*Sometimes I let it get to me, all the things I'll never see*

"Tyler, Tyler! Pay attention to me!" Chel snaps at her, waving her fingers in Tyler's face. Looking through her hair, Tyler resists the urge to roll her eyes. "Now, like I was saying. I was out with Wes last night whenever he decided to ask me out. We were hooking up, I mean, Jeez! You paid him like, no attention. It was just a hookup at first though, I swear to you! Then, we started talking. He told me that I was pretty, more so than guys normally do. He played with my hair, held my hand..."

"Do you really need to tell me all this? I get it. You two like each other, you hooked up, he was fucking amazing most likely, you two talked afterwords and got together. He probably took you out to eat and you guys had such a great time. Did it again maybe, and you probably gave him a BJ." Tyler's voice is flat, repeating everything that she's already gathered about how Chel works. First she'll get a guy, befriending him. She'll be the nicest. Then, she'll snap right when it's the perfect time, and make him hers.

Chel looks insulted, "Of course not! Jeez, Tyler! You make me sound like some sort of whore. I'm not you." She flips her blonde hair over her shoulders, the orange-colored highlights unmistakable. "Alright, can I continue? Or does your Miss High and Mighty not like it whenever I describe how I got my boyfriend? I thought we were friends!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Tyler throws her hands up in the air, knowing that her friend won't understand no matter what she says. "Alright, tell me how you won over my ex."

"Do you have to say it like that? I mean, gosh! You make me look so bad!"

Once again, Tyler finds herself resisting the urge to hit her friend. Oh, do I make you look bad? I'm sorry, you just took my damn boyfriend! But, please, continue. I truly want to hear what you have to say. It doesn't matter, does it? I could be crying my eyes out but you wouldn't give two shits and a half, would you? Perhaps I'd get the half if I cried. Perhaps, Tyler thinks to herself, wondering what would happen if she actually stood up for herself and said that. Instead though, she listens as Chel describes to her exactly what Tyler had said happened, with a few different variables.

While she drones on about how good Wes was, Tyler draws on her notepad, not wanting to listen at all. The little lines she draws connect to other lines, creating a crude version of a flower. One petal, two petals, three petals...After what feels like an eternity of minutes, the bell rings, three high short notes that sound like a three year old is banging on the far end of a piano. "Oh, sorry! You can tell me the rest later, okay Chel?"

"Sure! Talk to you at lunch, Ty!" She sends fake kisses towards Tyler, who just puts away her notepad and pencil before starting for her next class. Before she's even out the door she can hear Chel talking to some other girls, her voice much nastier and rude. "Oh my god, yeah! You wouldn't believe how much of a whore she is. She was just with him for his-"

Tyler closes the door with a slam, a forced smile plastered over her face. She wants to scream, to yell. To break everything in her path, everyone in her path. Instead, she goes to drama, sitting in the middle of the room towards the left. Kids all walk in, filling up the seats of the classroom as they laugh and talk to one another. The teacher, Mrs. Elena, catches their attention quickly. Standing up on her chair, she holds a balloon over her head. "Hello? Hello? Is everyone listening to me yet? Are you too busy talking to someone else? Oh well, listen up now." She begins, laughing a little bit. Tyler smiles, leaning forward in her seat.

"Mrs. Elena, do you need any help with that?" A small guy at the front asks, looking like he's ready to stand up. She laughs heartily, giving them all a wide smile.

"Not at all! Thank you though, Ken. Now, I do need everyone to listen up here. We're going to be gone in what? Two weeks? Yes. We're going to have one last assignment, and that's going to equal out to three grades. One each week, and then an overall grade. I want each and everyone one of you to change who you are." She tells them, dropping the balloon dramatically. It falls slowly, and everyone watches as it hits the ground below it. There are tacks everywhere, and it's balancing on them, but somehow doesn't break. "Just like this balloon, you all must linger on top of spikes. You will be someone wholly different, according to the title you draw from the list. You will become this person. Understand?"

Everyone nods, and Tyler finds herself wondering what this will accomplish. We change every day. We're one person at school and another at home. Isn't this like, getting too far into the act? Yet she's excited, the idea of it is something she's always thought about doing. She already is two different people between her life and her family life, but changing who she is at school completely? It'd be a nice change, hopefully.

"You will work in pairs of two. That way, you just aren't relying on yourself. All the things you need should be easily available, if you don't have them already. Is everyone ready?" She asks, getting down from her chair. The room seems to draw a silence, everyone looking around at each other. Some look like they're going to laugh, and others look scared. "Okay then! Why don't we begin? Who wants to go first?" A small dark hand raises, followed by a long, petite arm. Tyler smiles as she watches Alise, who looks timid but determined. Her hair is raised up into a braid, the beautiful black color of it making Tyler wonder if she should dye her hair.

Good job! You're actually standing out a bit. Didn't last week boost your confidence? Out of everything about what she does, Tyler knows that it definitely helps with confidence. You can't feel like you're ugly whenever you have billions of anonymous people telling you how sexy, how bold, how amazing you are.

"Go right ahead, Alise! Read aloud to everyone what you got." Mrs. Elena tells her, waving her hand for her to get going with it. "Well, hurry up now!"

"Um...I got 'Loud, determined. You won't stop at anything until you get what you want. You will not raise your hand, you will not be polite. You will not ask to borrow something, you'll just take it. Rash, impulsive, you will do what you do. Don't think, just be.'" Alise reads, her voice getting smaller at each word. She coughs a bit, "This sounds really-"

"Too late to change! Good one! You can do it!" Mrs. Elena pats her head, grinning a little bit. "See? This will be fun, you guys! Next one, go!"

The line steadily goes on as each person reads each one they get. Everyone can't help but laugh and grin a bit, each one more and more different than who they are. Finally, she gets to Tyler. "Alright, go on now."

Tyler reaches in, pulling it out quickly so that way the line can go on. She reads without thinking, feeling impulsive. "'You are quiet. You will always ask for permission. You will not let others use you though, and you'll be independent. Don't say a word whenever people talk to you, make them work for your conversation. Use your manners profusely. Think everything through.' This is me now...?" Couldn't I have gotten something...easier?

"Ohh...nice." Mrs. Elena moves on, and the last six people get theirs as well.

The slip of paper feels heavy in her hands as she tries to figure out exactly how she could do this. No one she's known has ever acted like this, or not exactly. Quiet, independent...use manners..? I don't understand, how will these all work together? Her head feels light, but her body feels rooted to her chair. People are talking besides her, everyone wanting to know more about the project, wanting to start it immediately. A sigh escapes her lips. This is useless. I can't do this kind of acting. I want to...but I can't.

"Hey, what do you think of this?" A soft voice asks to Tyler's left. For a moment, she don't even turn around to face her. She's just another random voice, talking to someone else. Talking to someone else. Alise taps her arm, "Hey, Tyler? What do you think?"

"Mm?" Tyler look over at her, a small smile on her face. She shrugs her shoulders, pretending that she just hadn't heard her before. She doesn't want to seem in-confident, like she didn't actually think that someone would want to talk to her. Why pretend? "Oh, hey Alise. Yeah. I think this is pretty cool, gonna be easy. What do you think?"

"It'll certainly be something. Mrs. Elena went out in the hall to go talk to George, he seems to be having a few...problems again." She laughs awkwardly, and Tyler can't help laugh a little bit too, trying to ease the tension between them. Normally, things wouldn't seem so weird between someone that she had made videos with, but Tyler can't forget that it had been Alise's first time doing it. "So...um...how's Don?"

"You two are dating, right?" Tyler asks, frowning slightly. She can't remember how Alise had gotten to be there in the first place, her memory foggy about the last week. "He's okay, I guess. Isn't he a bit old for you?"

"Well, not really. I mean, I'm eighteen. He's what? Twenty-two? Something like that? Well, either way, it doesn't matter really. He's hot, and he likes me, and I like him." She speaks a little to fast, not meeting Tyler's eyes. "Any-who...um...so, what do you think she means by this will be a partnered project? Wanna be partners if she asks?"

She shakes her head, trying to think clearly. "Huh? Oh! Yeah. Sure, sounds great." Tyler smiles, laughing a little bit. "Gosh, sorry. I've just been so out of it today."

"Is it because of Wes and Chel?" Alise asks, looking down at her feet. Tyler follows her eyes, smiling at the purple converses.

"Like your shoes, where'd you get them? I was at Walmart and saw some like that, but I didn't have enough with me at the time. Got these cool flip-flops though..." Changing the subject, she stands, showing off her feet. "I also got that cute nail polish. What do you think?"

Alise sticks out her lips, before giggling a little bit. "Too pink for my tastes. Nice though. Yeah, I got them at Wally-world. Pretty cute, and on sale, only two bucks. Pretty cheep, eh?" She laughs a little bit, "Oh! Teacher's in! Look natural."

Mrs. Elena walks back in with George, his ginger head bowed a little bit in shame. Clapping her hands twice, she gives everyone a forced, though bright, smile. "Alright everyone! You've had a chance to discuss this a bit, I assume! So, here's part two of this little challenge. You'll have to find someone you haven't hung out with that much and become best friends. Learn everything about them. You have to be able to know both personalities of them as well. Sound good?"

"Awesome!" A few kids call out, sounding pretty excited. "Alright, but how do we choose?"

"I have a list, everyone can come up and put down names. I know who you guys hang out with, so no names you already are best friends with!" She warns, wiping a couple stray pieces of hair away from her face. Tyler can't help but notice how tired she looks, and part of her wonders what exactly was happening with George. But she really doesn't care enough to ask, though she knows it would be helpful. "Alright, come on you guys, sign up!"

Alise grabs Tyler's hand, pulling her along as they go over to Mrs. Elena, eager to fill out the forms. "This will be cool. Do you want to eat lunch with me today, Tyler?" She asks, and Tyler shrugs, knowing that it'd probably be wise.

She gives Alise a half-hearted smile, "Sure. It's better than getting chewed out by Chel because I don't listen to her stories about sleeping with Wes well enough." Both girls roll their eyes, filling out the form and going back to Tyler's desk. "I mean, I love her and all, but it's a little bit unfair, don't you think?"

Pushing her hair back, Alise laughs, "A little? She's a class-a bitch, Tyler, you know that. She's just making you feel bad for no reason. Here, my table would love to have you. They're all dying to know how I managed to actually get in a video with you, so I'm certain you can fill them in on the juicy details, right? Just not," she lowers her voice, "the whole...porn thing."

Tyler actually smiles, nodding a little bit. So she's got a conscience. "Sure, sounds great. I still don't see why you'd do it though. It's not exactly the best, and while I may be smoking hot and all, I'm certain you had way more fun with Don than with me."

"Yeah...but it's exciting, don't you think? I mean, why do you do it? It was fun, I'd never done it before, and it definitely wasn't that bad." She shrugs, chewing on the end of her pencil. Tyler hadn't noticed when she pulled it out, but she does now and part of her wonders if she's one of those types of people. God, I hate whenever people do that. "Why do you do it, Tyler?"

"Mm?" She shrugs again, running a hand through her hair carelessly. "I don't know exactly. Don needed some money and I figured it wouldn't hurt, so we tried it out one day and just kept at it. It's not exactly as exciting as it was when we started." How far do I tell her? "I mean, it was kinda cool at first, but over time it just got-"

"Worn out?" She butts in, putting her pencil on the edge of her ears. "Tyler, are you really okay doing that all the time? I've seen how many videos you made just last week. Don't you think when you pass ten in one week that's enough?"

Tyler shrugs again, trying to shrink into her chair a little bit as she pushes her feet further out. The flip-flops fall off but she doesn't care, instead she focuses on the surface of the desk, which is next to her nose. "It's pretty cool. Not that wearing out. I mean, come on, it's good money, don't you think? You got ten dollars just last week for that one shot!"

Alise pushes Tyler's hair out of her face, poking her cheeks as she sits on her knees, getting to her level. "I guess so." Her voice starts to lower as she looks around, and Tyler wonders to herself why she's so calm talking about it openly. "It just...you seemed so...sad whenever it was happening. So tense and mad at Don."

Tyler's eyes flicker from the desk to Alise, and her heart races a bit faster. Was she talking to Kyle or something? What's up with everyone? "Look, I don't see what the problem is. It's cool, okay? Jeez, between you and Kyle I don't know who's worse. I mean, gosh, can't you two just stay into your own business for once? Can we drop this?" She practically spits, her voice harsher with each word.

Flinching a bit, Alise nods, "Sure thing. Um...so, sitting at my table at lunch. Chel and Wes aren't, like, going to beat me up or anything, right?" Tyler laughs, and she laughs with her, still a little uncertain sounding. "So, I'm guessing that's stupid. Okay. So...uh...this is going to be fun, don't you think? We get new personalities!"

Tyler's eyes roll over, and she snorts a bit, "Yay! It's fun, I guess. I mean, it's helping my acting out some, I guess. It's just...gosh, I don't know. School's ending soon, it feels like she's just piling this on for no reason."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But, she does have a point here. Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask...have you applied for any colleges for acting or anything yet?"

Groaning, she hides her head in her arms, "No! I haven't. My parents are making me go to the university and take some acting classes on the side. They want me to get a real job but don't want me to feel bad, I guess. Are you going anywhere?"

"Well, I'm actually going to a pretty cool acting college. Got in on a scholarship. I'm sorry about that though, that sucks. What I say you should do is go through with like, a year of that college?" She leans in a little closer, grinning a bit, "And then just leave. I mean, come on! You're gonna be eighteen soon, right? It'll be fun! You should, your parents are so strict!"

Tyler shrugs again, coming out of her self-made hand cave, "I guess. I'll think about it, anyways. Alright, so, let's just get to figuring out what the hell we're supposed to do with this personality challenge, shall we?"

Alise giggles a little bit, pulling hers out of her pocket. "We shall."