Chapter one 

“My name is Riley, what’s your’s?” 

“Ew, Riley is a dumb name.” 

“What’s your name?”

“I’m not telling you! You’re ugly!”

Riley Withers sat up in bed. What an awful dream! She thought. I hope my first day of seventh grade goes better than that! Riley was 12 years old, and was starting seventh grade in a week in her new town, Camelville. She had moved to Camelville from 

New York City, and was very scared. She was so used to the big city. What if everyone thinks I”m weird? She worried. Riley was a people-pleaser, and worried about how everyone thought about her constantly. 

Back home, in New York City, she had had only four friends. She wished that she had better social skills. Riley was overwhelmed about the thought of starting seventh grade in this new place. It was the only thing she could think about! “Oh, man! I hope I can make friends!” She said aloud. 

“Hmm? Riley, you were saying something…” Riley’s Older sister, Lea said. Lea was 15, and she and Riley shared a bedroom. “Nothing.” Muttered Riley. Lea was 

Always getting into Riley’s business. Riley wished sometimes that Lea would just leave her alone. Lea groaned, and stood up out of her bed. “Ry-ry!” She said. “Wanna swim with me and my friends?” Riley rolled her eyes. “You guys don’t wanna have me around.” Lea frowned. You know it’s true. I don’t care. Let’s face it, your friends hate me, admit it. She thought. Lea sighed. “Ok.” And without a word she walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth. From somewhere in the house, Riley’s Little brother, George yelled “I call dibs on brushing my teeth first!” George was only 10, and was always doing super immature stuff. Lea called back “to bad! I’m here already!” 

“dang it!” Said George. “But I get to go before Riley! Dibs!” And Riley heard him thumping down the stairs. Another Chaotic morning in her house had just begun. 

Chapter two

“Well, Riley-Wiley! What are you doing today!” Riley’s dad asked her, taking a sip of his coffee. “Oh, maybe just stay inside and read. maybe I’ll go to the mall with my friends.” Riley didn’t actually have friends to go to the mall with. She just said that so her dad wouldn’t worry. He was a police officer, and had enough to worry about. Besides, maybe she would ask Lea to take her to the mall for some new clothes for school. Lea couldn’t resist a trip to the mall. Especially since mom would probably give her money for school clothes, too. 

Riley’s dad nodded. “Sounds fun!” He said. “I gotta go to work. Love you, Ry-ry.” And he rushed out the door. Riley sighed. Lea banged down the stairs. “Hey!” She said. “Hi Lee.” Riley replied, using the nickname that Lea had banned the family from saying in public. Lea glared at Riley. “You know how I feel about that name…” she said. 

“Yes. Sorry Lea.” Riley told her. She hadn’t meant to annoy Lea. The name just came so naturally to her, after all, their family had been using it for as long as Riley could remember. Lea softened. “That’s ok, sis. Hey, I have some free time in the afternoon, wanna do something together?” Despite being a little pushy, and 

And a bit nosy, Lea could be super sweet. “Ok.” Riley said. “Do you think we could go to the mall? You know, to shop for school stuff?” Lea clapped. 

“You know I’m in, Girl!” She cried. Riley smiled. Just then, George banged down the stairs, in his football uniform. “Mommy!” He called. “You hafta take me to practice!” 

“coming!” Riley heard her mother call from upstairs. 

“I’m gonna go read.” Riley said, and walked upstairs to her room. She didn’t read, though. She pulled open a drawer, and took out its contents. Inside the drawer there was her makeup, and her nail polish. I’ll experiment to see what looks best for the first day of 

School! She thought to herself. And then she began to apply bright pink nail polish to her toenails. 

 Chapter three

“Have fun girls!” Riley’s mom said to her and Lea. She handed them each a Fifty dollar bill. “Please stay together. I don’t want you girls getting lost.” Lea rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah.” And she opened the car door and jumped out. Riley followed. 

“Where should we go first?” Lea asked, exited. “Let’s go to Flair’s!” She said, answering her own question. Riley nodded. Flair’s was a cool store that they had had in 

New York City. So Lea practically dragged Riley into the store. Riley was instantly very nervous. The store was loaded with teens her age. What if one of them goes to my school? What if I act weird and everyone laughs at me? She thought. She took a deep breath, and followed Lea into the racks of jeans and sweatpants. “Riley, what do you think of these?” Asked Lea, holding up a pair of skinny jeans with pink stars embroidered on them.  “Oh, my gosh! Those are so cute!” Riley said, grabbing a pair off the rack that looked about her size. Then, Riley heard girls whispering in the next aisle over. “Those Jeans are ugly, Roanna,” one girl said. “Yeah, Lenni, I wouldn’t wear those to gym class!” They

Snickered, and twirled over to the sweaters. Riley immediately put the jeans back on the rack. “I thought you liked those.” Lea said. 

“Yes, but some girls over there said that they are ugly, so I’m not getting them.” 

Lea made a face. “It doesn't matter what they think! It only matters if we like them!” 

Riley said “Ok.” But she didn’t really mean it. She left the jeans on their rack, and picked out a boring pair of bell-bottomed black jeans that she saw some cool-looking girls her age picking out. Lea then raced over to the tops. She picked out a cute sweater vest that was patterned with black, and gold. Then, she grabbed a 

Skintight purple long-sleeve. Riley looked around, and saw a bunch of popular-looking teens grabbing plain, itchy-looking cropped knit tank tops. Lea looked confused when Riley took one. “Ry, I didn’t know you were into crop tops. Mom won’t let you wear that without a shirt underneath.” So Riley picked out a set of skintight t-shirts. One was white, one was green, and one was pink. They were itchy. But Riley got them anyway. After Flair’s, Lea and Riley went to Sophisticated teen, which was a store jam packed with the newest styles and looks. Lea gasped when she saw Famous designer Cayla Clayton’s newest look on display. Lea instantly grabbed a cute plaid skirt and a 

Pretty cardigan to match. Riley was pretty sure she could hear some girls snickering as Lea bought the outfit, but Lea didn’t care. When Riley got home, she looked at the stuff she got. A set of itchy skintight t-shirts, an itchy knit cropped tank top, a pair of black bell bottomed jeans, a cropped pouffy vest, that felt  like a marshmallow, and some skirts that were so shot her mom made her wear pants underneath. She hated all the clothes. And plus that, she got a new lipstick. It was light blue. She hated that, too. But it was all the rage, so she bought it. She didn’t show it to her mom, though. Her mother wouldn’t let her wear it. So she decided that she would put it on at school. She hated 

All of the stuff, but she told herself that it was necessary to fit in. Everything will be ok. It won’t matter if your shirt is itchy when you have hundreds of friends. But deep down, Riley knew that she would never have hundreds of friends. 

Chapter four 

Riley woke up, so nervous. It was finally here! The first day of seventh grade! Riley quickly got ready. She brushed her light brown hair, and styled it into a ponytail. She did her makeup, using blush, foundation, White eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara that had glitter in it, and some clear sparkly lip gloss. She would put on her blue lipstick at school. She dressed in her pink t-shirt, her itchy cropped Knit tank top, and a white skirt with light pink leggings underneath. She wore a cute 

Pair Of gold high-heeled sandals, showing off her bright pink toenails. She had done her fingernails in the same shade. She was ready. She took a deep breath, and marched downstairs. Her mom, Lea, and George were sitting at the kitchen table. Lea was looking at her phone, and  wearing her Cayla Clayton sweater and skirt with cute pink flip-flops. She wore her hair down, with cute Barretts that had  stars on them. George was reading a comic, and wearing a plain red t-shirt and some nice black sweatpants with sneakers. For once, his hair was neatly combed. Her mom was reading the newspapers, and wearing a black t-shirt with green leggings and brown loafers. Her mother’s hair was