Chapter 1

Isabella walked in just as the bell rang and quickly sat down in the nearest seat she could find. Her English teacher Mrs. Wilson stood at the front of the room writing something on the chalkboard. Panting a bit, she pulled a slightly torn notebook from her backpack and squinted at the board.
“Book groups” The writing said and underneath Mrs. Wilson had written a series of names on the board. Before Isabella could find her name her teacher turned around and began to speak.
“Alright class, welcome to your third week of high school. Congratulations for making it this far, but you’ve still got a long way to go. Beginning this process, we’ll start with reading groups.” She pointed to the board for emphasis. “Reading groups will be one of the most important aspects of this class because it is with this group that you will read, analyze and-”
A crash interrupted her speech and Isabella turned around in time to see Aden Levy walk through the door and sit in a desk at the very back.
“Welcome to class, Mr. Levy, as well as your sixth tardy.”
“Is it six already?” Aden asked, with an unusually large smile on his face. “Really sorry about that, Mrs. Wilson.”
Mrs. Wilson raised a bushy gray eyebrow. “I’m sure you are. Anyhow, as I was saying, it is in these groups that you will read, analyze and eventually make a presentation about selected literature that I will assign throughout the year. You will need to meet with your group at least once a week for an hour and this must be done outside of class time. I will be giving you a log to document these meetings in which you will all need to sign and write a short description of what you did during that particular meeting.”
Someone raised their hand “How are we supposed to do that?”
“Well, Ms. Jordan, you can either meet at someone’s house or in the library. You will have a chance to discuss that with your group today for the rest of the class period. Work something out, if you need my help I’m here to answer questions.”
As the room turned into a murmur of irritated sophomores, Isabella once again turned her attention to the board. When she found her name, she groaned.
“Well, kiddo.” She heard a voice say from behind her. “I guess we’re part of the same group.”
“Fuck you, Aden.” Isabella said.
“Let’s not be mean.” Lana said coming from the front of the classroom. “After all we will be working together for the rest of the year.”
“Hi guys!” Jeremy said, awkwardly trying to be friendly. “Long time no talk! Haven’t really seen you guys since sixth grade.”
“What a shame.” Isabella said sarcastically. “Where’s Tia?”
“I’m here.” A quiet voice said from beside her.
Isabella jumped a little “Jesus Tia, you’re like a mouse. Where’d you come from?”
“Whatever, let’s just get this sorted out.” Lana said a little impatiently. “If we have to meet after school where should we meet? Someone’s house or at a library or something?”
“Probably someone’s house. Not mine though.” Jeremy said.
“Not mine” Isabella said quickly.
“Not mine” Aden said.
“Not mine” Tia said.
“Fine, I guess we’ll do it at my house.” Lana sighed. “Seven work for everyone?”
Jeremy nodded. “I think that works fine.”
The rest of the group nodded their heads and Lana said “Does everyone know how to get to my house?”
“I remember.” Isabella said, picking up her backpack and standing up.
Lana frowned. “Where are you going?”
“I’m done here. See you at seven.”
Shaking her head and brushing off Isabella’s rude exit, Lana asked. “Who needs directions?”

* * * * *

When Lana came home after school her mother was waiting for her. She could smell her mother before she actually saw her, as her potent sweet-smelling perfume gave away her presence.
“Lana, darling, where have you been? There’s some swatches I’ve been meaning to show you, I want you to tell me what you think.”
Lana nodded absent-mindedly. “I was at school, Mom, what do you want me to look at?”
Nancy bustled over to the dinning room table where a mess of fabrics and papers lay. “Lana, of course I know you were at school, don’t be stupid. Look at these, what do you think of this color coordination?”
Lana looked at them and murmured. “They’re nice, Mom.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Lana, I don’t even know why I asked you.” Her mother said, throwing her hands up in the air. “I have the CEO of a major computer company asking me to design his living room and I’m asking a teenager about color choices. I don’t know why I would think to do such a thing. Go upstairs and do homework, Lana, you need to better in school anyway. Leave me to my work.”
“Yes Mom.” Lana said mechanically. “By the way I have an English project and some of my group members are coming over.”
“That’s just fine.” Her mother said. “Maybe they can help your grades.”
Pursing her lips slightly Lana thought to herself “You can’t get higher than A’s” but she kept her mouth shut. There was no reasoning with her mother. She was either too much or too little, and Lana had learned to simply deal with it.
Walking upstairs to put her things in her room Lana took a deep breath and wondered if her mother would behave that night.

* * * * *

Tia walked home, as she always did, and on the way stopped outside her door for a moment to prepare for what she knew she would see. Counting to herself, she forced her hand to open the door where she could instantly see her Uncle sitting in his usual chair, clearly waiting for her.
“Hi girlie, how was school?”
She tried not to look at him, but murmured “It was fine.”
Swiftly, Tia ran upstairs to put her school things in her room and tried to control her emotions as she closed her room door. The cold air in her room met her skin and she shivered a little, noticing her window was open. Tia walked to the window, and took a moment to look outside. Her room was on the second story of the house, and she could see their front lawn and the street that overlooked it clearly. The cold air nipped at her face, and she sighed as she realized that there would be much more cold weather to come.
“Tia!” She heard the squeal before she saw the excited face of her little sister Lucy.
Quickly closing the window, Tia turned around. “Hi Lucy, what did you do at school today, Angel?”
“We went on a field trip to the zoo!” Lucy said, her eyes lighting up.
“Wow.” Tia said, smiling. Her sister was the one person in the world that could make her smile.
“What are you doing tonight, Tia?” Lucy asked, sitting down on her bed.
Tia put down her backpack and walked over to sit next to Lucy. “Well, I have a project that I have to go do with some people. We’re meeting at this one girl’s house. She’s pretty rich, so I think it’ll be a big house.”
“Really?” Lucy said, grinning. “You should take a picture!”
“You’re going over to someone’s house?” Her mother said from the doorway.
“Yeah, Mom, we have an English project. Lana Wei invited me over at seven.”
“Okay, darling, just remember to be home by nine okay?”
Tia paused for a moment, wishing she did not have to return at all. “Yeah, Mom.”

* * * * *

Standing outside the magnificent house, Aden whistled to himself. Tia and Jeremy stood beside him, also staring in awe.
“I knew the chick was rich, but dude…what a house.” Aden said
The group heard footsteps behind them and Isabella came panting beside them. “Jesus fucking Christ could they have a longer driveway? Shit I wish I could drive.”
“Anyone care to ring the doorbell?” Jeremy asked.
Aden shrugged and reached out to press the button he presumed was the doorbell. The group heard a deep ringing sound, and the door opened soon afterward.
“Come in, guys.” Lana said.
“Lana honey?” They heard a woman call as they walked in the door. “Is that your friends here for your project?”
“Yes, Mom.” Lana yelled back.
Aden could not believe what he saw in front of him. He’d seen houses like it on television, but somehow never imagined that they existed in real life. It was like walking into a marble mansion out of some fairytale. After walking into the large, open entrance hall, a tiny blonde woman appeared with a tight fitting business dress on and a giant smile from a connecting hallway.
“Welcome! Welcome! It’s nice to see you all. Isabella, I haven’t seen you since you were…oh goodness, you must have been six or seven years old!”
Isabella gave a short smile and the woman quickly turned her attention to the other people in the crowd. “Tia, I think you came over once quite awhile ago, maybe for Lana’s birthday party. And, Aden, you may not remember me, your mother brought you over for a play date when you were five.”
Aden nodded, pretending that he remembered the woman he presumed was Mrs. Wei. “Yeah, of course…”
Mrs. Wei turned to Jeremy. “I’m afraid I don’t remember you, dear, what is your name?”
Jeremy looked embarrassed. “My name is Jeremy. I didn’t move here until I was in fifth grade, so you probably don’t know me.”
“Well, I’m just so happy to see you all. Lana here really should improve her grades, so I know you all will do so much to help her!”
Lana rolled her eyes. “Mom…”
“Oh! Does anyone want snacks? I could bring some fresh fruit if anyone is interested. Don’t let Lana have any though, she’s been putting on weight! You should be more like Tia and Isabella, darling, do you see how fit they are? They’re simply beautiful!”
Lana put her hand to her head, and Aden caught Isabella giving her a surprised glance. Lana’s mother was really tough on her, Aden realized. Lana was like a stick, she didn’t need to lose weight.
“I’ve been working on this new design for a CEO and his wife” Mrs. Wei continued. “They’re redecorating their living room, but if you need anything, just let me know!”
“That’s alright, Mrs. Wei, I think we’ll be fine. Thank you for offering. Now if you don’t mind, I think we’re going to get started.” Jeremy said.
Aden was impressed. For a know it all he sure knew how to handle an awkward situation. Looking over, Aden realized that Lana’s face was very red.
“Okay then, Lana will show you to our study. You kids can work in there. See you later! Have fun!”
The tiny woman shuffled off, and Lana regained her composure and said shortly “Come on, let’s go.”

* * * * *

Jeremy was surprised when Lana’s Mom made the comments about her weight and her grades. Everyone knew that Lana was a great student, and Jeremy would have guessed that if anything, Lana was underweight, not overweight. Perfection was a well-known reputation that Lana and her friends had, and guys like Jeremy drooled over. As Lana led them into the mansion’s study, the group was awkwardly silent as they trickled into the room and sat down in various seats.
“No offense Lana, but your Mom is kind of a bitch.” Aden said, breaking the silence.
Jeremy’s eyes widened. He could not believe the things that Aden said. Yet to his surprise, Lana began to giggle.
“Yeah, she kind of is.”
Aden started to crack up also, and soon everyone was laughing.
“So what’s the deal, she that hard on you like that all the time?” Aden asked
Lana rolled her eyes. “You have no idea. She’s like a child that I’ve had to take care of since as long as I can remember. I think she’s bipolar, personally, but not like I could ever get her to go to a doctor.”
“Where’s your father?” Tia asked.
“Never here.” Lana said shortly. “He’s some business investor who travels all the time with his partner. If he is here, he usually doesn’t want much to do with me.”
“That sucks.” Aden said, nodding. “I feel you on the Dad part though, my old man’s never around and when he is he’s dead drunk and beating up on my Mom.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened. “That’s terrible, why don’t you call the police?”
Aden shook his head. “Mom won’t hear it, because she loves him and whatever. Plus he doesn’t hurt me, just her. Don’t tell me you don’t have problems, suck up.”
Jeremy frowned, but ignored what Aden said and shook his head. “Well my Dad doesn’t beat my Mom, but I’m sure he wants to. All they can do is yell at each other now, they’ll probably get divorced soon and then it’ll be court visits and arguing over who gets what in the house. Including my brother and I.”
“What about you, Isabella?” Aden asked, suddenly curious. “Since we’re all spilling our guts, what’s your excuse for being a bitch?”
Isabella rolled her eyes. “Try my Dad being high all the time and being unemployed. My Mom works three jobs to support his drug addiction and me and my brother and sister. When I’m bitchy? That’s because I’m hungry, you asshole.”
“Wench.” Aden shot back. “We’ve just got one more. What about you Tia?”
Tia shifted nervously and said shortly. “Nothing wrong with me.”
“Bull,” Isabella said. “There’s something very wrong with you, you’re like a zombie.”
“Tia,” Lana said softly. “I was just remembering the other day when you moved here from Colorado and how confident you used to be. How come you’re so shy and sad now?”
Jeremy realized Tia looked like she was going to cry. “Maybe we shouldn’t pressure her. Whatever it is, it seems to be bad.”
“So we’re a bunch of pathetic kids from broken families.” Aden said, grinning. “Who knew we’d all end up doing the same English project.”
Isabella shook her head. “It’s not like we’re the only ones. Everyone has problems.”
Lana shrugged. “Not my friends. I mean, they have problems, but they usually have to do with boys and what to wear to school the next day.”
“I would have thought that was a stereotype.” Jeremy said, interested. “Geeks like me look at you guys like you’re goddesses or something.”
Lana rolled her eyes. “Please. We’re just like you in reality, people just portray us like we’re untouchable or something.”
“Well,” Jeremy said. “My friends don’t really have problems like mine either. Most of them spend their time trying to find ways to be ‘untouchable’.”
Isabella sighed. “Who would want to be? My friends have problems, some have it worse than I do.”
“I don’t have friends.” Aden said, still amused by the conversation. “Am I really seeing what I’m seeing? Are we getting along?”
Jeremy shrugged. “I guess we are.”
“Broken children.” Isabella mused to herself. “We should form a club or something.”
“Why not?” Jeremy said, lighting up.
Isabella shook her head. “What are you, an idiot? Why would we form a club? I was being sarcastic”
“Seriously,” Jeremy said. “Why not? We all have problems right? And we’re all completely different people, but we have this one thing in common. It can be like a secret support group, we don’t want to talk to our friends about this stuff but we can talk to each other. I mean seriously, do you guys talk to anyone about this?”
Lana shook her head. “Most of my friends have perfect lives and perfect parents, it makes me sick. I would never talk to them about anything important.”
“Yeah,” Isabella admitted. “I mean my friends really do have problems too, but I don’t talk to them about it. We don’t talk about it.”
“It’s a crazy idea,” Aden said, thinking to himself. “But I see what you mean, Jeremy. For once you have a point.”
Lana nodded. “It would be kinda nice, to be able to vent about it to other people instead of worrying that my friends will think I’m whiny or annoying.”
“All I’m saying,” Jeremy continued “Is this is something that can be ours and ours alone, and no one has to know about it. Instead of feeling afraid of talking about this stuff we can help each other. We don’t have to like each other, but we understand each other better than most everyone else we know.”
“Woah, don’t get all inspirational on us Ghandi, what kind of support group would this be? Not like some sort of Oprah show, right?” Aden asked.
“No, I get it.” Isabella said. “I’m tired of this shit. I’m tired of my Mom putting up with my asshole Dad, and I’m tired of wondering if we’re going to get by. I’m tired of pretending like everything is okay when it’s not. If we do this, we do this for change.”
Jeremy nodded. “All our lives we’ve been prisoner to other people’s decisions. Why? Because we’re kids? Because we don’t have rights yet? For the sake of ourselves, our parents and our siblings, I say we take this head on. Maybe there’s some things we can’t control, but there’s some things we can, and it’s time to take that back.”
“Yeah,” Lana agreed. “It’s not gonna happen overnight, but I don’t think we’re like everyone else. We can do this.”
There was a silence as the group internally considered Jeremy’s proposition. Then, to Jeremy’s surprise, Aden spoke up.
“All in favor, say Aye.”
“Aye” Lana said
“Aye” Isabella repeated.
“I won’t talk, but I’ll be part of it.” Tia said. “So, Aye.”
“And Aye.” Jeremy said, smiling.