Growing up is hard, and nobody knows that better than Asling Naoise Gallagher. Everything is hard, starting with her name. Sure, mom and dad wanted a name to celebrate her Irish roots, but what was wrong with Erin, or Shannon? No she gets stuck with a name that is so unpronouceable that it isn’t even funny. And never mind trying to find a 
pencil case with her name on it, or a necklace or anything. Sure, her name means dream warrior, and that’s kind of cool, but she isn’t any type of warrior.
Asling figures her parents HATE her, first by saddling her with this name, and second by making her change schools at least once a year, sometimes more. She has no idea why, it’s just what they do. It makes it hard to make friends. No, not hard, it’s impossible.
She did what she was supposed to do, she went to school, got good grades, but she never really felt like she fit in. Adults saw her as a dreamy girl, and the kids, well they just saw he as weird. They didn’t care that she liked to run, or did karate, or played the piano and guitar, and Asling did care that they didn’t care….mostly. Sometimes she was lucky and her parents would home school her, and sometimes they made her go to traditional school. Sometimes public, sometimes private, always miserable.
Asling didn’t understand what made her different, she just knew that she was. It wasn’t her looks. She had long curly reddish-brown hair that she straightened like most of the other girls. Her creamy skin and green eyes, coupled with her hair spoke to her Irish heritage. Yes her style of dress was a little different, favoring boho and vintage looks, but it wasn’t so different, but for some reason, she never fit in. And now, her parents told her they were moving…..again.
