MARELLA REDEK WATCHED the strawberry blond-haired boy on the other side of Sophie. She hadn't seen him around before, and she thought she'd seen everyone. 

Dex? That was his name, right? 

Dex was one of those freakishly tall people, over two heads taller than her. Marella never understood how people actually grew that tall. It was strange. She wondered what the world looked like from their view, rather than staring at chests, they would be staring above heads. 

He was kinda cute, she thought privately to herself. He was cute in a way that you didn't notice unless you actually looked at him closer. He had deep dimples, Marella had never met anybody with dimples before. 

They wandered aimlessly through the hallways before Sophie finally spoke up. "So, shouldn't you be showing me around the school? I have my schedule if that helps?" 

She seemed nervous. Marella couldn't really blame her. On her first day of school, she remembered being terrified, frozen in place, watching kids stream by. She didn't get a student buddy, (not that she would have wanted one, student buddies must be humiliating to have). 

"Sure," Dex shrugged. "Here, let me see it." 

She handed over the pink piece of paper, and Marella noticed Dex's cheeks turning pink as their hands touched. Marella fought the urge to roll her eyes. Of course, Dex liked Sophie. Jeez, she could already see it. The popular, good looking new girl that everyone liked. 

"Okay, we're heading to the gymnasium first." 

Marella trailed behind them and listened as they started to chat about some stuff that she really had no interest in. Then, Sophie suddenly turned around. "I heard you took theater?" 

"Uh, yeah? Why?" Marella asked. She didn't really understand, but she was quite self-conscious of her theater-loving self. Maybe it stemmed from the fact that all her other "friends" (if you could call them friends) thought theater was for nerds. 

"Oh, I was just wondering because I wanted to maybe try out for the school play? A Midsummer's Night Dream right?"

"Yeah." 

Marella didn't really know what to say to the girl. She sighed. She wasn't cut out for this student buddy business. 

She found herself walking near Dex. "Well," he said. "Sophie wants to see the theater room, and because I don't take any fine arts electives, I don't really know how to get there. So, lead the way?" 

"Sure. Try to keep up. It's on the complete other side of the building." 

Marella winced as she walked. Heels were not meant for long-distance walking. She glanced down at Sophie and Dex's comfy looking sneakers. She should have brought an extra pair of shoes. 

"Well, here it is. Nothing special I guess." 

Marella opened the door to the theater, and she couldn't help the light that shone in her eyes when she walked through. The huge stage was made of shiny wood and accented by huge, dusty red drapes that Marella loved. There were hundreds of chairs in a semicircle, circling the stage.

If she had turned toward her side, she would have seen Dex looking at her in a curious way from the side of his eye. Unfortunately, this was not the case. 

Marella watched as Sophie walked up towards the stage steps, and she felt a sudden rush of protectiveness towards it. It was funny, how she didn't want this strange new girl to walk onto her stage, which wasn't even really hers. 

'Stop being such a bitch.' she thought to herself as she watched Sophie Foster take center stage and began to laugh, spinning in circles, her arms flung around her, without a freaking care in the world. 

Dex was clapping her on and Marella settled into one of the seats next to him. She saw Dex flinch a little as she sat down. Marella sighed inwardly. She should have been used to this treatment by now, but for some reason, she always felt a stinging feeling of unacceptance every time it happened. 

For some especially strange reason, she felt even more stung when Dex did it. The main problem was that she couldn't think of a single reason why. She had just met this guy, and she didn't even know anything about him. Why the fuck would she be so considered about his opinion when it was probably the same as everyone in the school? 

Sophie finished her performance and bowed in a clumsy way, nearly falling over and scraping her knee on the wood. Dex clapped. Marella did not. 

Not because she wanted to seem like a bitch, (which was probably what everybody thought) but because she had been lost in her own thoughts. Dex's clapping brought her back to her senses, and Marella noticed Sophie looking at her with the expression of one who had never met Marella before, a confused face that plainly said 'Wait, you aren't clapping for me. Why aren't you clapping for me?' 

Marella watched her face mold into the same understanding that everybody else's did after a while, 'Ohhh, she's just a bitch.' 

They left the theater room, Sophie noticeably walking by Dex now, instead of in the middle of them both, and headed toward what might be the worst subject in the history of worst subjects: chemistry. 

"So, you'll probably be with Mrs. Galvin. She usually takes the newer students because they're more beginner level. Maybe someday you'll be in AP Chem!" Dex was saying. 

"What level Chem class are you in Marella?" Sophie asked, a cautious tone in her voice. Marella hated those kinda tones like they didn't want to talk to you, but were forced too. 

"I don't take Chemistry class," she replied. "I hate it, and purposely failed it last year so I would get kicked out." 

"Why?" Dex asked, a concerned look on his face. "Chemistry is so fun though! You can learn about how to mix all these kind of chemicals that do all kinds of cool things and-" 

"Because I want to act in a theater someday. Chemistry was a class my dad forced me to sign up for," she found herself saying. 

"I don't have parents," the girl, Sophie, burst out awkwardly. Her face turned red and she started mumbling again in embarrassment after she said it. Marella did a little sigh. This girl had no idea how to talk and function in a normal conversation. 

"Oh. I'm so sorry for you! What happened?!" Dex asked, reciting the typical mantra for what to say when somebody you didn't know well revealed something personal. 

"I was sent away from my parents when I was young like when I was still a baby. I don't know why. Maybe they didn't want me or something. I've been rotating around adoption centers for a long time. I was finally adopted a week ago by Mr. and Mrs. Ruewen." 

Marella saw Dex's face turn white. "Mr. and Mrs. R-R-Ruewen? As  in, R-U-E-W-E-N?" Mrs. Ruewen has strawberry blond hair? Mr. Ruewen's blond?" 

"Uhhhh, yeah?" Sophie said, confused. 

Marella was confused too, but before she could ask the bell rung. 

"What's your class?" she asked Sophie, trying her best to sound like a typical bubbly, normal student buddy. 

"Theater."

"Oh, same. Uh, follow me then, I guess?" 

Marella and Sophie walked awkwardly together towards the theater room, leaving a very confused and pale-faced Dex behind.