Chapter 1: Just An Ordinary Day

Facing another day of sophomore year was never an easy task. But somehow I, Adyson Marie Sweetwater, was going to get through it. Luckily, it was a Friday.

I exhibit myself as a generally chipper individual, but very few people know what I'm really thinking. And that bothers me.

So I sat in history class next to this annoying kid named Django Brown and listened to Mr. Montgomery lecture about the Indian Ocean Maritime System. I don't even know why I decided to take AP World History. I hate history. But I wanted to challenge myself, and this was the only way to do so as a sophomore.

"...so, as you can see, class, the IOMS is what allowed Portugal to take over much of India and Indochina..."

I set my head down on my desk. It was there for all of two seconds until Django poked me.

"What do you want?" I whispered, irritated at him for disturbing my peace.

He said nothing, merely looked terrified.

Am I really that scary?

I huffed, blowing a chunk of my bangs towards him. "Okay, chump. I don't know why you can't talk to me. So I'd prefer it if you left me alone."

The kid looked depressed, and turned away, beginning to doodle on his map of the Indian Ocean.

I took the opportunity to set my head back down on the desk. This was why I didn't have a boyfriend. Guys are horribly immature at fifteen. Django seems to find poking me to be a splendid way of spending his day. I don't particularly want to deal with that.

Phineas and Ferb were different, of course, but they were already taken. Thanks to Isabella and Gretchen, any chance of a love affair with either of them was completely shot. I sighed again.

I felt Django staring at me. I looked up at him, and he quickly turned away and continued drawing something furiously.

"...Miss Sweetwater, could you kindly tell us what Portugal's main import was?" Mr. Montgomery asked, staring me down.

"Uh..." I blanked. I had no idea. I flipped through my scarce notes, but I hadn't written anything down about it.

"It's pepper," Django said softly.

"Why, thank you, Mister Brown, for picking up the slack for Miss Sweetwater. So as we can see, this craving for pepper from India is what led to..."

Django was still staring at me.

All I could do was shoot him a dirty look. But he never gets the message that staring at people is creepy. This had happened every day so far. Why should he change his routine now?

I wish people understood me.

A/N: And so begins an epic tale. This chapter's a little short, but there are some doozies coming up. At any rate, enjoy!