Let’s start with an introduction to my life. Hi, I’m Amber Jameson. That’s about the extent of my life.

Well, I suppose there’s more to it. I’m a junior at Glendale’s Alternative School for the Arts. My art is photography. I have an older brother, Mitchell, but he goes to, I guess, public school. My school is public, too; you’ve just got to have a talent to get in. Mitch has no talent other than basketball. Without the help of his best friend Adam, he’d probably have flunked out of school. Adam was a basketball junkie, too, but he at least had a few brains.

I also have a little sister, Mallory. We call her Lory. She’s in kindergarten. She’s adorable but gets Mitch and his mouth in a lot of trouble. He loves her regardless. Our parents are happily married. I think so, anyways. I don’t talk to my mom about the details of her marriage. Come to think of it, I don’t talk to my mom… On occasion, I can be found having a conversation with my dad. That only happens when I’m desperate for human contact. Luckily for me, my friends don’t have much in the way of lives, so they’re usually available.

I started going to GAS, as we like to call it, halfway through my freshman year. My counselor said “alternative school,” and my mom thought I had been getting into trouble. She doesn’t trust me. Then my counselor explained that it’s for students with “exceptional artistic abilities.” Honestly, all I do is take pictures of people and things. On occasion, places my family drags me to. My photography teacher had hung most of my work in the hall, and my counselor was “intrigued.” Point is, she, along with my teacher, submitted an application for me at GAS and if I was interested, I would be starting there second semester.

Was I interested?

To be honest, I wasn’t. However, my mom made the decision for me and said I would be “ecstatic to go to such a lovely school.” Those were her exact words. She was excited that her daughter was going to have a future, just like her older brother. My brother had no future if he got a serious injury. He and I both knew this, but our parents overlooked that.

At first, I hated school. I knew no one, and no one wanted to know me. I ended up having to partner up with someone for a photography assignment. I got stuck with Valerie Steele. That sounds mean; let me correct myself. Luck was on my side and I got to be partnered up with gorgeous, nothing-but-legs Valerie Steele. I took her home so we could plan out our project. She’s been dating my brother ever since. I suppose we’re friends. We only hang out because she’s my brother’s girlfriend. And that’s what I call her. People always say, “Oh, do you know Valerie?” Most people would say they’re her friend. I say, “Yeah, she’s been dating my brother for two years.”

I sat with Valerie and her friends at lunch when she started dating Mitch. Her friends didn’t like me and I didn’t like them. But they put up with me because Valerie would drop them if they didn’t. I put up with them because my brother drown my in the bathtub if I didn’t. Thank all things holy that by the time junior year rolled around, I had my own friends. They were mostly school friends that wouldn’t go over to my house.

“Amberina Ballerina,” a happy voice said brightly as they plopped on the grass next to me. It was Monday morning, the first day of junior year. I didn’t want to be there. No one wanted to be there. Then again, there was always one exception. GAS’s exception was Lorraine Montgomery. Her talent was in the dance department and she was my best friend.

“Rainy, you have got to share whatever it is you smoke in the morning,” I said.

“Don’t look so down, Amber,” she said firmly, pushing my shoulder. “It’s a new year. There are new teachers out there to help us on the road to success.”

“Yeah, and then there’s the one who will give you a failing grade on the final project because it had ‘partial nudity.’ I mean, it was my little cousin, who was two months old. That old bat was just out to get me.”

“Amber, a C is not a failing grade. A failing grade is an F, as it stands for ‘failure’.”

“Yeah, and a C stands for ‘crash and burn,’ which is just as bad.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“You’re being indifferent about my future being flushed down the drain.”

The bell rang and Rainy promptly got up. Before I could do anything, she pulled me up to my feet and was dragging my off to our homeroom. We’d had the same homeroom since freshman year. You go to homeroom and your teacher gives you your schedule. Then you’re sent off to class, praying you’ve got a friend in at least one of your regular classes.

There were about eight hundred kids at GAS, two hundred per class. It was nice because in your grade level, you pretty much knew everyone. It sucked to be new. Your first day, everyone points at you and whispers.

Rainy and I got to class and took our usual seats, which were alpha-order by last name. Lucky for us, Rainy sat right behind me. Right behind her is where Valerie sat. Jonathan Kilmer took his seat next to me and flashed a brace-less smile.

“You don’t have braces, Jon Jon,” I said with a grin.

“Neither do you,” he replied. “Have a good summer?”

“Got a C on the final for Patterson, but other than that, it was nice. What about you?”

“I got a D on the final so don’t beat yourself up. As for summer, it was a blast. We went to Florida.”

“That’s cool. My brother took me and Valerie-” I made a face “-to the river for the rapids.”

“It was just you three?”

“His friend Adam came along,” I said, waving my hand. “He figured I’d have Valerie to talk to so I’d be fine. Maybe I would have been if he stopped trying to vacuum off her face for more than ten seconds.”

The bell rang and the last few kids filed in and took their seats. Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Lauer (no relation to Matt Lauer, sorry), stood up and smiled at us. In his hand he held a pile of papers, no doubt the dreaded schedules of death and doom and destruction… and any other negative word that starts with D. I got my schedule and as soon as Rainy got hers, I turned around to compare.

“We have English together, and that’s it,” I said with a frown.

“And lunch,” Rainy pointed out with a huge grin. I rolled my eyes and grabbed Jonathan’s schedule.

“Effing figures,” I grumbled, giving it back to him. “Same exact schedule, yet again.”

“I’m starting to think you’re stalking me, Jameson,” he said, leaning back in his chair. I pushed him and he nearly fell over. My teacher sent me a disapproving look and I beamed at him.

After the bell rang, I parted way with Rainy and walked with Jonathan to our chemistry class.

“I hate chemistry,” I said with a sigh.

“You’ve never taken chemistry,” Jonathan pointed out.

“Yeah, so?” I questioned. “It’s our first class. We’re supposed to hate it, Jonathan.”

“I’ll hate it special for you.”

At the same time, we spotted him. Him was the new kid, and he was getting a lot of attention. He was gorgeous, to say the least. Talk, dark, and handsome, I suppose you could say. Typical, I thought, rolling my eyes. The only person that was considered gorgeous that willingly talked to me was Valerie. Jonathan and I were surprised when he stopped in front of us.

“Do you guys know where room… one-oh-two is?” he asked. I knew without looking at my schedule that was where I was heading.

“Yeah,” I said. I began to walk in the direction of our class as did Jonathan. Turning around, I saw the guy still standing there, watching us. “Are you coming or are you going to stand there and hope you mysteriously transport to class?”

The guy rolled his eyes but walked with us towards our chemistry class.

“I’m Amber, by the way,” I said. “And this is Jonathan. We’re both here for photography. What about you?”

“I’m Victor,” the guy said. “I’m here because I had no choice.”

“Do you have a talent?” Jonathan asked.

“I dance.”

Jonathan laughed and I hit him.

“Ignore him, he’s a jerk,” I told Victor. “My best friend Rainy is actually in dance.”

Victor nodded as we entered the class.

“He’s so gay,” Jonathan whispered into my ear. “Think he’s single?”

“That’s disgusting,” I whispered back. “And before you ask, no I’m not asking him out for you.”

Maybe I should have told you that Jonathan is slightly bisexual. Well, no, not even slightly. He’s full blown bisexual. Scared the crap out of my brother the first time they met. Mitch and Adam both refuse to go near him.

I sat at the same table that Victor had claimed. I sat across from him and Jonathan sat next to me.

“Hey guys,” Valerie said, taking the last remaining seat. Inside I groaned. Want to know the worst part about having the same talent as someone? You tend to have a lot of other classes with them.

“Hey Val Pal,” Jonathan said.

“Valerie, this is Victor,” I said.

“He’s a dancer,” Jonathan said, doing the “gay hand flip.”

“Victor, this is Valerie,” I said, ignoring Jonathan.

“She’s a girl,” Jonathan said, shaking his head disappointedly.

“She’s also taken so it doesn’t matter what she is or isn’t.”

“Actually, Amber, I need to talk to you about that,” she said slowly. I narrowed my eyes at her. Was she about to dump my brother? “No, it’s not like that. It’s something else that is equally important that I haven’t told him about.”

“Why haven’t you told him?” I asked as the bell rang. She couldn’t respond because the teacher began talking. Taking attendance is more like it.

“Amber Jameson?” he asked. I raised my hand in a sort of half wave instead of saying “here” or something like that. “Do you have an older brother named Mitchell?”

“Uh, yeah, but he doesn’t go here,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“No, he goes to St. Mary’s, right?” I nodded slowly. “My wife teaches there.”

“Lucky her,” I muttered. He went on with the attendance, thankfully.

After chemistry, I walked with Jonathan to algebra, which pretty much sucked, and from there we went to English. I sat in between him and Rainy. I was lucky because Valerie wasn’t in my English class or my algebra class. I told Rainy about the new boy and she said he was in her pre-calc class. After English we went to lunch. The food was… alright, I guess. For school food, it was good. For real, human food, it was… edible.

I normally sat with Jonathan and Rainy. A few of our other friends would randomly join us from time to time. I was surprised when Victor sat with us but he just smiled.

“I wouldn’t suggest eating the broccoli,” Rainy said, pointing her fork at her. “We’re still convinced it’s rotten cauliflower.”

“Rotten cauliflower?” he repeated. I nodded brightly.

After lunch, we went to our “special” classes. Rainy took Victor to the junior level dance room, which was on the third floor, while I walked with Jonathan to the junior level photography room on the first floor. Valerie caught up with us. She shooed Jonathan away, saying she had something to talk to me about. Rolling his eyes, Jonathan made his way to class without me.

“Amber, I’m late,” she rushed out.

“Yeah, and I’ll be late, too, if we don’t hurry up to class,” I pointed out.

“No, I mean… I’m late.” My jaw dropped. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the conveniently located bathroom to our left.

“Val, please tell me you aren’t serious,” I said, trying to control my breathing.

“I mean, we used protection and it’s not like we did it that often.”

“Okay, stop,” I said, holding up my hand. “We are not about to discuss my brother’s sex life at all, let alone in a school bathroom.”

“Amber, this is serious.”

“Well, what are we going to do here in the bathroom? I don’t exactly carry a pee test on me.” Valerie rolled her eyes. “Look, after school, we’ll talk or something. I don’t know. Did you drive today?”

“No, your brother dropped me off. I was going to get a ride from someone else to get home.”

“I’ll take you,” I said. Then the bell rang. We were late.