I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock buzzing. I tried to push the snooze button, but I couldn't seem to find it. Finally, I realized I was going to have to get up and go. I pushed aside the covers, swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, almost falling over while doing so. I turned off the alarm.

Finally, I changed out of my pajamas. I looked into my closet to decide what to wear. It was still rather hot outside, even in September. However, I still wanted to look formal for my first day. I settled on a short sleeve collared shirt and a nice pair of jean shorts.

I walked downstairs, and the smell of bacon hit me like a truck. I could already tell that my dad was making breakfast; a quick look in the kitchen confirmed my assumptions.

"Morning, Ty!" my dad said cheerfully. "Ready for your first day of school?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied.

"Don't worry, you'll have a good time there!" my dad said enthusiastically. "Now, are you hungry?"

"Do you even need to ask?" I said, a smile forming on my face as I took a seat at the table. I was often hungry and I enjoyed eating food.

My dad dished out breakfast, which consisted of eggs, bacon and toast. I sat in silence, eating my breakfast and thinking about how the day would go.

When I was finished, I sat on the couch and watched some TV. At my old school, I would bike or walk to school, but in this place, I decided to take the bus because it was being offered and it was convenient.

"Say, Ty, what are you doing for lunch?" my dad asked. "You haven't packed a lunch."

"I'm going to try the cafeteria food," I replied. "If it's edible, I may consider eating it more than once." This got a laugh out of my dad.

Finally, I decided to head to the bus stop.

I grabbed my bag and walked out the door. I waved quickly to my dad and walked to the bus stop.

I took a quick look at the people at this bus stop. I noticed a guy with light blue hair talking to a girl, though it appeared he was flirting with her, and it clearly wasn't working, based on the dirty look she was giving him. I heard a cry of pain from him as soon as I turned away, presumably because of his efforts to flirt with her.

I also noticed a dark-haired guy who was staring coldly at the ground. He looked rather tough, so I didn't say anything.

Lastly, I noticed two more people; one was a blonde guy who was talking way too loud, the other one was a girl with glasses, a book and an annoyed look on her face.

It was right about then that a thought occurred to me; these freaks would probably be my classmates.

Finally, the bus showed up. We all rushed on, except for the dark-haired guy, who walked on casually, never taking his eyes off the ground.

I looked around for a seat and only noticed one available seat. Considering the only alternative was standing, I rushed to take it.

I looked to see who was next to me. It was at that moment that the guy next to me turned to look at me.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. "Are you new around here?"

"Yes... I am," I replied, taken aback. How did he know?

"I'm Chrom," the guy said.

"I'm Tyler, but please, call me Ty," I said.

I took a look at Chrom. The guy had blue hair, in a style that gave the impression that he didn't comb it. His style of clothing was similar to my dad's style; he wore a short sleeve polo shirt, but in blue and with some sort of brand on the pocket, accompanied by a brand new pair of jeans and a nice pair of black and white sneakers.

"Believe me, you're going to like it at Emblem High!" Chrom said enthusiastically, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Do we have any classes together?"

Oh, right! I forgot to check my schedule! I pulled it out of my bag and opened my schedule:

1. Math [Holland]

2. Band [Pheros]

3. Phys. Ed. [Mustafa]

Lunch

4. Cooking [Dalen]

5. English [Cervantes]

"Hmm, that's an interesting schedule!" Chrom stated.

"Really?" a voice said behind me. I turned around to look at where the voice came from.

I saw a girl leaning over the seat (how did I not notice that earlier?), listening to our conversation. Her eyes, which were a shade of brown slightly lighter than mine, were staring at us, almost unblinking. Her hair, a mahogany colour, was done up in a ponytail, which was now hanging over the seat. It was clear she was trying to appear awake, but her vacant stare said otherwise.

"Hi!" I said cheerfully. "What's your name?"

"Becca..." she replied, half-asleep.

"Nice name," I said.

"Need... coffee..." she moaned.

"Tired?" I asked. I got a groan in response.

The bus pulled up to the school. Almost everyone rushed out, except for the dark-haired guy, Becca and me. The dark-haired guy calmly walked in, staring at the ground; Becca walked slowly, suffering from sleep/caffeine deficit; I wanted to take a look at the school I would be going to for the next few years.

Boy, was it a grand school! From what I could see, there were three floors in this school, and there were plenty of kids to fill it. I finally decided to go inside to ensure I could drop my stuff off at my locker and make it to class on time.

I entered through a set of glass doors and entered the foyer. Students were running all over the place, socializing and getting to class.

I checked the schedule again to find which locker I needed to go to. It was somewhere on the third floor. Just great; I have to dash up and down multiple flights of stairs before I even get to gym class.

I also noticed the name of our principal, who was standing in the foyer, greeting the students. His name was Walhart. This guy was interesting; he was dressed in a red collared shirt and black slacks with a red bowler hat on his head. He was trying to give a warm, welcoming smile, but his gaze seemed to be ice-cold, and I'm pretty sure he knew it. I'm sure he meant well.

I rushed up the stairs, going two stairs at a time. I got to the top in record time. As I tried to slow my heart rate again, I located my locker and opened it. I began to put my stuff inside.

"Hey, Ty!" a voice said behind me. I was caught off guard and almost dropped my binder. I turned around quickly.

"Oh, Chrom!" I said. "You scared me there!"

"Sorry about that," Chrom said apologetically. "Anyways, it appears that my locker is right next to yours."

"Awesome!" I said enthusiastically. "Do you have the same classes as me?"

Chrom looked down at his schedule. "I have gym and cooking with you," he replied.

"You take cooking?" I asked, curious as to why he would want to take that course.

"Yeah!" Chrom replied. "Hey, I have to learn how to cook somehow, right?"

"Good point," I said.

The bell rang; I had 5 minutes to get to class. "See you later, Chrom!" I shouted as I dashed to class.

***

I rushed into class with a few minutes to spare. I flopped down into the first open seat I saw, which was somewhere in the middle of the classroom. I looked to my left and saw a girl with blonde ponytails and a bright yellow dress. She turned to look at me and smiled.

"Hi!" she said excitedly. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well so far," I replied.

"I'm Lissa!" she said. "Have you met my brother?"

"I might've," I replied. "Is his name Chrom, by any chance?"

"So you have met him!" Lissa exclaimed. "That's good!"

"Lissa, darling, must you talk so loud?" a voice said nearby.

I looked at who said that. She had tightly curled blonde hair and wore a pink dress similar to Lissa's. She was scowling at Lissa.

"Maribelle, class hasn't even started yet! Don't worry about it!" Lissa said to her. She turned to me. "This is Maribelle."

"Hey, Maribelle," I said casually.

Maribelle eased up a bit. "Who might you be?" she asked.

"Oh, right! I haven't even introduced myself yet!" I exclaimed. "I'm Ty. Pleased to meet you!"

The bell went off again, indicating one minute to class. The teacher, Holland, rushed in, nearly dropping his papers. He seemed rather normal, except for the pot on his head.

It was at this time that the rest of the students filed in. I looked to my right and saw Becca basically fall into her seat. She appeared ready to fall asleep.

Finally, the bell rung. I thought the class would begin, but everyone stood up. Suddenly, I remembered; they always stood for the national anthem, 'Long Live the Emblem'. I stood up quickly, taking in the grandness of the anthem; I could feel the pride of being part of the country.

Finally, the anthem ended and everyone sat down.

"Morning, everyone," Holland said.

"Good morning, Mr. Holland," the class droned.

"Well, let's begin the lesson, shall we?" Holland began. He started writing on the whiteboard, and we started copying down everything he wrote. We did this for a while. He occasionally asked us questions and we answered. Then he called on Becca.

"Becca, what is the answer to this question?" Holland asked.

Becca snorted, waking up from her nap. It was clear she didn't do the question. I decided to help.

"Becca, the answer is 173," I whispered.

"Umm... 173?" Becca said, trying to sound awake.

"Uh... Yeah..." Holland said, surprised that she got the answer. He went back to the board.

Becca leaned toward me. "Thanks, Ty," she said.

"No problem!" I replied.

The bell finally rung. Time for my next class.

I joined the mass of students exiting the class and headed off to my next class, band.

***

I walked into the music room for band class. The room was huge, with music posters all over the walls and seats arranged in rows. I made my way to the back of the room to get my instrument of choice, the tuba.

I found Chrom there, assembling a trombone.

"Hey, Chrom!" I said. "You play the trombone?"

"Oh, hey, Ty!" Chrom replied. "Yeah, I play the trombone. You play the tuba?"

"Indeed I do!" I said cheerily.

There was a loud crash behind Chrom. We both checked to see what the cause was. The source was a blonde guy in a muscle shirt. He had knocked over some percussion equipment while trying to get his trumpet.

Chrom facepalmed and sighed. He went over to the guy, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him over to me.

"What are you doing?" Chrom hissed at him.

"Just getting my trumpet!" the guy replied.

"Then how did you knock over the percussion equipment?" Chrom questioned.

"It was an accident!" the guy replied. "Don't worry, Teach is in control!"

"Teach..?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, yeah! Ty, this is Vaike," Chrom said.

"Great to meet you, Vaike," I said.

"Likewise!" Vaike replied, giving me a backslap and laughing heartily. I don't think he knows his own strength; I nearly fell over.

Finally, I found my seat and sat down, trying to ignore the pain in my back. We got right into playing.

It wasn't long before I noticed some of the guys from the last class; I noticed Lissa playing saxophone and Maribelle playing violin. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear anything over Vaike's trumpet playing; not only was he twice as loud as everyone else, he was also out of tune and not playing the correct notes. I swear I felt my ears bleed every time Vaike played.

"Vaike's music playing is terrible," someone said.

I looked to my side, where the voice came from. I was shocked; a euphonium player seemingly materialized in the chair next to me.

"GAH!" I shouted, trying to contain my shock. "When did you get here?"

"...I was here before everyone else," he said hesitantly.

"What? No way!" I said in disbelief.

"Trust me, you're not the first to not notice me," he said. "It's a common problem. By the way, my name's Kellam."

"Nice to meet you, Kellam," I said.

We turned back to our music and endured Vaike's playing. Mercifully, it ended minutes later and we rushed off.

***

I had to rush to my locker to grab my gym clothes. Why I didn't take them in the first place is anyone's guess. Even though I wasn't much for gym class, I still had to show up.

I slammed my locker shut, threw on the lock and flew down the stairs to the gym.

I must say, the gym was rather nice, with a set of bleachers and pendants of past championships hanging on the walls. There was no time to admire it, however; I had to get changed. I rushed into the change rooms.

Inside, it was chaos. The guys were all yelling at each other about one thing or another. I rushed to find a spot so I could change and get out of there. Luckily, I did just that. I found a decent spot and threw on my gym clothes, consisting of a grey shirt and red and black shorts.

As I turned to leave, I noticed Chrom. This time, though, he was being guarded (probably from nothing) by a guy with messy brown hair and a steely gaze. I approached Chrom.

"Hey, Chrom!" I said.

Chrom turned around. "Hey, Ty!" he replied.

Suddenly, his 'guard' interjected. "Milord, you shouldn't just talk to any stranger that approaches you!" he said, looking upset. "They could potentially kill you!"

"First of all, stop calling me 'milord'. My name is Chrom." Chrom told the guy. "Second, there's no need to be paranoid; I've already met Ty before, and he's a nice guy!" Chrom turned to me. "Oh, yeah. Ty, this is Frederick. For some reason, he feels the need to guard me wherever I go."

"I have to keep him safe," Frederick said in a serious tone.

"I see," I replied, unsure of what else to say.

"What are we waiting for?" Chrom said. "Let's go!"

We left the change room and entered back into the gym. The gym teacher ran in and called us to the center mere moments later. "Welcome to gym class, everyone!" he said energetically.

"Hi, Mustafa," the class droned almost robotically.

"We're going to have a great year. I can feel it!" Mustafa said enthusiastically.

Mustafa continued talking about gym. I eventually tuned him out; he was a nice guy, but I didn't really like gym. I looked to the side and saw the guy from the bus stop; his dark eyes were still focused on the ground. His gaze shifted to the side; he noticed me staring.

"...Yes?" he said in a low, serious voice.

"It's nice to meet you," I said, whispering. "I noticed you at the bus stop earlier. The name's Ty. What's yours?"

"...I'm Lon'qu," he replied. "I am always in deep thought. That's why I didn't notice you at the bus stop."

"I see. I often get lost in thought, too," I said.

A whistle blew, snapping us out of our conversation.

"All right, class!" Mustafa boomed. "Before we start with the game today, we need to warm up. Who wants to lead the warm-up today?"

"I'll do it," Frederick said. He walked up to the front.

"Excellent!" the teacher boomed. "What should we begin with?

"Let's do some burpees," Frederick said.

Ugh... I thought. This sucks.

The class apparently shared my distaste, as there were audible groans throughout. Reluctantly, we got started.

The process of jumping from a plank position for the burpee was absolute torture, especially because I was unathletic.

Unfortunately, it didn't end there. Push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks; we did them all, and in large quantities.

By the end of the supposed 'warm-up', I felt as though I was going to die. Sadly, that wasn't even the main event.

"OK, class! The warm-up is over!" Mustafa boomed. "Now we'll get into the game! We're going to play dodgeball!"

Somebody shoot me, I thought. Why do we have to play dodgeball? Ugh...

We were separated into teams and sent to our sides. The balls were thrown to each side and the game began. Due to the extensive and gruelling warm-up, my arms and legs were stiff as boards, so you can imagine how hard it was to play dodgeball, a sport that requires quick movement.

Of course, I got hit. Unfortunately, it was in the face. Thankfully, my glasses survived without a scratch. I walked over to the bench.

The game ended rather quickly. A few more rounds followed afterwards, all just as quickly.

When the last game was over, I essentially waddled over to the change room, as the stiffness was still there and I could barely walk. I changed as quickly as possible so I could get out of there.

***

Finally, lunch had arrived. I threw my stuff in my locker and rushed to the cafeteria. I got in line and looked over the menu. The food actually looked really good; I chose a slice of pepperoni pizza.

Becca was in line behind me. She dug around in her pocket. Suddenly, a look of panic crossed over her face; my guess was that she forgot money for a meal. Just then, a guy with serious bedhead walked up to her. He started talking to her, though I couldn't quite make it out due to the rather loud din of the other students. Clearly, though, she was comforted by his words. He also gave her some of the roll he was eating. After she took the piece, she seemed to stare at his face for a moment, losing all awareness of her surroundings. She snapped out of it quickly and walked over to a table. Hmm...

I finally got to the front of the line. I ordered the pizza with a can of Pepsi and fries. I grabbed the tray and looked for a table. I noticed a table with Chrom and the others I had met sitting at it, and there happened to be an open seat. Oddly convenient, I must say.

I placed my food on the table and plunked down onto the chair. Chrom looked over at me from across the table and smiled. "Glad to see you found our table!" he said. "I'm sure you've met most of the people here, right?"

I looked around the table. I saw Lissa next to Chrom and Maribelle next to Lissa. Vaike was on Chrom's other side, with Becca to my right and the bedhead guy between Becca and Vaike. I thought there was an empty chair to my left, but on second glance, I noticed Kellam in the seat. There were two others in the seats between Kellam and Lissa that I didn't recognize. One appeared to be short and wore a large cowboy hat and tan vest, while the other had long red hair and a red jacket over a white dress. I turned to them. "I don't believe I've met you two before," I said. "Nice to meet you! I'm Ty."

"Oh, hey!" the cowboy hat guy said. "My name's Ricken. I'm guessing you're new around here?"

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Chrom told all of us," the redhead replied. "I'm Cordelia, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you, too," I stated. "Say, there's one more I don't know yet." I turned to the bedhead guy. "What's your name?"

"The name's Shahl," he replied. "I heard about you from Chrom."

"I see," I said. I turned to Chrom again. "Is this everyone, Chrom?" I asked.

"I don't think so," Chrom replied. "There's one more. Her name is Sumia. Where is she?"

I heard someone fall behind me. I got up to help. A girl with light hair had fallen face-first into her food. She started to get up. I offered my hand; she took it and I helped her to her feet. "That sounded like quite a tumble," I said. "Are you OK?"

"I'll be fine," she said. "This happens all the time. I'm Sumia."

"You are?" I said. "Well, it's nice to meet you! I'm Ty."

"Ty? That's a nice name," Sumia said. She looked back at her lunch, now mostly splattered on the floor. The only salvageable part of it was the milk carton. I picked it up and gave it to her. "I'll clean up the mess. In the meantime, help yourself to some of my fries. I'd buy something for you, but I don't have any more money."

"Oh, thank you!" Sumia said. "I wish I wasn't so clumsy..." She pulled up a seat between mine and Kellam's. I quickly cleaned up the mess and returned to my seat.

"So, how have you been doing in your classes?" Becca asked me. "I just really want to know for some reason."

"Classes have been OK, but gym was an absolute nightmare," I replied. "Why does Frederick like to put us through the gauntlet before we even get to the main event?"

"My guess is that Frederick is some sort of fitness buff," Becca replied. "He could also be some type of drill sergeant, based on his manner."

"That could be," I said. I looked at my food, which I hadn't touched yet. "I'd better start eating. I don't want my food to get cold." I finished my pizza rather quickly. Sumia had eaten most of my fries, so there weren't many left. I didn't mind, though; I ate the rest of my fries. Finally, I opened my can of Pepsi and took a swig. It was rather refreshing. I drank the rest slowly and savoured the refreshing feeling. I tossed my garbage out and went to my locker to get my stuff. I grabbed my binder and books. The bell rang as soon as I closed my locker. I rushed off to my next class, which was cooking. Hopefully, this would finish dulling the pain from gym.

***

I arrived at the cooking lab before most of the others and took a seat. Not long after, three others walked in. I recognized Maribelle and Becca, but the last one was a mystery to me. She had short red hair and wore a simple red shirt and jeans. She also didn't seem too happy about being in this class.

"This is a bunch of crap!" she exclaimed. "I didn't even want to be in this class! My d**n parents signed me up in this course! What were they thinking?"

"Sully! Must you use such vulgar language?" Maribelle said sternly. "At least try to enjoy this class!" Suddenly, she noticed me. "Oh! Hello, Ty," she said. "You're taking this course, too?"

"Hey, I have to learn how to cook at some point," I replied. "Same for you?"

"No," Maribelle replied. "I already know how to cook. I just really enjoy it and want to try cooking with others."

"Well, perhaps we'll be in a group together," I suggested.

The three took a seat at my table as the teacher walked in.

"Good day, students," he said. "My name is Dalton. I'll be your cooking teacher for the semester. Today, we'll make something simple: blueberry muffins. The recipe is here at the front, as well as your groups. You may begin."

I walked to the front and grabbed a recipe before checking the groups. Maribelle and Becca were both in my group, as well as someone named Libra. I grabbed an apron and walked to the kitchen.

There was already someone there when I got there. I guessed that it was likely Libra. Libra had long blonde hair and wore beige clothes. I couldn't tell if Libra was a guy or a girl.

"Good day," I said to Libra. "I'm Ty."

"Good day to you, too. I'm Libra," Libra replied. "I hope we can become good friends."

"So do I," I said. "By the way, this may sound strange, but I have to ask... Are you a guy or a girl?"

"I'm a guy," Libra replied with a smile. "I'm actually glad you asked that. I've been mistaken for a woman far more often than I'd like to recall."

"I can see how that's possible," I said. "Say, how do you like this school?"

"I like it very much," Libra replied. "My parents want me to join the priesthood, but I told them I wanted to get an education beforehand."

Becca and Maribelle arrived at our kitchen. Our lab work began.

I grabbed the measuring tools and got the ingredients with Libra. Once we got the ingredients, we got to work. I mixed the wet ingredients while Becca mixed the dry ingredients. Maribelle preheated the oven and got out the muffin tin. By the time she put the muffin liners in, I had finished combining the wet and dry ingredients. Maribelle placed the batter in the liners and placed it in the oven. I walked over to her.

"I hope you don't mind that we did most of the cooking," I said to Maribelle.

"Oh, it's not a problem at all," Maribelle said. "I quite enjoyed watching you folks cook."

"Well, it's better than watching Sully over there," I said, gesturing towards the kitchen that Sully was in. Sully's kitchen was a mess and she was refusing help.

"Ah, I hate this d**n course!" Sully shouted. "Why is this so hard?"

"Do you want help?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine!" she replied. "I can do this!"

Our muffins finished not too long after. They turned out perfectly and tasted delicious. We went over to Sully's kitchen. Her muffins were black, with some specks of white from the extinguisher foam that was required to put out the fire that started in the oven.

"Aw, these turned out horrible!" Sully exclaimed.

"No, they look good!" I said.

"Really?" Sully asked.

"Yeah, and I'll prove it!" I said. I grabbed a muffin and took a bite. The taste could only be described as what it would be like if I ingested the contents of an ashtray. It took all my effort to not gag. I did my best to smile. I gave a thumbs-up.

Suddenly, my other group members each grabbed one and took a bite. I could tell they were thinking the same things I was because their response was the same.

We all suddenly burst out laughing at just how awkward this situation was.

"That was funny!" Sully said.

"Yeah, I guess it was!" I said. "I'm Ty, and your cooking is terrible!"

"Don't I know it!" Sully said. We had another good laugh before the bell rang again and we went to our last class.

***

I arrived at my final class, English. I considered myself fairly proficient at the English language, but it couldn't hurt to see what this guy could teach me. I walked in to the class.

I noticed a seat in the back and grabbed it. I put my binder on my desk and my dictionary under my seat. I looked around to see who was with me in this class. Becca was to my left and a guy with orange hair was to my right. I tapped him on the shoulder and got his attention. He had a sucker in his mouth and a black headband, as well as sharp, green eyes; his hair and eyes were a sharp contrast to the rest of his clothes, consisting of a grey hoodie and black jeans. "Yeah?" he asked.

"I'm Ty. Nice to meet you," I said.

"The name's Gaius," he replied. "You got any candy?"

I dug around in my pockets. "I don't think I have anything," I said.

"That's unfortunate," Gaius said. "I always carry candy around with me, but I'm starting to run low. Look!" He unzipped his hoodie and showed me the inside of it.

I couldn't believe what I saw. This guy has at least 30 pieces of candy in his hoodie, and he says he's running low!? How does he not have diabetes by now!? I thought to myself. He must be on a permanent sugar high! "I see," I said, trying not to show how crazy I thought this guy was.

The teacher walked in at that moment. This dude was short; he couldn't have been more than five feet tall. One thing about him that wasn't short was his moustache. I was surprised that thing didn't have a soul of its own! I also noted that it never moved even when he did. The guy probably used an entire bottle of gel to get it that way!

"Welcome, all," he said. "My name is Cervantes, and I'll be teaching you English for the semester." He turned to the whiteboard. "Today, we'll be studying adjectives," he said as he wrote 'Adjectives' on the board. "Let me give you some examples using my moustache," he said.

Wait, what? I thought.

"Some adjectives that could be used to describe my moustache: fantastic, manly, large, shiny..." he went on.

I had no words. I looked over at Becca, who looked just as confused as I probably did.

"Now, your first assignment is to write a list of 15 adjectives to describe my moustache," Cervantes said.

"Sir, this assignment doesn't make any sense!" Becca said suddenly.

Everybody turned to her and gasped. It was as though all the air had been sucked out of the room. Cervantes just stood there silently for a minute. Finally, he spoke. "What did you say?" he asked.

"With all due respect, sir, this assignment is completely outrageous!" Becca continued. "What sense does it make to describe your moustache? Besides, you seem to be doing a good job of it on your own!"

The entire class seemed to freeze in place. Nobody could believe what they had just heard. I could see Cervantes turning red. Then, all of a sudden, he returned to normal. "Well, just get the assignment done," he said. "I'll give you the rest of the class to complete this assignment." He walked to his desk and sat down to finish his paperwork.

Becca sat down to begin work. I leaned over to her and whispered, "That was awesome!" I offered my hand for a high-five.

She high-fived me and said, "Thanks! I can't believe I actually did that!"

"I know!" I said. "Any ways, we'd best get to work."

I wrote out my list quickly and spent the rest of the class staring at the ceiling. The last bell rang; I was free.

***

I put my stuff in my locker and grabbed my bag. Suddenly, Chrom approached me. "Hey, Ty," he said. "Everything going good?"

"I'd say so," I replied. "How about you?"

"Everything went well," Chrom stated. "We're all going out to celebrate the first day of school. Do you want to join us?"

"Sure!" I replied. "Should I bring money?"

"Nah, don't worry!" Chrom said assuringly. "This time, I'll pay for everything. We take turns paying."

"By 'we', you mean the other folks I saw at the table at lunch, right?" I asked.

"The very same," Chrom said.

"Sweet! Let's go!" I said excitedly.

We left the school, Chrom leading the way.

***

We arrived at the destination. I took a look at the sign. "Tim Hortons?" I asked.

"Yup!" he replied. "We always go here for casual gatherings."

"Looks pretty nice," I said. "I really like their style."

"So do I," Chrom said. "The others should be here already. Shall we enter?"

"Yes, we shall," I replied with a chuckle.

As soon as we entered, Lissa approached Chrom. "Where have you BEEN?" she asked. "We've been waiting forever!"

"Oh, come on, Lissa!" Vaike said from the table. "We've only been here, like, five minutes!"

"All right already!" Chrom said. "Vaike, do you have everybody's order?"

"Sure do!" Vaike replied. He handed Chrom a piece of paper with rather sloppy writing.

"Thanks, Vaike," Chrom said. He turned to me. "What would you like?"

"I'll have a Boston crème donut and chocolate milk," I replied.

"No coffee?" Chrom asked.

"No. I hate coffee," I told Chrom.

"No worries! I don't really like coffee, either," Chrom said with a chuckle.

"Want me to help you with the order?" I asked.

"Sure!" Chrom said, clearly grateful for the help.

Chrom went to the counter and ordered the food. Within ten minutes, all the food was ready. I grabbed a few cups and plates and walked to the tables we were at. Chrom gave everybody their food and took a seat.

I took a bite of my donut. It was one of the greatest things I'd ever tasted! So warm, so fresh... Ah... A swig of chocolate milk really complimented the donut.

I looked over where Chrom was. When I did, I noticed that Cordlia was staring at him, but not saying anything. I found it odd at first. Why are you staring at him? I thought. It hit me a couple seconds later. Oh, she must have some sort of affection for him. I wonder...

Everybody got up right after I thought that. I got up along with them and approached Cordelia. "Hey, Cordelia, could I talk to you for a minute?" I asked.

"Sure!" she replied. I led her over to a different area not too far from the rest of the group. I lowered my voice. "I noticed you staring at Chrom," I said.

Cordelia's face turned red. "Y-you noticed that?" she said nervously.

"Yeah," I said. "You have some affection for Chrom, don't you?"

Her face was now as red as her hair. "I-I..." she stammered.

"I'll take that as a yes," I said. "Hmm... How would you feel if I tried to set you two up on a date one of these days?"

Her expression brightened. "You'd do that? F-for me?" she asked.

"Of course!" I said.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, grinning from ear to ear. We rejoined the rest of the group before we all went our separate ways.

***

I finally arrived home at about quarter to five. My dad greeted me at the door. "Welcome back!" he said joyfully. "How was school?"

"It was fantastic!" I replied.

"That's good to hear!" he said. "Dinner will be ready soon." He walked back into the kitchen.

I flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV. I watched a show in Spanish just for kicks. I laughed at it, even though I had no idea what they were saying.

Later, I had a meal of Kraft Dinner and hot dogs. We watched a movie afterwards. Once it was over, I went upstairs to get ready for bed.

I got ready quickly and fell into the coziness of my bed. I thought about everything I had done that day. I couldn't believe how many new friends I had made that day. I also couldn't wait to see what tomorrow had in store for me. Finally, I drifted off to sleep, thinking happy thoughts and filled with anticipation.

A/N: Hello, my wonderful followers! It's been a while since my last update, hasn't it? My apologies for taking so long. I hope you enjoy this chapter! This is easily the longest chapter I've ever written; it's nearly 6000 words! I have no idea how I managed that. Anyways, vote if you liked this chapter and comment; I want to hear your feedback! Thanks for reading!

Nintyler