"May I have a word with you?" Angela sighed and walked back to the teacher's desk. Ms. Hallwell smiled slightly and indicated for Angela to sit down. Ms. Hallwell was a pretty young women, popular with the students. She had the ability to make her students excited about their work, a rare quality. However, she hadn't been able to excite Angela.

"Angela, you have tremendous capacity as a student and as a person," she began, "however, you are not preforming to your maximum capacity. You're a smart girl," Ms. Hallwell said gently, "I've reviewed your records; your past work had been outstanding. But currently you've been doing mediocre class work." Angela looked at the desk and shifted her weight a little, refusing to meet her teacher's gaze. She knew that Ms. Hallwell was right and she knew that Ms. Hallwell wanted to see her do well. Angela swallowed, feeling guilty for letting her teacher down. Ms. Hallwell sighed and studied her hands.

"Angela, the schoolwork isn't hard for you, is it?" Angela looked up and shook her head. Ms. Hallwell nodded. "I didn't think so. Maybe...maybe it would help if you told someone what's wrong," she said quietly. Angela pursed her lips, not wanting to disclose any information to her teacher. She opened her mouth to refuse but then paused. She hadn't told anyone her problems and well, what harm could it do?

Angela looked up and met her teacher's gaze. "Ok." she said. Taking a deep breath, Angela launched into her story. "My family just moved here from New York. Well, moving is nothing new, we're always moving with my father's job. And I've always hated but well, it was a way of life, you get used to it. We hardly lived a month in New York but I loved it. I mean, I actually made friend there."

"Don't you normally make friends?" Ms. Hallwell asked carefully. Angela smiled wryly.

"None that I ever get close to. We always move away, so what's the point? But this time, in New York...well, it was different. It was someplace I felt safe, at home," Angela smiled slightly, then her face darkened, "but then the inevitable happens. We move yet again. I had terrible fights with my father and my brother over moving. We still own a house in New York," Angela added, her voice brightening slightly, "Hopefully, I'll be able to visit. My father's job will be taking him back and forth between Boston and New York. But I have to stay here most of the time, because of school." Angela sighed, feeling a little better after telling her story.

"So how do you like Boston?" Angela looked at Ms. Hallwell thoughtfully, studying her eyes. She had kind eyes. "Honestly? I hate it here." she said bluntly. Ms. Hallwell frowned and started to speak but Angela cut her off.

"At least I'd have my brother to talk you, you know," Angela said, her voice tight and pained. "At least there was someone to talk to...Sometime we had tutors, not school. But now I have school. And I have no friends. And I'm not saying that made and effort to make friends, because I admit, I didn't.

"Most of the people that go to school here, well, they're filthy rich and like to talk about their new clothes and playing tennis and golf and the like.... Well, I don't like to talk about any of that. It's so frivolous! So stupid. They just live these sheltered little lives, gossiping amongst each other as if it were the most important thing in the world. Well, I don't want to be friends with people like that. I have no idea if they really like me for who I am or if they just like because I have money. And I wonder if they really like anyone, even themselves." Angela put her face in her hands and sighed.

"Who were your friends in New York?" Angela looked up and smiled. "Newsies." she said simply. Ms. Hallwell raised her eyebrows, realizing that coming across a person like Angela was pretty rare. "And you could...talk to them?" Angela nodded, "Yes, yes, I could. And used to be able to talk to Johnny too, but well, we had a fight recently and things really haven't been the same since."

"What about your mother? Can't you talk to her?"

"Yeah. Sure I can. She's just not going to answer back." Angela murmured sarcastically. Ms. Hallwell looked at Angela confused. Angela sighed. "My mother's dead." she said flatly.