Chapter 1: A Life of Changes…

Centralville, a small town located somewhere in between Massachusetts and New York… known for its bizarre history and for its wide range of facilities for the citizens there. Schools for all levels could be also found in the town itself, although there were still some private schools in the vicinity for a more decent and wide range of education. Recreational places were not very far from the schools and such; students find it easy to enjoy themselves after a day at school. Getting a job in town wasn't very difficult either—in fact, there were so many jobs available for people who just got in Centralville. The town may seem so ordinary, but there was more to it than what it seemed…

A twelve-year-old girl sat down on the couch of their living room as she picked up the remote control lying on the coffee table and pressed the buttons to switch on the television. She had short black hair and wore eyeglasses in her face. She wore an orange t-shirt with a white hooded jacket, a gray skirt and some sneakers. While watching the television, she heard the phone rang. She lowered the volume of the television as she tried to listen to the conversation between her mother and the person on the other line.

"…Okay, tomorrow's the start? …Thank you then…"

Then, a woman with long black hair who also wore glasses and wore a dark yellow long sleeved collared shirt with a maroon coat and some black pants came inside the room. She looked really excited as she sat on the couch.

"Avegaille Stewart, guess what?"

"Uh, Mom, why do you have to address me by my whole name?" Avegaille asked as she sweat-dropped and looked at her mother skeptically. She quickly turned off the television as she turned her attention to her mother.

"That's not very important right now, but since you mentioned it, I enrolled you at Centralville Middle School and you'll be starting school there tomorrow!" Mrs. Stewart exclaimed happily and she quickly hugged her daughter tightly.

"Gah! Mom! I can't… breathe!" Avegaille grunted and her mother quickly released her. She took a deep breath and then looked at her mother. "How were you able to find a school that would accept me as a student that fast?"

"Not really that fast, you know. It took them a week before they could reconsider having you as a student," Mrs. Stewart explained as she placed her hands on her hips. "Your school record at Centralville Elementary almost made them think to reject you as a student there. But when they saw your school record at Midway Academy, they had to take it over the principal and let her decide."

"Oh." Avegaille turned away from her mother and stared at the black screen of the television.

"Hmm? What's the matter now?" Mrs. Stewart asked as she popped her face right in front of Avegaille.

"Mom!" Avegaille sweat-dropped and quickly moved a little further away from her mother. "Do you always have to freak me out like that?"

"Not really, but it's fun seeing you a bit jittery once in a while," Mrs. Stewart replied and shrugged.

Avegaille couldn't help but stare at her mother exasperatedly while she got up from her seat. Then, she walked out of the living room. Mrs. Stewart, on the other hand, sighed as she stood up from the couch and walked off to the hallway.

.-.-.-.-.-

‘You know, Amelia, you should never annoy your daughter when she's not in the mood.’

"Like, how was I supposed to know that?" Mrs. Stewart answered back over the phone.

Mrs. Stewart, or rather, Amelia Stewart, was in the kitchen, talking to her best friend Andrea Anderson over the phone. Both of them had been good friends since they met on their first day in college, and were also roommates. Andrea lived a few blocks away from Amelia's house. The two of them were single mothers, taking care of their children. Whenever the two of them had free time, they would always chat on the phone.

‘Well, you can always look at your daughter's reaction whenever you say something,' Andrea responded while Amelia sat down on a chair near the kitchen table.

"Hmm, could work, but anyways, how is your son? Where will he be studying?" Amelia quickly asked, anticipating her friend’s answer.

‘Yeah, Phil's doing okay and he's going to Centralville Middle School tomorrow,' Andrea replied happily. 'You know, Phil's acting a bit strange all of a sudden.'

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Amelia asked and bit her lower lip.

‘It could be just part of adolescent period for him, but still…' Andrea said in a worried tone.

"Yeah, well, maybe we could talk about this later, I have to make dinner for the two of us," Amelia interrupted.

‘Oh, yeah, same here, see ya!’ Andrea replied back and the call ended.

Amelia took a deep breath as she took a look around the kitchen. Then, she noticed Avegaille walking by and sat down on one of the chairs by the kitchen table. Avegaille placed her arms on the table and then banged her head against it.

"Hey, hey, what's going on with you?" Mrs. Stewart asked and she quickly stood up from her seat and held on Avegaille's head.

"Gah! I don't want to go to school anymore, I'm getting sick and tired of it," Avegaille whined out and tried to struggle out from her mother's grip.

"Well, you never experienced life in middle school yet, so why don't you just give it a try for once?" Mrs. Stewart asked calmly while Avegaille looked up at her.

"I wish Jane was here to tell me what it's like to study in middle school," Avegaille murmured and looked down at the table.

"Well, your sister still has a few months left to live with your dad, so it would be better if you just wait patiently," Mrs. Stewart told her while she let go of Avegaille and sat down on the chair she was sitting on before.

Avegaille just grumbled to herself as she placed her hands on her lap and clenched her fists.

"Well, if you want to eat, I'll get dinner ready, so just wait here, okay?" Mrs. Stewart told Avegaille while she stood up from her seat and walked up to the kitchen counter. Then, she started to take the ingredients from the cabinets.

Avegaille lifted up her head and watched her mother cook. She felt like helping out, so she stood up and approached her mother. Amelia smiled as she saw Avegaille standing right beside her.

"All right then, get some meat from the fridge," Mrs. Stewart told to Avegaille. "We'll have some steak for dinner."

.-.-.-.-.-

Apart from the middle class families living in Centralville, there were high-class families who chose to live in Centralville for the sake of its peacefulness and less stressful surroundings. Such families, for example, were the Rustfords. It only took the Rustfords a week to finish unpacking their things for their new residential mansion. The owner of the mansion, Mrs. Rustford, had long brown hair and wore a dark blue gown that reached up to her ankle. On the other hand, her daughter also had long brown hair but tied up in a ponytail, leaving out only her bangs. She wore a dark red long sleeved collared shirt with a brown blazer, a patterned brown skirt and some black school shoes. Mrs. Rustford and her daughter were in the living room, checking if they had everything all set.

"Nicole May, since there aren't much boarding schools of high class here, I thought it would be best if you gained some new experience by studying in a public school," Mrs. Rustford told her. She took out her PDA and started to browse the screen with its stylus.

"I don't mind, I just want to get away from everything in New York," Nicole May murmured as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Hmm, you seem to be the type of person who doesn't care about what's going on around you," Mrs. Rustford remarked while she looked at her daughter sternly. Then, she sighed as she put back her PDA in her pocket. "Since I'll be busy tomorrow, I'll just have Dan drive you off to school."

"Whatever," Nicole May murmured. She walked off and went out of the living room.

"Geez, I just don't know what to do with that girl," Mrs. Rustford murmured to herself while she approached the sofa and sat down.

.-.-.-.-.-

"Come on sleepyhead, wake up!"

Avegaille groaned loudly as she sat up from her bed and rubbed her eyes. Mrs. Stewart on the other hand, sat down on the bed as she took Avegaille's glasses from the small table beside the bed and handed it over to her. The study desk, which was near the left side of the bed, was cluttered with books and papers from Avegaille's special studies during summer vacation. Next to the study desk, to its left, was Avegaille's closet, which had her white hooded jacket hanging on the hinge of the closet door. To the left of the closet door was the bookcase, in which most of the books were lying on the floor. To the right of Avegaille's bed was the door leading outside her room and from the front of Avegaille's bed was a windowpane with a trunk below it to sit on.

"Gah! Mom! Not this again!" Avegaille groaned while she put on her glasses. She looked around and saw her mother carrying the strap of a shoulder bag. She stared at it in a skeptical manner. "Uh, what's the bag for?"

"Don't you remember, today is your first day at middle school!" Mrs. Stewart exclaimed as she handed the bag to her daughter. "Get dressed and I'll be waiting downstairs with someone to walk with you to school."

Avegaille scratched her head and she looked down on the bag lying on her lap. Mrs. Stewart quickly rushed out of the room while Avegaille got off from her bed and quickly approached her closet.

"Hmm, I wonder who that person Mom is talking about…" Avegaille muttered to herself as she removed the jacket from the hinge of the door and then opened the closet.

.-.-.-.-.-

Downstairs, in the hallway, Mrs. Stewart quickly rushed to the door after the doorbell rang. She opened the door and saw Andrea with her son Phil besides her. Andrea had long curly brown hair and wore a long sleeved white collared shirt with a blue sweater, some fitted brown pants and loafers. Her son Phil, had ruffled spiky dark brown hair, wore a long sleeved red shirt with an opened short sleeved green collared shirt, along with some loose pants and sneakers. Amelia quickly led the two guests to the hallway while at the same time, Avegaille just got down from the stairs. Avegaille always had one type of outfit in her closet for every season of the year, so that she didn’t have to think of what to wear. She had the strap of her bag hanging on her shoulder.

"Hmm, looks like everything's ready," Andrea whispered to Amelia. Phil walked off slightly away from her mother as he saw Avegaille.

"Mom, who exactly is that person you're talking about?" Avegaille whined as she quickly approached her mother.

"Oh, yes, since Andrea and I are going to be busy for quite a while, Phil's going to walk you to school," Mrs. Stewart explained and gestured to Phil.

"W-what?!" Avegaille's left eye started to twitch as she slowly turned to Phil. Phil smiled at Avegaille, which only made Avegaille turn away from him.

"Come on, Avegaille, I'm sure it'll be fun to have someone with you to walk to school," Mrs. Stewart said calmly as she held on Avegaille's shoulder. "Besides, Phil's the only one that knows the way to Centralville Middle School."

.-.-.-.-.-

"Of all the people who had to walk me to school, it had to be you…" Avegaille grumbled while she continued to look on the ground while holding on the strap of her bag.

"Hey, it's not my fault that our mothers are so close," Phil interrupted and he tried to keep up with Avegaille's walking pace. "Besides, you don't want to have a bad day on your first day of school."

Avegaille just kept quiet while the two of them continued to walk on the sidewalk until they finally arrived at Centralville Middle School. Phil inserted his hands into the pockets of his pants, and then sheepishly glanced at Avegaille. Avegaille quickly jerked up her head and looked at Phil.

"Are we there yet?" Avegaille asked exasperatedly.

"Uh, we just have to cross the street and turn to the left," Phil replied nervously as he quickly turned away from Avegaille.

As the two of them reached the corner of the sidewalk, the traffic light lit to a green light, allowing them to cross the street safely. After that, they took the left side of the road and continued to walk from there.

"You know too much, I just don't get why you aren't the type of person who is in with the crowd," Avegaille muttered while they continued to walk further.

"Nah, I'm not usually the person who wants to be popular," Phil replied. He looked over the distance and saw some students crossing over the street. "We're almost there, but since I wish to see the school first, so… see ya later!"

Avegaille looked surprised while she watched Phil running off into the school grounds. Avegaille tried to follow him quickly but she couldn’t keep up with him. As she walked through the school grounds, she noticed the pale yellow building with two other buildings beside it. She saw the soccer field just to the right of the building. Avegaille was too busy looking around, in awe at what she was seeing so far. Without realizing it, she bumped hard into a student which in return both of them fell on the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" the girl exclaimed furiously and she sat on the ground while dusting off her coat. Then, she noticed a pair of glasses lying on the ground, which might belong to Avegaille.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry…"

The girl was right behind Avegaille and it seemed that Avegaille couldn't see things clearly without her glasses.

"Here, this might belong to you," the girl muttered while she grabbed Avegaille's shoulder and turned her around. Then, she handed over to Avegaille the pair of glasses she found on the ground.

Avegaille put on her glasses while the girl stood up from the ground. Avegaille quickly got up as well and noticed that the girl was still standing right in front of her. The girl took out a pair of glasses from her pocket and put them on her face.

"You look like a teacher when you wear those," Avegaille teased.

"Heh, at least it won't get everyone's attention," the girl muttered, trying to ignore Avegaille's remark.

"What's your name anyways?" Avegaille asked curiously.

"Just call me Nicole May," the girl replied apathetically. Then, she walked away and went inside the school campus.

"Nicole May? As in Nicole May Rustford?" Avegaille wondered to herself while she looked at the door of the school building. "I wonder if she's the same girl that I met in Midway Academy."

.-.-.-.-.-

"All right then class, let me introduce myself, I am Mr. Collins, your teacher in mathematics." Then, he took out a class record from the drawer of his desk.

The classroom had 30 individual seats for each student, although there were only about 20 students in the classroom. On the right side of the classroom, was a cork board filled with charts and tables, mostly about math. On the left side of the room was the glass window where some daylight could pass though. Besides the corkboard were two doors on each side, allowing entry and exit of the students. At the back of the classroom was the long bookshelf, where the books in it could be used whenever there was an exercise or homework to be done. In front of the classroom were the blackboard and the teacher's desk, where Mr. Collins was standing behind.

"Okay, let's start with the class roll call," Mr. Collins told everyone. "First, Philip Anderson?"

"Here!" Phil replied as he raised his hand. He looked around and noticed that Avegaille wasn't inside the classroom. But he knew that Avegaille was supposed to be in this class. "I wonder where Avegaille ran off to this time."

While Mr. Collins continued to call each student's name, Phil was getting more worried. He wanted to look for Avegaille but he didn't want to get in trouble with the teacher.

"Okay then, Nicole May—"

Then, a loud crash coming from behind the classroom startled everyone. Mr. Collins quickly placed his class record on the table and ran off behind the room while everyone else looked around at the cause of the noise. He noticed some of the desks and chairs all tumbled down. Then, he finally saw Avegaille right in between the mess, sitting on the ground.

"What is the meaning of this and what's your name?" Mr. Collins asked furiously.

"I dunno, the school needs more stable desks if you ask me and my name is Avegaille Jade C. Stewart," Avegaille replied while she stood up from the floor.

Mr. Collins sweat-dropped and took a closer look at Avegaille. The students were all watching the two of them talk. Avegaille was getting a bit impatient at Mr. Collins observing the mess.

"Look, Avegaille, just because I'm your mother's little brother, it doesn't mean you can make a mess in my classroom whenever you want to," Mr. Collins whispered to Avegaille.

"Really? You're my Mom's—"

Mr. Collins quickly covered Avegaille's mouth and he hushed at Avegaille. The class was getting a bit tired of watching the two of them and decided to talk with each other instead.

"Look, just try to behave, your mother doesn't want you to be suspended on your first day of school," Mr. Collins whispered. "Amelia was the one who asked me to recommend you to the principal to be a student here. And I also took you as a student for math class so I could keep an eye on you."

"Well, okay then, if that's what my Mom said," Avegaille muttered.

"Just take a seat, I'm still calling students on my class list," Mr. Collins told Avegaille.

"Yes, sir…" Avegaille murmured glumly while she approached an empty seat in front of the classroom. As she sat down, she took out her notebook and her pen. Then, she started to do some scribbles on the back page of her notebook.

"Where was I?" Mr. Collins asked himself as he picked up the class record on the table. Then, he turned to the students who were talking to each other. "Okay, Nicole May Rustford?"

"Here, sir!" Nicole May exclaimed as she raised her hand.

Avegaille quickly jerked up her head and she looked around the classroom until she noticed that Nicole May was sitting right next to her. Avegaille also noticed that Nicole May had a laptop on her desk. Avegaille got curious as to why Nicole May had to wear glasses when she could see things clearly even without them.

"…Avegaille Stewart?" Mr. Collins called.

"Huh? Oh, right here sir," Avegaille quickly replied and raised her hand.

"Okay, that's everyone," Mr. Collins told everyone and placed the class record back on the desk. Then, he took out a chalk stick from his pocket.

Phil took out his notebook from his backpack and silently tore a page from the back part of his notebook. He started to write a message in it and quickly folded it twice. Nicole May, on the other hand, was browsing her files in her laptop. Then, she saw a picture of herself wearing a long sleeved white collared shirt with a red necktie, a dark blue blazer and a gray skirt. Right in front of her in the picture was a girl with short black hair, had glasses on her face and wore the same uniform as she did. Both of them were assembling something. She realized that the picture was for a science project. While Nicole May was browsing through her files, Avegaille took out a pencil and started to draw on another blank page of her notebook. Mr. Collins was too busy writing down the student's homework for today that he didn't notice that the students were already doing things not related to the subject. When Mr. Collins finished writing on the blackboard, the students quickly went back to their seats and Mr. Collins stared at them exasperatedly.

"All right, as you can see on the board is your homework for today," Mr. Collins told everyone. He noticed everyone started grumbling and making whining noises. "Now don't you go whining… we'll have a lot of lessons for this semester. It'll be best if you could all review your mathematical equations by then. The deadline of your homework can be seen on the board."

Avegaille raised her hand while Nicole May started to copy all the things written on the board into her laptop. Mr. Collins saw Avegaille and called her up.

"Yes, Avegaille, what is it?" Mr. Collins asked.

"Can we use calculators for that?" Avegaille asked innocently.

Mr. Collins sweat-dropped while everyone chuckled. Nicole May looked at Avegaille skeptically while Phil couldn't help himself but laugh along with the class.

"It's your choice, Avegaille," Mr. Collins replied exasperatedly and sighed. "But remember, I gave that homework so that you can go back to the four basic mathematical operations."

"Okay then, sir," Avegaille said in return as she sat down and started to copy all the things written on the board in her notebook.

"How could Amelia stand her daughter like this?" Mr. Collins asked himself while he watched the students quietly copy the homework written on the blackboard.