Three months passed, and the album was growing fast. There was the picture of me giving Spinach a foot massage and the one of Felix force-feeding me alligator (and it's actually pretty good.) Flipping through the album gave me the strength to try to change the world.

I slipped on the shirt Felix had given me on my birthday. Peeking down at it, I rolled my eyes at its saying yet again, but grabbed my backpack and ran out the door.

In first period Physics, I plopped down next to Teddy. I smiled at him, but he didn't look at me.

"Is something wrong, Teddy?" I put a hand on his shoulder, but he smacked it off.

"Very funny, Brandt." I gaped- he knew how much I disliked my first name! Then, to my utmost surprise, Teddy gathered his stuff and walked over to a desk with a random computer geek.

"Teddy, wait! What's going on?" He glared at me coldly.

"Only my friends call me Teddy." Tears pricked my eyes and I quickly excused myself.

Locking myself in the bathroom, I pulled the photo album out of my backpack and opened it to the picture of Teddy spraying me with a water gun. We were both laughing our hearts out!

An unwanted tear drifted down my cheek. All of a sudden, they were streaming down my face and splashing onto the album in my lap. I swiped at them angrily, sobs erupting from my mouth. What the heck was going on? Why was Teddy mad at me?

When the bell rang, I grabbed my stuff and went to the nurses office, where she let me lie down. All the while, I tried to figure out why Teddy was mad at me.

At lunch, I walked over to the football table. The whole team was there, including Teddy. I squeezed between Prince and Mickey. I slipped my hand into Prince's. He stiffened slightly. I ignored it,

"So what's up?" I didn't get an answer. I squinted in confusion, cocking my head at Tom, who turned away. An icy hand grabbed my heart and twisted. Were they all mad at me, like Teddy?

"Are y'all okay?" I laughed nervously. No one said anything for a moment before Monty sighed,

"Just leave, Brandt."

"What?" The tears started to pound at the corners of my eyes. I turned to Prince, who was always on my side. He just looked at me with an expression of betrayal and hurt. He slid his hand away from mine. I turned to Felix, slightly panicked now. He said firmly,

"We don't like traitors, Brandt. Just leave." One of my tears threatened to fall, but I held it in, adopting a cold expression like the ones of the boys around me.

"Fine, Stacey." I walked out before I could even watch him wince.

I went straight home on school that day, texting Coach Joe that I couldn't make it to practice.

I ran into my room and collapsed onto my bed, sobbing. I got out Donny's gift, and flipped it open to a random page. The photo only made me cry harder.

The whole team was walking with Prince carrying me bridal style, unconscious. That was the day I had to have emergency surgery to remove my appendix, which had burst during that practice. The looks on their faces were of concern and love. When I thought about the cold looks I got now, my chest started to ache from heartbreak.

My sobs must have been loud enough to carry through the door, because Sallie knocked,

"Brandt? Is everything okay?" I gasped out a yes that obviously didn't convince her, because she walked right in.

"Awwww, baby sis. What happened?" I shook my head, trying to speak but failing. Sallie looked down at my album and sighed.

"Did those boys do something?" I nodded, but then shrugged. Words finally came out of my mouth.

"They're all mad at me, and I have no idea why. First Teddy wouldn't sit next to me. And then at lunch, Felix told me to leave. Prince wouldn't even look at me! I don't get it. I have no idea what I even did!" Sallie didn't say anything. She didn't have any advice to give- she had never fought with her one friend, ever.

Sallie and her best friend, Knox, had raised me. When Sallie and I's dad died and our mom was put in prison, Sallie became my mom, and Knox stepped in as my dad. That was in fifth grade, when they were eighteen. It had been seven years since then (they're twenty-five now). Sallie never had anyone besides Knox, but it didn't matter- she was too busy taking care of me. I didn't remember my real mom and dad much, and the things I remembered were fuzzy. That was why Sallie's next words made sense.

"I'm not sure what you should do, but I have some news that will brighten up your day." I perked up, looking at her smiling face. She held up her left hand, on which a shimmering diamond sparkled.

"Knox asked me to marry him today. He said that raising a kid together is something that binds people together in a way no other thing can." I jumped up and squeezed Sallie tight.

"Oh, Sal! I'm so happy for you!" She laughed and said,

"Thanks, Brandt." As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

"It must be him!" Sallie sprang up and ran to the door with me close behind. She opened it and sure enough, there was Knox.

"Hey, Sal," he said, giving her a peck on the lips. "Hey, Brandt." He had his arms full of groceries, and so I rushed to grab some.

"You don't have to restock our pantry for us, Knox," Sallie grinned.

"Oh, but I want to!" Knox laughed. I rolled my eyes at them and started putting stuff away before noticing that Knox had, once again, forgotten to get my hair ties. I reminded him and he blushed.

"I did remember! I had reminders up all over my apartment because I didn't want to forget them. But then there were so many kinds, I didn't know which ones to get!" I laughed,

"I can get them," I said, walking to the garage to grab my bike.

"Here, Brandt," Knox said. "Here's money for the hair ties." I tried to protest, but he forced a twenty into my hand, I thanked him, marveling at the fact that I had such an amazing soon- to-be brother-in-law.

My bike glided smoothly along the sidewalk as I rode to the grocery store. Without realizing it, I took the shortcut that led right past Ash's house, where he lived with his mom and four little brothers.

Ash's house was lit up and I could hear music booming inside, so I stopped to listen, my heart breaking again. If I listened closely, I could hear Donny's laugh and Spinach's terrible singing. They were having a party without me.

I shouldn't have stopped, because right at that moment, Micah Roberts rode up next to me.

Micah Roberts had made it his personal mission to make my life miserable. I don't know why. He just had. Usually when he confronted me, the football boys were there to help me. This time, they weren't, even though the place that they were at was right in front of my face.

"Hello, Brandt." I sighed and turned my head, putting my foot to the ground.

"What do you want, Jerk?" He chuckled and answered,

"I just wanted to ask what it was like to have your mom in prison." I gasped,

"How did you find out about that? Nobody knows except the football team!" Micah laughed.

"That's right. Your precious Stacey sold that to me. I paid a lot for it, too." A tear quivered at the corner of my eye.

"Well, Micah, I'm sure that whatever you are thinking it's like is wrong. I've heard that you got held back, twice! Brody told me that one." Micah's face turned purple.

"It's none of your business, loser!" he shouted as he shoved my bike over. I let out a cry of surprise as I toppled to the ground, my left arm shooting out to stop my fall. All at once, as my hand hit the wet pavement, I heard a sharp crack. Blinding pain shot up my arm and through my shoulder which wrenched in a way that seemed unnatural. I screamed, tears streaming onto the ground. Through bleary eyes, I watched Micah wheel my bike away, saying,

"This'll sell for quite a bit!" Then, my vision blackened into nothing.