Chapter 1 (Haley’s Perspective)
The first time I met my best friend, Danielle, was on the first day of 6th grade. I was looking for a place to sit in the gigantic cafeteria when I noticed her sitting by herself at one of the smaller tables. I walked over to her table with my tray. She had long, curly, dirty-blonde hair, bright emerald eyes framed by glasses, and pink and purple braces. I also had glasses and braces back then, but they were blue and green.
“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?” I asked her.
“Sure!” She said. “This is a change from elementary school. Nobody ever sat with me at lunch.”
“Same with me!” I said. “What elementary did you go to?”
“Riverside. You?”
“Oh, I went to Stony Brook. By the way, I’m Haley.”
“I’m Danielle.” The girl replied.
“I wonder if we have any of the same classes? Do you want to look at our schedules?” I asked.
“Sounds great!” Danielle said. We pulled out our schedules and started comparing them.
“Well, it looks like we’re both in 6th Grade Chorus last period.” I said. “I only signed up for chorus because my mom made me. Do you like singing?”
“I know we just met, but you have to pinky promise not to tell anybody this.” Danielle said.
“I pinky promise.” I said, and we pinky-promised. “Okay, spill!”
“I’ve always wanted to be a famous country singer, like Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.” Danielle said.
“That’s so cool! I can’t sing to save my life.” I said.
“I hate singing in public, though.” Danielle said.
“Why?” I asked.
“People tease me for having braces and glasses. They call me ‘Brace Face’ and ‘Metal Mouth.’ If people don’t like my singing, then they would tease me even more, and I’ll dread coming to school every day.” Danielle said. Just then, Troy Braxton and his buddies, Jake Silver and Daniel McAllister, came up to us.
“Oh look, Loser 1 is making friends with Loser 2.” Troy said and made a fake-pouty face.
“Well, at least she has a friend now.” Jake said.
“You cut that out!” I said. “You can insult me, but if you make fun of my friend, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Now, go away and don’t come back. Do you hear me?”
Troy actually looked like I scared him. “Dude, we were just joking.” He tried to explain, but he and his friends still scrambled away from our table. Just then, Danielle gave me a huge hug.
“Thank you so much. That’s the first time anyone’s ever stood up for me!” She said.
“Stick with me. It won’t be the last.” I said.
“As a reward, would you like to come over to my house and have a private concert from yours truly?” Danielle asked.
"It would be my honor.” I said.
