Zoey sleepily got out of bed, rubbing her eyes. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, because her parents had decided to move the family to a new place. Zoey hadn't been sure how to react to that, but she did like the idea of a new start.
As she got out of bed, Zoey suddenly tripped over a box that had been lying on the floor. She was still working on unpacking, but hadn't gotten much done. The family had gotten to the new house later than expected, so Zoey's mother had just told her- "Just go to sleep, Zoey. We'll work on settling in tomorrow." She'd shown Zoey to her room, and went into her own to get some rest. Zoey did the same.
Zoey could see the sunlight coming in through her window, and it was almost too bright to see anything. This was just one thing she had to get used to.
"Zoey!" Her mother called her from downstairs. "Get ready, you have school!"
"Okay, Mom!" Zoey quickly ran downstairs. She did her best to look awake. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Zoey. Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Good. The bus you'll be taking comes a bit earlier than you're used to."
Zoey nearly died inside. At her old school, she had been stuck leaving for the bus at 7:30, and that was early enough for her. "How much earlier?"
"Well, you have to leave at 7:15. What if you get dressed now, and then you can eat on your way to school."
"Sure, Mom." Zoey went back upstairs, and reached into an open box on the floor. She pulled out a red strapless top and brown capri pants. On a table nearby was a four-petal pink-and-yellow flower hair clip and two purple ponytails. She always dressed like this, that was one thing Zoey hoped wouldn't change because of this move.
After getting her clothes on, Zoey reached inside the box again and pulled out red lipstick. She wore that to match her top and hair, which was also red. But Zoey had dyed it, so it was even more red.
"I guess I'm ready." Zoey looked out her window, shielding her eyes from the bright light. There was a yellow bus already on its way to her house. "Now, I have to go to school."
Zoey went downstairs to wait, and her mother handed her a bag of Little Bites blueberry muffins. "Here, Zoey. I got you father to buy them when we came here. I know how much you like them."
"Thanks, Mom." Zoey opened the bag, and ate one of the muffins. Just as she did, the bus pulled up right in front of the house. "I have to go, bye!"
Zoey watched her mother wave, and then got on the bus. It was packed with kids, at least one at each seat. She was looking around, and suddenly ran into someone. It was a tall girl with purple hair, and she looked like she was missing someone.
"Oh, sorry! I was just looking for Cody! Have you seen him?"
"No, sorry. I hope you find him, though." Zoey walked towards the back of the bus, where a short boy wearing a red hoodie and glasses was waving her over.
"Hi, I'm Cameron! Do you mind sitting here? Sierra-" he pointed to the purple-haired girl, "always tries to sit next to me or Cody Anderson. She drives both of us crazy."
"Okay, I'll sit here. I'm Zoey. I'm new here."
Cameron smiled. "I'll show you around then! I know you'll love it here."
"Thanks, Cameron."
"You can call me Cam if you want, Zoey. Hey, look! It's Mike!" Cameron waved to another person, this time a tall boy with black-brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans.
"Hi, Cam. Who's that?" Mike looked at Zoey, then back at Cameron.
"This is the new girl, Zoey!" Mike sat next to Cameron, smiling at Zoey. "Zoey, this is Mike."
"Hi, Zoey. I'm-" Mike suddenly hit his arm on the bus seat, and gasped. "Dang wall, always gets in my way. Kids these days." Mike gasped again, returning to normal. "What was I saying? Oh, right. I'm Mike."
"Hi, Mike."
The tall girl from earlier ran over to them. "OMG, Camody! I knew I'd find you! EEEE!" Sierra jumped up and down excitedly, clapping.
"Uh, hi Sierra. You can't sit here today, uh, Mike and Zoey are sitting here!" Cameron gestured to Mike and Zoey, who were stting on either side of him.
"Zoey? Are you trying to take Camody away from me?" Sierra looked at Zoey suspiciously.
"No, I just needed somewhere to sit."
"Okay, but you better not steal my- Cody-kins!" Sierra ran to the front of the bus, to a short brown-haired and blue-eyed boy. He almost looked scared when he saw Sierra running to him.
Mike laughed, and said to Zoey, "Sierra's crazy about Cody and Cameron. She mixes up their names, too."
"Okay. I actually feel bad for them."
Cameron started shaking. "You haven't seen what she's tried to do."
"If you say so." The bus was at the school, and Mike, Cameron and Zoey walked out together. "Wow, this place is huge."
They were interuppted again by a tanned girl with a pink shirt and jeans appearing in front of Mike. "Mike, it's Anne Maria."
"I know, but I'm not Vito."
"Not Vito? Forget it then!" Anne Maria walked away, spraying her hair.
Cameron turned to Zoey. "That was 'Mike's' girlfriend, Anne Maria. Mike has this condition, okay, it's multiple personality disorder, but one of Mike's personalities has hooked up with Anne Maria."
Zoey nodded, and walked into the school.
Cameron winked at Mike, and said, "I'm gonna go get water, you can stay with Zoey."
Mike nodded. "Careful, Cam!" then he turned to Zoey and laughed nervously. "Well, this is school."
"I can see that." Zoey laughed, and looked around.
Cameron was watching Mike and Zoey from the water fountain, and smiled. "They're so cute."
Suddenly, he was almost tripped by the school's best athlete, Lightning. Lightning was the captain of every sports team at school, and often mistook boys for girls and girls for boys. Of course, Cameron was caught by Sierra, who was already holding Cody. "I've got you, Camody!"
Cameron quickly looked at Cody, who mouthed the words, "Help me."
Cameron nodded. He and Cody were getting to be good friends, because of Sierra's constant fangirling over them. "Sierra, I think Lightning just insulted Cody!"
Sierra dropped Cody and Cameron, and raced towards Lightning. "This is for Cam-Codykins!" She screamed as she attacked him.
Cameron and Cody walked over to Mike and Zoey. "Sorry I took so long. Zoey, this is Cody."
"Hi, Cody." Zoey said, but didn't hear him answer. "Cody!"
"Wait what? Oh, hi Zoey." Then he went back to staring acriss the hall.
Cameron and Mike whispered to her, "Cody has a huge crush on Gwen over there." Mike pointed to where a blue-haired goth girl was in the hallway. "He keeps insisting he can win her over."
"Hey, I can- aahhh!" Cameron and Cody screamed as Sierra rushed at them again. Then, they ran.
"That's normal, haha." Mike smiled at Zoey again before watching his friends run from Sierra.
"Okay." Zoey laughed too, watching Cameron and Cody.
