While the people in the class are working with each other, she is working quietly by herself. Even whenever someone comes to her and ask if she wants to work together, she would just shake her head without looking at the person. She doesn’t talk to anyone, and some people even think that she has a secret. Every day during lunch at school, she goes somewhere where no one can see her. Once, someone even followed her but lost her right when they think they were about to catch up to the girl.
I am Joy, and unfortunately, I am not the someone who once followed the girl. I am the girl who later became her friend. I am 17 years old, and I go to Agoura High School. I live with my parents, and I have one younger sibling. I have lots of friends, but I am not one of the popular girls in school. I don’t like to dress like them or walk like them. My best friends are Wendy and Irene. Instead, I always like to go ask someone what they are doing so secretly, and every time, I get the same answer. Without saying anything back to them, I would just walk away.
Agoura High School was boring, until a new student, in my language arts class, came and totally made my year better. When the teacher asked her to introduce herself to the class, she said it very fast and at the same time, very quietly. All I heard was that her name is Jennie. Then the teacher told her to sit in the empty seat next to me. I could feel myself jumping up and down inside, but I controlled myself on the outside. I decided to say something to her, so I said “Hi.” She said “Hi Joy” back to me, but very quiet. I then asked her what she has before lunch, so I can find her. She said science and quickly went back to taking her notes. Then I asked her “When is your birthday?” I waited for her to reply me, but she didn’t. She was very concentrated on taking notes in class while the teacher was talking, and probably didn’t hear me. I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, and we talked for almost the entire class time. I decided that I would find her at lunch and talk to her more. When the bell rang, I started walking to my next class. On my way there, I remembered that I forgot to ask her which classroom she is in before lunch. I quickly ran back to my language arts class, but Jennie had already been on her way to her next class.
The period before lunch that I have is woodshop, and I had just been done making a puzzle and had decided to show it to Jennie. The bell rang, and it was lunch time. I ran out the doors of woodshop and started waiting in front of the science classrooms. I waited until everyone from every science classroom came out, but I still didn’t see Jennie. I wonder if she already went to eat lunch. I stopped and thought for a moment, if I look for her around the school right now, then I wouldn’t have time to eat lunch. I should quickly eat lunch first and then look for her. I ate my lunch as fast as I could wouldn’t want to miss any minute looking for Jennie.
After I was done eating, I looked in the science classrooms first just to check if she came back for something. I couldn’t find her in any of the science classrooms, so I decided to look for her somewhere else. I thought for a second for where she might be, then suddenly an idea popped into my head. In language arts class, I noticed that she looks like that type of person that would like to read books. She wrote down lots of ideas for her narrative very quickly, so I am guessing that she likes to read. Without any hesitation, I ran to the library and opened it’s glass doors. I know that it was very quiet in the library, so I can’t be too loud. I looked through all the places where there were shelves. I didn’t see her, so I looked at the places where everyone was sitting down reading quietly. I looked at every person’s face without them knowing. I didn’t want them to think I was stalking them. Anyways, I couldn’t find her anywhere in the library and I was getting very worried. Suddenly, the bell rang and it was time for class. I walked to my class with my head down wondering where Jennie could be. She is probably just sitting somewhere where I didn’t look, I thought. I decided to ask Jennie about it tomorrow during language arts.
The next morning, I noticed that I woke up late and was about to be late for school. I quickly got ready and drove to school with my new car that I got during the summer. When I got to school, I was so rushed that I almost bumped into a car while I was parking. I rushed to my first-period class, and I made it. I was not very excited about any of the other classes except for language arts because that is the only class I have with Jennie.
Language arts class finally came, I was so excited that I almost dropped the books I was holding while rushing into the classroom. I sat down at my seat and waited for Jennie to come in. Just a minute before the bell rang, Jennie came into the class. I was waiting for her to sit next to me, but she sat somewhere else today. Class started and during our work time,
I went up to the teacher and asked,“ Why is Jennie sitting in the front today? She was sitting next to me in the back yesterday.”
The teacher said, “Joy, Jennie told me that she couldn’t see too well when she was sitting in the back, so I moved her to the front.” I nodded and went back to my seat, to continue writing my narrative. Seeing how focus Jennie was writing her narrative made me not want to disturb her. The bell rang and it was time for the next class. By the time I was done packing up, Jennie had already left the classroom. I don’t think I can catch up to her, so  I walked to my next class. The classes passed by very quickly, and it was lunch time already. I again tried to look for Jennie, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.
Every day I would not give up, I looked for Jennie at all the places she possibly could be at. I looked for her in the library again, the community room, benches, girls bathroom, and office. She wasn’t at any of those places. After one week of looking for her every day at lunch, I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I decided that I would ask her about it in the morning before school starts.
Monday came, and it was a sunny day. I got ready for school and headed out the door. When I got there, I saw Jennie standing with her friends. I decided that it was a good time to ask her, so I went over to her and said  “Hi Jennie, can I talk to you for a second?”
Jennie said, “okay.”
I was really nervous inside, but I tried to control myself on the outside. I took a deep breath and said “I was just curious about umm…...I just wanted to ask you a question.”
“Okay, ask me.”
“Ok, so I was just wondering where you eat during lunch because I didn’t see you at lunch last week. I looked everywhere for you, but still, couldn’t find you.”
“ Um…...I was….I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta go.” She ran away from me as fast as she could without looking back. I could see that she was hiding something from me, something that she didn’t want me to know about, but I was going to find out.
During lunch today was the day that I found out the truth. The bell rang and I sprinted as fast as I could to the science classrooms. I made it just in time because I saw Jennie walking out the door of her classroom. I hid behind people as I followed her to where she was going. She was very cautious, she hid somewhere near the classroom, and I noticed that after everyone left the classroom, she quietly went to the back of the classroom. I hid behind a tree as I watch her climb over the fence. My jaw instantly dropped as I was wondering why she climbed over the fence and what could she be doing. Has she been doing this every single day at lunch? I thought for a second, should I climbed over the fence and see what she is doing? What if I get caught? I shooked my head and whispered to myself “Yes, I should climb over the fence and find out what Jennie has been doing at lunch.” I made sure there was no one near me or looking at me, then I quietly climbed the fence. My jaw dropped again, and this time, even bigger as I saw a little puppy in its little home near a house. I jumped over the fence and went to say hi to the little puppy.
A moment later, Jennie appeared and she was shocked to see me here. “Joy! How did you get here?”
I said “I got here the same way as you did. Why is there a puppy here?”
“This little puppy is my aunt’s. She doesn’t have time to take care of it, and since I am very close to her house, she told me to take care of it,” said Jennie.
“Well is this why you can’t tell me why I can’t find you at lunch?” I asked.
“Yes, I am too scared to tell anyone about it because I am afraid that they will tell on me,” Jennie said. “Well, you could’ve told me! I can keep it a secret. I said. Jennie had a face that looked like she doubted me.
“Do you not trust me?” I asked quietly while my eye was tearing up. I started to step back wanting to climb over the fence to the other side.
“No, Joy….” Before she could finish her sentence, I climbed over the fence and ran towards the girl’s bathroom.
The next day, I woke up in a bad mood. What happened yesterday really made me think hard about why Jennie didn’t tell me her secret. Was I not being nice enough to her? I packed up all my books for school and headed out the door. When I got to school, the bell rang, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to Jennie. I couldn’t talk to Jennie in language arts too because she didn’t sit next to me anymore. She barely even looked at me, and whenever our eyes would meet, she would quickly look somewhere else.
It was time for lunch, and this time, I knew exactly what to do. I ran to the science classrooms and hid behind the same tree as yesterday. I waited for everyone to leave the classroom, and climbed over the fence. I jumped down and patted the little puppy on its head. After a while, Jennie appeared with dog food in her hands and water. She put it in the little puppy’s bowl and filled another bowl with water. I watched as the little puppy was eating, and Jennie suddenly said, “Why are you here again? I already got in trouble! Stop bothering me!”
I was so surprised to hear this, and I said, “I didn’t tell on you! How did you get in trouble?”
“Stop acting, you know you did, and you are the only one that knows about this!” Jennie screamed.
“I really did not tell on you! I think someone else might have heard us talking yesterday and told on you, but I know I did not!” I said to Jennie hoping that she would understand. Jennie immediately spotted someone looking through the fence and told me. I whispered into her ear what my plan was, and Jennie nodded.
I shouted, “Hey you! What are you doing? Stop spying on us!” I quickly climbed over the fence and caught up to the person who was running away from me. I caught the person’s shirt and saw their face, it was a boy. I brought him over the fence so no one else but me and Jennie are dealing him.
“You were the one who told on Jennie! Why did you do that? What did Jennie do to you that made you want to get her in trouble? I whisper shouted into the boy’s face.

“Why? Why me?” Jennie asked, “Why did you tell on me?”
The boy said, “Because you got me in trouble once in elementary school. Don’t you remember, Jennie?”
Jennie’s face immediately fell, and she said “Yes, now I remember that….., I am really sorry for getting you in trouble at that time. I apologize, and could you please tell the teacher that this was a joke?” The boy could feel that Jennie’s apology was from her heart.
He said, “Okay, I am sorry too.” I made them both shake hands just to make sure that they are now not mad at each other anymore. After that, the boy and I asked Jennie if we could come and help her take care of the dog.
She was very happy to say, “Yes, meet me here every day at lunch!” We all gave each other a big  smile, and Jennie looked at her watch and said, “The bell is about to ring, let’s go.” All three of us climbed over the fence happily, and the bell rang. We each said bye and went to our next class.