Chapter 1.

“You had me at hello. You had me… at hello.” I sigh. Renee Zellweger is so beautiful. Jerry McGuire is my all-time favourite movie. So sweet.
“Soph, can you pause that for a sec?” I groan. This is the daily interrogation. Any minute now.
“When was the last time you went to see your grandfather?”
“Last week. Thursday.” It's not that I don't love my Gramps, I think he's awesome, but I just hate being in that environment. The nurses are such bitches, they act all smiley but you can just tell they steal Gramps chocolate when we're not around. We are by far the most common family to visit there- it's kinda sad actually. The patients look on wistfully when we gather round him. Nobody else gets visitors. People mostly just dump their parents, siblings, relatives there and take off, glad to be rid of the nighttime crying and bed-wetting. It hurts.
“Love, your Gramps would like to see you.” I shake my head. She knew, even before she asked that I wouldn't come. I avoid it as much as I can, but sooner or later my conscience gets the better of me. Not today though. She waves and walks out the front door.

I turn my attention to the photos along the dresser. Some are so faded I can barely make out my Nan's face. She's smiling, one hand on Gramp's chest. They're happy because they're on their fiftieth anniversary, on top of a mountain in the most beautiful place in the world- the Swiss alps. My Gramp's home. I feel a pang in my stomach looking at the next photo of me, with an arm around my shoulder, smiling happily. Jellica's body is cut out because the thought of her makes me want to hit something hard, and it sucks to have guests look at her and say how pretty she is. I look at my face, so happy, so naive. She's would have been looking at me too. Looking at me… she hasn't done that for a while. Not since…

It was Sports Day last year. I was in the same team as one of my best friends, Jellica. Our other best friend Chanelle was in a different team. They both had the most evil grins, but other than that, they looked completely different. Jellica had really frizzy red hair, like an afro, and Chanelle had long blonde locks without any life in them. Her deep grey eyes were always twinkling… her whole body seemed as though it was permanently on drugs. It was about halfway through the day when me, Jellica, Chanelle and the rest of our gang- comprised mostly of farty boys- were hanging out on the benches, under the big shady oak. I had my bag with me coz I didn't have any events for two hours. Jell and Chell asked to look at it. Of course I obliged. Chell giggled devilishly. She started pulling everything out of my bag as Jell joined in. They successfully emptied the entire contents onto the dirty ground and started playing with my various possessions. Nickolas was spraying deoderant everywhere, Keifer was going through my phone messages and Declan was making a lot of noise and jumping about.
“What's this then?” Chanelle grinned, holding up my wallet. I went to grab at it but she snatched it away. By now I had a sick feeling in my stomach. It was embarrassing, to say the least. The guy I had a crush on, Greg, was staring, mortified, at a tampon.
“What… the fuck… is this?” he had a horrified look on his face as Declan yelled some more and then threw the tampon at Keifer. By now I had lost track of where all my shit was, and unable to regain my composure, walked shakily off to the bathrooms. Once inside I clutched at my heart, thumping a thousand miles an hour. I was humiliated, and I felt hurt my friends would do something so cruelly… unexpected. I took a few deep breaths, fought back the tears, and braced myself, pushing open the door and walked back outside.
I plonked down on the bench and watched the chaos. I could see my belongings scattered everywhere, but I felt too lousy to pick them up. Everyone eventually quietened down, but nobody seemed to want to get my things.
“Ah, Sophie, your, like, pencilcase is over there.” I snapped my neck around so hard I got whiplash. Jellica was pointing to a mound of dirt nearby.
“Excuse… excuse me?”
“You heard me. You might want to go and, like, get it.” The group had suddenly gone very quiet. My face felt unnaturally hot.
“No, actually, Jellica, you can get it. Seeing as you threw it there.”
“Yeah, the thing is, I don't actually want to.” she sniped. I felt my breath draw short and I sort of lost myself.
“Go. And. Get. My fucking pencilcase, you… you FUCKING EVIL BITCH!” I lunged at her, slapping her hard on the face. I felt tears pouring over my cheeks and my hand stung from where I had struck her. I ran away, choking for breath, my nose running pathetically.
They never apologized. I returned afterwards to gather my things, but the boys already had.
“Anyway Soph, we're sorry they did that. We got all your stuff, but we… ah…” Nickolas gulped. Greg continued for him.
“Soph… we can't find your wallet. We've looked everywhere. Was there anything valuable in it?” I blinked hard. My eyes were very wet.
“About fifty bucks… and some cards and stuff.” Before I could stop myself I was crying again. I knew the boys were standing there, clueless, unsure of what to do. I collapsed to the ground, grazing my hand, and sat in a pathetic heap, sobbing uncontrollably. It was that moment when I knew I could never be friends with them again. Not only Jell and Chell, but the guys too. It broke my heart. It's still seared in my mind today, and almost a year later I still don't know where my wallet is. The thing that hurt the most was later on, when people asked why they did it, the truthful answer I gave.
“They were bored.”

I gaze with glassy eyes at a picture of my family and I. We all look the same. Brown hair, brown eyes. Thick eyebrows, a big snoz. The boys in our family are handsome. The girls in our family are plain. We're not ugly, exactly, but we're not stunning. Except for my younger sister Suella. She's beautiful and she knows it. She has my eyes, my hair, my eyebrows, but all better. Brighter eyes, longer hair, shaped brows. And she's not curvy. She's skinny with perfect boobs and a tiny bottom that's about half the size of mine. My brothers are frowning, of course. Why don't boys smile in photos? They're having fun, but as soon as someone brings out a camera they're all brooding and shuffling their feet. Of course little Tyler is smiling. He's only four in this photo, he looks so cute. He's standing in between my other two brothers, David and Hamish. There's not much to be said about them. They're twins, so they're pretty much the same. You know those two twins in Harry Potter, Fred and George? I swear they could be long-lost brothers. Except my brothers have brown hair and brown eyes, and instead of a magic wand, they have a bum trumpet.

I'm sick of weekends. I get up early, run water for my brothers' footy team, get dropped off to my dad's footy match and run water there and then go home, alone, again. On Sunday however, I get to surf. Mum drops me off with a sandwich at about 6 in the morning, and picks me up at 4.30. This is my alone time… I'm free when I'm surfing. Sometimes I wish I could surf with… other people, but I don't have anyone to go with. It's not like I don't have friends… I'm in the most popular group in our year- I became friends with them after Sports Day. It's just that within my group I have no friends. I mean, I love those girls, and I'm pretty sure they love me, but they just never actually do stuff with me. Even though at school we're all good… I just don't get invited to anything out of school. Ever. And as I said, I'm sick of it.

I think about contacting Lauren. She's my best friend and I haven't spoken to her in ages. Don't know why actually, coz lately I've been trying to make more of an effort with people. So I call her up.
“Hi babe! What are you doing! I haven't spoken to you in AY-JEZZZZZ!” I practically yell down the phone. She laughs.
“I've missed you SO much doll face. What are you doing today?” she asks. I punch a fist in the air, silently, ecstatically.
“Nothing at all… what time do you want to pick me up?”
“We're going to see a movie… probably Stella. Can you be ready by one?” I tell her yes and then skip to my room, a big goofy grin stamped onto my face.