Chapter 1; A New Beginning

Keiko bit her lip as she stumbled towards the tall brick building, squinting in the sunlight. It was her first day of her new school in the suburban little town of Iselia. It was also her first day of grade seven, which in this bubble of a town was lumped in with the highschool. Dispite the many grade levels in the school, it STILL didn't have as many people as her old middle school in the city of Pamelacosta. Perfect, she realized, I'm stuck in Nowheresville AND I'm the new kid. What a WONDERFUL start. Sighing and deciding that this couldn't get any worse, she entered the large building.

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Highschool already, thought Genis Sage, that's really weird. Although is was just as well, he only had two friends his age, and one was emotionless. His best friend Lloyd was in grade ten, along with his other friend Colette. His sometimes-friend-sometimes-enemy Zelso and Zelos' girlfriend Sheena were in grade twelve and would be graduating that year. The two friends hat were in his grade were Mithos, who only went to extremes, especially when it came to emotions, and Presea, who was downright emotionless. It was a little weird, how people so different could get along. It was very strange, actually, when you really thought about it.

"Attention please, we will now begin our assembly. Welcome students!", announced the booming voice of the school's principal, Mr.Bryant, whom was referred to by students as 'Bluedude'. Nobody really knew why, but everyone went along with it all the same.

The assembly was more boring than those at the middle school. Surprisingly, there was even more for the administration to drone on about here. After what seemed like a million years of talk about rules againts gum chewing and hugging, the assembly was almost finished.

"Before you find out which homeroom you're in, we have a new grade seven student.", exclaimed the vice principal, who was also a grade 10 teacher, and Genis' sister, Raine Sage, "Now, let's give a nice, warm, Iselia High welcome to Keiko Inzuba!" Scattered greatings including "Yo." "Wazzup?" and "Hey!" echoed through the gym, seeing as the school did not have an assembly room.

A thin girl with brown hair with a blonde patc, somewhat pale skin, and turqoise eyes shuffled onto the stage. She only glanced up a few times, surveying the crowd.

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Keiko watched the stereotypical groups, ovserving each one. The populars, geeks, emos, nerds, jocks, and everything in between. And, there were those who didn't belong anywhere. Those who were a mix of everything. Keiko knew that she'd end up with them, she always did. No matter how hard she tried to fit in, she could not.

Her eyes lingered on that particualr group of people, analyzing each one. A very...feminine read haired guy was being what could only be described as clingy with a curvy black haired girl. She was not impressed. A brown haired, red-donning, dumb looking boy was chatting casually with a perky, happy blonde. They seemed to look perfect together, which led Keiko to wonder if they looked perfect on their own too. Maybe they TREID to stay together so that they could look...perfect-er. Who knows? A happy looking blonde boy was attempting to make a small poker-faced lolita-like girl with pink hair laugh, yet to no avail. And there was another guy, too.

He looked about her age, and he was just sitting there reading a book, and letting nothing in the outside world faze him. His long-ish silver hair fell wispily aroung his face. Keiko could understand that he wasn't a geek, he was different although he seemed outwardly smart. Think about it, reading at an assembly!

She didn't realize that she was staring until he looked up. Keiko quickly dropped her gaze and blushed. First day and you've already got people thinking that you're a weirdo, she scolded herself, That's a new record, even for you. She shyly shifted her weight from one foot to another.

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Raine babbled on about making Keiko feel welcome and all that stuff. Genis had heard the 'New Kid Speech' a million times before. He'd really rather read.

From looking at Keiko, he assumed that she'd be an artsy or a geek or something. She was pretty and creative looking, yet awkward and shy. Genis then felt weird for thinking that she was pretty, and then embarrassed over the whole thing. Once he had regained his cool, he glanced up again. Keiko was staring right at him. She then looked down with a look of what seemed to be disgust on her face. The new girl already hates me. Wonderful. At this rate I'll NEVER make any new friends. Am I REALLY that geeky? Great. Genis put his book down.

"And Mr.Mac's grade seven class will be...", Raine announced, and then a few names, including, "Genis Sage". Mr. Mac wasn't the best teacher, he'd heard. Oh well, at least Genis was already smart. "And Keiko Inzuba." Keiko rolled her eyes, seeming to already hate this place. Well maybe I'm lucky and she hates EVERYONE, and not just me. She was in Genis' class, so he HOPED that the day would go smoothly.