I allowed my brown eyes to go wide and worried as I stared up at the huge school building before me. My satchel strap pushed on my shoulder heavily, telling of the weight of books I carried. I loved my satchel, it was a pink Vera Bradly with lighter pink paisley patterns on it and currently filled with schoolbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, a pencil sharpener, and so on and so forth. I had purchased all new school supplies for this year.

My stomach was quivering, and I didn't try to stop it, not that I would have been able to. I was regretting the decision to try a private school for my junior year. I had been homeschooled all my life, and I loved every year of it, but I had always wondered what it was like at a more public school. Now I was about to find out.

It had been my sister's idea to come to school this year. She was a blonde, with short hair that fell between her ears and shoulders, reminding me of AnnaSophia Robb. Her cheekbones were higher than mine, a trait I had always been jealous of. But since I was older, I refused to be too envious of my younger sister.

When she felt my gaze turn to her, she looked over, hazel eyes locking with chocolate ones. "I blame you for this," silently said the frown directed towards her. She shrugged a little and started walking towards the building where the many other teenagers were streaming into. It was fun to give into outsiders' assumptions about homeschoolers, so I liked to act like I had problems with people. I could be more social if I wanted to. Or so I told myself.

School had already been in session for a week, but they had still accepted us. We had a homeschool camp that was a week-long event, beginning right before school. We had managed to convince our mom to let us go to the camp, while she convinced the principal to let us come in a week late. It worked out surprisingly well.

We started by making a stop at the office. Principal Fury was an intimidating back man with a patch over his right eye that contributed to his assertiveness. I could tell he would not tolerate any disrespect.

Of course, he already knew why we were there, so he gave us maps, a chart of our classes, and a personal escort to our 'homerooms', which were apparently the first class you started in for the day, though I had no idea why that required a special name. When Kameron departed into her room, which was not the same as mine, much to my trepidation, I squeezed her hand and tried to smile. She raised her eyebrows eagerly and whispered a goodbye before following the principal inside.

By the time I got to my own class, I thought I might throw up from the level of nervousness I was at. I had no problems speaking in public, I had no stage fright issues, but all this change was definitely wearing on my system. I trailed behind Mr. Fury when he opened my classroom door, trying to regain some of my former confidence.

This was stupid. How could I have let me talk myself into this? Why didn't I just stay home? You had to go and explore the world, didn't you? This is worse than that one time I went fake rock climbing. What's wrong with me? It's just people, there's nothing to be worried about. They won't really care about anything you do. It's okay. I stepped into my room and looked over the sea of people watching, rubbing my satchel strap nervously. There are so many of them! Why did I do this?

"Mr. Spector," said the principle. "This is your newest student, Alina Kein. You have a desk for her?"

"Of course." My teacher wasn't a tall man. He had mussed hair and a harried look to go with his English accent. I couldn't decide if he looked nervous or intimidating. I got both vibes from him. "I've got a spot for you right over here, Alina." He pointed to a seat in the second row against the wall. "But before you sit down, why don't you tell us about yourself?" It was a question, yet it wasn't a question with an option.

Mr. Fury left me to the ocean of eyes without a word, so now I stood in the front of the room with only the teacher by my side, waiting for my answer.

"Well... I'm seventeen, um, I've been homeschooled my whole life, so this is my very first year in more of a public—excuse me, private school. I like reading books and writing stories, mostly like fantasy stuff. I have six siblings of whom I am the middle child. And, uh... yeah. That's about it." I tried to smile, but it just came out stiff and tight. Speaking was the easy part; it was the silence that came after my mini speech that was the scariest.

"Thank you, Alina." Mr. Spector smiled at me warmly. "You may sit down now." I nodded and quickly took my seat, rather ungracefully. I sat down with my satchel still on my shoulder, so I had to go through the process of getting off me without taking my entire ponytail of brown hair with it.

When class was over, my head was filled with small bits of the lecture that I could remember. We had learned about native Americans and what life had looked like for them while Columbus was discovering the continent. I would probably forget it all by tomorrow.

As class was dismissed, I filed out with the rest of them, but slipped to the side when I got into the hallway and consulted my papers. Where do I go now? The class schedule was a little confusing and no matter where I looked on my map I was completely lost. My brow furrowed heavily as I saw other kids hurry away out of the corner of my eye. I finally figured out what room I needed to go to, but even when I turned my map in all different directions I could not find the class I wanted.

"Need some help?" a male voice asked me. I quickly glanced up and saw a muscular teenage boy, taller than me by at least half a foot, watching me with baby blue eyes. His hair was short and blond, like a soldier's, which matched his strong nose and jaw. He wore blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt with corresponding white shoes. A black backpack dangled from his hand by the top strap. Everything about his style was simple and clean.

"Oh, I, um, just can't seem to figure out this map." I laughed nervously, looking back down at the paper. It stared back at me, as if mocking my intelligence. I was by no means dumb, but I had my moments.

The boy smiled understandingly. "Here, let me see." He held out his hand and I willingly surrendered my bewilderment. He studied the piece for a moment, before turning it over and giving a small chuckle. "Here's your problem. You were looking at the wrong side. This is the side for the first level and this side is the second."

I stared at the paper, wondering how I could have been so dumb. "Oh... thank you. Sorry, I'm kind of new to this. It's my first year."

"At Stan Lee High?"

"At a public school. I've been homeschooled my whole life. But my sister and I decided to try something new this year. I'm already beginning to think this was a bad idea. Obviously, I can't even read these private school maps!" I laughed at myself.

He smiled again. "That must be different. Can I walk you to your locker? To make sure you don't get lost." He winked at me as I chuckled.

"I haven't actually put anything in my locker yet. I guess I'll have to do that at some point." I glanced at my watch. "Oh! I should get to class; I'll get around to my locker later. And according to my chart, I have math next."

"Not me," he said. I was a bit disappointed; I had been hoping to talk some more with him. He was the first person I had really talked to so far. "I've got chemistry and it's the other direction. But I'll see you tomorrow, if not sooner."

I smiled. "All right. Also, I'm Alina, if you didn't catch that."

He nodded, beginning to slip away. "I'm Steve. Nice to meet you."

"You too." I waved my hand a little as he melted into the crowd of teenagers. So many teenagers... I had never seen this many together in my life. I had thought groups of homeschoolers were big, but they didn't come close to comparing to the amount of people I saw here.

Glancing at my map again, I quickly found my room and hurried away to make sure I wasn't late.

**********

Hours later, it was finally my favorite time of the day. Lunch time. I walked into the large cafeteria, which was absolutely teeming with teenagers, and looked around, trying to find my sister.

"Hey." Kameron popped up behind me. "I've got your lunch."

I turned around. "Hey! I was just looking for you."

"I know," she said smugly. "Where do you want to sit?" We both scanned the large room, searching for empty seats. "That looks like it has plenty of space." My sister pointed out a mainly empty table on the edge of the room. Only two guys sat at it, picking at their food.

I winkled my nose with an exaggerated frown. "But there are guys over there," I mocke whined. I really didn't mind boys, after all, I had four brothers, but I liked to pretend I was disgusted by them for reasons unknown to even me. I think I just liked to make fun of them.

Kameron rolled her hazel eyes at me, beginning to walk that way. She knew I was kidding. She had my lunch, so there was no way I was letting her out of my sight, trailing quickly behind her. We approached the table a little slower than our previous power walk, taking a moment to greet the guys and introduce ourselves. Their names were Bruce and Peter. Bruce had a round face that I always liked in my friends, I always think people with round faces are the friendliest. He also had wavy brown hair and wire glasses surrounding his nervous eyes. Peter looked young, with round blue eyes that weren't quite as nervous as Bruce's and brown hair.

"What year are you guys in?" I asked, opening my lunch bag. There was a peanut butter sandwich, potato chips, animal crackers, water, and a Sunny D juice inside, just like I had packed earlier today.

"Senior," said Bruce.

"Freshman," answered Peter.

I giggled. "We've got almost everyone. I'm a junior." I looked at my sister. "If only you were only a year younger than me, we would have a sophomore." We were almost exactly two and a half years apart. All of our siblings had somewhere between one and three years between them.

She frowned playfully at me. "Or Peter could have been a year older! Why does it have to be my fault!"

"Because you're my sister. I'm allowed to blame you." We both laughed.

"Oh, you're-you're sisters," said Peter, putting the pieces together. It's not like we introduce ourselves as sisters all the time. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, just depending on how introductions come out.

I flashed him a smile. "Yeah. Don't let her fool you, I'm older."

"Do... do people think she's older?"

I laid my hands on the table, raising my eyebrows. "All the time. She usually dresses better than I do and wears more makeup than me." At the moment, I was wearing a long, flowy jean skirt with a light pink button-up tucked into it. It felt sheer when touched, but had a silky fabric underneath that prevented it from being see-through. I wore a touch of makeup for the first day, light eyeliner, mascara, and a lip gloss that was disappearing as I ate. "Do you guys have any siblings?"

Peter shook his head. "No. My parents died when I was a kid."

My brows puckered together. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks, but it's, uh, it's fine." He leaned back, crossing his arms. "I've got my Aunt May. She's been taking care of me my whole life."

"That's cool," said Kameron, smiling at him.

"What about you, Bruce? Any siblings?" I cracked open my Sunny D as he answered.

"No. Just me."

I smiled a bit. "Wow. Lots of only children around here."

"How-how many siblings do you have exactly?" asked Peter, pulling one hand out of his arm to gesture towards me.

"Six, counting Kameron." I took a sip of my drink after shaking it. I liked the taste of the fake orange juice better when it was foamy.

Kameron jumped in. "Four brothers, two sisters."

Peter looked shocked. "For real? That's a lot of kids! How big is your house?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Six bedrooms, five bathrooms."

Peter's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Six bedrooms?" Even Bruce, who was quietly listening, seemed surprised.

"It fits all of us," I laughed.

We talked for the entire lunch time, getting to know each other. Peter was very excitable, he nearly fell off his chair when Kelsey and I said the same thing in unison. Bruce was a lot quieter, but I could always tell he was listening. They hung out sometimes because they both really enjoyed science and most other kids didn't really like talking about it.

As lunch finished, we all got up and walked to the trash cans together to deposit our leftovers. "Will I see you guys again tomorrow?" I directed the question towards Bruce. I tried to include him as much as I could in conversations.

He shrugged. "Not sure, we sit with Tony when he remembers to save space for us." He nodded over to the most populated table. "Sometimes he hangs with the football team and sometimes he sits with us and some other friends."

"Which one is Tony?" I inquired, searching the small sea of people.

"Brown hair, black AC/DC shirt," answered Kameron. I furrowed my brows in an exaggerated way as I glanced back at her. "He was in one of my classes. He's probably the most popular kid at school; super rich, super witty but also kind of super annoying."

I eyed the boy, who looked to be a junior or senior. I tried to lock his face in my memory, but I wasn't very confident in my facial recognition skills. I credit it to the fact that I didn't get glasses until I was fourteen, so I wasn't actually able to see anyone very well. I wore contacts now on a regular basis, after weeks of prompting by my mother.

"Does he play football?" I asked.

"No," said Peter. "He just hangs out with them."

"Hm," I hummed lightly. "Well, we should get moving. See you guys around!" I smiled at Peter and Bruce before walking off with Kameron. "What's your next class?"

She pulled a wrinkled paper out of her jean pocket and consulted the list. "Spanish."

My chocolate-brown eyes checked my own schedule, which was much neater than hers since I had folded it and gently put it away in my bag. "I've got science. How much time do we have?" I checked my phone without waiting for her answer. "About ten minutes. If I hurry, I can put some stuff in my locker and then I can find my classroom. This," I adjusted my extremely heavy satchel, "is not a lot of fun to carry." My shoulder ached if I left it on one two long, so I kept having to switch it around.

I checked my map to locate my locker and hustled over to it. After stuffing the books I had used in the first half of my day into the small space, I started over to our science classroom. I was maybe halfway there when a buzz came over the speakers, warning students to hurry. I power-walked the rest of the way, not really wanting to run, but afraid of being late. I introduced myself to the teacher and I was assigned a seat before the last bell went off.

I was sat at a table with a curly-haired blond girl who seemed to be very shy. She introduced herself as Rene after I prompted her, but then fell silent again. I was determined then and there to make her my friend. If we were going to spend a whole class next to each other, I was going to enjoy my table-buddy.

"All right, class, let's get started," the teacher called out. I smiled at Rene before paying close attention to my first school lesson in science.

**********

I approached a familiar subject after science, the one I hoped to do well in: English. Mr. Jameson looked a bit harsh with all his frown lines and stiff white hair, but I was determined not to let a teacher intimidate me from doing well in a subject. I loved reading and writing, so it seemed like this class would be right up my alley.

Just before the final bell rang, a very strange boy walked in. The most noticeable thing about him was his long, black hair. It was a little curly and went a touch past his shoulders. His face was distant, if not a bit aloof. His stride had a proud sort of dignity about it, like he owned building, no, the world. I tried not to stare at him as he was going by, but some people catch my attention in a way that makes me want to watch them more, even if I don't like their features. He sat at the desk one row back from mine, and one chair to the left. I tried to think of a fitting name that would go with the haughty, quiet boy, but nothing came to mind.

James? Jack? Kyle? Draven? Maybe Draven, but I don't know... Felix? Nothing seems quite right. Some people's names just fit them. Steve was perfect for the boy I had met earlier. It was straightforward and simple. Bruce somehow fit the quiet, dark-haired boy from lunch. Nothing seemed to fall in place for this guy though.

The class began with discussion. They were going to be reading through many of Charles Dickens' works, beginning with A Tale of Two Cities, which they were already on the eighteenth chapter. They discussed the last two chapters first. I had read A Tale of Two Cities at one point, but I remembered very little, so I stayed quiet.

"At one point, the doctor notes, "there was a time in my imprisonment, when my desire for revenge was unbearable." What does he mean?" Mr. Jameson waved down the hands that had shot into the air. "Let's have someone who hasn't answered say something. Anyone?" My stomach clenched nervously as I prayed he wouldn't call on me. "Loki?" I knew at once who the name belonged to and turned my head halfway to watch the black-haired boy from the corner of my eye.

Loki. It's perfect.

He sighed a little. "The way Lucie cared for him made the doctor unwilling to continue to chase his revenge." It wasn't a long answer, but so eloquently put that the teacher accepted it with a nod. Loki was the second person to have an accent that I had met today. Mr. Spector seemed a bit more English, but Loki was definitely British.

The class moved on to reading a chapter out loud, which I was not exempt from since I had already purchased the book and brought it along. My face flushed a little as I read my paragraph out loud. I had never figured out why I turned red when I had to read out loud. I wasn't that nervous. It was just a natural response I supposed.

Our homework was to read two more chapters of A Tale of Two Cities before class tomorrow. Mr. Jameson warned us about the essay we would have to write and present at the end of the book but didn't elaborate as that was still a short time away. I made a few notes in my black notebook to read up to chapter twenty-one of the book since I wanted to be prepared in case we read again, and to start thinking about my essay.

Essays were not my favorite thing to write, even if I enjoyed writing. I had done my fair share of essays while homeschooling and they were very dull to create, not at all like writing a story. Nevertheless, I determined that I would work hard on this paper and get at least an A since I was rarely an A+ student, no matter how hard I tried.

**********

It was finally 3:00. The end of my first day at school. I went to my locker first to determined which books I needed and which ones I could possibly leave behind. I required practically all of them. After I had collected my cache of books, I followed the flow of the teenagers around me to the huge front doors. I figured I would look for Kameron while I was on the front steps, and if I didn't find her, I would wait in the car.

I sat on the low wall at the top of the stairs, off to the side of the door. The vast amount of people coming from the school was terrifying. After a few minutes, there was no sign of my younger sister, so I began down the steps towards my car at the far end of the parking lot.

"Alina!" I heard someone bawl over the hubbub of the crowd. I stopped in the middle of my descent and turned around, earning myself a bump in the shoulder by several people. I edged to the side of the stairs, trying to get out of the way, while looking for my sister. She found me and skipped her way down to my level. "Hey!"

"Hi," I replied brightly, then smiled when I noticed the blond man from my first class was standing behind her. "Hey! Nice to see you again." What was his name?

"Hello," the nameless blond man said, returning my smile. "How was your first day?"

Dang it! I can't remember his name. I took a deep breath and released it heavily as people milled about me. "Interesting. School is a little different than I thought it would be, definitely a lot busier than I anticipated. You guys really do this until you're eighteen?"

The blond man laughed at my expression. "Yeah, pretty much."

I nodded at my sister. "How did you and Kameron meet?"

"We have a class togther," he said. "What about you two?"

I laughed. "We're sister. We met when she was born."

He looked back and forth between Kameron, who was at his side, and me, who was a step below them. "I... don't see the family resemblance," he admitted. Kameron and I exchanged a delighted glance. Neither of us had ever really seen how anyone could put us in the same family.

"You'll see it as you get to know us," I said with a shrug. "We have similar senses of humor, although mine is a lot more amplified. I laughed at everything. Other than that, we are very different people."

"I can already tell," he said with another smile. I looked around at the crowd still descending from the building and began to feel like turning into a hermit. I suggested getting to my car so we could go home and collapse on the couch, and the blond-haired guy offered to walk us to wherever I was parked. We accepted, chatting in a lively fashion with him on the small walk. He was easy to talk to, with a good listening ear as well as plenty of his own input. I liked that I could speak with him without having to uphold the entire conversation, or not be able to get a word in edgewise.

"Well, see you tomorrow!" He wrapped up our conversation when we arrived at my small, red Honda CRV.

Right. Tomorrow. 

There is the first chapter! This story well went on a different app a few years ago, I think it was the first story I've ever published, so I decided to give it a try on Wattpad! I've revised it, so it's nothing like the atrocity it was before, but I could also use more tips and constructive criticism! Don't forget to vote!

Stay happy!

~AJ.