Ringgggggggg!!!!!!!!  I woke with a start. I hated that alarm clock.

7:30. I slammed the “off” button. “Ugggggg” I groaned, staring at the ceiling. After some more groaning, I eventually got up and stared at myself in my bathroom mirror. I hoped this day would go well. I was starting my first week at Brook Middle that day.

I had hated moving from California where we had been near my grandparents. It was just mom and me now. My dad had died from leukemia when I was four.

After changing, brushing my hair, and putting on a bit of lip gloss, I fed my pet turtle, Pete, and trudged down the stairs with my backpack. My two siblings, Tory and Andrew, were eating scrambled eggs and toast. Well, Tory was at least, Andrew is 18 months old, and Tory is 13, like me. Mom married her long-time friend, Henry, and that’s how Andrew came along. I kind of like Henry, but he seems more like a good friend than a dad.

“There you are. The bus should be here in ten minutes, so please hurry and get some food!” my mom hollered from the kitchen.

She was very pretty; Tory and I had got our black hair and green eyes from her. I had gotten a streak of green in my hair, but that was the only difference. I said a prayer, then gobbled down my eggs and toast. After that, Tory and I grabbed our backpacks and headed out the door. As we came out, I noticed other kids walking to the bus. I wondered who I would sit next to.