Soon enough, their summer holiday ended. Badr and some others returned from Rimor after one month, just before the first day of the new school year. Because of that, they only had one day to receive their new school books and schedules. Badr slept well that night and woke up the next day feeling refreshed. Upon reaching school, he paced around and met some of the friends he made last year. After walking around for a while longer, he suddenly stopped.

"Yousef!" Badr exclaimed loudly when he saw the familiar golden-haired boy walk past him.

"Oh, Badr! Hey, it's been a while," Yousef smiled as him and Badr shook hands.

"Can't believe it's second year already," Badr stated.

"Same."

The two boys walked together, looking around the school. The wind howled as the students arrived through the gates, hustling around the corridors. Friends were greeting each other with a hug or a playful punch. The newcomers looked very confused while staring at the huge buildings of Evenlane.

"Look at the first years," Badr pointed, laughing. Yousef joined in, saying: "We looked even more confused than that."

"Which class are you in? Do you think we're in the same class this year?" asked Badr hopefully.

"I think I'm in 8-D."

"Damn...I'm in 8-A."

They both looked at each other and giggled.

"It doesn't matter," Yousef said when the bell rang. "See ya in break!"

"Bye!" waved Badr and he strode off to 8-A. Yousef turned around and made his way through the crowd to his class. He thought about the past year. Around this time last year, he was cold and ignorant towards Badr. Him and Badr grew a bond over the past year, and he chuckled a little about how weird it was that so much time had elapsed. He looked at the seating plan and sat in his place, which was the last seat beside the wall. He sighed.

"I guess I won't be able to see the board this year, too," Yousef muttered under his breath.

A boy sat down in front of him. He turned around to face Yousef and smiled. Yousef smiled back.

"Hi," the boy talked with a very high-pitched tone.

"Morning," greeted Yousef.

"How do you feel?"

"Good...I guess. It's the first day of school after all."

The boy giggled then scratched his candy-red hair. He smiled one last time and turned around when the teacher arrived.

Through all the three morning lessons, Yousef listened to the teacher. He really wanted to get higher grades than Malak this year. He had noticed that she was in his class, sitting right across him. When the bell rang, he packed his books and took out a sandwich from his bag.

"Hey," the boy in front of him turned around again.

Yousef greeted him back whilst taking a bite of his sandwich. The boy smiled gently. "I'm Ismail. What's your name?"

"Yousef." They shook hands.

"Nice name," Ismail commented and Yousef muttered a thanks.

"So...are you from Rimor?" questioned Ismail.

"Uh-yes. Yes, I am. Are you?" Yousef replied.

"I'm from Nuport," Ismail took a bite of the apple he was holding for a while. The two ate in silence as most people left the class. Malak looked around and saw Yousef.

"Hello, Yousef!" she yelled a little loudly. Yousef groaned.

"What do you want?" he inquired.

"Just...saying the greetings. At least I'm polite!"

"Is that your indirect way of calling me rude?"

"Maybe..." Malak giggled.

"Why are you here anyways?" he continued while Ismail stood there, gawking at them.

"What do you mean? I'm in this class!"

Yousef scoffed: "Uff you ruined my day!"

"Well you ruined my year!"Malak finally announced as she grabbed her food and left angrily. Yousef rolled his eyes and Ismail stood there, shocked. Malak quickly walked out of the class, and because she was so angry, she absentmindedly bumped into someone.

"Ah...sorry," Malak looked up to see who it was. The smell of strong lavender perfume reached her nose as she realized who it was.

"Uff, get out of my face," Basma scorned while making a disgusted face. Her friend eyed Malak from head to toe then left with Basma. Malak sighed.

Yousef reached in his bag pocket and took out some cookies. Ismail took another bite of the apple while staring around him.

"Isma!" someone yelled from the end of the class. Two boys approached Yousef and Ismail. "Are you coming with us, or...?" one boy started, then he saw Yousef. "Oh, hey..."

"Hi..." Yousef answered back. He looked up to take a proper look at the boy who spoke. Yousef could tell he was wild and rebellious. His expression, especially his furrowed eyebrows, revealed his cocky attitude.

"Well, hey there," the other boy with the longer hair, which was parted in the middle, spoke. "Weren't you in my class last year? I'm Ziad. Yousef, right?"

"Yeah," Yousef replied.

"These are my friends," Ismail explained. "This one is Hamza."

"'This one'? What am I, your son?" Hamza scoffed as Ismail laughed.

"Well, nice to meet you guys," Yousef acknowledged.

Ziad's smirk, that never left his face, widened. "You too!"

Hamza and Ziad sat on a table nearby. The conversation continued between Yousef and his classmates, and when they started talking about the clubs they're joining, Yousef asked, "Did you hear of the new available club that wasn't allowed last year? Skateboarding?"

"Yeah, I heard. I'm joinin' that," Hamza replied. "Sounds badass."

"Yeah," Ziad broke in sarcastically. "Let's see you saying how 'badass' it is once you come to me crying because you fell down and broke your head."

"I won't," Hamza objected. "I'm not a loser."

"We'll see about that..."

"I don't cry."

"No you do."

"Shut the hell up! I won't fall! I'm not a damn weakling!" Hamza raged.

Ziad immediately cracked up. "Chill."

Hamza crossed his arms and Ismail asked: "By the way, Yousef. Who was that girl?"

"Never mind. She's just a nosy girl I met last year," Yousef answered.

"What girl?" questioned Ziad, interested.

"I said never mind..." Yousef repeated in a tone of boredom. Ziad shrugged as the bell rang.

"Ew..." Hamza groaned as a teacher entered the class. He turned to Ismail and Yousef. "Me and Ziad sit in that row. We'll see you soon."

Yousef hung out with his classmates once more in the second break and when the bell rang, they went to the football club. After classes were over, he went with Hamza to the wheels club. There they went to the skateboarding section; they learned about the basics of skateboarding but didn't get to ride one yet.

"I really wanted to ride one today..." groaned Hamza once the bell rang.

Yousef nodded in agreement. "Same."

"Well," Hamza smirked. "When we get to ride one, I'll show you how good I am. I'll be the best!"

"I never told you, but I can actually learn pretty fast," Yousef proclaimed.

"Hah, like hell! I'll be loads better than you, just wait and see!" Hamza boasted.

"We'll see," said Yousef competitively.

"Ok then," Hamza hurried ahead of him. "See ya, dude!"

They waved and Hamza strode off to his third club. Yousef watched him leave.

"Yousef!" he heard a familiar voice shout. He turned around.

"Yahya! Hey..." Yousef smiled as Yahya ran towards him. Yahya bent down and tied the loose laces of his shoes.

"Good afternoon..." Yahya panted. "I'm so glad I found you. Where do we go now? Where's that 'adventure club'?"

"I'm not sure, let's search the clubrooms."

Yahya nodded then stood up. Yousef and Yahya both strolled around the first floor. They searched the outdoor hallway while passing by the huge columns that supported the ceiling. They walked past the labeled club rooms but simply could not find one that had a label of 'Adventure Club'.

"Oh, hey guys!" Malak's voice suddenly resounded from nearby.

"Hey..." Yousef greeted. "Where's the club room?"

"I'm not sure, let's look around."

The three looked around the clubrooms. They saw many kinds of clubs, but none of them was the club they were looking for.

"Over here!" they heard Yasmin shout from a nearby room which had a label on the front door saying 'Trip/Journey Club'. A dark-haired girl was standing next to her, frowning.

Yousef, Malak, and Yahya entered the club room. They stepped on the tumbled marble tile floor.

"Yo!" Jack greeted and Badr ran towards them. The club room was ordinary, just like any other.

"Hey guys! I thought you weren't coming!" he exclaimed loudly.

"Badr, your voice is too loud..." Yasmin said. Badr chuckled and scratched his caramel brown hair.

"Sorry!"

The room contained a big rectangular table in the middle with three chairs. On the three of them sat three adults, two men and a woman.

"Yasmin, is everybody here?" the woman inquired.

"Yes! They're supposed to be eight I think," she replied. Bilal closed the wooden door then stood silently in front of it.

"Okay then, welcome everyone! I'm Mohamad Helal! Nice to meet you all!" greeted a middle-aged man, with a big smile. He had untidy coffee-colored hair and big cheekbones. He also had a light mustache and somewhat thick eyebrows.

"This is my dad! And this is my mom!" Yasmin eagerly pointed at her parents and moved over next to them. Mohamad looked at his daughter and flashed a laid-back grin.

The woman, who was Yasmin's mother, smiled kindly with her pink lips at the members of the club. She shared similar colored hair as her husband and it was tied in a low ponytail from the side. She certainly looked neater than Mohamad.

The students smiled at him and at each other. Then he nodded to the man that was accompanying them, and the blonde man nodded back.

"Hey guys, I'm Louis Adams. Would you like to introduce yourselves? Go ahead."

"I wanna go first!" Badr quickly stated. "I'm Badr, nice to meet you everyone! I hope to go on many adventures with all of you! I'm so excited!"

"I want to-" Yasmin and Jack exclaimed simultaneously. They glared at each other.

"Ladies first, redhead," Louis warned.

Jack scowled. "She already introduced herself before," he observed.

"SHUT UP!" Louis raged. "Let the girl speak!"

Jack pouted. "Fine."

"I'm Yasmin! I'm so glad you joined this club, thank you guys so much! You're such great friends!" Yasmin effused as her brown eyes enlarged with enthusiasm.

"I'm Jack by the way, and I'll be looking forward to travel," Jack said afterward.

"Umm..." Malak started, looking nervously at Louis. He smiled approvingly at her. "My name is Malak, and I love learning new things. I'm happy to be here!"

"I-I'm Noor," the quiet girl started, her walnut-shaped eyes darting towards Mohamad. Noor stood beside a laptop that sat on a smaller square table, which was located at the end of the room facing the window. "I'm looking forward to...this..." she slowly continued.

"Good!" Mohamad put in.

"B-Bilal..." began the glasses guy, Bilal, quirkily. Silence followed afterward.

"Um...me? Are you done?" asked Yousef hesitantly. Bilal shook his head up and down. "Erm...I'm Yousef. I hope to have fun and make memorable...memories."

Yahya chuckled quietly then stated, "My name is...Y-Yahya...yeah."

Badr wasted no time after the introductions to question Yasmin's father: "Sir, where are we going? When's our first adventure?"

"Probably to the carnival. Where do you suggest?"

"The carnival is fine!" Jack excitedly agreed from nearby.

"Carnival? Why?" Badr asked, confused.

"Why? You don't like the carnival rides?" Mohamad was surprised. "That's okay, how about boat trips, the beach, the zoo...?"

"But isn't that too...easy? I don't know..." was Badr's reply.

"What do you mean? You want to camp somewhere?"

"I mean like...I thought we would go to Moonland or something."

Mohamad stared at Badr with a sudden solemn face. "Moonland? You want to go there? It's too dangerous for a thirteen-year-old like you."

"But my grandpa went there, he told me how it was like! He told me that when I grow up and become a teenager I could go!"

"But Moonland is an island hovering in the sky to the far west. It's too risky..."

"But sir, it's my dream! I want to be a hero, just like my grandfather!"

There was a silent pause. Everyone seemed to be thinking. Yousef stepped forward.

"I want to go there too, it's not that far actually. It might be upwards but if we ride a plane we'll surely reach it...won't we?"

"Well, yeah," Mohamad responded. "But remember, there isn't much oxygen once you travel upwards. And students like you...it's too risky now. Maybe..."

His voice trailed off. "Maybe you can go once you are older...one day."

"Dad?" Yasmin nudged her father. "What is Moonland? The moon?"

"No, Yasmin...dangerous creatures lie in there," Mohamad explained thoughtfully. "Beyond these dangerous monsters they call 'moonwolves', there lies a tree...they call it the tree of moonstones."

"But I want to know!"

"I'll tell you about it, but that doesn't mean that you can go there. Not now, at least."

"It's too dangerous, my dear," Donia agreed.

Badr's face fell. Mohamad noticed that and sighed.

"Well...if you want to go there...later on, of course...you will need to learn how to defend yourselves properly," Mohamed suggested. "Maybe learning martial arts would help. I can teach you that."

Author's note: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. If you have any things you are confused about, then stay updated because the next chapter will be about Moonland. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments!