Chapter one:

What is true friendship?

To be honest, I didn't understand the word friendship at first. When you're younger, friendship just means another person who shares a little of your life. But not your whole world.

I'm Dana. I'm currently sixteen, and living in the small town of Dayton, Ohio. It doesn't sound very exciting, I know, but there is always something to every story.

I used to be naive, and careless. I used to call myself tough and hardcore, while others called me annoying and crazy. Whichever one you decide. I never cared about other people's feelings, I stomped on whoever I needed to in order to get what I wanted.

I didn't have what you would call a 'normal' family.

But then, is there such a thing?

This story starts way back when I was starting the eighth grade in middle school. I had the best friends in the world, or so I thought. We were basically a group of girls trying to fit in.

I was the leader of them, or thats what it felt like sometimes. I made the decisions of where we sat at lunch, who we talked to, where we would hang out. I was the tough and crazy one. I would be the one to tell off the stupid bitches who made fun of us all the time, and I would be the one to flirt with random boys whenever they was around. I was always being crushed on by someone, or was in the middle of some rumor. But that was me, and I didn't care.

My first best friend, Angel was like my partner in crime. At first when we had met, she was a shy and quiet girl who was in love with the Naruto series, and wasn't afraid to show it. She'd constantly come to school with the headband or wristwatch on, but she was always being made fun of.
Til she met me.
Then she started to act tough. She was sarcastic to people, often telling them to fuck off. She was a fantastic writer, and always making up stories and writing them down in her little notebook. I would read them for her, and tell her what I thought of them. I always told her that they were awesome, but she never finished one story. I guess the reason why was because she had a tough life, her father constantly in a chair because he was dying and sick, and her mother always working. She had to take care of her siblings, who had some mental complications. She hated the word, retard.
Sometimes when I looked at her, I would get the feeling that she was off. She suffered from depression, but she never told me what the depression was about.

My next best friend, Kailin, or Pixie, was the perkiest of the group. We would always make fun of her red hair and make ginger jokes. Despite that, she was overly nice and didn't really go off on anyone. She would always show us fashion magazines and wear the coolest outfits. She was a party girl, and she showed it.

The next was Jade. She wasn't really my best friend, but I let her stick along with us. I didn't like her too much, she was always trying to best one of us. I didn't know how badly this would end.

The last was Anna. She never said much at all. She was constantly obsessed with sports, and always running or drawing sport logos, but never tried out for anything. She was the invsible one of the group.

I thought that we would make it together forever, our pact was that strong. We never had any disagreements that were too bad, and we always had fun. But none of us were willing to give up things, or to understand what true friendship is about.

But I'm the one who found out.