Doodles already start to appear on my schedule form. It is my first day being in a school, but I can hardly pay attention for longer than fifteen minutes. The chemistry teacher goes on about the syllabus and requirements for the year while I sketch my thoughts away.

While I was taking a tour of the school with Meliah, I got the chance to look at her schedule. Sadly, I discovered that she wasn't in any of my classes. However, I was lucky enough to get into the same lunchtime as her. She agreed to save me a spot at her table, so at least I'd have something to look forward to in the day.

The bell jolts me from my seat. I guess I'm not really used to the school bells. Everyone quickly gathers their things and hurries out of the classroom. I close the cover to my notebook, choking my doodles behind the thick cover. The teacher watches me as I collect my things and exit the door. I am the last one to leave the class. I feel her eyes burn holes into the back of my head.

I make a mental note to myself: never leave chemistry late.

The list of mental notes to myself grows longer as I go to each class. I have to go through four out of the six classes before lunch comes. The classes move painfully slow. I feels like months before I'm out of American History, my fourth hour class. Then I found myself, once again, alone in the hallway at my locker.

It seems like everyone is in such a hurry around this school, I couldn't find a reason why. Groups of people are herded around like sheep. They spill out of classrooms and transport themselves through the halls. Friends and lovers hang out at each other's lockers. Quietly, careful not to disturb someone's conversations, I push my textbooks to the back of my locker. I come to a horrifying truth. Even though Meliah showed me where it was before, I have forgotten where the cafeteria is.

I pace awkwardly through the halls and look around corners, trying to look for it. So much for killing the "new kid" stereotype. After a couple minutes of blindly searching the school, I give up. I follow a group of guys at a distance. Thankfully, they don't notice me. They make the two-minute trek down the hallway I already tried moving through countless times. I breathe a frustrated sigh and continue shuffling until I am looking through the empty doorframe of the lunchroom.

It isn't as bad as I had expected. Most movies and TV shows portray lunchrooms to be so crazy. There are food fights, fistfights, and screaming kids. I don't know if it's just the people in this school, but lunch actually seems pretty civil. People are eating lunch with their friends, catching up on their news feed online; it looks like an average school day to them.

"Where's your camera?" I turn to see Meliah standing behind me.

I smile at the familiar face, "Doing what I wish I was doing. Sleeping."

She laughs and leads me to her table. A few girls sit with their faces glued to their phones. One nervous looking guy sits at the end. A barrier separates the two sides of the table. The other side of the table seems to be where the party is at. Guys and girls laugh and shout at each other without a care in the world if they're too loud. They look like they are having a lot of fun.

"Yeah it's tempting, I know," Meliah looks down at the untouched lunch she set up from her bag.

"Seems so," I nod and look into her longing eyes, "Why don't you sit over there?" I ask out of curiosity.

She observes them for a while and then tears herself away, "I used to be friends with them. Well, almost all of them, but they all changed. They're not who I thought they would turn into. They turned into a completely different group of people over one summer."

"Have you ever tried talking to them?"

She stares at me for a while with a questioning look, which bends into a smile, "I have friends, Parker."

I crack a smile, "Oh really?"

"You are turning out to be quite the little twerp," she jabs her finger into my arm. I pretend to be hurt and coil back. She rolls her eyes at me.

"You're not hungry?" Meliah asks a minute later.

"Woke up late. No lunch for new kid," I shrug and spin my phone in circles on the table.

She splits her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in half, handing a piece to me.

"No, no it's okay," I shake my head and avert my eyes to the table.

"You didn't answer my question, Parker, are you hungry?" she raises her eyebrow and raises the sandwich up to my eye level.

I blush. I was hoping it wasn't noticeable. Still, I take the sandwich and smile apologetically, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Meliah says and watches me take the first bite of it. Only then did she start to eat her other half.

"So, are you this nice to every new kid here or do I just get special treatment?" I ask, watching the clock. My time was almost up and I still hardly know the girl.

She smiles and nods, waiting until she swallows her food to answer, "I'm on the 'Welcoming Committee'."

"I see. I bet that looks good on college applications," I guess and shift in my seat as people start to file out. I wish they wouldn't start leaving so quickly at once. Maybe then she wouldn't notice how late into lunch we were.

"Yeah, pretty much," she looks at the clock from over her shoulder, either noticing we didn't have much time or that I'm just that boring that she couldn't wait to leave.

"Listen, Parker-"

"You can call me Caleb," I tell her.

Meliah smiles, "Caleb, if you ever needed any help with school, like grades or finding a class, just let me know," The bell rings, dismissing us to our fifth hour.

A note card falls to the table. When I look down to pick it up, I lose Meliah in the mob of students. She's already gone from the lunchroom, heading to her next class, I assume.

I bring the note card with me to geometry. There was no doodling in that hour. I could only staring down at a certain girl's phone number.