Before School

On the way to school, Iko and Peony were bubbling, excited to see all their friends and find out who were in their classes. Cinder stayed quiet, navigating early morning rush hour traffic. Her car was a small '92 Subaru she had spent all her money on sophomore year. When she had gotten the car, it had been an unsightly pale orange, and had run only when it felt like it, and even then moaning obnoxiously the whole way. However, since then, Cinder had done some work on the car, and she spray-painted it every few months. The car's name was Caraline, and right now she was a subtle but endearing dolphin blue, and she ran smoothly 90% of the time. When Cinder pulled into the school, the girls went inside and stopped by the counselors office for their schedules.

"I'm going to find my new locker," Cinder told Peony and Iko as Peony shut her own locker.

"I'll come with you," Peony said, not wanting to be alone. They trudged up the stairs while Peony compared her schedule with Iko's. At Cinder's locker, they stopped so she could put her books in.

"There he is, Peony," Iko whispered.

"Who?" Peony glanced around.

Cinder followed Iko's gaze to Kai, who Peony had been crushing on since a year ago when she had first come to East High School. Kai was comparing schedules with his friends.

"Oh," Peony smiled, turning away shyly. Cinder rolled her eyes, checking her schedule to see which books she needed.

Kai came over and started turning the combination on the locker next to Cinder's.

He glanced at her. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," she responded.

"Are you a freshman?" Kai opened his locker and started putting his books in.

"No, I'm a junior."

"I've never seen you before."

Cinder shrugged. "I stay under the radar."

He smiled. "What's your name?"

Cinder shut her locker.

"Cinder."

"I'm Kai."

She nodded. "Maybe I'll see you around, Kai." Cinder turned and headed towards her first period, English. Peony and Iko followed close behind her.

"His locker is right next to yours!" Peony whispered urgently. "Did you see that? He talked to you!" She skipped a little to catch up with Cinder. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I saw that. What's your first period?"

"Peony and I have biology together!" Iko provided.

"The biology hall is around the corner," Cinder told them. "I'll see you guys at lunch, then."

"Under the staircase," Peony confirmed, and they went their separate ways.

Lunch

The hours dragged on through AP US History, Pre Calc, study hall, and AP physics, until, finally, lunch. Cinder was the first one to get to their lunch spot under the stairs. She dumped her backpack and went to get lunch. When she came back with a greasy pizza and a chocolate milk, her cousin Winter was unwrapping a cold cut sandwich. Cinder sat down in her spot and turned her pizza upside down to drain the grease onto the cardboard tray.

"Hey, Winter."

"Hello, Cinder. How has your first day been?"

"Okay. Already have several pages of

Pre-Calc homework."

"Typical," Winter empathized. Peony and Iko came back from the lunch line. They sat down and turned over their pizzas, Peony announcing that they already hated Chemistry.

The rest of lunch went by uneventfully.

6th Period

Scarlet took a deep breath as she walked through the band hall, soaking in the familiarity. The band director, Mr. Finch, greeted her at the door with a high five and a "welcome back!" way too enthusiastic for a Monday. Scarlet grabbed her trumpet from her locker and took a seat in the fourth row, next to a kid named Carswell, also a senior, who had been in her section for several years. Carswell, who had been oiling his valves, looked up when she sat down.

"Hey, Scarlet, how was your summer?"

"Good, how was yours?" Scarlet asked without thinking, but she sighed inwardly when Carswell began telling her about all the places he travelled and mountains he climbed. Half-listening, Scarlet took out her trumpet and started oiling the valves. Looking around, she saw many familiar faces, and also a few new ones. In the second row, Emilie was putting her flute together, chatting with the girl next to her. Behind Emilie, Kai was cleaning his saxophone. Soon enough, the bell rang, finally shutting Carswell up, and Mr. Finch came in and he band started warming up.

7th Period

Kai breathed a sigh of relief as he finally came to his last class of the day, French. He walked slowly to give himself time to decide where to sit. Since he was there early, there were only a few people there. In the middle of the classroom, Kai was surprised, and a little pleased, to see the girl whose locker was next to his this year. She had already gotten a textbook and was writing her name in the front cover. As he walked over, he racked his brain for her name. It was something to do with fire... Cinder!

"Hey Cinder."

She looked up, closing her book. "Kai!"

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Sure."

He put his bag down and grabbed a French textbook. Cinder wasn't much of a talker, but as the classroom filled up, Kai learned that she hated French, had three sisters at the school, and she took engineering (this, Kai noted, might be useful because he himself was in engineering and struggled with it frequently). Though Cinder rarely smiled and never laughed, he found himself warming to her. At the end of class, they walked together to their lockers, and Cinder told him about her sisters.

"Pearl's a senior. Iko does Theatre, and I do Theatre Tech club. Iko and Peony are sophomores, and Iko and I are adopted. I drive Peony and Iko to school."

"I wish I had siblings," Kai mused.

"No, you don't," Cinder laughed, and his heart jumped. He had made her laugh.

Kai drove home with his heart in his head and a good feeling about senior year.

After School

Cinder said goodbye to Kai and headed towards the auditorium. Mondays were the day the drama department's Theatre Tech Club met. When she got there, she sat down at the sound booth at the back of the auditorium and made sure all the knobs were in place, before going in to the booth. Jacin and Aimery were already there, turning on the lights equipment. Jacin and Aimery were both seniors, and it was really just the three of them in Theatre Tech Club. Jacin and Aimery did lights, and Cinder did sound. Cinder also acted as something of a peacekeeper between Jacin and Aimery, who hated each other with a passion. Aimery was on-again, off-again dating Levana. Levana frequented in terrorizing Winter, who was good friends with Jacin, which led to a riff between the two boys.

Cinder dumped her backpack on the table in a corner of the booth and sat next to it. On stage, the theatre kids were arriving to talk about their fall play. Cinder's cousin Winter was talking enthusiastically to Cress, a talented sophomore dedicated to the theatre program. In one corner, Levana and her best friend Sybil were huddled, whispering, throwing furtive glances towards Winter and Cress.

A tentative knock on the door drew the Tech Theatre Club's attention. The door slowly opened and a boy stepped in.

"Kinney!" Jacin greeted him with surprise. "Guys, this is Kinney, I invited him because we're always saying we need more people in Theatre Tech Club, right?"

"Yeah!" Cinder introduced herself, but she personally hoped he wouldn't be on sound board with her, because she could handle it on her own and didn't want anyone interfering. She was glad when Jacin started to introduce him to the lights equipment, but noticed Aimery stayed in the corner, hostile and resentful.

Cinder was glad when the door opened again and Iko burst in, gushing about how excited she was for the fall play. Cinder nodded and agreed. When the drama department director, Ms. Swartz, came onstage to talk about the fall play, Cinder, Jacin, Aimery and Kinney joined the theatre kids onstage.

Thank you guys for reading! Please tell me what you think - too much detail? Not enough detail?