Bring! Bring!

Well, step one of the rest of these 180 days complete. That bell was actually the noon class's bell, and the students were just getting into class.

Honestly, Elphaba didn't think that most high school registration took half a day, but considering even Elphaba's took about five minutes, some of the others must have been thirty minutes. Still, she thought maybe she liked it more. The cameraman didn't try to 'cool' like these teenagers filled with low self esteem. This was going to be exhausting.

"Hey Shrek! Go back to comic con!"

"Geez, I can't believe I'm going to have to put up with a furry. Hope it's not in my classes."

"Get away from me, you disease!"

"Watch it, you freak!"

Alright, that last one was weak. Still, it was a little impressive that no one seemed surprised. Skipped that; straight to bullying.

And if that wasn't bad enough-.

Splash!

"Oh! You ran into me!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I think we ran into each other."

J.D raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"

"Well, if either of us were watching were watching where we were going, we wouldn't have ran into each other," Elphaba reasoned, sighing.

J.D slurped on his slushie, making Elphaba even more annoyed than she already was. "...That's nice," he finally responded. "And don't worry, that speech still has power with half of a cup of slushie on your shirt."

Elphaba glanced down in horror, and found that there was, indeed, half of red slushie juice on her shirt. How had she not noticed before?

"Oh no..." she groaned, hurrying over to the restroom to wash her shirt before class. J.D watched her run in amusement.

When he got bored of that, he looked around again. He was looking for a certain brunette blue-wearing female. He still had... certain feelings for her (mainly anger and some love).

Ah ha! Blue spotted! And brown hair!... That was far too short... and no 'female parts'...

This wasn't Veronica.

A fact J.D only figured out when he had gotten close to the teen, a nerdy teen that went by 'Jeremy', and was rather intimidated, to say the least, by J.D's quick approach and almost angry approach.

"You're not Veronica," J.D growled. Jeremy gulped.

"N-Nope," Jeremy stuttered. J.D left, as silently and aggressively as he had come, making Jeremy even more nervous than the actual confrontation. Jeremy blinked, thinking he might have to warn the person named 'Veronica'.

...Although he might in fact ruin everything with good intentions and drag down everybody in the near vicinity... again.... Because of COURSE he didn't just come to a school for bad kids, but he just HAD to drag seven other kids with him too... along with his best friend... and his crush...

Oh, fuck. Jeremy really was the worst, wasn't he-

"Hey, uh, Jeremy?"

Jeremy jumped, looking around. That was Jake's voice, wasn't it? Then where was- oh. He was looking up, when he should have been looking down. Jake stared up at Jeremy from a wheel chair, making another load of guilt rush into Jeremy's head.

"Hi, J-Jake," Jeremy mumbled, trying very hard not to look like he'd been on the edge of a mental breakdown.

Jake grinned at him. "Hey, man, what's up?"

'Well, not you anymore... thanks to me...' "Nothing much."

"Oh, cool," Jake nodded. For a few moments, they stood there, awkwardly.

"...You're blocking my locker," Jake finally told Jeremy.

"W-What?" Jeremy stuttered, horrified. He quickly moved out of the way. "S-Sorry."

"Yo, it's all cool!" Jake assured him, as the poor guy looked as though he might faint. He bent down to open his locker, while Jeremy stood awkwardly to the side. "...Michael's by the bathroom."

"T-Thanks," and with that Jeremy hurried off. Jake chuckled as he watched Jeremy leave, and then bent down to open his locker.

As he put all his less important school stuff in his locker, he thought about what extracurriculars he could do. Or, maybe more like the extracurriculars he couldn't do.

'Not basketball, obviously,' he reasoned. 'I could try the After School Play, but I don't think... hmm...'

"Well, look at this cripple," Heather Duke laughed from behind him. She hadn't brought down someone's self image in 20 minutes, and she was worried she was getting sad. God thing she found Jake!

"Gee, how'd you get in?" she crowed, while Jake ignored her. "Did you fall off a bridge while chasing butterflies?"

"What kind of insult is that?" Jake asked, turning around to look at her.

"Oh!" she gasped. "You're not deaf! Oh, thank god, I thought you were completely helpless."

Jake rolled his eyes and left. Duke was annoyed that her insults did not get father with him, but here? There were plenty of fish in the sea.

Westerberg High was a flop, but this year was different. This year, Duke was climbing to the top. She didn't have Chandler blocking the way anymore, and no McNamara dragging her down. All Duke needed was the proper steps... Like that poor nerd Alana over there.

With a confident smirk, Duke slithered over. Alana was just trying to talk to some other students, to try and connect (and prove that she did not belong here) when the snake picked her out.

"Hello, nerd," Duke hummed, making Alana look up. Alana tried not to cringe at the insult, and instead fixed a smile on her face.

"Hello," Alana said cheerfully back, sticking out her hand. "My names actually Alana Beck. It's very nice to meet you..."

Duke snorted. "Heather Duke. You better remember that."

"Oh, I will."

Duke stepped back, observing Alana, who observed her right back, though less openly.

"So how'd you get in?" Duke asked, rather snidely. "You look like the type to beat someone up."

"I do?" Alana asked, taken aback. "Well, on the contrary, it's kind of a long story, but-."

"'A long story'?" Duke repeated. "Well, now I don't want to hear it. Stay away from me, nerd."

Duke sashayed away, and Alana found the two people she was talking to earlier had mysteriously vanished. Alana was dejected, but tried not to let it get her down. There were plenty of kids here.

But, uh, maybe she should try and find someone nice... like that girl.

"Hello!" Alana greeted eagerly, matching over to Glinda. "I'm Alana Beck. It's very nice to meet you!"

Glinda looked delighted to meet her, much made Alana feel much better than earlier.

"Hello, Alana!" Glinda greeted back happily. "It's amazing to meet you as well. My name is Galinda Arduenna Upland, although you can call me Glinda."

"That's great!" Alana cheered excitedly. She suddenly felt as though she was being too eager and cleared her throat, professional again.

Luckily, Glinda didn't mind. "Alana, I'm actually looking for a friend of mine," Glinda told her. Alana winced, thinking Glinda was sending her away.

"Oh, well do you need help looking?" Alana offered, thinking that she might as well offer.

Glinda smiled. "Yes, I would love that."

Alana nearly cheered out loud. "Oh, great! What do they look like?"

"The prettiest girl on the planet."

"...Oh?"

"Yes, and green."

"Oh. That narrows it down," Alana said. Glinda nodded.

"I've been looking all over, but I can't find her," Glinda sighed. Alana patted her new friend on the back.

"Don't worry," Alana assured her. "I'm sure we'll find her... here, let's ask her!"

Alana and Glinda hurried over to Brooke, who looked like she was trying very hard to appear calm, and not like she was looking for someone.

"Um, excuse me?" Alana asked, making Brooke jump. "Hi, Alana Beck here. Have you seen a really pretty green girl?"

"Um, no..." Brooke replied, looking a little confused. "Unless you mean... Fiona? From the Shrek poster? In the main hall?"

"Uh..." Alana looked at Glinda for confirmation, who shook her head. "No. Thank you anyway! Nice to meet you!"

Alana headed off, and Glinda followed her after repeating basically the same thing. Brooke watched them go, wondering if they were talking about the cosplayer she saw a few minutes ago... Nah, probably not.

Brooke continued looking on her social media, and occasionally looking around for Chloe. She was feeling almost lonely, and at this point she would almost take Jenna.

Suddenly, a tall, dark figure passed in front of her, startling Brooke. She looked up, almost expecting it to be Chloe, but nope! Just your local stoner, Connor!

He barely spared her a glance, and tsked when he saw her staring. Brooke blinked, and watched him pass by, thinking that he was a little intimidating. She hoped Chloe would arrive soon.

Connor, on his part, had been getting those looks far too often to actually care anymore. He'd been through these 'cures' too much. How long would it take until they'd figure out he couldn't be fixed? It'd save everyone a lot of trouble.

Well, he might as well see how this day goes. As well as ignoring everyone, apparently he needed to avoid his 'best friend', too. Everything would have been better if Connor's suicide had actually worked-.

And bang!

Alright, Connor can usually pride himself on seemly being out of it, when in fact he was being as observant of his surroundings as any other student, but he must have been out of it, because he walked headfirst into another classmate.

"What the-," Connor spat, looking at who he ran into. Michael looked back, his eyes as wide as a deer in headlights. He quickly shrugged off his headphones.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Michael apologized, looking actually sincere. It took Connor aback. "I was listening to Marley."

"Uh, whatever," Connor huffed, turning away. "Watch where you're going!"

"Alright," Michael muttered, turning away. He immediately put his headphones back on, slurping his slushie. He was looking around, but he was only looking for two things. Either Jeremy, or the classroom, whichever came first. The rest was white noise.

He could ask someone, but that was almost a daunting of a task as taking on the SQUIP again. Just being in school and not high was already a chore. God, where was this classroooooooooooooo-

Suddenly, someone beside Michael coughed violently, enough to drag him through the Bob Marley music and the white haze, back into reality. He looked to the side to see Heather Chandler, coughing her guts out. He stared for a couple minutes, until she noticed and glared at him.

"What the hell are you looking at, stoner?" Chandler growled raspily, and Michael shrugged, walking away. Chandler glared after him. In her old school, that threat would have had a lot more impact. She needed to get some of her old power back. Although she was very aware what she looked like.

"Um, excuse me?"

Chandler looked around, eventually finding Jenna, looking at her eagerly. "What?"

"Are you the person who tried to drink bleach as a suicide attempt?" Jenna asked, matter of fact. Chandler rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you look at this," Heather stuck out her ugly blue tongue. "And tell me?!"

"Wow," Jenna gasped in awe. She took out her phone and snapped a picture, making Chandler recoil in horror.

"Wh-How dare you take a picture!" Chandler snapped. "Delete that!"

Jenna ignored her, staring at the picture. Eventually, Chandler gave up.

"Screw you, you freak," Chandler cried over her shoulder, stomping away. Jenna looked up after she had gone, wondering if perhaps she shouldn't have done that.

Oh, well. It was Jenna's job to know everyone. This was the way to connect.

Suddenly, Jenna paused. She had just spotted Jared, and she wasn't sure why, but he seemed very familiar...

"Hey, are you that guy from the 'I'm gay, and for one day, I want to be bae' video?" she asked him, immediately going up to Jared. Jared jumped, and then looked around nervously.

"No, of course not," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I'm straight. And way cooler. Why? Relieved?"

"Oh, I see," Jenna said, taking a picture for good measure. Jared frowned.

"Hey, w-what are you doing?" he asked, nervously. "Delete that!"

"Well, talk to you later!" Jenna said cheerfully, hurrying off before Jared could stop.

"Aw, shit," Jared muttered. If that 'dark secret' got out, Jared thought he'd have to change schools. He quickly tried following Alana in a panic, but he was stopped.

"Uh, can you tell me where the classroom is?" Heather McNamara asked him, stopping him from stopping Jenna from ruining his life.

"Classroom?" Jared repeated, staring at her. "What classroom?"

"Oh, yeah," the girl realized. "My classroom."

"...I don't know your classroom," Jared pointed out.

"Huh?" McNamara asked. "Oh, right! Class 1-A!"

"Oh, that's..." Jared paused, looking around. This place was a maze, and he didn't exactly know where to go. "Oh, it's... over there."

Jared waved McNamara in a random direction. McNamara smiled, grateful.

"Thank you," she told Jared in relief. Jared shrugged, and then ran off, still trying to find Jenna.

McNamara turned, and started off in the direction Jared had suggested, carefully watching the labels above the doors. Lobby, storage, office... main entrance...

Main entrance? Oh, she must have taken a wrong turn again! This was so irritating... McNamara was never good with directions; the rest of the Heathers, or Veronica would usually lead her straight, but the other Heathers had gone their different ways, and McNamara wasn't sure if Veronica and she were even... friends... anymore.

She'll deal with that later. Right now she needed to get to-.

"Class 1 A, Brooke!" Chloe insisted. "You've been here for twenty minutes already, how have you not found it?!"

"I'm sorry!" Brooke whined. "Everyone's taller than me!"

"Oh, you're so short!" Chloe growled. She took Brooke's hand. "Oh, we'll find it together. Let's go!"

McNamara watched them, and then started following them. However, since McNamara's looks are literally for attracting stares, and Chloe noticed her easily. She immediately turned to glower at the 'stalker'.

"Do you need something?" Chloe asked, annoyed. McNamara flinched.

"Uh, just to know where class 1 A is," McNamara stuttered, nervous.

Chloe exchanged a look with Brooke. She turned her nose up at McNamara.

"Fine," she said. "You can tag along, or whatever."

"Yeah, we don't actually know where it is either," Brooke added. Chloe threw her hand (the one that wasn't holding Brookes) up in exasperation.

"Brooke!"

"I mean, we totally know where it is!" Brooke corrected. McNamara was impressed.

"Oh, good!" she sighed in relief. "Let's go!"

"Yeah, yeah," Chloe mumbled. "Where the hell is this classroom?"

"Chloe, Chloe, look!" Brooke suddenly shouted, startling Chloe. Chloe whirled around.

"What?"

Brooke grinned, and pointed to the left. "It's Class 1 A."

Chloe looked over. "Oh, it is."

McNamara cheered. "We found it!"

"That only took, what? Half an hour, for you, Brooke?" Chloe asked. Brook rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," Chloe sighed. "Hey, have you seen Jake yet? I need to talk to him."

"Whose Jake?" McNamara asked.

"Nobody important- What the heck?" Chloe spat, spinning wildly in order to avoid a short kid, who had decided to stand right in the doorway.

Evan watched her with wide eyes, a little surprised she saw him.

"Are you okay?" Brooke asked, looking a little concerned. McNamara stared at Evan in confusion.

"What? Are you doing?!" Chloe shouted at him. "Why are you standing in the middle of the doorway??!!!"

"S-Sorry," Evan stuttered. "I lost my... train of thought... I zoned out! Zoned out, sorry."

"What does that even- whatever, get out of the doorway!"

Evan nodded quickly, and hurriedly got out of the girls' way. They past him with barely a second glance, which is what he was more used to.

In truth, he had been trying to work up the courage to actually walk into the classroom. But before he could convince himself that everything was fine, worries would cram into his head, saying that 'everyone would look at him weirdly', 'everyone would recognize him', 'everyone would see him as the awful person he was'. Or, even worse, 'nobody would even care'.

Evan knew he had to walk into the classroom sometime, but right wasn't that-

"Hey, are you okay?"

Evan jumped, and looked around wildly. Eventually, he spotted Veronica, looking at him with concern. He was getting that look a lot; was that bad?

"M-Me?"

"Yeah," Veronica nodded. "Sorry if this sounds condescending, but you look like you're freaking out."

"Huh?" Evan gulped. "Oh n-no, I'm... fine?"

Veronica gave an unbelieving look. "If you say so. Is this your class?"

Evan read the label on the wall again. "I think so..."

"Great, mine too," Veronica smiled at him. "You coming inside?"

"Oh, yeah, d-definitely..."

"..."

"..."

"When?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Class is about to start..."

"Oh! Uh, right now!"

Evan hurried in, and Veronica a few moments after.

'Well, off to a good start,' she thought. 'Just helped a kid (I think) which is more than I can say for last year.... Great, sounds like I'm building up brownie points.'

Veronica walked into the classroom, and sat down, shrugging off her backpack. Even though the bell was about to ring, this class was surprisingly empty. Well, maybe not that surprising; the architect who designed this place must have been on drugs.

"Hey, hey!"

Veronica looked up; with the strangest implication she was being addressed. She saw a very ticked off Rich, looking... well, she would say down, but he was short, so more like eye-level, at her.

"Yeah?"

"That's my seat," Rich told her, weirdly aggressively. Veronica cocked an eyebrow.

"I wasn't aware there was assigned seating," she said. "And there's no need to go off like that."

"Huh?" he seemed confused; Veronica rolled her eyes. "Oh, right, I'm bi now. Anyway, there is assigned seating, it's up on the board."

Veronica looked around him, and saw there was, indeed, assigned seating. She frowned. How'd this dudebro notice before her?

"Alright, alright," Veronica sighed. "I'll move."

She got her backpack, and moved. Rich sat down after she left.

Rich felt a little guilty for getting angry at that girl for a minute, but he promised that it would balance out by him being 'nice' to everyone else. Rich had no hope of being popular this year, considering that the SQUIP (he shuddered) wasn't there to keep him in check, but he didn't think he would be completely invisible either.

Rich squinted at the white board, curious as to who would be sitting beside him. His hopes were raised when he saw a 'J' but where dashed when he saw it was on the other side of the room. Despite becoming best friends with Jake had mostly been because of the SQUIP, they had still continued their friendship. It actually gave Rich hope for the next year.

However, the person beside Rich was Christine. Rich actually liked Christine (who doesn't) but he wished Jake was sitting beside him.

Anyway, speaking of Christine-

"Hi, Rich!"

"Sup, Chris!"

Christine plopped down next to him, and (of course) immediately started talking about the school play.

"I saw it's going to be Shrek. Are you going to join?" she asked eagerly. "I am. I'm going to try out for Fiona. Or maybe Shrek, Fiona's a bit boring....

"You should definitely try out; I think you would make a great Donkey. NO OFFENSE! I just think you have the energy to play him. Do you think Jake's going to try out? I hope so, I think he'd make a good Dragon.

"Honestly, I don't really like the Shrek musical all that much, but I'm glad they have it. I was worried. You?"

Christine kept talking, with Rich giving the occasional answer.

To be honest, Christine was very disheartened. To be sent to this school... to be labelled a bad kid... she didn't want to think of the implications. But everyone else seemed fine, and she didn't want to drag down their moods, so she took her mind off of it with her favourite topic: play rehearsal. That made everything better.

And, for once, Rich didn't seem annoyed.

Overtime, the classroom started filling up, although it did take nearly an hour and a half, and soon, the rest of the 180 days of school were ready to start.

Bring! Bring!