The rain beat against Autumn's window. She held her head in her hands and tried to concentrate. The blank piece of paper on her desk was supposed to be an essay that was due 3 days ago, but Autumn had a bad case of writer's block. Her mom knocked on the door and entered without waiting for an invitation.

"Hey Autumn, how was school?" She stood in the doorway, looking concerned.

"It was fine, but I'm trying to work right now," Autumn replied. She turned her back to her and pretended to write something until her mom sighed and closed the door. Autumn turned off her desk lamp and went to bed.

The yellow bus rolled up to the school and slowed to a stop with a hissing sound. As Autumn was stepping outisde, she got a text from her best friend, Nicole.

Ugh, we have Mr. Edmund's class first. Autumn could picture Nicole saying this, her fake nails clicking against each other as she made dramatic gestures for emphasis. Nicole always made everything a bigger deal than it actually was, like having science for their first class.

Mr. Edmund, the science teacher at Northside Middle School, was in a particularly bad mood that morning. Before the lesson had even started, he had given out 3 detentions. 2 for talking too loud and 1 for 'smiling too much'. Finally he slammed a clipboard on his desk and made a seating chart.

"Autumn, go sit next to..Blake," said Mr. Edmund. Autumn's stomach dropped. She stood up and slowly shuffled over to Blake's desk. He moved his chair as far from her as possible and looked out the window. This annoyed Autumn. She should be the one moving away from him. Ever since 4th grade, Blake had tormented Autumn every day for no reason. Now that they were in 8th grade, it had gotten worse. He would steal her homework, write on her locker in Sharpie, or trip her in gym class.

Autumn glanced at Nicole, who was sitting on the other side of the room. Nicole nodded towards the girl sitting next to her and mouthed the words help me. Autumn was about to text her when she felt something light hit her on the back of her head. She turned around and looked at Blake, who was suddenly facsinated by Mr. Edmund's speech about atoms. "I know that was you," she said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

Blake looked at her, confused. "What was me?" he said.

Mr. Edmund turned so fast his neck made a snapping noise. A vein in his neck pulsed a little. "Who was just talking?" He barked. The teachers' pet Davey pointed towards Autumn and Blake. "You two. Detention, after school." He turned back to the white board.

Blake slumped in his seat and muttered, "Thanks a lot, Davey." He spent the rest of the class copying off of Autumn's paper and yelling across the room to his friends.

At lunch, Autumn poked her salad with a fork and sighed. Nicole was on the other side of the bench talking 90 miles a minute about who knows what. Every now and then she would stop for breath, so Autumn would add things like 'right?' or 'that is so not fair' or 'oh no she didn't!' This was enough for Nicole, so she kept talking while Autumn picked at her food. She was surprised when Nicole asked her,

"Do you want to go to the mall with me tomorrow? I need a new sweater."

"I thought you just bought a new sweater," Autumn replied.

"Yeah, last week," Nicole rolled her eyes. "So I need a new one that will match my new necklace."

Autumn agreed to go with her, threw away her tray of untouched food, and went to math class. In the hallway she saw Blake walk past her. For a moment, she could have sworn he was looking at her.