My Friend Ana

1)New Kid In School

Written by Sam

"Up and at 'em, Natti Bear!" I heard Jimmy call as he knocked on my bedroom door.

I groaned, letting him know it was okay to come in. "Where's mom?" I asked, it was a habit by now.

He gave a sad smile and I knew that meant she was in no shape to go out into public. "But, hey... ya got me!"

I jokingly pushed him off my bed. "Get out. I need to get dressed." He told me to make it quick and then went downstairs.

"Nails for breakfast," Jimmy handed me two strawberry waffles with a smile. "Tacks for snacks," two small bags of Cheetos and two packets of Tinkerbell shaped fruit snacks.

"Thanks, Jim." we hurried out to his car and he drove me to school. I said my goodbyes then ran to my first class, hoping I wouldn't be late.

I slid quietly into my seat right after the final bell rang, earning me a dirty look from my science teacher. I turned to the side to see a girl with long, black hair searching through her bag.

"I like your bag," I smiled at her, noticing the devil's trap on it.

She looked up at me with wide, green eyes. "Oh, thank you." she muttered and went back to search through her bag.

"Watcha looking for?" I asked. Trying to be nice to the new girl.

"Tictacs. I'm starving..." she groaned and dropped her bag next to her, giving up looking for the mints. I held out one of my bags of chips to her but she scrunched her nose and shook her head. "I have a really weird diet. Those chips are loaded with artificial stuff."

I looked down at my chips and instantly felt self conscious about my choice of snacks.

"What's your schedule?" I asked, changing the subject. She slid her schedule over to my desk. "Ha, how funny. We have all the same classes."

She smiled brightly at me. "Then you could show me around. I'm Ana."

"Natalie." I smiled.

***

"How was school?" I sat on my mother's bed as she fixed her makeup, trying to see if she could go to work. It didn't look like she would, the bruise on her cheek bone was really dark.

"It was fine." I picked at the frayed end of the sheet. "There was a new girl today, in all my classes. She seems cool enough."

"That's good." she sighed and took another concealer out of her bag. "You need new friends, you don't talk to anyone since Ella left."

I shrugged. Ella had been my best friend since we met in dance class when we were five. She moved to Colorado last summer and since then I kept to myself mostly. "I have my dance friends."

Mom rolled her eyes, "None of them go to your school. This new girl could be good. Make friends." I told her that I was. She turned around and smiled at me. "Is it noticeable?"

The bruise now looked mostly blended in but still had a slight green tint. She never even tried to go to work the day after a "boxing match." she must really want out of the house before he got home. "It's still kinda green," I told her.

She sighed and applied one more layer of foundation. "Well, it's good enough. I'll be home tonight but you'll be asleep." she kissed my forehead then walked out. I paid attention on her limp so to push away the tears that threatened to fall.