Locker doors slam, amidst the chatter of high school students. A teacher steps out into the hallway.

"Good morning, Victoria."

"Morning Mr. Cooper!"

"VICTORIA!" A girl races down the hallway, slowing only a little when Mr. Cooper tells her to.

"Hi Krysta," Victoria replies, sighing a little in exasperation.

"Why'd you run off like that?" Krysta demands.

"It was just outside school. Honestly. We aren't in middle school anymore."

The two girls are in their first year of high school. They walk into home room, and then look up and grin as Anna Black walks in.

School ended late that day because of a lockdown drill they had at the end of the day. Victoria heads down to the pool, Anna trailing behind.

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

"You've been under there for fifteen minutes, Anna says, looking up from her book as Victoria emerges from the bottom of the pool, a satisfied smile on her face.

"I don't know. Practice?"

"Even practice doesn't get you that far," Anna shakes her head. "Amazing." Among the many things Anna is terrified of, swimming is high on the list, right beside drowning.

An hour later, they met Krysta coming from Art Club, and together the three walk home.

"I had to cancel my violin lesson because of this field trip," Anna complains. "And ,my competition is in two months too."

"Calm down," Krysta playfully shoves Anna, "you're too serious sometimes." Victoria agrees, not to Anna's surprise. A lot of people told her she was mature for her age.

"How about Victoria?" Anna protests, bringing up the usual argument. "She's really serious about swimming."

"She doesn't swim competitively."

"But a lot of people have invited her onto the team!''

"Because she's really good!"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing!" Krysta protests, grinning. Anna frowns at her. "I swear- hey! Stop!"

A DAY LATER

"These coach buses aren't bad," Anna says appreciatively. "I've never been on one before."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, Anna," Victoria teases. "You haven't been to Starbucks, you can't swim, you haven't gone anywhere before... all you do is read and play violin."

Krysta considers this, then shrugs. "You just spend too much time on the violin."

Hey! If there are any readers still left, I wanted to let you know that I love you for following this story, and I really appreciate it. I wanted to apologize for not updating, you know how school is. I'm trying to revise this story, because, as you can tell, there are too many characters and this story is a little rough around the edges. I love you guys, please review!