I strolled into English class, taking a seat next to Payton and Julian where we always sat, the back of the room. This was so we could socialize to our heart's content without having to get shushed by the teacher.

"Hey! You're coming to my party, right?" Payton asked, giggling as she texted on her phone.

"Duh, when will I ever miss a party? Julian, are you going?" I asked.

Julian looked pensive. "We'll see..."

"Is something wrong?" I prodded.

"I... I'll tell you later... class is starting." Julian stuttered. What was the matter? Academic trouble again?

My eyes flickered over to the front of the classroom where I saw a girl I had never seen before. She had straight red hair and wore a royal blue long-sleeved shirt with an off-white tulle skirt. I looked at her shoes: black ballet flats with white socks that ended just below her knees. Around her neck was a silver necklace with a black stone in the center.

Julian followed my gaze. "Whoa. Who's that?"

"I don't know, and I'm pretty sure I know everyone around here." I replied.

Mr. Olson cleared his throat. "We have a new student joining us. Kallie, would you like to tell the class about yourself?"

Payton, Julian, and I watched expectantly.

Kallie blushed. "My name is, uh, Kallie, and I'm new, which... actually is entirely redundant because Mr. Olson just said that, didn't he?" A few cheerleaders and glee girls tittered.

Julian nudged me. "Is it just me, or is this new girl hard to understand? She keeps repeating herself. What does redundant even mean?"

Are you serious? I thought, before remembering it was Julian. "It means she's repetitive," I informed him.

Julian nodded. "Yeah... 'repetitive'. She did say she was new twice."

Kallie continued. "I've been homeschooled my entire life, so I haven't really been around many people my own age. Not, um, this many at once, anyway."

"Shut up!" I whispered to Payton. "No way!"

"Anyway, my parents wanted to round out my curriculum. So though I'm not officially enrolled in this school, your principal was gracious enough to allow me to join you for English class, which I've heard is quite a rigorous course! In any case, as you may have noticed, when I get nervous, I tend to become very verbose... like right exactly at this moment, you might say..."

Julian nudged me again. "Man, she just keeps talking! 'Verbose'? What's that about?

"I think it means wordy," I tried to hide my smirk.

"Huh, okay. 'Wordy'. That makes sense..." Julian murmured to himself.

"...honestly, I don't know the first thing about high school. I don't have many friends... I've never been to a party, and I've certainly never kissed anyone... Not that you want to know that... or that I even wanted to share that..." Kallie looked like she was about to throw up.

"Wait, are you seriously saying you've never been kissed?!" Payton exclaimed from the back of the room. The classroom giggled.

Kallie's face then resembled a tomato. "I'll just... sit down now... and pretend this never happened."

"Heh, way to embarrass the new girl..." Julian commented.

"I didn't mean to. Maybe someone should go talk to her. Or apologize! Or... kiss her?" Payton glanced at Julian.

"Why are you looking at me?" Julian yelped.

"Calm down, Payton." I decreed. "We'll go talk to her after class and make sure she's feeling welcome." This was going to be interesting, I mused to myself.