Chapter One: The Beginning

"We're finally at the top!" Karkat exclaimed as he walked next to John towards Nicholas Cage Lower Elementary School. "Think about it, we finally get to boss around everyone and they all look up to us!"

"Yeah, that is pretty cool," John agreed. "But we basically we at the top last year because the third graders had lunch with the second graders and they basically listened to everything we said."

"And we basically listened to everything the fourth graders said during second recess last year too," Karkat reminded John. "If they wanted the swing we were sitting on, we got off. If they wanted the good soccer ball, we gave it to them. But now, the third graders will do what we say! We'll be treated with the respect we deserve."

"You sound drunk with power," John informed Karkat as school came in sight.

"What does that mean?" Karkat asked.

"I dunno. I heard it on TV," John shrugged as they joined their friends lining up outside the door, behind the sign that had their teachers name on it.

"Hey Dave, Rose," Karkat greeted the Strider-Lalonde twins.

"Hey," Dave turned towards his bros. Rose was talking to Kanaya and Jade.

"Oh, hi Karkat!" Jade turned around to say hello to Karkat.

"What am I? Rotten meat?" John asked his cousin.

"No, it just that I hadn't seen Karkat since July," Jade retorted.

"Hello Karkat," Kanaya said hello to her cousin.

"Hey Kanaya," Karkat replied. "I can't believe we're in fourth grade. And in the same class."

"Yeah, it seemed like just yesterday I was in first grade chasing Kankri around the back playground singing that one Spongebob song about striped sweaters," Dave agreed.

"Man, Kankri was traumatized by that," Karkat laughed. "Now he refuses to wear stripped sweaters."

"Or also in first grade when I joined the girl scout troop at their meeting and we chased Feferi's older sister, Meenah, around and called her a chicken," Dave laughed.

"Now that was an interesting memory," Rose agreed. "I'm pretty sure Meenah still holds a grudge against us for that."

"So who else in our class?" Karkat asked looking around the line. It was hard to tell though because everyone at the front of the line was mixing with the people in the line on the other side.

"Hey Karkat!" Terezi declared as she snuck up behind Karkat and jumped on his back. Karkat quickly collapsed on the ground because he was a small guy and did not have the muscles to hold Terezi up.

"Geoffme!" Karkat managed to get out as he tried to push himself off the ground.

"I see you still haven't grown at all Karkat," Vriska commented standing behind Terezi and looking over on the squashed fourth grader. Terezi quickly got off of Karkat and helped him up.

"Sorry Karkat! I just haven't seen you since last year!" Terezi apologized to the small kid.

"So how was Europe?" Dave asked before Terezi jumped on him in a hug.

"Dave! I haven't seen you either!" Terezi said before hopping off of the coolkid. "And it was awesome! I got to go to London, Paris, Berlin, Athens, Rome, and tons of other places! Where did you go?"

"Disney World and Universal Studios," Dave replied. "You should have seen it. When Rose met Belle from Beauty and the Beast, she started asking her about her Stockholm Syndrome."

"I didn't get any good answers," Rose grumbled.

"And after I went on the Rock n' Roller Coaster I threw up!" Dave shouted ecstatically. "Disney World is awesome!"

"I liked Universal Studios better," Rose inserted her opinion into the conversation.

"That's only because they have the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and that all wizard-y," Dave explained wiggling his fingers in the air for emphasis. "But yeah, the Spiderman Ride at Universal studios was the coolest!"

"The Harry Potter one is better," Rose argued.

"Again, wizards," Dave explained. "But I also threw up after I went on the Fireball and it was awesome! But I liked the rides at Disney better."

"Universal Studios," Rose argued.

"Wizards!" Dave exclaimed waving his hands in the air.

"Did someone say wizards?" Eridan asked barging into the conversation.

"NO!" everyone said at the same time. Eridan then walked away with a sad look on his face to where Feferi and Sollux were talking.

"I got to go to California," Vriska bragged though she wasn't officially apart of the conversation. "I didn't get to go to Disney World, but I went to Disney Land. I also got to go to Hollywood, went on a tour of famous people, and I learned how to surf."

"John and I got to go and visit our Grandpa on his island!" Jade added.

"He taught me how to shoot a gun!" John included that fact. "And he shot a butterfly!"

"My parents took me and Porrim up to Niagara Falls," Kanaya explained. "We got a hotel room where we could see the falls and at night there were fire works above the falls."

"Where did you go for summer vacation?" Vriska asked Karkat, sounding very cynical.

"My dad just took me and Kankri up to our cabin on Lake Michigan," Karkat explained, knowing that he didn't do anything extravagant for summer vacation like his friends. "But we did go to Mackinaw Island and we got some fudge."

"Hhm, Mackinaw Island fudge," John dreamed as Vriska laughed, thinking that Karkat's vacation was pathetic, but Karkat learned not to care about Vriska years ago.

"Yeah and we actually walked the entire length of Sleeping Bear Dunes," Karkat added.

"But you had sand up your butt for days," Dave laughed.

"Yeah," Karkat agreed to that. "But it was cool and very pretty. And we got to see the sun set on the lake everyday."

Suddenly the school bell rang and everyone got into a semi-neat and orderly line. The doors to the school opened and a woman came out to guide the class inside. And this was only the beginning.