It was Monday, I had finally been home from the Hospital for a day to rest and begin to get ready for school. 

"You ready? You nervous?"

"I think I'm ready, I'm excited, overwhelmed, I don't know what I'm feeling!!"

"Don't worry, I'll help you get through this tommorow, GIRL POWERR!!!"

"Haha, totally Alexandra."

"That reminds me, let me print your schedule, hopefully we'll have some classes together, if not I'm sure we can change that" Alexandra winked and quickly left the room.

I began to pack my notebooks, pencils, and books into my bag. Wow.  I was getting so excited, I was finally going to be able to actually meet people! Different people! Make new friends! but then... just as I began to think about that, my conscience began to remember what John had told me at the hospital.

"Please. Be careful. I don't want you getting hurt again. Be aware of your surroundings, be careful with who you trust, hang out with, and always be on the lookout for Wendy...."

I just had to take precautions... how hard can could that be?

I began to look at myself in the mirror, 

"Was this a good outfit to wear?" 

"Did I look good enough?"

"Do I look pretty?"

The last question, was one I've never asked myself before until now.

I was unsure.

I grabbed my glasses from my vanity and put them on real slow. 

A new idenity? yes. 

I kinda liked it.

New idenity, same girl.

"Here's your schedule! Let's go before we miss the bus!!!"

I grabbed my bag, threw it against my back and headed downstairs where Dylan and Scott were talking and rambling about the project they forgot to do.

"Com'on boys lets go before we're LATE!!!" Alexandra hurried out the door

I ran after Alexandra, leaving Dylan and Scott behind. 

Hopping onto the bus was an interesting experience, 

I got looks and stares from some. 

Others didn't even notice. 

Did I blend in well? Was I just making myself stand out? Most likely.

Alexandra and I found a seat near the back of the bus, and saved some for Dylan and Scott as they were making their way in.

"How's the experience so far?"

"Um... I can't really tell actually"

" Haha, It'll get better"

----------------------------------

Finally we arrived at school at least 15 MORE STOPS LATER

Lakewood High. 

Interesting name. Different scenery.

I walked out of the bus and saw people walking inside together,

people kissed, held hands, joked, laughed. 

Is this what I've been missing all these years?

I walked in, the aroma smelled of new books, and desperation for education... okay mostly body odor, I'm just trying to make things seem a little pleasant here.

I saw groups of girls giggling, complimenting each other.

Alexandra interupted my thoughts, good thing she did before I brought myself down with my inner self conscience.

"Have your schedule?"

"Yup" I handed her the baby blue piece of paper, holding all the destinations I were to go to for the rest of the year

"Great! We all have Chemistry, Geometry, and English together!"

"Your first period is Art! I'll walk you down there"

"What? We can't join in either?" Dylan replied

"Yeah, trying to leave us out?" Scott said back

Alexandra rolled her eyes jokingly "I guess you guys could come"

"Haha sweet!" Dylan said

"You ready Caitlin?" Dylan asked

"If I can fight a fire, I bet I can make it through a school day"

"Yeah just don't faint at the end" Scott said

I couldn't help but sort of giggle at that joke about myself. 

"Haha yeah right!"

"Okay so we'll meet you in the main hallway okay? Then we'll all walk up to english class together, enjoy Art!" 

"Thanks Guys! See ya!" 

I walked in, 

it was a classroom of people, sitting at desks talking and chatting.

I walked towards to what appeared to be the teachers desk,

"Hello, I'm Caitlin your new student, I um-" 

Just then I heard a ringing from the celing

"Class in your seats!"

"What was that?"

"The bell"

"What bell?"

"Have you never heard of a bell before?" 

I didn't know how to answer that one " No I have, I just didn't have bell in my other school"

"oh, you see that desk over there by the girl with the pink shirt?"

"yes, mam'" 

"That will be where your new assigned seat is"

"Okay thank you"

Well that teacher was a little rude.

"Hi I'm Caitlin! Nice to meet you"  I threw my hand out for a handshake

The girl in the pink shirt didn't even look up from her phone, "Just um, give me a second I'm texting my boyfriend."

She immediatley looked up, "Hello!! I'm Megan, hopefully we can be besties!! You seem like a nice girl...  do you wear makeup?" 

"Um I um-"

"You know cause, I love makeup, it is just my favorite thing in the WORLD! Besides Micheal Kors  and such." 

"What's that?"

"OMG! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MICHEAL KORS IS?" Megan practically screamed.

"Please keep it down over there girls" the teacher shouted.

"Okay, I'm going to try really hard not to cry here, my mascara is way to expensive to cry over this, okay honey, Micheal Kors is a purse brand." 

"Oh, um- cool! Exciting!" I said trying to sound as interested as possible.

" I can't believe  you didn't know what that was! Do you know Chanel?"

"Is that a person?"

"Omg NO! You cannot make me cry today whatever your name is, You seem so helpless, like a lost puppy. You should come sit with me and my friends today, We could help keep you updated on the latest gossip and trends, cause it sorta seems your a little outdated here just so you make sure you are up to date on everything! Sitting with us can also make you popular like *snaps* that!"

"I actually got invited to sit with some people earlier, thank you for the offer." 

"Well you need to tell those other people that you'll be sitting with me today, okay? You need my help, ASAP! Right now your on the lowest of low popularity charts, you can instantly become popular by sitting with me, everyone will know your name by tommorow I guarantee it! Okay? We'll save you a seat"

"Okay!" I was kinda happy that someone was so eager to try to sit with me... but also a little scared. Did she always speak her mind like this?  Speaking like this could get someone in BIG trouble.

----------------

Finally 5th period, right before lunch... I WAS STARVING! I couldn't believe you can't just eat when you want, you actually have to WAIT for your designated time to eat.

I walked into class and saw Alexandra, Scott, and Dylan sitting in a corner of the room huddled together sitting at a cluster of desks, 

"Hey Caitlin! Over here we saved you a seat!" shouted Dylan

I walked over there excited to have another class with my friends, 

"How's school treating you?" Dylan asked

"Ok... I just can't believe we have to wait to eat! and then you can't go to the bathroom in some classes! What is this prison?"

everyone just gave off a little laugh

"Oh and by the way guys, this girl I met named Megan in class invited me to eat with her today at lunch, should I eat with  her?"

"Yeah go for it!" Alexandra said, " It's always good to grow the amount of friends you have"

"Just know the offer is always on the table for you to eat with us" Scott added.

"Always." Dylan said

"Thanks, hopefully I can make it through the rest of the day, I don't know about you guys but I'm TIRED!"

"Haha, now you know the paiiinnnnnn" Dylan said smirking

Just then the bell rang, English class began,

first a lecture, 

then classwork,

before I knew it, it was time for lunch already

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12:13 PM

I got into the cafeteria and immediatley found Megan and her group, 

how did I find her so easily in a cafeteria of over 200+ people?

Easy.

They all wore bright purple and pink colored shirts, 

trust me, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

I walked over and took a seat right by Megan

"Everyone! This is..."

"Caitlin" I said.

"Right Caitlin!"

"Caitlin just started school today and I want you all to update her on the latest and greatest!"

"So basically just act & talk like we always do?" said one girl smacking her gum

"YUP!"  shouted Megan

"Okay, Caitlin in order to get up in the ranks of popularity, you need to get contacts. Those glasses are not gonna cut it."

I had to think of something, quick! "Well I can't afford contacts at the moment"

"Oh, well then in the meantime lets just take off your glasses and-" she began to shove her hand near my face to take off my glasses, "WAIT- I sort of need these right now-" 

"Caitlin. If you want to be popular then you need to take those off"

"No thank you, I'll just keep them on, People should like me for who I am, not for what I look like or if I'm popular or not."

"Ew, okay, we'll let that slide. How about I take you to the mall? Find some new clothes that'll suit you a little better" 

What in the world? Megan was making me feel like I showed up to school in a clown suit!!!

"No thanks, I like how I look just fine"

"Aww.. I see the insecurity in your eyes... you really don't feel fine with how you look do you?"

This time I HAD to get across to Megan that I was comfortable in my own skin

"I appreciate the way I look very much."

"Doesn't seem like it"

Well that plan crashed and burned :| 

"Well lets move past this whole 'apperance' thing it doesn't seem to be getting through you very well... Let's talk people."

I sure wasn't ready to hear what other crap she had to talk from her mouth

"Everyone in this school has cliques, and trust me you don't want to get involved in any other one besides ours because, well ya know, what can I say, ours is by far the best. Let's see hmmm..." 

Megan began to point out innocent people in the cafeteria,

"Now over there are the kids who just can't get away from education, never take a break, always continue to study, then over there are the totally hot and gorgeous football/ wrestler players, I'm dating one right now actually, his name is Chase but besides that.. hehe.. we have the unpopular people which at least 75% of the people here-" 

She began to burst out laughing

"haha- so sorry, to continue we also have the freaks over there who-"

I lost it then and there, 

WHO GAVE HER PERMISSION TO EVEN TALK ABOUT PEOPLE BEHIND THEIR BACKS LIKE THAT? 

SHE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHO THEY WERE!

"Megan, I'm really sorry to burst your little bubble here but you don't even know half the people that go here, what gives you the right to just call them ugly names? You haven't even gotten a chance to meet them, they could be the coolest people on this planet and your over here calling them 'freaks', who knows maybe that girl you called weird in the hallway the other day is going to become a mega celebrity, or maybe that group of people you say study all the time, become the next group to discover the cure to cancer. You can't just do that to people, have some respect. I'd rather sit with any other person in this cafeteria besides you, at least I know they'll be nicer and more welcoming than you'll ever be."

I began to feel an ice rush flow through my hands, I took a deep breath and made an attempt to calm down. 

Suddenly I came to the sudden realization that I was starting to freeze my lunch tray, 

thankfully it wasn't too noticable,

I quickly put my hands in my lap.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find another lunch table to sit at, at least a better one"

I picked up my tray, and immediatley left.

Megan looked furious, like she had wanted to curse me, curse my life perhaps. 

Was I too harsh? 

Maybe.

But she sort of asked for it...

I looked around the cafeteria, and spotted Alexandra, Dylan, and Scott all sitting together in one cluster laughing and joking together. The team never seemed to have a dull moment together. 

I walked up to them and sat my tray down on the table and pretended as best as I could that everything was alright

"You okay Caitlin?" Dylan asked

"Haha yeah! What makes you say that?" 

"Your kinda sorta freezing your tray there-" 

I looked down and saw that already half my tray was complete ICE.

"Omygosh! Haha- whoops! I didn't see that, haha um... Yes! I'm completely fine just ready to go home" 

"That is basically girl- code for something major just happened and I'm completely trying to avoid any big explainations- come on girl, we're all friends here!" Alexandra said

ha, how did she know me so well already?

I began to explain to her everything that had happened between Megan and I and everything I told her.

Dylan's face immediatley looked disbelieved.

"Wow- I really have no words for that." Scott said 

"What!? Ugh! I can't believe it, why would she even say something like that to you? she's, ugh-" Dylan added

"Oh HECK NO! She does not treat a member of the team like that!!!! Do you want me to beat her up for you? I'd offer Scott to do it but boys aren't aloud to hit girls."

I chuckled at the thought

"Haha no- thanks for the offer though, I just hope the message really got across to her." 

Dylan continued to shake his head, and buried his face in his hands.

12:35

*DING* *DING*

We all grabbed our backpacks and joked about the situation on the way to class,  laughing hysterically in the hallways, making everyone around stare at us, but we didn't care.

2 more periods then I would be home free. 

Would school always be this chaotic? 

------------------------------------------------

*DING DING*

Ahhh, at last 7th period is over NOW I CAN GO HOMMMMEEEEE, SWEEET HOMMMEEEE.

How has everyone done this since kindergarten? Continuing the same old routine everyday for 9 months with only a 3 month resting period (not to bad for a vacation but Oh GEEZ)!!!

I waited outside of Alexandra's dance class for her to finally come out, 

"Hey girl!"

"Hey Alexandra!"

"You can call me Alexa if you want, I know my name is a mouthful"

"Okie doke!" I smiled

"So how was school?"

"Besides what happened at lunch today, everything else went pretty smoothly! How was your day?"

"Mine was great!  Just exhausting, I have so much homework! I'm praying right now for at least no  crimes tonight, that's the absolute LAST thing I need right now!"

"Omg! I totally forgot I have homework too!"

"Don't worry you'll get used to this school thing, good thing I reminded you!"

"Yeah good thing!"

"Mind helping me with some homework afterschool today?"

"Sure! I'd love to help, but I don't know if I'd be of good use.."

"Trust me, your smarter than you think." Alexa smiled.

I smiled back "Thanks"

---------------------------

3:36PM

Alexa and I had been working on geometry homework attempting to figure out the missing angle of the shape for the past hour debating whether it was 95* degrees or 105* degrees

5:20PM

For the past 2 HOURS Alexa and I spent some time studying for our US History test on Friday, studying was definitley not my definition of fun. 

"I'm hungry are you?" Alexandra said.

"Yeah, I've been so caught up in studying I forgot about eating" 

"Oh geez, don't let school consume you girl! Here lets go ask the boys what they want"

I realized school was actually beginning to consume me whether I liked it or not!

We ran out of my room together and went downstairs to find the boys playing games on the TV,

"Dylan, Scott- *COUGH* Homework?"

"Did that-" Dylan said

"COM'ON LETS GOOOOOOO! DYLAN HURRY THEY'RE GONNA COME AFTER US!"

"DON'T WORRY I GOT YOU BRO, WHOOOAAAA! NO NO! *BOOM* *BOOM*" 

"THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE-" 

"GUYS!" Alexandra interupted 

"ONE MORE SHOT AND... BULLSEYE!!"

"GUYS!!!!!!!!" 

Dylan and Scott took off their head pieces and paused the game, 

"Yes Alexa?" Scott said 

"What you guys want for dinner?"

"Hm...."

Dylan and Scott then looked at each other like they just came up with a brillant plan

"PIZZA!"

"GUYS! REALLY? Save that for another day, how about spaghetti? I can make my world famous-"

"OH YEAH DO THAT DO THAT!" Screamed Dylan and Scott

"You alright with spaghetti Caitlin? If you don't that's totally okay! We can just think of something else"

"WHAT? Are you kidding? I'd love to have some spaghetti!"

"Can I help you cook Alexa?" I added.

I wanted to help in anyway I could.

"Sure! You boys want to help?"

"But the game-and- the-" Scott stammered

" Com'on guys, lets spend some quality time together!" Alexandra said

"Yeah! It'll be a ton of fun! Food will be done faster...." I added.

"Deal! LET'S COOK!" said Dylan

We all grabbed all the necessary food and ingredients from the pantry and laid out all the pots and pans from the cabinet. 

Everyone began to start cooking

I cut bell peppers and mushrooms (to the best of my ability) for the pasta

Dylan and Scott made the meatballs

While Alexa worked on the stove with the pasta, everything was silent until a perfect idea popped into mind....

"How about to cheer up the mood we add a little something?"

I moved over to the little speakers that were on the kitchen counter, attached Alexa's phone to it and continued to play our playlist from our study session

Everyone's faces lit up, 

I began to start dancing, then Alexa, then Scott,

and then finally Dylan started lip syncing.

I pretended to play air- guitar

while Scott began to play air- drums

Alexa couldn't do too much because she was straining out the water from the pasta bowl, but began to move her hips from side to side and danced. 

We all laughed and enjoyed ourselves while the music continued to play. 

I imagined myself a rockstar, preforming with my band. 

I was right. 

Never a dull moment with this amazing group of people.

-------------------------------

After of an hour of dancing around the kitchen, pretending we were the hottest band of the century,

we all gathered plates,forks, knives, and napkins and placed them along the dining room table.

Once I finished putting the plates on the table I grabbed everyones drinks and placed them near the plates

After setting up the table, I sat down along with everyone else, 

I sat next to Alexandra, because I only felt more comfortable with her than anyone else in the group.

"Let's pray" Dylan said.

I remembered my dad was a christain, so were Catherine and I , he loved taking Catherine and I to church every sunday, if there weren't any crimes that day, It was kind of sad though, after all these years he went missing, I never made a single prayer to god, Why? 

Unfortunately I didn't have an answer. 

I bowed my head and grabbed Dylan's soft hands along with Alexandra's

"Dear god, thank you for this food that you have set upon us, thank you for blessing us with our health and friends, thank you lord for this day you have blessed us with... Amen."

"Amen." We all chanted

We began to eat, all admiring the beautiful work we did, 

"Alexandra- my goodness, this pasta- is AMAZING! How did you make it?" I said, continuing to savor each bite I put into my mouth, oh how much better it was than than the pasta they would make at the orphanage.

"Well, I have to give all the credit to my grandfather he lives in Italy and taught me last summer how to make his world famous pasta!" 

"He should come over sometime and cook dinner for us!" Scott said,

"Haha, Yeah! I should definitley give him a call sometime!" Alexa replied excitedly.

Suddenly like always, my conscience began thinking about tommorow, what would I do? 

my stomach began to do flips,

"I'm so not ready for school tommorow guys, what am I gonna do with Megan?!?" I asked frantically

"Easy, just-" Alexa said interupted by Dylan,

"Just ignore her, she's just a generally rude person, and if she says anything mean to you, you come and tell one of us to help fix it, or come talk to me, I'll make sure I can get the message across" 

Dylan began messing with his food angerly. 

"Dylan... is this because..?"

"Yes-Anybody done with their plates?"

"Dylan we just started eating...."

"Haha- Right!! I'm gonna go fetch some water...."

Dylan exited the room in a hurry

"What happened?" I asked Alexa.

"Last year he really liked Megan, but in my opinion he just liked her for her looks, she ended up liking him back and then they dated for a little bit until Megan really started to show who she was as a person, blah blah blah, Dylan got mad, anddd then they broke up and ended on bad terms with each other. He does not like her one bit, espically because she cheated on him with her other boyfriend Chase. Dylan's been embarrassed of being her girlfriend ever since, he hates talking about it. He told me he sometimes wishes, he could just go back in time and undo that."

"Oh my goodness. Wow-"

"I know right-"

Just then he walked back in drinking a big sip of water pretended like nothing ever happened.

Later we ended up just continuing to talk about the rest of our days and the homework we were given. 

Dylan sat there, continuing to stare at his food and mess with it.