Chapter One: Welcome to Roscoe High

"You ready?"

Lily swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat. She exhaled deeply through her mouth and brushed some loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Yeah," she said to Ray Brennan in a loud whisper. "Let's do it."

Ray nodded and patted his best friend on the shoulder. "Alright, I'll see you at lunch." He said, walking up the front steps of Roscoe High. Lily took another deep breath as she watched her best friend walk into the school. She looked down at her red sleeveless blouse, tan purse, and brown-khaki patchwork skirt.

"Nervous?" asked a voice behind her. She turned around quickly, her long blonde hair almost whipping Robbie McGrath in the face.

"Robbie!" Lily said, surprised, though she could feel her face turn red. She couldn't believe that she didn't even recognize the sound of one of her best friend's voices.

Robbie smiled and laughed, putting his hands in his blue jean pockets. "I'm nervous too. I mean, it's not like we've ever been to High School before."

"Yeah," Lily said, at a loss for words. She looked down at her almost blinding white shoes, allowing her hair to fall in front of her face. Rocking back and forth on her heels, desperate to get Robbie away, she said, "Ray just went inside. I think he was looking for you."

"Oh, thanks," Robbie said, waving and heading towards the open school doors. Lily sighed. She felt bad for pushing Robbie away like that, but she needed to be alone. She quickly walked across the path to the bushes that lined the cement. Once behind them, she sat down and hid herself. Bringing her knees to her chest, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She wasn't ready for High School yet. On the inside, she was still a little girl, just barely fourteen.

A loud commotion brought her back to reality. She turned and squatted on her knees, peering through the bushes. She gripped two thick branches to brace herself as she struggled to remain hidden.

"What did you say, punk?"

"I'm sorry; I'm not looking for trouble."

"That's just too bad, freshman!"

Lily found the where the deep, rough voice was coming from, just as he was picking up a smaller boy by the collar of his shirt. Lily didn't recognize the boy, even though he was in her grade. The bully raised the boy off the ground and began walking toward Lily's hide out. "Have fun in Roscoe, New Kid." The bully said as he threw the new kid over the line of bushes, into the clearing where Lily sat.

Gasping, Lily crawled as far under the bushes as she could in an attempt to hide from the Junior Class Bully, Kelly Armstrong. Kelly and his group of thugs peered over the bushes at the New Kid, who had landed on his stomach. They laughed, and soon after, walked away, not seeing Lily at all.

Once the crowd around them settled down, Lily crawled out from her hiding place and over to the boy, who was sprawled out in the dirt. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Um, are you okay?"

The boy picked up his head and coughed before rolling over onto his back. His sandy-brown hair was messy, his face with a small, bleeding scrape down his right cheek. His rust-red and white plaid shirt had wrinkles, and the knees of his black denim pants had dirt caked on them.

His gray blue eyes looked up at Lily as she kneeled over him, her face showing concern.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank-you." He replied.

Lily heaved a relieved sigh, "Good, good. Oh, gosh, you're bleeding."

The boy brought a hand up to his cheek, but Lily stopped him. "No, no, I'll get it," she said, taking a clean white tissue out of her purse. She gently wiped the blood away from the rough, clotted cut.

As she went to throw the tissue away in the trash bin by the stairs, the boy propped himself up into a sitting position. "So," Lily asked when she returned, "You're new here, huh?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, I moved here over the summer."

"That's cool. Do you like it here so far?"

"Yeah, it's a nice place."

Lily opened her mouth to keep the conversation going when they heard the bell ring from inside. "Oh, we'd better get going. By the way, my name's Lily. Find me later, we can lunch."

The boy nodded, "Sounds great, Lily. Oh, and my name's Travis."

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The girls eagerly stared up at Lily and Travis. "Is that really how it went, Lily?" asked one of them.

"Of course it is. Did you really think we'd lie to you kids?" Lily said to the campers.

The gang had signed up to be counselors at a camp that summer; Camp Wattiana. Lily was telling the girls of Cabin 6 the story of her first day at Roscoe High School. The girls' ages ranged from 10 to 13 in that cabin. Lily thought the real story would be too boring, and figured it wouldn't hurt to spice it up a little. Travis, Ray, and Robbie sat, listening, on the beds behind her. They were enjoying the story, too, but not as much as the girls were.

One of the 10-year-old girls, Mariah, looked at Ray. "Ray, will you tell us a story next?"

Ray smiled.