My schedule showed for a pretty boring morning. Social studies, science, and math were my first classes. Social studies and math just tended to be boring, and I was just bad with science. In fifth grade I had a tiny huge accident when I mixed some things that shouldn't have been mixed. The stuff exploded and went everywhere, staining everything it touched red. The floor, the desks, myself, and some of my classmates were all its victims, but worst of all was my teacher. On that day she happened to be wearing a very new, very clean, and very white sweater. After that day, the sweater wasn't white anymore. I had detention for weeks.

First was social studies, so I left my homeroom to go there. Our teacher was Mr. Payton, who was extremely nice. He let us pick our own seats, saying he'd let us stay there as long as we didn't get too loud. Linh and Marella were both in that class, and we all sat near each other. Mr. Payton gave us 'all about me' papers and told us to work on those. Typical first-day-of-school worksheets.

"You're adopted?" Linh asked after sneaking a glance at my paper. I sighed, hating the sympathy people always gave me when I told them the story.

"Yeah. Grady and Edaline adopted me when I was two. My parents died in a train wreck. Don't feel bad," I added quickly, noticing Linh's sympathetic expression. "I didn't even know them." I turned back to my paper, signaling the end of that conversation.

Next was science, which I shared with Biana, Marella, and Dex. It was relieving seeing Dex in my class. Now he could help me out with all the science-y stuff that made no sense to me- which was almost all of it. Unsurprisingly, we got another 'all about me' worksheet to fill out.

Finally, I had math. Marella followed me and I laughed when I realized we had all our classes together. Tam was also in my math, so I sat between him and Marella.

"Is this what we do in all of our classes?" Tam asked as the teacher passed out yet another 'all about me' sheet.

"Yep," I told him. He shook his head and attacked his paper. While I was working, I felt my gaze slide over to Tam's paper. There was so much I didn't know about him, and it was all right there... My eyes drifted to the bottom of the page.

3 things you want your teacher to know about you:

1. I have a twin sister, Linh

2. My old house flooded, that's why we moved

3. The kids at my old school would bully me and sometimes even beat me up. When I'd come home crying my dad would always tell me to suck it up.

I slowly looked up. Tam had known the whole time that I was reading his paper, but he hadn't tried to stop me. "Tam..." I whispered, tears in my eyes. And then I threw my arms around him in the biggest hug I had given someone in a while. He let me hug him for a few second and then said, "Okay, Sophie. You can stop now. You're going to make people think things." That last part caught my attention and I let go of him.

"I shouldn't have read that," I admitted.

"No, you should have," Tam corrected. "I've been done for a while. I knew you'd read it eventually, and I wanted you to know the truth. It's just... easier than having to say everything out loud." I nodded. Tam managed a grim smile and got up to pass in his paper.

Suddenly my wreck of a life looked like paradise.

This chapter literally killed my heart like: Quan can die now bye-bye!