Art Museum

BOOK ONE

One sunny morning in Los Angeles, California, all the kids woke up to head to school. Isabel hated going to school, as she didn't have much friends. She never really fit in. Her social anxiety prevented her from communicating with her peers. Each school day was long and lonely. She was what she thought of as a "background character". Isabel loved reading books and writing stories. To her, a background character was a person who didn't have much importance to the scene. However, Lilian was more like a main character. Everyone seemed to care about Lilian. She's the head cheerleader, everyone knows Lilian. Being Lilian's adopted sister didn't help Isabel's case. She was still unpopular and no one cared about what she was doing with her life.
"Class, please turn to page 185 and answer questions 1 through 4" said Ms. Cooperteen, Isabel's math teacher. As Isabel was flipping through her heavy math textbook, she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Hey, do you have a pencil I can borrow?" Asked Joshua Valentino. "Um.. Yeah, sure, hold on" replied Isabel. She passed Joshua a pencil but she noticed he already had a sharpened pencil on his desk. "You already have a pencil, why do you need another one?" Asked Isabel. "I don't, I just needed an excuse to talk to you. Your name is Isabel right?" She stood silent for a moment then responded "Yes my name is Isabel, but why do you want to talk to me? We never spoke before" This seemed weird to Isabel since she never spoke unless the teacher called on her. "You're so mysterious, and I love it. We should talk more, what period do you have lunch?" "Um.. 5th period, why?" "I have 5th period lunch too, how come I never see you?" "I usually stay in the bathroom during lunch" "Well, you're more than welcome to sit with me during lunch anytime" "Thanks for the invitation" Isabel didn't know how to feel about this situation. She never had friends in school, could Joshua be her first?