ADELINE TRAN

was your average girl. Not born into poverty, not born into extreme wealth, she was just somewhere in the middle. She was never talented, gifted but nowhere near being a prodigy. She could sing, just not very well. And she could dance, just well enough for it to be a bit sufferable. She wasn't intellectually blessed— well, not to her own self at least— yet, she was considered gifted by her peers and authority figures alike. And, let's not talk about her athleticism, that's another story for another time.

Adeline could recall some of the more memorable moments in her life being how she would always get all A's (and hardly any B's) on her report cards, or how she always had a knack for debates.

Despite her timid, and non-confrontational outside, she was a quick thinker, and would step up if she needed to. She had coerced herself into a philosophy, comparing arguments and debates, to a board game.

"It's like chess," she said "you always have to think about what the other person'll do next, and how you'll counteract that move."

Sure, it wasn't a scientific discovery, or an eye-opening, philosophical event, but it was certainly a way to look at things. Adeline discovered you could apply this theory to other things as well, not just debate.

Well, she had also coerced herself into believing that it was normal to say "checkmate" whenever she had believed she'd won an argument. This was often met with weird looks from the other person, but as time went on, people just started going along with it, no one questioned it anymore— heck, some people started saying "checkmate" after presumably winning an argument too.

Despite her averageness, she was quite the trendsetter.

On the rare occasion she lose an argument, her finishing statement is often an agreement of some sorts, or if said argument is more on the serious and personal side, she would most likely utter a vulgar phrase, or something equally as insulting; but she was always somewhat a good sport.

On the topic of arguments, her confrontations were always verbal, never physical or violent in any way, and it's not like Adeline was complaining, she'd prefer it more than anything if things just stayed the same. She had never really liked change, not in her schedule, not in the way she did her hair, not even in her food.

If she arrived to school five minutes later than she intended to be there, her whole day would be off, and she would come home upset and grumpy, and usually when she came home, she would be relaxed and ready to settle in for the day; so her whole afternoon would be ruined too.

Adeline thought of it as a domino effect, one falls down; the others come crashing down with it. The more she thought about it, the more she thought about how this concept could apply to other things, not just events in someone's life.

By the way, if you couldn't tell, Adeline was quite the thinker. For a burnout like herself, it's pretty great, huh? Well, Adeline hated it, she absolutely despised it. She wished she wasn't thinking so hard, all day, every day, she hated it! So, she would distract herself, disconnect herself from life, from reality, from the horrors of her 15-year-old brain. She would do whatever she could to escape herself.

She would often play video games, although she never had a large selection to choose from, considering the fact her parents didn't let her own a computer, or a console. She was bound to her barely-there mobile phone, in which if she played those stupid mobile games long enough, she would find herself with a case of good ol' carpal tunnel— at least, that's what her dad told her. She never took any of it seriously, though. She never took anything in her life seriously, well except for school.

It seemed like to her, school was the only thing keeping her in check, keeping her grounded. Yeah, maybe she was a huge nerd, or maybe it was the rules that kept her together. A sense of security where nothing could go wrong, she would never be insubordinate, and she'd listen to her teachers. They were all good at teaching anyways, she didn't see why she'd feel the need to bother them, but it was clear to her that other students in her classes felt differently.

They were always acting up, disrupting class, shouting out phrases far too inappropriate for school (though it's not like anything Adeline hasn't heard before, school and the Internet have officially desensitized her for good).

It didn't bother her all that much, but the reality of the situation began to register in her mind when progress reports for the marking period came in.

Her grades were flunking.

It wasn't her fault, no, she was excelling in all of her classes, always getting her work done. She blamed it all on her other classmates, telling her parents about how disruptive and annoying they were, disturbing the learning environment.

So, after a chat, a discussion, two debates, one big fight, and three peace treaties later; Adeline and both of her parents (but mainly Adeline herself) decided it would be best if she was sent off to and enrolled Bullworth Academy.

Which was definitely not any better than what her current school was.

But, she'd take it, she was desperate despite seemingly hating change. Anything just to get away from her old classmates (and possibly her own parents). She could start anew, maybe loosen up a bit, make new friends.