It was a beautiful Thursday morning in the streets of New York. It was the first day of school. Typically, that would cause thousands of students all over the city to groan, pleading for more days of summer vacation. But not for Snipeshooter. Surprisingly, for once, he was excited. It was his first year of sixth grade, and, the first day of middle school. It would be a fresh start, in a whole new place. Not to mention, he felt like he was more of an adult.

Mostly though, he was glad that he got to be in the same building as his friend Boots. Which was useful, because, he didn't have to be embarrassed by his mother taking him to school. He had a much cooler eighth grader as his escort.

Luckily Boots was on time that day. The intercom rang right at eight o'clock. He usually wasn't that reliable about being punctual, but he was smart enough to know what you can and can't get around. Unfortunately, as always, Snipeshooter wasn't ready yet. He was scrambling to scarf down his cheerios. His mother shook her head. "You need to learn to take care of yourself Danny." She passed him his lunchbox and backpack (annoyed, he didn't prepare it himself.) But she still possessed the typical motherly love, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Aw, Mom." He hated being treated like a kid.

"Have a good day, okay." She buzzed Boots upstairs, and unlocked the door so he could let himself in. He was there in less than a minute.

"Hello Mrs. Thompson!" She had reminded him her first name three times, but he could never manage to remember it.

"Hi Artie. Excited for your first day?"

"Um…No." In all fairness, most kids weren't. Even Snipeshooter would have appreciated a few days off. Then again, there was an extra long weekend to look forward to. "Snipeshooter, are you ready?"

He gulped down the last of his breakfast. "Yep!" He slung his bag over one shoulder, and started to head out.

"Wait, your lunchbox!" His mother called out. Snipeshooter turned around, and she tossed it to him.

"Thanks!"

"And are you sure you don't want me to walk with you?"

"Yes I'm sure."

"And I'm sorry I couldn't make you pancakes, I'll do it,"

"Mom, shut up." She wasn't too mad at that. She knew he didn't mean to be rude.

"Okay. Bye, love you!"

"Love you." And he was gone. Her little baby was growing up.

Once they were outside, and free of anyone that knew him (besides Boots, who could be trusted), Snipeshooter took the time to ask some questions. "So are the people here nice?"

"…Mostly."

"The students, or the teachers?"

"Um, both."

"Are the classes hard?"

"Depends on where they place you."

"Is it good? In general?"

"Um, I guess. You have to be more specific than that."

"Is the food good?"

"The food is the same all over the city. And why does that matter? You're mom packs you lunch."

Snipeshooter shrugged and laughed. "Don't know."

They stopped in front of the building. It had been a pretty short walk to get there, faster than Snipeshooter had expected. Boots looked behind him and pointed. "See that corner back there?" Snipeshooter nodded. "Meet me there right after you get out, okay."

"Okay."

"You got that?"

"Yes!" He was facing too many annoying people for one day.

"Just making sure." He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to Snipeshooter. And Mom would be mad- both Boots', and Snipeshooter's.

Finally, they headed inside the school.


Although Boots wasn't that excited, there was some appeal to being an upperclassman. He was curious to see if things would be better (or worse.) From what he heard, there wasn't that big of a difference, until the very end, when one realizes that their time there is over, but that wouldn't be a much of a problem, since, like a lot of people, he wanted to leave as fast as possible. And there was also slightly more homework.

But, being in eighth grade did mean that he finally had the opportunity to go to the lab. The other grades had to settle for doing experiments at their desks, and using the out of place teacher's sink as needed. Boots got nice, fancy stools, and bright fluorescent lights, and white tables that seemed clean, even though the room smelled gross.

The teacher opened with, "I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here on your first day." Everyone nodded. No one ever did a lab so early in the year. "Well I think that science needs to be taught actively, we have a double period, this place was open, and I thought we'd start the year off right. I don't care for icebreakers," the nuisance that takes up most of precious first-day-of-school time. "So, let's get started." He took out the attendance sheet. "I'll give you your lab groups for your first project. You will sit with them in the normal classroom as well." Which people were kind of annoyed about. They had always dreamed of a class without assigned seating, and there were rumors that a few teachers did that. "And then we'll go over some safety rules." He looked down at his list. "Artie, Ryan, George, and Michael, you're one group." Strange, Artie just happened to be put into the group with all of the cool kids. "You'll sit at Table One."

Once everyone was settled, the teacher began writing the safety information on the board. His words and fingers seemed purposely slow. And everyone thought that going to the lab would be fun. George groaned. "Can this be any more boring?"

"I would rather be outside," Artie grumbled under his breath.

"Doing what?"

Artie shrugged. "Soccer, I guess." He would occasionally hold games with his friends.

"You like soccer huh?" Michael piped up.

Boots said, "Yeah." He couldn't believe he was having an actual conservation with people as popular as them.

"That's cool. I like to play too."

The four had all of their classes together, and right as they left for lunch, George invited Boots to sit with them in the cafeteria.


At the end of the day, Snipeshooter waited for Boots at the designated spot. But he wasn't there. Snipeshooter wasn't concerned, but he was anxious. He just wanted to get home already. The all-day marathons of TV and video games had not prepared him for six hours of school. And he didn't feel like standing outside alone for too long, it made him feel self-conscious.

Finally, like a knight in shining armor, Boots appeared out of the crowd of students coming out. "Where were you?" Snipeshooter asked.

"I was just talking with some friends. I was actually going to play in the courtyard with them, if that's cool. You can go home on your own, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not supposed to."

"Then come with me."

"But I don't want to."

"Well…Uh…" He didn't want to hurt Snipeshooter, but at the same time, for once in his life, he finally had the chance to be popular and cool. And it wasn't like the movies where the hero or heroine doesn't like it, it actually seemed like a good idea. It was a game of soccer.

"Fine. I'll go with you."

"Thanks so much Snipeshooter. I owe you."

"Forget it." They headed towards the recess yard.

"I bet you could play with us."

"Really?" His eyes perked up. He didn't understand the social hierarchy yet, but hanging out with any older kids was great. That's one reason why he spent so much time with Boots. (But mostly because he was nice and friendly.)

They made it out onto the field (or rather, the tennis court without a net), where George and the others were waiting. "Hey, Snipeshooter here is going to play with us, is that cool?"

"Um…" Ryan didn't seem to be too happy about that. He said something to George and Michael, but Boots couldn't tell what they were saying. He didn't like that they were whispering, but he wasn't going to argue against it. That's not what you're supposed to do.

"He's a little small, isn't he?" Michael said.

George added on. "Besides, three on two, that doesn't seem fair." It was a valid point, but Boots knew the real reason they wouldn't let Snipeshooter in the game. He was just a kid. They didn't know him too well, and it was fair to say no because of that, but they couldn't even say what they really felt.

Boots wanted so badly to play with them. To be with the "in" crowd, because he never got that. He was always the loner, and he got to hang out with his older brother's friends sometimes, but it wasn't the same. He wanted to be with people his own age. To not have to feel lonely at lunch or jealous when he saw those groups of friends hanging out in class. As much as he told himself it was fine, he really did want that life. And he knew that, if he walked away, he would never get a second chance.

Still, he couldn't leave Snipeshooter. He knew that he shouldn't, but it was so tempting. He imagined telling the boy to just walk home on his own, and having a nice game of soccer. But then he thought about it some more. The way he looked up to George and Michael and Ryan, was the same way Snipeshooter looked up to him. And he couldn't let him down like that. And besides, Snipeshooter was his best friend. There was no question about it. "Then I guess you'll have to find someone else to play."

George nodded. "Okay then."

Boots and Snipeshooter headed off. "So did you enjoy your first day of middle school?" Boots asked.

"Yeah, I did. You know, we can just play our own game of soccer later." Snipeshooter understood what Boots did. And if Boots was willing to help him out, he would do the same.

It turned out that his life really was like a movie. It was even complete with a cheesy ending.

Author's Note: School in New York did actually start today (a Thursday), ha. I apologize if this has any mistakes, or if it's too cheesy. Thanks for reading! :)