Anwar picked up his phone and rushed into the building. He was already 30 minutes late, oops. He didn't pause to check out the nice paintings on the walls, or the bright neon signs that welcomed the student body back to school. He just made his way to the office to get a pass.

He walked up to who he presumed was the secretary. "Can I get a pass to class? And can you also check what class I'm supposed to be in and who my teacher is?" Anwar asked. He laughed and gave the secretary his signature smile.

She chuckled and handed him a pink pass. "What brings you in so late dear?"

"Well," he paused for a second and read her name tag, "Margot, I came from a trip to Canada only yesterday, so you could say I was a little unprepared."

She smiled and looked up from the computer. "Don't worry. Mr. Blake is your first-hour teacher and he's such a sweetheart. His classroom is down the hall and to the left. Good luck!"

Anwar waved and walked towards the classroom. The first day of school, no big deal. He didn't know any of these people because he didn't go to their middle school, no big deal. He was basically the new kid everyone would be talking about for weeks on end, no big deal. It wasn't like his first impression mattered or that these random people he didn't know would judge him based off of it for the next 4 years and possibly the rest of his life, yeah, no pressure.

Anwar took a breath and stepped into the classroom. How bad could this be anyway?

The teacher greeted him by the door. He was tall, a little porky, and had brown hair with blonde highlights. "Hey there, pass?" he said, holding his hand out.

"Passing this class!" There was a handful of laughs as Anwar handed the teacher his pink slip and patted him on the back.

The teacher let out a smile smile and raised an eyebrow."You know I was wondering where the class clown was. The circus must have finally let you join us."

Anwar laughed and took the assignment the teacher was offering. He actually seemed pretty chill.

"I'm Anwar,"

"And I'm Mr. Blake. You can have a seat right over there."

Anwar followed to where his finger was pointing and sat by a girl, who seemed to be the only other Muslim in the class. She was wearing a red head scarf and was a hunched over in her seat. He offered her a small smile and then immediately caught the eye of a brunette in the back.

He turned in his seat to wave back at her and when he looked back around the other girl's smile seemed to have gone astray.

"Class, can I have your attention." Mr. Blake called, "For the last ten minutes of class, we're going to go around the room and do a little roll call. Just so I can get to know you a little better. You can say something about yourself or pass. Whatever's ok with you. First up, our lovely Anwar Amir."

Anwar laughed and stood up to introduce himself. "Hi, my name's Anwar and my Fortnite @ is DarkVoyager123."

A couple of people snickered, but Anwar saw them pulling out their phones to add him. He sat back down with a satisfied smirk.

"Next up Hallie Dex," called Mr. Blake.

"Pass," said a girl sitting in the back. She had on a neutral face and her body was unresponsive.

Mr. Blake glanced up at her and moved on, "Yes, that's fine. Jace Henderson."

Jace stood up and the kid sitting next to him stood up as well. "I'm Jace."

"And I'm Asher."

"And we're the athletes." They sort of flexed the little to no muscle they had. Anwar couldn't help but laugh, but there was no denying that he wanted to be an 'athlete' as well. They were relatively the same height. Jace was a little more on the slim side and had brown hair, while Asher had black curls. They flexed again and Jace stood a little taller, giving off some alpha male vibes.

Mr. Blake motioned for them to sit down, "Betty Thomas."

A blonde girl stood up that was sitting behind Anwar, "I'm Betty. I used to go to Marton Middle School and Marton Elementary, and so has my entire family. It's sort of our legacy. My mom's the principal of the middle school and my dad's the vice principal of the elementary school. I volunteer there sometimes on weekends."

Mr. Blake nodded his head along to what she was saying, but Anwar kind of zoned out and just listened as Mr. Blake called the names.

"Kristen Williams."

"Ariella Griffith."

"Nason Ottis."

"Bob Harlen."

"Paisley Perry."

"Madison Zavier."

Anwar looked up as the girl who was waving at him earlier stood up.

"Hi, as most of you all know I'm Madison Zavier. And if you didn't, then now you know."

Anwar felt his cheeks heat up as she looked his way. He shot her a smile and gave her a little nod, like what's up. She smiled back and continued on, but Anwar was still stuck on that smile.

"And as always I will be running for student council. Voting will take place next week and if you vote for me I will advocate for you, for this class, for our grade, for our entire student body. I will get you the things that you want. Like more field trips, less homework, and better classes. Vote for me, and I will make your dreams a reality." Madison did a hand sweep of the room at the end of her speech and gracefully took a seat at the round of applause.

Anwar gave her a once over. She was a little cocky, but she knew how to get everyone's attention.

"Ok, next up is Nayla Abdullahi."

"Eww," said Madison from the back, "nobody wants to listen to that bitch talk."

"I'll pass," whispered Nayla, sinking into her chair trying to get out of sight.

"No, no, no." said Mr. Blake, pointing his finger at Madison.

The class looked from Nayla to Madison, to Mr. Blake. Anwar felt bad for Nayla but he couldn't contain his laughter. Madison's disgust was so spot on. What did she find so disgusting about Nayla anyway? She seemed pretty chill to Anwar.

"I won't have this type of bullying in my classroom." said Mr. Blake. He threw his clipboard on his desk and started pacing. "What you said was rude, and beyond disrespectful. I cannot even believe the amount of disrespect you just unleashed. And you're planning on joining student government? With that kind of attitude? Psshh. Who do you think you are?" He blew out some air and shook his head.

"I don't tolerate that kind of behavior in my classroom. You can get the hell out, or you can keep your mouth shut."

"Ohhhh," the class literally erupted in screams. Anwar saw Nayla smile out of the corner of his eye. Well damn, someone just got told off. And by the look on Madison's face, you could tell she wasn't used to it.

Mr. Blake took a breath and pushed his hair out of his face. His face was a little red and he looked winded. It wasn't a good look on him. He got his clipboard from his desk and pointed at Nayla, "Nayla, back to you. Tell us a little about yourself."

She hesitated and sat back up. "W-well I like to read. I'm currently r-reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bard-dugo." She stuttered a little, but Mr. Blake was nodding her along and side-glaring at Madison, almost daring her to say something.

Anwar sat back in his chair and laughed. Her stutter was cute, but Madison looked like she was about to make Nayla stumble on more than just words.

***

"Basketball tryouts are next week, but me and Asher are going to the gym later today. You should come." said Jace.

"Yah ok," Anwar said, giving him a nod. This making friends this is pretty easy Anwar thought to himself. It probably had to do with the fact that he radiated all kinds of dope vibes.

They took their food and sat at a table in the middle of the cafeteria. Anwar looked around wondering why the place was so big when there were literally around 400 students in the entire building.

Asher nudged Anwar with his elbow. "Look, there's about to be a girl fight."

Jace turned to look and saw Madison storming up to Nayla. "Yeah bro, Madison's been at Nayla's throat since the 6th grade."

Anwar looked over at the girls' table. Honestly, it didn't seem like a fair fight. Madison and her 2 side chicks vs Nayla, who didn't seem to have anyone on her side? Not cool. Hallie was sitting next to her, but he didn't think that she would do much.

"Why don't they like each other?" Anwar asked.

"Dunno," said Jace. He shrugged, "Girls are weird."

Anwar laughed, how did they have so much drama already? It was only the first day of school.