This book is dedicated to my first supporter and BFF, Cassidy Valdez, and to all girls who think that they don't fit in. You are not alone!

-V.W.

Chapter One

    "Morning, Monday!" Harasia waved at Rio, her second BFF after her big brother, "Did your cat do anything funny yet?"

    "Lol," she smiled, waiting for Harasia to catch up to her, "Unfortunately, no. He's still a couch potato."

    They had been second BFFs since kindergarten, when Rio had saved Harasia from a group of mean boys that killed animals for fun. Ever since then, they had been second BFFs! Oh wait, you probably want to know what they look like, right? Harasia was a shy but smart girl who had violet eyes, freckles, and for some reason she had grayish whitish hair. That had been the main reason why the boys 

had bullied her. Harasia thought that it was weird that she was born with that type of hair, since her parents were both red-heads, but whenever she asked them they always changed the subject. If you met her, you would think that she was a really cute girl, since she was shy, had a cute smile, had longish hair, and her violet eyes looked like galaxies inside of galaxies. Rio, however, was a very friendly and outgoing girl who had short, black hair and bangs, blue eyes, and was the type of person who would turn you into a pretzel if you messed with her. Her real name was Rizza Indiana Olma, but she didn't like that name and she used to be teased about it (even though she always fought back and won) so she started to tell people to call her Olma. If you were close to her, however, you could call her Rio. Anyways, as the duo were walking down the school hallway, they chatted 

about stuff like what they did that weekend, yada yada. 

    "I've got History first period, again," Rio groaned, knowing that was her worst subject and least favorite, "Winter break just ended! Why won't they change the periods?!"

    "Well, I got Math first period," Harasia stifled a laugh, "and that's my best and favorite subject!"

    "No fair!" Rio whined setting her backpack on the floor to get out her History textbook, "I love Math!"

    The two girls went their separate ways and promised to meet back at lunch. Harasia opened her backpack and smiled. Once

again, her parents had sent her a little note that read:

Have a great day at school!

   XOXO, mom and dad

Rrrriiiinngg!!!! The school bell screamed, reminding Harasia that not only was she supposed to head to Math class, but also that she was gonna be late in thirty seconds! She rushed down the loooooong hallway, took a slight right, then a sharp left, then another left, and burst into into Mrs. Sandra's (the math teacher) class. 

    "Harasia!" she exclaimed, looking, at her dead in the eye, "Go to your seat right now!"

    "Yes Mrs. Sandra," Harasia breathed, still worn out from her run across the school. 

    "Sucks to be you," Nathan, the boy who sat next to her laughed quietly, sticking his tongue out at her, "Have fun earning the digits of pi, Harry-asia!"

    She could feel her face burn red, but she just ignored him like she always did. Why does he keep calling me that? she wondered as she sat down. I've told him multiple times to stop. Maybe he like me! Just the thought of that made her want to puke. 

    "What's wrong, Harry-asia?" Nathan laughed, "Did your dog 

 eat you homework?"   She felt her face turn brighter than a tomato, and she felt like she wanted to cry. She did, actually, because her dog had been with her since she was born but had just gone missing a month ago. 

    "Nathan, Harasia, stop talking or you'll be in detention for two days," Mrs. Sandra said, then turned back to the whiteboard and said, "Who can tell me what the value of pi is?"

    Harasia could feel her hand shoot up, and before she could stop herself, she had said the first twenty-one digits of pi.

        "Pi equals 3.14159265358979323846!" she exclaimed, then covered her mouth.

    "There goes the Calculator," Nathan whispered to Brandon, his BFF, "Go get some water to shut her down!"

    Now redder than ever, Harasia quickly sat down and looked at her textbook. Why do I have to be so smart? she sighed. Maybe if I get a question wrong, then I'll be normal? To her, tweens were complicated, and that didn't even include her since she had skipped preschool! 

                                              ---

    "Piping hot mashed potatoes, served with delicious peas!" Ms. Gumbo, the lunch lady hollered over the screams and laughter of the cafeteria, "Hot lunch had never tasted better!"

    Actually, that's wrong. Harasia thought as she sat down at the lunch table and opened her lunch box, You've been serving that for 3 weeks in a row! She looked inside her lunchbox and smiled. Her dad had packed her a bologna sandwich and had remembered to cut of the edges! 

    "There you are!" Rio waved, walking towards Harasia, "I looked all over for you! How come you're not sitting in our usual seat?"

    She sighed. She definitely couldn't tell her bestie that it was because Nathan and Brandon were sitting there!

    "Um, no reason!" she smiled, then scooched over to make 

room for her bestie to sit, "Anyways, have you seen the movie Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken yet?"

    "Yaaasss!!!" Rio exclaimed, a glint in her eye, "It was amazing! I love how visual they made the colors and designs!"

    Harasia smiled. Rio had always been a fan of computers, and had said that her dream was to make a movie, so it was no surprise that she would like the graphics!  She took a bite out of her sandwich. What would I be when I grow up? she thought, then took another big bite out of her sandwich, Should I be an artist, a singer, a dancer, or something cooler like an FBI agent?

    "Hello? Earth to Harasia!" Rio said, her hand waving over Harasia's face, bursting her job bubble, "Are you still here?"

    "Oh! Sorry," she exclaimed, blinking several times to  make sure she wasn't daydreaming, "What's up?"

    "As I was saying, who do you think would win in a chess tournament, someone who can read minds or someone who can see the future?" Rio asked, taking a bite of her mashed potatoes.

    "Um, I guess read minds?" Harasia guessed, "Cuz you can't change the future?"

           "Huh," Rio said, "I never thought of it like that!"

    They were chatting for a while when all of the sudden they heard: "Harasia Filmore, Please come to the front desk immediately."

    "What was that?" Rio asked the same time Harasia said, "When did we get a speaker?"

    Harasia got up and waved at Rio before grabbing her lunchbox and leaving. That's weird, she though as she walked down the looooong corridor, I've never been bad, why now?

Chapter two

    All Harasia could hear as she sat in the office's waiting room was her own heart thumping against her chest. Badump. Badump. She looked at the door. Any second now, she thought, getting more nervous by the second.

    "Harasia Filmore, you may come in." a robotic voice said into the speaker.

    Taking a deep breath, she stood up and opened the door. She gasped. Standing in front of her were her usually very busy parents with worried expressions! Oh boy, she thought, I'm in  BIG trouble now!

    "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

    "We know that, sugar cube," her mom said in a gentle tone, "We're here to talk to you about something."

    "Is it my grades? Is it about how messy my room is? I promise I'll clean it up! Wait, is it about the friends I'm making? Did you lose your jobs?" Harasia blurted, tears filling her eyes, "Whatever I did, I'm sorry!"

    "Don't worry," her mom said, "Come with us and we'll tell you."

    She nodded and walked over to them. If it's not any of those, then what could've happened? she wondered.

    "We'll talk in the car, where we can have more privacy," her dad said, motioning her to follow him.

                                              ---

    They were now inside of the car, and Harasia could've sworn she saw her mom nod at her dad.

    "Sweetie," her dad said slowly, "Please don't freak out, but we'll be transferring you to an all boy school."

    "WHAT?!" Harasia screamed, "What about my friends?"

    She couldn't believe it! And an all boy school, at that? If anything, she hated boys! 

    "You see," her mom said, "Some bad people have found us so we need to transfer you so you can be safe!"

    "What type of bad people?" Harasia shot back, "Karens? Ha! How can bad people want to kill you if you're a store manager?! I bet it's just some person playing around, and you're taking it too seriously!"

"Harasia Neoma Filmore!" her dad exclaimed, "We're being serious right now! No complaining!"

    She gasped. Her parents had never called her by her full name before! She didn't even know she had a middle name! Ooooohhhh, she realized, squinting at her parents, This is one of those scenarios where people are pretending to be my parents and are trying to kidnap me! I should have some fun. >D

    "Sooo," Harasia said, "Even if I do go to an all boy school, how would I blend in? I mean, I totally look like a girl, right?"

    "We thought about that, so we decided to cut your hair and give you contact lenses!" her mom smiled, glad to know that her daughter was cooperating.

    "Wh-wh-WHAT?!!?!?!?" Harasia screamed, slamming the car door open, "YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT! MY BODY, MY RULES, YOU NEED TO ASK PERMISSION! YOU'RE CRAZY!!"

    "IF YOU DON'T GET BACK IN HERE IN 2 SECONDS, THEN YOU WON'T EVEN HAVE A BODY!" Harasia's dad screamed back at her, surprising both her and her mom.

    "S-sorry..." Harasia mumbled, then got back in and closed the car door before a crowd came.

    As they drove back home, her dad behind the wheel, her mom in the passenger's seat, looking at Harasia, and Harasia in the back seat, fiddling with her new phone. Once or twice

she could have sworn she saw her mom and dad smile at each other and look at something one her mom's phone.

    "Oh, by the way, since this is so sudden," her mom added, "You won't be transferring until next Wednesday, so you can say goodbye to all your friends and teachers!"

    "Besides Rio, I don't have any friends." Harasia mumbled to herself.

    "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you," her dad called back, "What did you say again?"

    "Nothing!" Harasia replied, then stayed silent for the rest of the trip.