My dad rushed up to my room to see me lying in a heap on the floor. I wasn't crying. I wasn't whimpering. I wasn't doing anything other than lying there in a heap on the floor. My mind felt blank, there was nothing in it other than the fact that Annabell and Arden—two very important people in my life—were going away. For Annabell, she was moving. Because Arden was leaving due to his injuries. I really hate Cole now. If I hated him earlier, I hate him now more than ever.

"Alanis! What happened?" my dad shouted. I said nothing, I did nothing. Just lie there. He picked me up and carried me to my bed. Suddenly I felt excessively tired. "What happened, Alanis?"

I looked up at him from half closed eyes. "It's Annabell, Dad. She's moving all the way to Edmonton. And Arden is leaving, as well. He's getting transferred to an Edmonton hospital. Everything's been falling apart since that stupid Ambrose came!" It was hard to manage a shout, my voice felt horse and heavy.

"Don't be so dramatic about it, sweetie. They're bound to come back. Know why? Because they want to see you, they'll miss you greatly." I felt myself blush at that. They would miss me, that's for sure. But how do I know they won't make new friends? That they won't start over in that new, different city? That they won't become the same thing as they always were, a part of us.

"Dad, just be quiet and leave. Let me sleep. I feel really tired." My dad looked at me worriedly then stood and left my room. Now it was just me and the darkness in my room. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

But I awoke with a jolt. Surely it was the fox, I thought. I got up out of bed and took slow steps towards the closed blinds. I heard some rustling outside the window and I was sure it was a wild animal. I readied myself for whatever might be outside my window. "One, Two, Three!" I opened my blinds to see the fox again.

As soon as the fox noticed me, it jumped down the tree and away into the darkness of my backyard. I sighed deeply and closed the blinds then, went back to my bed. I lied there on my bed for who knows how long. I was finally able to sleep in the early hours of morning.

The next week or so went on and on. Everything was hazy and blurry. I felt like I was the only one who cared about Annabell moving and Arden having to be transferred. Because when I went back to school on Monday morning, it was like nothing happened. Two close people in our lives had just disappeared, and here everyone was acting like they had never known them. It was horrible! Why was everyone acting like this? Why didn't anyone want to remember them? They were close to us so why not?

The group at the table slowly broke up and divided into other groups. A certain section of us were able to be slightly popular—Teresa, Glenda, Fiona, Toni, and Sia—but the "others" like Alvina, Amethyst and I were left to chat among ourselves at lunch at our table. It felt so lonely. And because there were so little of us now, half the table gave way to the "Asian Kids."

It wasn't until the eighteenth when everything went back to normal, a bit. Annabell and Arden turned into daily chatter, the table was partly occupied with a few of our former friends, and I hadn't seen Ambrose that whole day. What a first! He's been coming to the group each day and tried talking to me. Well, actually he's been trying to "help" me with Annabell and Arden leaving. Of course, it didn't work.

But that day, lunch was the best lunch I have ever had. Yet it was also the worst. The lunch started out as any other lunch, normal rounds and such. But something different happened that our group started.

---

"I don't want my salad. Alvina, do you want my salad?" Amethyst tilted her salad towards Alvina so she could see what type of salad she had.

"No, I don't like that kind." Of course, I never liked salad all too much so I never got it. When I looked up to glance around the cafeteria like usual, I noticed Athena sneaking up on Amethyst. She put her finger up to her mouth as to signal me not to say anything. I nodded slightly and went back to eating.

"Boo!" Athena pushed Amethyst and she went face first into what she had left of her lunch; her salad. I tried my hardest to hold in the laughter, but Alvina couldn't hold back. She busted into a loud roar of laughter. So did Athena.

Amethyst sat upright with bits of salad stuck on her face. I could see through all that dressing, she was angry. "So you think that was funny, eh?" She lifted her dessert and threw it at Athena; it hit her and dirtied her new Pinky-Penelope shirt. I stared at her, open mouthed. The cafeteria went silent; dead silent. There was no sound except that of the kitchen.

Suddenly Kevin Hundle stood up and shouted, "Food fight!" And everyone stood up and the food fight began. And it all started with Athena and Amethyst.

I didn't want to get hit so I ducked down and hid under the table, along with Alvina and Amethyst. Everyone else was having a bunch of fun throwing their food. When a cake piece hit Alvina in the face she had had enough. She got out from under the table and joined in the fight with food. I laughed and thought about it for a bit. When would I get another chance at this? When at all? Ever? This kind of stuff only happens in movies, and this isn't a movie. So why not enjoy it while I have it?

I stood out from under the table and grabbed an éclair then, threw it towards the middle of the fray. And just like that, an apple flew right at my head. It caused me to tip a bit and Alvina laughed at me. I glared at her until a bologna sandwich smacked her in the left ear. I laughed.

Suddenly there was a whistle, very loud and air slicing. Everyone stopped and faced the front of the cafeteria. Mr. Atkinson had blown the whistle and he looked very mad. I felt slightly scared. Now what? What was he going to do? Who is he going to blame for this mess?

"I want Alanis Cantante, Alvina Avalon, and Amethyst Angell please report to my office immediately! And Kevin Hundle, clean up this mess, promptly!" His voice echoed around the cafeteria and made me flinch. I knew then, it was over.

Alvina, Amethyst and I trudged to the office slowly but surely. I might not know what's going to happen, but I know it's bad. When we reached Mr. Atkinson's office I chose the seat right next to the door. Alvina glared at me since she had to sit in the one nearest to Mr. Atkinson's desk. Amethyst giggled at that.

It was quite a while after the bell when he came in. His face was tinted red with anger and his movements were a bit clumsy. He sat down in his chair and took out a file. He jotted down some notes in it then looked up at us. He frowned and scowled at us. "Who was the main cause of all that?" His eyes went from Alvina, to me, then to Amethyst.

I shrugged my shoulders and Alvina sighed. "Listen, Mr. Atkinson. We didn't mean to cause the food fight. It was Athena who started it, really. She snuck up on Amethyst," Alvina said calmly.

Mr. Atkinson stared at Amethyst then glanced at me. "So, are you telling me you're all innocent?" We all nod slowly. "Wrong. You're all serving an hour long detention for the rest of the week, no buts. Now get to class."

We stood slowly and took off to our classes. Mr. Atkinson didn't give us a late slip, so how am I going to explain this to Mr. Stokes? I pondered this as I kept on my way to English. But as I walked through the door, I noticed the class wasn't there. "Where is everyone?" I peered into the room just a tad more and noticed there were back packs in the class.

They must have been here but went somewhere else to do the studies. But where could they have gone? After all, this was an ordinary English class. Nothing special about it. Absolutely, nothing. "They all went out for a nature walk."

I jumped and turned my head at the very back of the class. It was Ambrose. Why him?! Why on earth, him? I mean, I would even settle for Levie, as long as I was no where near him! I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't bring myself to actually say anything. So instead I said, "Oh."

He chuckled to himself. I shot a sharp glare at him before taking at a seat and faced the front of the class. "Mr. Stokes told me to stay behind and wait for you to come to class. I was going to go out and look for them when you arrived." I shrugged.

I didn't really want to explain the things that happened at lunch to Mr. Stokes. He was a teacher that wouldn't understand what I went though. I felt his gaze bore into my back; it made me shiver. Apparently he noticed. "Are you cold?" I shook my head.

"Let's go find the others. Come on." I stand up and he does the same. I leave my backpack on the floor and walk out of the room. "Um, where are they?"

He chuckled to himself. "They went for a nature walk. Mr. Stokes said it would bring us some inspiration about what to write about for our ten page story." I sighed heavily as I heard what was for homework. He made a light laugh and started to walk off towards the short end of the hallway. "Follow me, I know where they went. No where too far, yet."

How did he know where exactly they were? But then again, he didn't say he knew where they were exactly. Only where they were, roughly. I ponder this for what seemed like forever until we reach the rest of the class. Mr. Stokes notices me almost immediately. "Do you have a late slip?" I made a light shiver.

"No, Mr. Stokes. Sorry." Was sorry all I could say? Well, what more could I do? I guess I could stay after school for a bit. Scratch that, for a while.

"Okay then, you'll be joining me after school today for a little chat about being tardy." He turned back to lead the class on its way. I felt bad, awful, really.

But then I saw Ambrose stick up his hand and call out to Mr. Stokes. "Please, Mr. Stokes. It wasn't her fault, at least not completely. There was a food fight in the cafeteria today and she was involved. Involved in it more than you might just think of." What was he doing? Was he sticking up for me? Or did he know that he would just get sent off to detention with me as well?

Mr. Stokes turned back and stared at Ambrose for a moment. "Fine, Mr. Booker. You are joining Ms. Cantante and me after school today." And with that he turned around and continued to walk. I glared at Ambrose and he looked at me with a sheepish grin on his face.

"When will this end?" I said under my breath as I looked away and started to follow the class. I was very happy once the bell rang. I took my bag and ran to my locker on the other side of school. I put in my English and took out my Italian.

Today was the first day since I met Ambrose that I was able to actually concentrate on the words. And find out I was nearly failing. Since I only did the homework and the tests. When the last bell rang I sighed once more and headed for Mr. Stokes room. Ambrose was already there.

"Hello, Mr. Stokes. I'm here for detention." Ambrose was sitting in one of the front seats and Mr. Stokes was marking some papers.

"Yes, Alanis. Take a seat and wait until I finish marking." I nod and take a seat two seats away from Ambrose, trying to get far away as possible without much notice.

It seemed like forever. His marking seemed to go on and on. Like there was no tomorrow. Just check after check, then after a few he made a disappointed face and marked it wrong. It was really annoying when he reached some essays. I sighed and slouched in my seat. "Ms. Cantante, if you're not enjoying this you're free to come by tomorrow for double the time." Mr. Stokes was so mean! Why was he doing this to me?

I sat strait and send a sharp glare at him. "No, thank you, Mr. Stokes." He smiled—or was that a smirk?!—and went back to marking.

I stared at the clock and saw it was four. My dad would be a bit worried now. I usually came home right after school unless I was calling. And my curfew was in an hour. When was Mr. Stokes going to stop and start to lecture us? And why wasn't Ambrose acting at all annoyed? Was he actually enjoying this? I didn't dare look at him, at least not directly. I looked at him from the corner of my eyes and he was smiling. Smiling and looking out the window. I must be right, he was enjoying this.

Then Mr. Stokes stood up and put his pen on his desk. He looked over at me and Ambrose, giving us the once over. "You're both free to go." My jaw dropped wide open.

"What?" I almost shouted, my eyes a bit wide.

"You mean, pardon. It's rude to just say what." Ambrose was such a jerk.

"Whatever," was my response. I didn't want to deal with him anymore.

"The time you spent after school was enough. You may both leave now." I nod quickly and grab my bag then make a run for it out the door; I really didn't want to spend all too much time still at school.

I sat on my desk and looked at my homework. I now had a ten page story on top of the Macbeth project, plus what I had for Italian homework. In History I had to do a paper on the rebellions of 1837. Today was just not a good day for after school relaxing.

I started on the Italian homework first, since it was easy. I had finished it in half an hour then started on the essay on the rebellions of 1837. I had only finished half of it when I got fed up and ran down the stairs to the living room. My dad was sitting in front of the television watching hockey. "Hockey's on? When did it start?" I ask, sitting on the sofa next to my dad.

"At six-thirty today. Did you finish your homework?" He just had to ask that question didn't he?

"No. But I'm going to go to the park up on the giant hill and read some. It's supposed to be a good night tonight; nice and bright. I'll bring my flashlight, as well. Can I go, please?"

My dad stared at me then turned his attention back to the TV. "Fine. But be careful. I don't want you to get lost in those woods near there. Stay on the path or near the hill." I nod to confirm then race to the door to put my shoes on. I take my jacket off the coat hanger and head out, locking the door behind me.