Amelia Pond was annoyed.

It was a normal occurrence, but to her, it was the most important thing happening at that moment. Her aunt had just sent her out of the house to play. Normally, Amelia loved to play outside, but she certainly did not want to play in a "rubbish" place like Leadworth. She wanted to go back to Scotland, and she didn't want to have to live with Aunt Sharon anymore. Well, that was only partly true. She loved her aunt very much, but she hated the way that she was never around to play games with her, like her mum used to.

But here she was, in Leadworth, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Her aunt hadn't yet put the TV into the apartment, so she couldn't go in and watch telly, and her art set with her favorite crayons were also packed away in a suitcase.

A noise came from down the alley, and it sounded like a yell. Amelia felt a smile playing across her lips: neighbors. Maybe there might be some nice kids to play with in this dull country! She skipped down the street, trying to make her footprints go in a zigzag pattern.

Soon she reached the source of the noise: a group of boys in the front yard of a small house. She watched as they ran to the roots of a tall tree, and started climbing up a rope ladder, hooting and pushing at each other as they went.

"Hey!" she yelled. "What're you all doin'?"

One of the boys, who was tall and had a t-shirt with a dinosaur on it, turned around and saw her. "Look!" he said. "A girl! And she's Scottish, too!"

A boy wearing blue denim overalls with dark brown hair turned around, purposely screwing up his facial expression. "Eww, girls! No girls allowed!"

Amelia frowned, and walked straight up to the tree. "Allowed for what?" she asked.

"In our club, of course!" the boy said. "You're dumb. Girls are dumb."

Amelia could feel her face getting red. Of course, she thought. There was a tree house at the top of the rope ladder, and the boys were climbing up and into it. She reached for the ladder, but overalls boy pulled the ladder up to the house.

"Ha!" he said. "Now you can't get in! You can't be in our club!" He looked at her smugly, clearly waiting to see how Amelia would react to this. Amelia just stared at first.

"Fine, then!" said Amelia, regaining her composure, "Then I guess you're just stupid, just like everyone else in this rubbish country!" And with that she stormed away, with even less hope that she might be able to live here and be happy.