Everything Changed

Chapter 1

"Zach, you comin?" Anna said to me

"Ya I just have to pack my bag." Today's our first day of grade nine. We're rushing to get to the bus because the driver's always impatient when someone's late. Especially on the first day. I throw the last of my books into my bag and run out the door to see Anna stalling the driver. She looks back, smiles, and turns to walk with me into the bus.

"Thanks for stalling" I whisper so the driver can't hear.

"No problem. Be sure to look a little sad when you pass the driver. I told him your hamster died" Anna whispers back, looking around to make sure nobody heard.

"But I don't have a hamst-"

"I know. Don't let the driver know that"Well that's Anna Brooks for you. The sneaky kind of girl. That's what I love about her. She's the one who kept me alive, sneaking me the stuff I needed to survive with. I'm sure if she hadn't found me I'd probably be starving or maybe even dead. Creepy to think what would've happened to me if she hadn't found me.

"Zach are you ok?" Anna snaps me out of my flashback.

"Ya sorry. Just thinking"

"Well stop thinking! We're not at school yet" She says with a cute grin.We sit down in a seat at the back of the bus and start to talk

"You excited for your first day of school?" Anna asks me with her blue eyes meeting mine.

"Ya. You better be in some of my classes though."

"Oh for sure. If we're not then we'll be on our own, and that won't be good. When I was in grade eight people made fun of anything about me they could, and that's why I don't have friends. Well, except for you. So, since you're my friend now, they might start to make fun of both of us, and on our own they might be a lot meaner than they were before, so if we stick together we can stand up for each other, ok?"

"Ya for sure. Were they really that mean?"

"Yup. They made fun of stuff I couldn't fix, and then they made fun of how smart I was by calling me nerdy or something. But honestly, spending so much time at the library, you'll learn something, right?"

"Don't listen to them. They're all just jealous. Honestly, if they knew who you really are, they wouldn't dare try and hurt you. I know I don't have much experience with bullies and stuff like that, but I know that you just have to ignore it."

"Yup..." We just sit in silence until we reach school. When the bus stops, we both get out and walk to the office to get our schedules. We both have the exact same schedule. As we head up to first period, math, Anna and I get some stares walking through the hallway. A big guy with short blond hair snickers at whispers at his friend.

"That's Max. He's the one who's mostly mean to me. Everyone else around him always back him up when he makes fun of me." She whispers as I nod and keep my head down, my hair falling down into my eyes. We reach room 312 and walk in. On the white board at the front of the class read "M. Ortiz" who must be our teacher. Anna and I sit down it the two desks in the back corner and throw our bags beside us.

"Ok class, I'm M. Ortiz, your math teacher. Today we'll start with attendance and then learn everyone's names and something about them, ok?" He says as the class nods. "Ok, attendance" he gets the attendance folder out and starts reading names. When he calls me I say here and return to trying to hide. After attendance, M. Ortiz points to everyone one by one and asks their name and something about them. When he gets to me, I mentioned that I loved books. I don't want anyone to know that I had been homeless. Anna said that she loves books too. Because the class wasn't very cooperative, the name thing took up the whole class, so Anna and I grab our bags and head out the door. Next was history, and we did the exact same name thing, even though their was only one person who was different in the class. We headed out to drama class, which was next, and thankfully instead of the boring name thing, we got to do an improv skit with one of our friends. I went with Anna but we didn't really know what to do, so we just started to make weird conversations, which was kinda funny. Then French, I sort of don't speak French that well, so telling people my name was a little funny to watch. Anna said she's going to teach me French now so I don't fail. We leave the class and head down to the cafeteria.

"Zach, you have to keep your head low. Max and his friends will probably be annoying. Every lunch last year I got some new food stains on my shirt." Anna whispers, careful not to let Max hear, who was a little farther in front of us.

"I swear if he does that, I'm going to get so mad..." I trail off. We step into the cafeteria and line up to get today's food. Pasta. Hopefully Max won't bother us today. We hold out our lunch trays to the lunch lady as she scoops some pasta onto our plates. Anna and I both say thank you and head to an empty table on the edge of the cafeteria. We're half way to the table when Anna stops. I look up and see Max and two of his friends, smirking, and walking toward us. Max's two friends walk up behind him, but they keep coming. One of them went to Anna, the other to me.

"Wha-" I say before I get interrupted by the boy who walked up to me, who had just grabbed my tray and shoved it into me. The other did the same to Anna. That's just great.

"Well well well, Anna's got a new friend." Max says, eying me up and down.

"So? Am I not allowed to have friends?" Anna says, trying to brush off some of the pasta stuck to her shirt.

"Well, I never thought anyone would ever even want to be your friend." Max says.

"Anna's awesome! You don't know who she really is!" I say, walking up to Max.

"Oh really?"

"Yup. She's better than you" I say. What am I thinking? After that, the only thing I remember is Max bringing his arm back to punch me, the crazy pain in my head, then my arms, my legs, and Annas yells before I fell to the ground unconscious.