Danielle Marie Clarins awoke at 7:00 am on the first day of school. She snuggled under the covers and did her best to block out the incessant wail of her mother singing in the shower. The dream she had just had was extremely pleasant. In it, she still lived in San Ramon and was at her best friend, Numibia Ork's, pool party. But when Ms. Clarins had started singing, dream Dani drowned and real Dani woke up to an even more horrible rendition of "Dancing Queen" than the original.

After five minutes, Dani gave up trying to reconjure her dream and got ready for school. After showering, she slowly put on the outfit she had chosen weeks ago in a fit of boredom. Then she had a quick bowl of cereal, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and walked out of the house.

As she walked she pondered her life. More like lack of, she thought bitterly.

While Dani was wallowing in self-pity, a boy behind her was just noticing her. Nate West didn't care much for girls. At least not the one's at his school. Most were a whiny sort, but there was one… Pushing her out of his mind, Nate caught up with the girl. He'd never seen her before but she looked like she belonged at Charlotte Wood. She had a wealthy look: same preppy outfit and pretty facial features of other girls at his school but there was something else. Something he'd never seen in a girl at his school. She looked almost…genuine…intelligent…just all around different.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Dani. I'm new."

"Hi. I'm Nate West and I'm not new," he responded.

She had a tinkling laugh that made him want to laugh too. The rest of the five minutes to the school were silent. When they made it into the gym she finally spoke.

"Well, Nate, I guess I'll see you around."

Dani felt slightly ridiculous standing in line with her bright green Converse but she held her head high anyway. God forbid she let any of these spoiled brats make her feel bad about herself. She had her mom for that. After a few more minutes of watching people greeting each other after the break, she made it to the front of the line. A bored looking middle-aged woman sat there and said, "Name?"

"Danielle Clarins"

"Clarins, Clarins, Clarins...Here you are," she replied handing Dani a sheet of paper.

Dani nearly groaned aloud. P.E. first period would be horrible in the winter. Then she had the most exciting subject ever! English.

A bell rang and students started to scurry off to their first periods. Dani had no trouble finding the blacktop and the whiteboard telling her where to go. She followed directions and sat down near a group of boys on the set of numbers closest to the fence. Turning her head she noticed that the fence seemed to seperate the school from a park. The park looked huge. It was about three times bigger than the track at Iron Horse. And a lot prettier too, she thought amazed. Trees and planters of gargantuan roses lined the walkways and in the center of the circle of track was a huge expanse of perfectly manicured green lawn.

When she finished admiring mother nature, she cast a glance at the boys a few feet from her. They looked like skaters and were all speaking in classic skater language. One boy, as if feeling her stare, turned around and demanded rudely,

"Hey, who are you?"

"Are you new?" his blond friend asked after also turning around.

"Yeah, " Dani replied shortly. She resisted the urge to yawn hugely in their faces. These types of boys bored her to tears. With all their "righteous" and "dude" and the use of "fuck" after every other word, they were very hard to take seriously.

"Awesome," the first boy replied turning back to his friends and telling them about his "wicked summer surfing".

Boriiiiiinnnnnnngggg.

Dani began rifling through the front pocket of her backpack in search of Orbit. Finally finding it, she looked up and was surprised to see the blonde boy sitting across from her. She took out a stick of gum and offered it to him. He accepted and she grabbed another piece for herself.

"So where did you move from?" he asked.

"San Ramon," Dani responded after sticking her gum to the roof of her mouth. It was a trick she had learned in 6th grade.

If you want gum and don't want to get caught stick it there. Trust me it works.

"I used to live there. But it was only in 1st and 2nd grade. Then we moved here and yeah..." he remarked trailing off.

There was silence for a few moments as the two of them reflected on their old hometown. Then Dani finally broke the silence, "I never got your name."

"Oh, I'm Hayden. Hayden Fischer,"

"Dani Clarins,"

"Nice to meet you, but we should probably get up. It looks like Mr O'Brien is here," he cautioned looking behind her. He wore an amused look so she turned around to see what he was looking at. Mr. O'Brien was a tall, burly, elderly man with a massive gut and thin veiny legs. He was wearing too-short-shorts, a red polo, and a goofy hat that reminded Dani of the ones her father used to wear. He was by far the most comical teacher she had ever seen and apparently her classmates felt the same. The girls tittered when they saw that he was wearing tube socks.

"Welcome class. I'm Mr. O' Brien. I forgot where i left my roll call sheet so just go walk Osage a couple times," he slurred. Was he drunk? On the first day of school? He looked and sounded like it and Dani was an expert at that. Her mother was always coming home tipsy. It had been ages since her mother had had a sober Friday night.

Shelving her shock at her teachers behavior, she faced the problem ahead of her. She was to walk two something-or-others with no one to walk with!