Be Thankful Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Aly looked down her mother's old grocery list. Although the list contained contents more important than groceries. This list had a list of girls she had invited to her birthday. Her twelfth birthday. So far she was sure of four people she had invited. Those people were Stephanie, Angela, Celia and Hillary.

Aly's birthday was going to be a slumber party. It was going to be interesting to see her BFF, Stephanie mix in with Aly's new posse, Angela, Celia and Hillary. Her other friends would most likely be there too and they would have to get used to being around Angela Payton. Angela had always been the most fabulous girl in elementary school but not the nicest. She had dated Aly's big crush from fifth grade, Logan Camerons and that was enough competition for Aly. But Angela still liked him and Aly hadn't lost the vibes in entering sixth grade in September. Logan had mixed feelings for them both and Angela still was in the need to know.

"ALY!" yelled Nadia, Aly's younger sister. It was time for school. Aly swiped her lip gloss from her desk, grabbed her homework, her backpack and was out the door. Her mom was waiting in the silver Honda pilot. "Aly you take a while these days" she said. "I was planning my party" said Aly. "Oh. So who's coming this year?" Mom was paying atention now. They were backing out of the driveway. Aly listed all the girls she had invited until her school came into view.

Aly went to Monroe Middle School. Lots of bullies and snobs went there but Aly hadn't dealt with any of it yet. She was the most popular girl. Or runner up for most popular girl. She and Angela Payton were tyed for that place. But they were friends (kind of)

The Honda drove up in front of Monroe and Aly hopped out. "Aly remember to think about inviting Andy. Her mom's been giving me a hard time" Mom called out after her. Ugh thought Aly. Andy had brought popularity to Aly. All she had done was drive her insane so Aly said no.

She had been the first to do that. No way would Aly invite her to her slumber party. Mom knew that Aly hated Andy but Andy's mom, Mrs. Moore insisted that Andy needed to make friends. (No wonder)

"Hey" said Angela. "I'll be back but Celia wants to show me a sticker on her cousin's new Mercedes. Celia's mother had a Jaguar. The Martins were filthy rich. From where Aly stood she could see Hillary peering over Celia's shoulder to read her iPhone. On Aly's route to her locker, she said her "Yo" to Taryn and Taryn's friend Katrina, waved to Jenna, said hi to Sophie, yelled to Lauren down the hall and David and Max, (Celia and Hillary's crushes) said "Hi Aly". Everyone glanced at her.

While sorting through the weekend's homework, Logan approached Aly. "I was looking for you" he said. They hadn't talked since the Halloween dance. "Oh" said Aly. She didn't know what to say. "I won't take Angela out anymore" he said. "Really?" asked Aly. "Yeah" he said. "But don't tell her" "I won't" said Aly. They smiled.

Behind the Costume Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Aly was hardly breathing. Now she knew for sure that she and Angela both liked Logan. There was nothing as horrible as that. Logan was going to make his decision. Right now. Then and there.

"I'll take..." said Logan. "Angela" Aly thought her heart had broken. Logan had said she looked pretty in her Selena Gomez style hair. Didn't he still like that? Did he still like her? Maybe Logan had been lying all along. Maybe he had never liked her.

Angela turned and faced Aly. "Yay!" she whispered. "I gotta a date" Angela and Celia started whispering about double dating. Aly looked at Hillary. They were both dateless. Max looked at Hillary. "Wanna go with me?" he asked. "Yes!" answered Hillary in her strong British accent. Aly looked away. Now she was officially dateless. Hillary had joined Celia and Angela's conversation.

Aly got up with her lunch. "Hey guys" she said. Aly was going to go sit with Lauren, Jenna and Sophie, the girls she entirely trusted. But none of the girls looked up. Only Logan did. "Aly" he said. Aly turned around and walked away. Who cared what he thought? Logan was so over. But only part of Aly believed that. Part of her heart said, Logan you are a backstabber! but the other side said Go get him, Aly!

Lauren scooted over for Aly immediately. "Hey!" said Jenna. "Thanks for spreading the Halloween dance news around. I have to make less posters now" Sophie looked up at Aly. "You won't believe it!" she said. "What?" asked Aly. "In drama I didn't get a star role. Actually I didn't even get a good role! I'm an extra" Sophie looked really upset. Sophie was the one who made them bust up and used her dramatic acting skills in drama. Aly had never seen Sophie so upset.

"It's ok. I don't always get good dates to dances" said Aly. Sophie looked at her. "Your looking for a date to the dance?" "Um, yeah" said Aly. Lauren and Jenna were staring. Aly hadn't realized this was considered an embarrassing moment. These girls never showed interest in boys. "Yeah well Angela..." Lauren interupted. "Stop listening to Angela! It's al you ever listen to now! You don't have to have a date you know!" "I know" said Aly. "I still don't." "That's not the point" said Lauren. "You were looking, though" Aly looked up. A girl had arrived at their table.

"Hi" said the girl. "Hey Amanda!" said Jenna. Jenna scooted over for Amanda which threw Aly off. There was not enough room for them all. "Hey, um Amanda. There isn't room for..." "There's plenty of room" said Lauren, quickly. A lunch room lady came to the table and looked at Aly. "There's no more room, dear. Try that table over there." the lady pointed to Janet Striker's table. Janet Striker, the girl who played with unicorns. This was also the table where Andy Moore sat. Oh brother thought Aly. Aly took a seat between Janet and Bob McEarthy. (Bob was the biggest loser in the history of losers) Ugh thought Aly. She was in the middle of Bob, Janet and Andy. This was the opposite of heaven.

But Aly refused to talk to them. Instead she thought about how Lauren, Jenna and Sophie had traded her for Amanda Barbodos (a girl who could pass for an ape) and Angela had totally taken Logan knowing she had liked him. Everyone was not who they really seemed to be. They were all hiding behind a costume. And what was behind the costume was not a good thing.

Behind the Costume Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Aly hurried to her social studies class. She was not taking the risk of being late as she had been to homeroom that morning. "ALY!" yelled Angela from across the hallway. Gawd thought Aly. Didn't Angela care about being tardy? Ever? From what Aly could see, probably not.

"It's all around" said Angela. "Celia already asked David to the dance and he said yes" Why wouldn't he? "Remember" said Angela. "Our Alpha title?" Aly nodded. Then hurried to social studies.

Aly personally didn't get why Angela was saying, "we" but Aly didn't really care. She just had to make sure Logan was all hers. Aly took a seat at the front of the classroom. (It happened to be like the last one left) Unfortunately it happened to be right next to Andy Moore.

Andy brought bad memories way back from fifth grade until the first day of school. She just couldn't take no for an answer. Not now, tommorow or in the past. Never. That's where Aly came in. She said no to sit by her on the first day of sixth grade. After that Andy told her mom. Andy had started getting on her case last week. This was probably the beggining of her mom's torturing.

"Ok" said Mr. Holmer. "Let's start off with questions from last Friday's homework" Aly faced forward. She had totally studied this. "Does anyone remember one person who signed the Declaration of Independence besides George Washington?" Aly's hand shot up. So did Andy's.

"Alyssa" said Mr. Holmer. "Thomas Jefferson" she said. "Another person!" said Mr. Holmer. "Andy" he said. "Um Mr. Holmer does Thomas Jefferson really count? I mean of course he would sign it since he becomes president a few years later" Andy smiled sweetly.

Aly was disgusted. Andy was out for revenge! She was making up reasons for Thomas Jefferson being a person who signed the Declaration. Aly cursed under her breath. "Miss Moore" said Mr. Holmer. "Thomas Jefferson is indeed included as a person who signed the Declaration. Just because he becomes president doesn't mean we can't include him" Mr. Holmer frowned. Andy looked very angry. "Well" she said began. But Mr. Holmer blocked her out. "Aly please give us another person who signed the Declaration" Aly could feel Andy boiling. "Samuel Adams" she said. The two girls exchanged looks.

Aly was happy when lunch came around two periods later. Today she was sitting with Angela, Celia, Hillary and the boys. For some reason Angela always claimed the seats with the boys. She said it was from the form of a true "Alpha". Right away, Celia came to Aly. The girls had decided to confide in Aly since she didn't make snarky comments like Angela did, occasionally.

"So did you hear about me and David?" she asked. "Yeah" said Aly. "That's great" Celia beamed. Then Logan arrived with David and Max by his side. Aly turned away from Celia. Logan had to be her date. If not, everyone would see that they were not together and Angela would steal him and.... Angela sat down.

Angela picked at her food. She always did this as if the food contained poisen. "Well the Halloween dance sounds nice" she said. "And..." "I need a date" said Aly quickly. Angela was moving on to Logan faster than a train. Angela looked at Aly but Aly ignored her. "Cool" said Logan. "Then I guess I need to take a girl" he said. He looked at Hillary, Aly and Angela. Eventually he stopped looking at Hillary. It was either gonna be Aly or Angela.

A Teen Year Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The only reason everyone suddenly knew who Aly was, was because she had talked back to Andy Moore. It had been a horrible choice too, having known that her mom was head of the school board. Which she had just found out, that she was the head of the Monroe board. Ugh!

And now everyone was saying, "Wow! Finally someone had the guts to say no!" and "I can't believe you just did that!" Aly of course didn't say anything. What was there to say? Yeah, it's really great that I'm so cool for being mean? Heck, no! Aly was angry at herself for doing that, but at the time she was really ticked off at Andy. That had been the only problem in fifth grade; Andy's being irritating.

Now Aly found her place at a table surrounded with new people. Lauren kept her promise to sit with her and of course Jenna and Sophie came along too. Taryn asked to sit with her and Aly of course said yes. (Which was probably temporary until Katrina came back)

Taryn was a bit of a gossip but it was fun being with her because she wasn't exactly mean. Taryn opened her mouth and Aly could tell this was going to be about the last incident until Angela and her new posse sat in the empty seats at their table. "Wassup people?" asked Angela, like it was a regular thing to do to sit by Aly and her friends at lunch.

Aly could feel Taryn and Sophie looking at her, with Jenna and Lauren staring at Angela with their mouths open. Aly stared at her friends. Wouldn't Angela think they were wierd? It was Angela Payton after all and anything was possible.

"Nothing" said Aly quickly. "Nothing?" asked Celia. "How could you be talking about nothing?" Aly heard Jenna giggle at Celia's comment. "It's possible" said Sophie. Lauren and Taryn busted up. Angela was confused. But it was Hillary who spoke.

"We know you were talking about Andy" she said. This time Sophie busted up with Jenna, who usually was very polite. Hillary was British and her accent was a big surprise."Look Angela" said Aly. "I'm sorry but right now is not the time to talk". Aly looked at her lunch for the first time this period. "Oh, that's fine" said Angela. "I was just stopping by. You see I'm going to visit the boys" She glanced at Jenna and Lauren. "Boys are a priority" Angela said while smirking. Aly felt her insides blow up. "WAIT!" cried Aly. Celia and Hillary were already with the boys.

"What?" asked Angela. She was holding in another smirk. "Um, well I'd be glad to sit with you tommorow" said Aly. She wanted to sound very mature. Angela needed that. "Ok" said Angela and within a second she had scored herself a seat between Hillary and Logan.

"You like a boy over there, don't you Aly?" said Lauren. She said it like a statement not a question. "No" said Aly. "Then why did you decide to sit with her tommorow?" asked Taryn. Of course Aly's friends would find out sooner or later about Logan, but.... "Yeah" said Jenna, interupting Aly's thoughts. "Angela always finds a way to sit with the boys". "Aly tell us who you like!" said Sophie. Aly glared at her. "C'mon! Love is tough y'know" said Sophie avoiding glares. "How would you know?" managed Aly. "The guy from drama didn't work out over the summer. Turns out he found another girl he liked" said Sophie casually. But Aly could tell Sophie cared.

"Do you like him?" asked Lauren, pointing to David. "No!" cried Aly. "Ew!" "Well I think he's kind of cute y'know...." continued Lauren. "See!" cried Taryn. "I knew you liked someone!" "Ugh!" said Jenna. "Does this mean I officially am the girl who still doesn't like boys?" "YES!" yelled Sophie, who sent Aly laughing along with other girls from other tables. Looked like no one was getting to her and Logan anytime soon.

A Teen Year Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Aly turned toward Angela. "What?" she asked trying not to sound irritated. "Well you heard me talking to Celia Martin right?" said Angela. She was tring not to sound irritated as well by acting cool. Which was stupid in Aly's opinion.

"Um, yeah. Sorry" said Aly. Even though she wasn't close to sorry. But what had she done wrong anyway? "Do you want to sit with me, Celia and Hillary?" asked Angela. Her tone was a lot brighter. She was staring at Aly's thick curls. "Nice hair" she mentioned. "Um well" Aly began. She didn't know what to say. "Lauren Walters already asked me to sit with her with Jenna Gardner and Sophie Robinson" said Aly quickly. She was going to be late for homeroom!

"Oh" said Angela. "Well I'll see ya around" and the she turned around and headed for her classroom. Yes! thought Aly, virtually cheering. She turned around as well. "Oh. wait!" yelled Angela. Aly slowly turned back. "What?" she managed. "Your hair reminds me of Selena Gomez"

Aly turned around and ran. Angela was freaking her out! When Aly managed to stop in front of her homeroom, she gave her a final puff and lip gloss check. Earrings in place? Yes, thank God.

She took one of the last seats left and sighed. Someone turned and looked at her. Aly felt her face flush. She looked down at her desk. And oh god! When Aly managed to look at that person, she wanted to run away. For sure. Decision made. Already.

It was Aly's fifth grade crush, Logan Cameron. And hopefully her sixth grade boyfriend. She tried to look proud of her Selena Gomez hair. Logan looked at her confused. Aly felt herself get confused too. Wait, why was she confused?

And then Aly remembered. Seeing Logan at the mall two and a half weeks out from fifth grade. Yeah it wasn't that great. They had looked at each other and then Aly had grabbed her Mrs. Field's smoothie and hightailed her butt outta there! (Which happened to be the food court)

Aly's homeroom teacher was Mrs. Utter. After talking about lots of stuff, more stuff and finally a lot more stuff, the class was dismissed. In the hallway, Aly watched Logan follow two other boys. And from the voices in the hall, she determined them as Max and David, lastnames unknown. It didn't matter until a few hours later did Aly realize that Logan had the same first three classes. Woo hoo! Until Andy Moore walked up to her.......

Andy was an annoying girl who thought she could get whatever she wanted. Andy equaled irritation. And to Aly's disappointment, Andy was heading straight towards her. "Hey Aly!" said Andy. Ugh, now she had attracted practically the whole grade. Andy always did that.

"What do you want?" asked Aly. She thought she heard clapping. "You want to sit by me at lunch? I was thinking we would feel more comfortable sitting with other highly capables" Andy cocked her head. Ugh! she was getting what she wanted. Aly looked at everyone watching; Logan, David, Max, Angela, Celia, Hillary, Taryn, Lauren, Jenna, Sophie and tons of others. "No" said Aly. Andy and the others gasped.

Aly couldn't believe what she'd done either. Saying no to Andy was like saying no to a principal. Andy's mom was head of some school board. Aly was going to walk off and leave it at no, but...... Aly did the worst. "What other highly capable kids would you be sitting by?" she asked. Andy bit her lip. And the hallway was silent. No one spoke. Aly couldn't say anymore. Her work was done here.

"Huh?" asked Angela. "Who?" "No one" muttered Andy. But the whole sixth grade heard. "Um ya I'm sitting by Lauren, Jenna and Sophie" said Aly. Then clacking heels were heard. A teacher was coming! "Your good" said Angela nodding in approval at Aly. And finally the silence was over. The kids returned to their cliques and they headed for the cafeteria. And Aly was popular.