redhead said and helped me pick the foreign kid up and onto his feet.

We helped the foreign kid walk over to a bench across the street from the school.

"Thank you very much, ladies. Are all American males so rude?"

I shook my head, "Not usually, man. Jocks just need to assert power by preying on the 'weak'."

"Ah, I see."

The redheaded girl looked at me and asked, "Are you new to this school too? I've never seen you around here before."

"Yeah, I just moved to Point Place a few days ago," I gave her a small smile. "My name's Saige. You?"

She took my hand to shake it, "Donna. Look, if you two want to come hang out with me and some of my friends, you can. We usually hang out in my friend Eric's basement for a few hours after school. I was actually heading there before the whole incident. My friend Jackie can give us all a ride, if you want?"

The foreign boy became giddy, "Alright!"

Donna looked at me, "You comin' Saige?"

I weighed my options. Go hang out with people who could be potentially lame or chill or go home and listen to Zeppelin.

"Eh, I suppose I'll come check it out. Thanks, man."