Three months passed by far too fast for my liking and suddenly it was mere weeks away from school. My mom had told me to get the mail, but when I opened it, there was a letter from Prestwall High School. Addressed to me.

I furiously opened the letter and read the page. My eyes skimmed over the usual "Dear Anasika Grandle" and "Congratulations." Wait, Congratulations? I reread the sentence.

"Congratulations on being accepted into the Humanities program at Prestwall High School and getting on the wait-list for the Science, Math, and Computer Science program along with the Global Ecology program. We look forward to..."

My face fell. The program I had most wanted to get accepted to was Science, Math, and Computer Science (SMCS) or Global Ecology. Humanities was one I had simply applied to because I could. Frowning, I passed the paper to my parents.

They read it, but their faces were a blank slate. Afterwards, they turned to me and smiled, saying, "Good job getting into Humanities. And maybe you'll get into Global and SMCS later." I let out a deep breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I hadn't let them down. They weren't disappointed. Everything would be okay.

On the course of the next few days, I talked to many friends of mine and consistently felt worse. Everyone was shocked I hadn't been accepted into SMCS and Global. My mind flashed to the five math problems I had written random answers for on my test. I mentally cursed myself, positive that they had been the reason I didn't get into either program.

I constantly worried for the next few days, but life had to go on. Until one day, when I walked into the house, coming back home from a friend's house and my mom smiled at me. She was holding an opened envelope with a letter inside, once again addressed to me. I frowned when I realized she had opened it without me, but my anger was forgotten when I opened the letter. I had been accepted into both Global and SMCS.

I threw my hands in the air and whooped like there was no tomorrow. I had gotten into the high school of my dreams and been accepted into all three programs. What more could I want? Happiness flooded through me and my heart beat faster and faster as I thought of what this could mean for my future. But the future didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was this.

The next weeks were filled with constant contemplation. Humanities was a no-brainer, with SMCS and Global as an option. I loved reading books and writing, but I could never see myself pursuing it as a career.

That left SMCS and Global. SMCS was a rigorous program where students took courses designed for one year in one semester and spent an extra hour in school taking an extra class. But, it was all of my favorite school subjects and subjects that I wanted to pursue. Global on the other hand was a program of real life application. It consisted of field trips every two weeks and focused on science and history. To anyone, Global would have been an obvious choice. But not to me.

I spent sleepless nights sorting out the dilemma that would determine the next four years of my life. Plus, there was always Southeast High as an option, where I could prioritize my social life over my academic one. But, I never fully considered that. I wanted a challenge, one only a Magnet school could offer. And there was always the fact that it was my dream school.

The Magnet office gave us three weeks to decide which program we would choose. I had already sent in my rejection letter for Humanities when it was time for the open house. Maybe this would finally help me decide what program I would choose.

The open house began with showing us around the school. While it was rather small, the rooms were still unusually numbered. It was last renovated in 1980, and was built in 1950, so things weren't exactly up to date. But, it was still a beautiful school, one I had always dreamed of going to. And now, I was living my dream.

The programs seemed equally fascinating, that was, until I heard about the workload of SMCS. The courses that I would be taking required me to skip essential classes and I wasn't ready to do that. I had made my decision. I was going to pick Global.

I walked around the school after both meeting and admired it. The walls were covered in inspirational quotes above most of the lockers. Walls without lockers had large murals depicting beautiful scenes. The only downside was that most of the classrooms had few to no windows.

The Global wing was obviously an extension later made to the school. It had its own AC system, Wi-Fi system, and light system. It had its own exits in two of the three classrooms and was covered with windows. And, rather than having its own numbers for the classrooms, the rooms were called 33, 33A, and 33B. Nonetheless, it was still an amazing school.

I told my parents my decision and they agreed it was the best idea. The Global Ecology program was the only one in our county, and the few counties around us, so the students in the program ranged from cities far from mine. It was a competitive program to be accepted to, but I had done it.

The next few weeks were a blur, from packing school supplies to finishing summer homework. Before I knew it, the first day of school was fast approaching and I was more nervous than I had ever been before. This was a new school and a blank slate. I could be whoever I wanted, but the first impression I would make would last forever. The only notion that calmed me was that other people would also be new there.

Suddenly, it was time. At 5:30 am, I jumped out of bed and got ready as fast as possible, yawning through it all. I ate my breakfast on autopilot, and I wasn't really awake until my mom suggested driving me to the bus stop.

"What?" I asked. "I'm almost fourteen, I don't need you to drive me!"

My mom sighed. "It's a fifteen minute walk and it's pitch dark outside," she reasoned. "Besides, I talked to some other friends and most of their parents drive them."

Grumbling about being embarrassed and other first-day-of-school worries, I grabbed my bag and dashed to the car. My mom was right, it was pitch dark outside. I could even see the moon. I had never been up this early. And to think that this would be my life for the next four years.

My mom was also right about the students being driven. The parking lot was jam-packed with cars of brands ranging from BMWs to Chevrolets. It was chaos. But after a few moments, most of the cars left, dropping their children at the thin strip of concrete between both roads. I stepped out of the car just as the yellow school bus pulled in.

I was the third person on the bus, so there were seats available to me far and wide. Not knowing what to picked, I just sat in the first seat. I was never one to sit all the way in the back where the "cool kids" sat. It was just too crowded. Still, it didn't seem like there were many "cool kids" at Prestwall. As a matter of fact, social classes didn't seem that prominent at all. Rather than pondering this, I popped in my headphones and rest my head on the cool glass window, letting the movement of the bus lull me to sleep.

After twenty minutes or so, the tires of the bus screeched to a halt and we pulled up in front of the very high school I had seen a few weeks ago. I sighed. This was the moment all my hard work had been leading up to. I was finally at the school of my dreams. Thanking the bus driver, I stepped off the bus and walked through the open doors, into the crowded hallway.

I took a look at the schedule that had been mailed to me about a week ago and frowned. Even though I had a map, I still didn't know where I was or how to get to my first period. Among the sea of students, I spotted Jessica.

"Oh Jessica, thank the gods!" I muttered, running up to her.

"Anasika!" she called, holding her arms out for a hug. "What program did you choose?"

I grinned. "Global."

Jessica's face lit up. "Me too! Oh thank goodness I found you. I have no idea who anybody here is and I don't know where any of my classes are!" She held out her schedule. "Do we have any classes in common?"

I put my schedule next to hers and scoured through the list of classes. "We have our last three classes- biology, history, and technology- together, but nothing else." After asking a few older students, we found the general direction of our classes and parted goodbye.

My first class, Algebra 2, was a breeze. We turned in our summer homework and reviewed on basic Algebra and Geometry. English and Gym were pretty easy too; we pretty much did nothing. I hadn't really had time to talk to anyone until Spanish.

I walked into the class and plopped down at the front, where the board was in good view. After a moment, I heard a voice next to me.

"Hi! My name is Clarissa, but you can call me Clary. What's yours?" I turned to my left to see a girl about my age. She had short blond hair and a wide grin on her face. I smiled back. "My name is Anasika and you can call me Anasika."

Clary laughed. "I suppose I will. What program are you in?"

"Global," I explained. "But, I got into all three."

"Wow," Clary whistled. "Well, I'm in Global too. I heard the last three classes are blocked, so whoever you're with in sixth period is who you're with in seventh and eighth. Are we in the same class?"

I pulled out my schedule and we compared. Just like Jessica and I, Clary and I were in the same last three classes. I smiled at the thought that I would already have two friends in that class. After a few moments, the class began to settle down and the teacher began to take roll. She reached the G last names when she called me.

"Anna-seeka Grandle?" I frowned. In the past three classes, all of the teachers had pronounced my name wrong. But, correcting them had become a habit after years of this happening.

"It's Uhn-awh-sihka Grandle," I corrected.

"Oh I'm so sorry," the teacher apologized. "That's a very beautiful name. Is it-?"

I smiled. "It's Indian."

"Well, it's a beautiful name," the teacher repeated. After smiling at me, she continued down the list, soon reaching Clary Johnson and finishing off with Earl Yu. For the rest of the class, we reviewed our Spanish verbs until the bell rang, signaling the start of lunch.

Not a moment after Clary and I had stepped out of the classroom, Jessica ran up to us.

"Hey, Anasika, where do you want to sit for lunch?" Suddenly, she noticed Clary standing beside me. "Oh hi!" she smiled. "My name's Jessica. I'm in Global."

Clary smiled back. "My name's Clary and I'm in Global, too. What do you have sixth period?"

I held out my schedule. "We all have the same blocks. Do you guys want to sit in front of the classrooms, so we won't be late for sixth period?" Both of them nodded and we walked down the crowded hallway until we reached a smaller hallway with classrooms 33 and 33A surrounding it. 33B was at the corner between 33 and 33A, unable to be seen at the moment.

Only moments after we began eating lunch, a tall girl with wavy brown hair in a side braid walked up to us. "Can I sit here?" she asked. Jessica adjusted her glasses and twisted her straight black hair. "Sure," she confirmed.

The girl, who had introduced herself as Lina was also in our Global block. We ate and chatted for all 45 minutes of lunch until the bell rang. As soon as the doors of room 33 opened, we were the first students in the class room. Minutes before the second bell rang, all the students had filed into the classroom and the teacher stood up.

"Hi, I'm Mr. Marvin, your Honors US History teacher," he introduced, standing behind a tall wooden podium, the Promethean Board to his back. "Global is a very close knit program," he said. "We are not just a program, we are a family. This may seem like the simple words of a teacher now, but as the year passes, you will learn the truth in them and grow to accept them. You all may not know each other now, but by the end of the year you will be closer than you will realize. So, shall we get started?

"On the floor in front of me, there is a 12" by 12" box. I want you to all fit in the box as fast as you can. Starting... now!"

All the students scrambled towards the box. Before they even reached it, a girl with short black hair tied into a ponytail called out, "Everyone put one finger inside the box! He never said our whole bodies had to be in the box!" All the students obeyed the command of the girl, seeing sense in it. In under thirty seconds, we were all "in" the box.

Mr. Marvin stared at us open-mouthed. "The last record was one minute," he marveled. "I feel like this is going to be an interesting year. Young lady, what is your name?"

He pointed to the girl with black hair who had called out the command before. The girl softly whispered, "Jeanine."

"Well, Jeanine, congratulations. As a matter of fact, congratulations to all of you. You have set a new record at the Prestwall High School Global Ecology program," he told us. "Expect an interesting year."

Soon after, the bell rang and all the students in the class filtered out of the classroom, murmuring among themselves about the new record. In a minute or so, we were all in room 33B. The room looked familiar, although I couldn't place from where until I saw the teacher.

"Mr. Rickman!" I exclaimed. A few other students had done the same, recognizing the teacher as our entrance exam moderator.

The teacher smiled. "I believe I was your test moderator, right? The classroom may look familiar, but only because both rooms were biology rooms." I nodded, taking a seat at the front of the room between Jessica and Clary, where the board was clearly visible. I spotted Lina a few desks away from mine and smiled at her.

Not waiting for the bell to ring, Mr. Rickman sat on the table in front of the Promethean Board. He propped one leg up and clapped his hands.

"Alright everyone. My name is Mr. Rickman and I will be your Honors Biology teacher for the next year or so. The first thing you need to know about me- I love beer."

Everyone in the class laughed. There was nothing like a teacher talking about alcohol to get his students to pay attention.

For the rest of the class, all the students introduced themselves. Mr. Rickman told us a bit more about himself and then explained the field trip schedule to us. Our first field trip would be in a few weeks and it was an overnight trip to Justin's Ferry.

Before we knew it, the bell rang and we were off to our final class of the day- technology. The room was filled with large desktop computers with a chair in front of each one. As usual, I sat at the front of the classroom with Jessica, Clary, and Lina to my right. The teacher, just like the other two, began talking without waiting for the bell to ring, his piercing blue eyes fixated on each of us for a moment in time. But his smile was all kindness.

"Hello everyone, I am Mr. Gandalf. Now please, no Lord of the Rings jokes." I heard a few chuckles around the room before Mr. Gandalf continued to speak. "There is one thing you need to know about Global, besides the family thing I presume Mr. Marvin told you about." Everyone nodded. "Just like Mr. Marvin told you about Global being a family, we are very close. Mr. Marvin, Mr. Rickman, and I are actually best friends, along with Mr. Cardinal, who you will meet on your first field trip to Justin's Ferry. Also, we are the Water Buffalo."

Confusion erupted around the room. The Water Buffalo? Who were the Water Buffalo?

"Now I know you are confused, but it will all make sense after I show you this video." He turned to his own desktop and pulled up a YouTube video. It was like one of those National Geographic videos with animals chasing other animals. I watched intently, trying to figure out what Mr. Gandalf meant.

It started out with a herd of Water Buffalo, drinking water out of a cool blue stream. But suddenly, a roar erupted into the shot and two lions began charging at the Water Buffalo. The herd began running, but a small buffalo straggled behind and the lions were fast approaching. The herd turned around. Two buffalo charged at the lions in an intense brawl. The straggling buffalo ran towards the herd, who accepted it willingly. The other two fought as best as they could, soon accompanied by the whole herd, until the lions backed off. The video faded to black.

"That herd of Water Buffalo is the Global Class," Mr. Gandalf explained. "Sometimes, homework and tests will drag you down like the lions, but your Global peers will always be there to help you."

That's when I realized what Mr. Marvin meant. And that afternoon when I was walking home, my mind wandered back to the video and I smiled. I knew I had made the right decision in choosing Global. Now, I just had to find out what would be in store for me next.