Akila, a freshman in high school, struggles with her popularity and of course, boys. Her friend from middle school, 'Worm', suddenly shows up with a new image, leaving her in the dust. Meanwhile, in Army Base Aberdeen Proving, Daniella struggles with adjusting to a new army camp and the stuck-up Corporal Caresse, who brings out the worst in her.

Chapter 1: Chapter 1- Akila the Unnoticed

It was my first day in High school… and no one was looking at me! So uncool…
My hair was in pigtails on either side of my head, tied with pink bows.
I wore my favorite striped shirt and cute new jeans! Girly fits me.
I can’t pull off the retro ‘Goth chic’ look that everyone wears.

But you won’t find anyone as stubborn as me. My mom swears I could convince a shark not to eat me. Oh yeah, mom. She’s my hero. She had me at 17 years old. I’m 15 now, so she’s 32. She told me that my dad walked away when I was born. She doesn’t really talk about him anymore. She threw away all the pictures of him and cut his face out of the pictures with me in them. My thoughts were interrupted when my 'Best friend' Maxine bounded towards me.

“AKILA!!” she squealed and grabbed my hand in hers.

“OHMIGOSH!! You look sooo cute today!” Translation: ‘but not as cute as me!!!’

“Those boots! I saw those boots last month at Target!” she hissed. Um, no. There was no way since they just came out last week.
I cringed and forced a smile. “So anyway-“ she was cut off by screaming girls down the hall. Curious, we followed the sound. What we saw was shocking. “Is that… Worm?” Maxine was as surprised as I was.

Worm- er, William had completely changed over the summer. Just like one of those 'makeover' shows where they completely change everything about you!
He ditched the dorky glasses and looked like someone you might see in a magazine.
Maxine immediately pushed past the squealing girls and grabbed his suddenly proportionate face. “Worm? It that you in there?” she questioned.
He managed to mumble, “Uh, yeah, Max… why are you squishing my face?”
She dropped her hands and ignored the now glaring girls. Ha. Glaring Girls. GG’s, let’s call them. Maxine looked at me. “What?” I asked her.
She sighed. Clearly, she was waiting for me to turn into a GG.
“Oh. Hey, Aki.” William said. He was so different looking. My palms got clammy and I squeaked out, “Hey William.” Confident that it was in fact, William.
Then I said something so stupid, I can’t believe I said it. I mean, I could see Maxine saying it but no, it had to be me. “You look… different…”
I mentally facepalmed myself. “Oh uh, thanks. I think.” He said as he turned a bright pink.
I felt myself go the same shade, if not brighter. Not hard to do as a redhead. Someone, please save me.
Luckily, someone did. “Alright! Alright! If you have time to be idling out here in the hall, you can go to class! Now!” screeched old lady Sharon, the vice principal. Thank you. So much. “C’mon, let’s go Akila, bye Wo- I mean, bye Will!” she yelled to him as she pulled me to homeroom.

High school, here I come!

Chapter 2: Daniella the Specialist

My name is not important. Fine, it’s Danniella Gortez, but if you ever call me that to my face, I’ll break your arm.

Anyway, I’m a Specialist in the U.S army. All I have ever known is how to aim a gun, and how to shoot that gun.

I was born in a hospital in Texas, then later abandoned. My father, Captain Gortez, raised me as his own. Being the total army nerd that he is, he's trained me to be a soldier since I turned 11.

I’m 15 now and I’m the best Gunmen give or take a few of the older troops. I turned abruptly towards private Henningway, my colleague.

“Henningway!” I yelled across the field to him, already speed walking towards him.

He straightened up and gave me a salute. “At ease, Henningway. I'm not that high of authority yet, and you know that.”

He dropped his hand and pouted like a three-year-old. I shot him a glare, but I burst out laughing. Hey, his face looked cute like that, and it was so surprising I laughed.

“Something funny, Lieutenant Gortez?” I heard a husky voice ask me. I froze. Eww. Not him. I turned around and I was right, It was Warrant Officer Caresse, perfect everything and all. “Nothing, Warrant Officer Cuddle!” I snorted. Caresse is French for cuddle. I saw a brief glare of death on his face but he quickly straightened up and grabbed my arm. He pulled me along firmly by my arm for about a half mile until we reached a small cabin that I assumed to be a women's cabin.

“Here.” I shrugged off his hand and rubbed my arm where it had gotten sore from his grip.

“Your new assigned sleeping quarters. Obstacle course 60 minutes. Hurry up.” No, not everyone speaks army time. Only in the higher ups presence, but I was surprised he didn't talk that way all the time.

I went in and scanned the room. I could see they spared no expense. There weren’t even many rats. By the time I got to the base, I was about 2 minutes late. It’s a half mile away. Of course I'd be late, although luckily none of the higher-ups were there yet. When I jogged up, I heard someone next to me mumble, “What do you expect from a girl” I’d heard it all before, ‘We don’t have time for you to fix your hair,’ ‘that’s the Generals daughter?’ and my personal favorite, ‘what can a girl do?’ I loved to prove them wrong by beating them up or breaking their arm or leg, just to prove 'what a girl can do'. Wait, that's the same thing.

I tried to ignore his remark, I really did! But it was just so frustrating to me. I was about to roundhouse kick him but I was Interrupted by the loud clearing of a throat. When I looked to see who interrupted me, I saw Warrant Officer Caresse and Captain Gortez, my father, walking out together, heading straight towards me.

General Caresse looked a bit pink, not flushed or anything, but like he was embarrassed. Pink didn’t suit him.