"Greyson if you don't get up in one minute I will come in there and drag you out myself!" I yell through the door.

I listen through the door and am satisfied to hear my brother grumble something. In a minute, his door opens up and he is standing there with the worst case of bed head I have ever seen.

"We are leaving in fifteen minutes, get ready," I tell him.

"But it's only seven right now, we have time," he whines.

"No we don't. I have to pick up Allie today and you know she lives far away. Now get ready!" I yell.

I turn away from his door and head back to my room. I take a quick look in the mirror and fix my hair before grabbing my backpack.

I head downstairs to the kitchen and grab a granola bar and try to eat it quickly. Usually I eat more for breakfast, but I just did not have the time this morning.

After about five minutes, Greyson comes scrambling down the stairs with one shoe on and holding the other.

I grab another granola bar and hand it to him as we walk out the door, right on time.

"Why do we have to pick up Allie?" Greyson asks as he gets in the car.

"Her car is messed up or something, she didn't really give me the details," I explain.

I back out of our driveway and we are on our way to Allie's house. She lives about fifteen minutes away from me and it takes almost twenty five minutes to get to school from her house. If all goes well we should get to school right on time.

The drive to Allie's house is pretty quiet, which is pretty normal this early in the morning. My brother is a sophomore, so he's not too keen on starting a conversation with me early in the morning.

I get to Allie's house in good time and she quickly climbs into the car.

"Thanks for picking me up, I know you hate being late to school," Allie says.

"We are not going to be late," I grumble, "but tomorrow, Tony is picking you up. He lives closer to you than I do."

She nods her head and grabs a notebook out of her backpack. She quickly writes something in it and then shoves it back in her backpack.

"Did inspiration just strike or something?" I ask her.

She smiles and replies, "Of course."

Allie is a musician. She has been writing and playing songs for as long as I remember, which happens to be a long time. We have been friends since elementary school, and I don't see anything about that changing.

With three minutes before the bell, I pull into the parking lot. The three of us give quick goodbyes and run to our classes.

I get to my first class, which is Journalism, right as the bell rings. I take my seat and try to pay attention. I usually enjoy this class, but today I was just not in the mood.

That's kind of how I felt all morning and it didn't change until I got to lunch. Lunch is probably my favorite part of the school day, because I actually get to see my friends and of course, I get to eat.

I quickly grab my tray and head over to our table. Sabrina, Tony, and Allie are already there and apparently talking about something serious, judging by the expression on Sabrina's face.

"So what's the topic of discussion today?" I ask.

"I was just explaining to Tony here that Mulan is obviously the best Disney princess," Sabrina informs me.

"And I said that Rapunzel is the best," Tony counters.

"What about you Allie? Who do you think is the best?" Sabrina asks.

"Well, I personally think that Ariel is the best, but I think that both of you have very good choices," Allie replies.

"Alright, Nova. Let's hear it. Who do you think is the best?" Sabrina asks.

"Oh, definitely Mulan. I can't believe you guys are even discussing this," I answer.

"Thank you!" Sabrina exclaims as Jasper and Kayla sit down.

"What did we miss?" Jasper asks.

"Princesses," Tony mumbles.

Jasper just shrugs his shoulders and continues to eat his food.

The six of us have been best friends since the start of high school, some of us longer than that. I became friends with Allie and Tony while I was in elementary school. Then in middle school, we became friends with Sabrina and Jasper who both added a little more energy to the group. Kayla moved here at the start of our freshman year and she has been a part of the group since then.

Now that we are all seniors, we've been through some pretty crazy stuff together and I don't think any of us want to see anything between us change.

"Anyway, I have some news for you guys," Kayla informs.

We all sit quietly, waiting for her to continue.

"Oh. Well apparently Connor Sullivan transferred here," she explains.

"Connor Sullivan? Isn't he that star swimmer from Oakland? Why would he transfer here?" Jasper asks.

"I don't know, but look there he is," Kayla says nodding her head towards the other side of the lunch room.

We all turn our heads and look towards where she was gesturing. Sure enough, I see the blonde hair of Connor Sullivan. He's sitting at a lunch table with just one other guy who I recognize to be Adam Marshall.

"What does he think he's doing? Nobody from Oakland ever comes here and none of us go there. It's forbidden," Tony adds.

"I think forbidden is kind of a stretch, but it's definitely not normal," Kayla replies.

Yeah, definitely not normal. Our school, Eastwood, and the neighboring school, Oakland, have been rival schools since they were built. Whenever our schools have to go against each other in anything, it usually does not end well.

So having someone from the rival school transfer here in the middle of the first semester, is not something that people are going to trust.

"Does that mean I'm going to have to deal with him when the swim season starts?" Jasper whines.

"I'm afraid so," I say patting his shoulder.

The bell rings dismissing lunch and we all dump our trays and head to class. I now have my favorite class of the day, which is Creative Writing. You basically get to write anything you want and if you can explain why you wrote it, the teacher, Mr. Walsh, will give you an A.

I usually focus my writing on poetry because I think it's a great way to say a lot without using a lot of words.

I take my seat and pull out my notebook and start working on a poem I started. Just as the bell rings, Connor Sullivan walks into the classroom. He walks up to Mr. Walsh's desk and shakes his hand and introduces himself.

"Alright folks. I just want your attention for a moment and then you can go back to whatever you were doing," Mr. Walsh starts, "We have a new student here and he's going to briefly introduce himself."

"I'm uh, Connor Sullivan and I just transferred here from Oakland."

"Go back!" Someone yells from across the room, causing the rest of the class to start laughing.

"Now, I don't want to hear any of that in my classroom. This is a safe environment and if you jeopardize that, I will kick you out," Mr. Walsh explains.

Everyone in the class quiets down pretty quickly after that and start working on their pieces.

Connor quickly scans the room, looking for a place to sit and of course, his eyes land on the empty desk next to me.

Connor walks over and stands next to the empty desk next to me.

"Can I sit here?" He asks.

I just nod my head and then turn my attention back to my notebook.

He slowly sits down and then turns towards me.

"My name is Connor," He says.

"I know," I reply shortly.

"Do you mind telling me your name?" He asks me.

"It's Nova. Now I really need to work on my piece."

He nods his head and pulls out his own notebook from his backpack. I look over at him a couple times during class and each time I do he is just sitting in his desk, not writing a thing.

I guess he thinks he's too good to actually do his work, I can't say that I'm surprised. Something about him just seems off, maybe because he's from Oakland, or maybe it's because some of those times I looked over at him, his green eyes were looking back at me.

Whatever it was, I didn't trust him, and for once I was excited to get out of this class so that I didn't need to see him anymore.

****

Thank you for reading the first chapter of this book!

I can't wait for you guys to continue to read about Nova, Connor, and all of their friends.

Love you all!