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New Places, New Faces

*September 2007*

I sat in the backseat of the tiny little sports car, staring out the window on the way to school. When we arrived, I awkwardly wormed my backpack onto my shoulders and scooted to the door.

"Bye Rachel, honey," Karen said to her daughter, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Have a good day at school."

Like usual, I was invisible.

I got out of the car and managed to shut the door before she sped off, walking into the school several steps behind Rachel with my head down. I brushed off the negative feelings that tried to creep into my head. I was used to this by now.

Luckily, I didn't have to walk the halls alone for long. As I headed toward first period, one of my best friends crept up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "Good morning, Kirstin!" The bubbly brunette bounced up beside me and matched my pace. "You look a little...gloomy. What's got you down, buttercup?"

"It doesn't matter," I brushed it off. "You look unnaturally happy this morning. What's up with you?"

"I don't know. It just feels like it's gonna be a good day." We continued down the hallway, without words for a moment. But then Mitch found more words to say. He never has been a big fan of silence. "You look really upset. Are you sure you don't wanna talk about it?"

"It's nothing," I sighed, speaking the words he wanted to hear even though I wanted to ignore them. "Just stupid crap with my foster mom again. No big deal."

"Oh honey." Mitch pulled me into a big hug, attempting to squeeze all the sadness out of me. "You know my house is always open to you."

People think it's weird that we're still this close after breaking up, but for us it was more natural this way. We were meant to be best friends. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Yeah, I know." I forced a grin, even though he couldn't see it.

He released me right as the third musketeer appeared. "Hey guys! What's up?"

"Hi Scott," I greeted.

"Scottie," Mitch said in a pouty voice. "Kirstie's in a bad mood. Help me figure out how to cheer her up."

"I'm not in a bad mood," I grumbled, leaning against the wall.

"That frown begs to differ," Scott poked playfully at my cheeks. I turned away and rolled my eyes. "What if we meet at my house after school? Sing some stuff, maybe film some stuff. Just have fun. What do you say?"

"I'm game!" Mitch bounced. "What about you, Kirstie?"

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "I mean, yeah, sure, whatever."

"Yay!" Mitch bounced and clapped his hands. "We're gonna have you giggly in no time!" He pinched my cheek like I was a little kid and grinned goofily at me.

I ripped my face away from him and barked, "Would you guys stop touching my face?"

"Hiss," Mitch sassed. "Kirstie Kitty's got claws."

"Lay off her, Mitch. She's having a bad morning." Scott pulled me in for a hug. "Sorry Kirstie."

"Would you guys stop apologizing?" I pulled out of the hug to look at both of them. "You're treating me like a 5 year old."

"Sorry," Scott shrugged. "We just, don't like to see you sad."

"I'm not sad, I'm just...normal."

"Normal sucks, so stop it," Mitch gave me a look of disapproval right as the warning bell rang. "Better get to class. See you later, losers."

"Bye guys," Scott said.