I wake up at 6, my alarm blaring. I roll over and hit all the buttons before it finally turns off. I groan.
I get up and grab the outfit I had set out yesterday when I got home from the doctors.
I look in the mirror I put on my closet door so that I can look into it when I have the door open. The bright red, high neckline, t-shirt and black jeans looked great. Paired with my favorite flame painted Vans, the outfit was complete.
I grab my phone and take a couple selfies to send to Ash then grab my backpack and head to the living room. I check the time as I walk; 6:23.

Ash: nice outfit!!
Me: thanks!!
Ash: how's school?
Me: Its not even 6:30 yet, I'm not at school 😂
Ash: Oh Yeah

My phone vibrates as I get another message, this time from Zack.

Zack: What time does school start there?
Me: 7:40 😩😴
Zack: Oh, so it already started
Me: time zone
Zack: Oh ya
Me: 😂

Ash: well be sure to tell me how school goes!!
Me: I will ❤

"You ready yet?" My mother asks.
"Just gotta go to the bathroom and brush my hair and stuff," I say, setting my bag down on my chosen chair at the table before wandering towards the bathroom.

My mother looks me up and down when I reenter the kitchen, "my baby is going to be a Junior!"
She fake cries as she comes and hugs me tightly.
I laugh for a moment, "yep."
She smiles at me as she steps back, "and you'll be ok without the brace?" She glances to my knee.
"Doctor said I shouldn't be wearing it," I look at the ground.
I hid it in my bag so you wouldn't see me vulnerable.
Then came the bus, 7:02 am.
I rush to the bus stop, where Clyde was waiting.
"Hey," he winks.
I go red, "h- hey," I smile and wave.
"Sit with me?" Clyde asks as I approach.
"Sure-" I can feel that my cheeks are still flaring.
Once the bus pulls up to the bust stop, Clyde leads the way onto the bus and we sit in the very back.
"I'll show you around the school when we get there," Clyde smiles.
"Thanks," I nod, grateful for the offer.

About ten minutes later the bus stops and a group of girls get on. Everything about them screams trouble. Curled hair and long legs, they glance around the bus with a hint of arrogance.
"I see you've found Amber and company," Clyde nods towards the girls.
I nod, "and they are...?"
"Not friendly..." Clyde scoots closer to the window, letting out a sigh of relief as the girls sit in the middle of the bus, at the emergency exit, "we'll be at school soon."

"You ready?" Clyde places a hand on my shoulder and I shy away, "my bad, I-"
"No, no, it's just a me thing, I'm sorry," I blush, "c'mon, let's go in."
Clyde nods, "Let's go."
I nod and follow him.
"Welcome back!" A girl in a tiny cheerleader uniform greets us at the door and I step closer to Clyde.
"If you take out your schedule then I can show you around. We have 15 minutes," Clyde explains.
I nod and stay by his side as we go through the large, pale blue room that I assume is the commons, and into a winding hallway leading in several different directions.
"I'll need a map too," I laugh nervously.
"Definitely," Clyde laughs.
As we walk through the halls I notice the bright, hard worked on, welcome posters, probably posted by the schools ASB and leadership teams. Scattered between those are the inspirational ones and the club fliers.

We reach the office and my palms start to sweat.
"Hi!" My voice shakes as I go on, taking a deep breath, "I was wondering if I could get a map of the buildi-"
"last name?" The office lady asks.
Clyde glances to me.
"Flame," I say quietly.
"Flame?" The lady repeats.
I nod, "yes."
"Lana?" The lady looks to me.
"Yes," I nod again, glancing to Clyde.
"Here," she passes two papers out to me.
"Thank you," Clyde and I chorus.
The two of us turn and start walking. I look over the map as we go. The second paper was an additional copy of my schedule, though I had already pulled out the copy that had been mailed to my home.
"We're right-" Clyde reaches over and puts his finger on a spot, "here."
I nod, turning the map to what I assume to be the right way.
"Let's go in order then circle back in time for class," Clyde suggests.
"That sounds good."
"Chemistry is right over here," Clyde points to one of the grey doors, its small window not big enough to really look into the classroom from most angles, "this is the science hall."
I look back to the map, taking note of the classroom number.
"Over that way is the English hall," he points to the right, "Math hall to the left. There's electives scattered throughout and the history classes are in the English hall."
"Ok," I follow him as he leads me down the math hallway.
Just as we get close to the fourth class the bell rings.
"C'mon!" Clyde grabs my arm and pulls me towards our first class.
Though the pain in my knee grows I laugh and go with him, taking my arm back for myself.
"Slow down!" A man demands, standing at the doorway.
Clyde and I laugh and throw ourselves into the nearest seats.
"Clyde," the man turns to us and raises an eyebrow, "who's the young lady?"
"New student, just moved here, sir," Clyde says, looking at me.
"And your name is?" The man looks directly at me.
"Lana Flame," I smile, hopeful that this wouldn't be his impression of me for the rest of my time here.
"Well, Ms. Flame, I'm Mr. Sharp. I hope that this one will be a better influence on you in the future," he looks to Clyde before going back to the door.
Clyde and I exchanged a glance and nearly burst out laughing.
And then, the bell rings.

An hour long class felt so short for once. I knew of course that after today these classes wouldn't be so entertaining. I also wouldn't have Clyde to joke around with in all of my classes...
"Next up," Clyde sighs, "math."
I nod, just as the bell rings, "Let's go."
We grab our bags and start walking to our second class.
"Mr. Quip," Clyde says calmly as he walks into the classroom.
"Clyde," the teacher at the door responds.
"He's friends with my dad," Clyde whispers to me.
"Oh man," I laugh quietly.
"Small world," Clyde nods.
"Yeah? My aunt worked at my old school. My uncles friend, who I've known My whole life and is basically family, was a sub," I sat at a desk beside him.
"And I've been out done," Clyde nods slowly.
As the bell rings, the teacher comes around and gives us each a binder.
"And the nightmare begins," Clyde sighs.
I laugh again, getting a glare from the teacher.
'Sorry' I mouth to Clyde.
He shrugs.

"Thanks for walking me here," I smile and give a small wave to Clyde as he leaves me at my third period.
"No problem," he smiles back, "I'll meet you here after class so we can go to lunch. Maybe you can sit with me and some of my friends?"
"Sure!" I nod enthusiastically.
"I'll see you then," he waves and turns to go.
I pause at the door before entering the room marked as the strings room. It's own classroom, band to the right and choir to the right of that.
"Whoa..." I breathe as I walk into the classroom.
"Good morning!" A woman stands from a desk in the corner of the room, "you must be my new student!"
"Uh... yeah-" I look around the classroom.
"I'm Mrs. Roger!" She approaches me, arms open for a hug.
"I- uh-" I'm cut off by the embrace of a hug, "hi-?"
Once she finally let's go she escorts me to her desk.
She sits at her chair and grabs a pile of papers, "Will you be needing and instrument from the school or-?"
"I have my own. I've been playing since 4th grade... I'm in 11th grade now..." I cut her off.
"Ok! Find somewhere to sit," she smiles at me, setting the pile of papers down.
I turn to face the seats. The room reminded me of bleachers; there was an upper layer around the classroom and then two middle steps going down to the area where the teachers desk was. Lockers lined the back wall.
"Right..." I whisper and start heading to the second highest level.
I take the second chair in the level and set my bag beside me.
"You must be new here," a person with short black hair and a long black coat approaches me, sitting in the first chair in the row.
"Uh... yeah," I smile shyly, "my name is Lana, I just moved here."
"My name is Jax. They/them, by the way," they smile back at me.
"Nice to meet you, Jax," I'm interrupted by the bell.

Clyde meets me at the door to the strings room, just as promised, and we walk to the lunch line together. We both get food and head to a table to sit.
"Guys," Clyde looks around the table before we sit down, "this is my new neighbor, Lana."
"Hi-" I wave shyly from his side.
"I'm Tristan," a boy from the opposite side of the table stands and leans over to shake my hand.
I give him my hand awkwardly, "nice to meet you-"
"And this is Rider, Max, Parker, and his girlfriend Ashley," Clyde points to each of his friends.
"You can sit between me and Clyde," Rider smirks at me.
"Thanks," I nod and glance to Clyde.
Clyde nods and sits down beside Ashley.
Some other boys come over to the table and sit down, making it a group of 9 at this table. We were all very crowded.
I pull out my phone for a moment, glancing at the 15 unread messages.
"Hey newbie," one of the boys across the table nods to me as I look up, "you gonna drink that?" He points to my milk.
"Uh- no-" I slide it across the table and go back to my phone.
"Cool, thanks," he opens it up and starts chugging.
"What classes do you have?" Rider asks.
"I've got Chemistry, Pre-calc, Strings-" I pause trying to remember my next three classes.
"English, art, and History," Clyde finishes for me.
"Thanks," I whisper.
"Who are your English and History teachers?" Tristan asks.
"I have Opten-?" I pause, glancing at Clyde to be sure I was correct, "for English, and Smith-?" Another pause, "for History."
"Cool, we have both of those together," Tristan nods, "and we have Max in our English class."
"And me in History," Rider adds.
"Same here," Ashley smiles at me from around Clyde.
After a couple minutes of small talk, Clyde gets my attention.
"Hey, Lana," Clyde says, after chewing a bite of his burger.
"Hm?"
"The ring, what's it for?" He points to my left hand.
I glance to my hand, "huh-? Oh- uh- I got it the day my grandma..."
"Oh- I'm sorry," Clyde looks down at his tray.
I shake my head, "It's fine, you didn't know-"
"You must be the new girl!" Everyone at the table looks behind us as the group of girls from the bus approaches the table.
I scoot closer to Clyde.
"don't entertain her," Clyde gently turns my head back towards the table.
The lead girl takes the seat between me and Rider, sitting sideways on the bench, one leg on either side. Her tiny skirt wasn't compatible with the position but several of the boys at the table were grossly intrigued.
She flips her wavy blonde hair before she speaks, "You're pretty," she turns my head to face her, much rougher than Clyde had done.
"Leave her alone Amber," Clyde growls.
"I'm just talking," the girl makes a pouty face and I watch one of the girls behind her shuffling her feet.
I scoot closer to Clyde, we are now touching. He glances to me.
"What's your name?" Amber asks.
I look to Clyde, "My name-"
"Her name is Lana," Tristan says across the table, practically drooling in Amber's direction.
"You're sick, Tristan, Truly," Clyde sighs.
Amber smiles and glances back to her friends, "well Lan-"
"C'mon Lana, I never got the chance to show you to your last two classes," Clyde says.
I nod vigorously and stand up. Clyde grabs my bag and hands it to me.
"Thanks," I whisper.
"No problem," Clyde glares at Amber, "Lets go."