Guinivere

Prologue

12 years earlier .

"Miss Jaharha! Leo taked my pencil again!"

Poor Miss Jaharha turned around slowly, eyeing her most outgoing student.

"It's 'took', Chloe. What is it this time?"

Chloe glared at the black haired boy sitting next to her.

"Leo keeps taking my pencils and I'm tired of it!"  She pushed her chair out, and stood up making a stern face to her young teacher. Miss Jaharha pinched the bridge of her nose and glanced around the room, trying to find a new way to keep little Chloe out of trouble.

Five-year-old Guinivere sat at the next table over, perfectly content with making a pattern with the colored pencils. Guinivere wasn't even paying attention to anything happening in the classroom. She was the weird kid who was always off in her own little world.

She was homeschooled while all of the other kids were in preschool. She didn't need to be in this kindergarten class, but her parents decided that she needed to be 'normal.'

Whatever that means.

She hummed the Friends theme song, from hearing her older sister watching it in the living room. She wasn't allowed to watch it, but Carrie let her sneak a little every once in a while. Guinivere continued to hum, scrunching her eyebrows together as she struggled to keep the pencils straight. 

A girl with crazy, curly, dark hair sat down next to Guinivere. The young girl glared at everyone around the room, narrowing her eyes at anyone who dared to look in her direction.

"Hello! I'm Guinivere!" The girl exclaimed, extending her hand to the student. Chloe glanced at her and mumbled something before saying,

"You should think about changing your name, Jennifer. That's such an old-fashioned name."  Suddenly, Guinivere's shy side came out, and she ducked her head down, looking shyly up at Chloe.

"Um, it's actually Guinivere. Not Jennifer."

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, It's annoying." Chloe stopped talking, and studied Guinivere, narrowing her eyes. "What's your middle name?"

"Alexandra. Why?"

"Well, that settles it then," Chloe crossed her arms and smirked at Guinivere. "We'll call you Alex now."

"Alex? Why would you do that?"  She asked with a puzzled expression.

"Were you not listening?" Chloe rolled her eyes. "Guinivere is weird and old fashioned. Alex is pretty and is more with the times, if you know what I mean."

Guinivere slowly looked down at her hands. Was her name really that bad? She thought.

"Don't you like the name, Alex?" Chloe asked, shifting her head so she was looking Guinivere in the eyes. Guinivere nodded slowly and played with her fingers, not saying anything.

"The name's Chloe. Since you asked," Chloe said with a roll of her eyes. Guinivere, or Alex, scrunched her eyebrows together at Chloe.

"I didn't ask, though," she said and turned her body completely toward the girl.

"I know you didn't ask. It's called sarcasm. My brother uses it all the time, and told me he'd teach me all his ways. He's in third grade. Sometimes he says things that I don't understand at all." Guinivere nodded.

"I have the same problem with my sister."  A moment of silence passed between the two girls and they stared at each other for the time being.

"Girls!" Miss Jaraha yelled. "Pay attention please!"

Chloe glared at their teacher and huffed before plopping back down.

Guinivere immediatly sat straight ahead and stared at the board. But she wasn't paying attention. Not even in the slightest. She was thinking about what Chloe had said. About her name. Maybe she should go by Alex. Maybe she would sound better. Cooler. Less childish. Besides, she was a big girl. Not some little preschooler anymore. She was in school now. Public school even. She couldn't help but smile at the thought that she was just like all the other kids. Not homeschooled, as she was the year before. Not held back. She was just like everyone else. Typical. Normal.

She thought about her name more. Alex. Alexa? Alexis? Nah, Alex would be best. It fits her. She looked over at Chloe. If it weren't for her, she probably would never even thought of that. She smiled again, and looked back at the board.

That settles it, as Chloe said, Guinivere would call herself Alex from this day on.