School bells.  That’s all that Alice can hear.  Alice is a 16-year-old girl in high school.  She has black hair, that’s always messy and out of place.  She has brown eyes and eyebrows that are always done to perfection.  She has flawless skin and she’s always smiling.  She is the most popular girl in school, and her best friend Ace is the most popular guy in school.

           Alice and her “friends” are walking down the hall to English, having conversations and laughing.  While they are walking down the halls, Alice watches the red lockers and the black and white checkered floors go by.   Alice thinks, “It smells like Axe Body Spray, over-used perfume, and sweat.”  Alice is acting happy like always, but she just wants to be with her real friends.  As Alice and her “friends” arrive in English; they must separate to go to their seats. She is finally happy because she can get lost in her own thoughts.  When Alice is alone, she can think about how she’s feeling instead of acting like she’s happy all the time.  In school, she’s a straight A student and she’s popular because she participates in class, she studies for tests, she’s nice, and she’s pretty. 

School bell.  Alice is pulled out of her thoughts by the bell to go home.  She meets up with her best friend Ace, and they leave school after some small talk with their popular “friends”.  They walk home together in the rain because they don’t want to wait at school for it to stop or slow down. They want to get away from all the fake people, so they can be themselves. Alice can now drop the fake act of being happy and have a real conversation with Ace.   “How were your classes today?”, Alice begins the conversation. “Just like every day…same people, same classes, same fake attitudes.”  The two grew up together because their moms are best friends and they are next door neighbors, so they’ve known each other all their lives. They both can see through everyone at school and agree most of the students are fake. 

Alice and Ace get to their houses; they separate their ways.  Ace goes up to his room to change from his dirty wet clothes and to drop off his school supplies.  Alice does the same but after she’s done, she opens her window and hits Ace’s with a pole that she keeps so she can hit his window.  Ace walks to his window and opens it.  When Ace opened his window, Alice climbs out so they can hangout and chill.  Alice and Ace hangout in each other’s room every day.  Every day they switch rooms so one day Ace knocks on Alice’s window and the next Alice knocks on Ace’s window. As they settle down to have their daily conversation, Ace begins, “Most days I feel like we have to fake it until we make it, so we do not become outcasts.” Alice agrees by saying, “I wish we did not have to be fake ourselves to fit in. I would love for everyone to just be themselves.”.  

School bells.  The next day, everything starts all over again.