chapter 1:

"cam, cam, wake up!"

a cheery squeaky voice yelled. cameron grumbled, and opened his eyes to see Ellis sitting on his lap with her face

pressed to his.

"good morning Ellis"

cameron said groggily. He checked his clock,

"Ellis! what are you doing here at 7 am? school doesn't start until 9:30!

"Early Bird catches The Worm" she chirped in delight

"actually i need help picking out an outfit! it's the first day of our sophomore year!

cameron rubbed his eyes and noticed Ellis was clad in footie pajamas, uggs, and a ridiculous feather boa.

"Okay Okay, begin your fashion show" Cameron said sitting up, and placing his signature nerd glasses over his eyes.

Ellis scrambled to the bathroom with her arms full of clothes. 1 hour later Ellis decided on an orange dress, yellow

sandals, and a beautiful yellow flower clip in her short brown bob. Cameron hurried to get dressed then ran downstairs

to see Ellis, His mom, and his dog marki waiting for him eating pancakes.

"cameron honey, what do you want for a drink in your lunch" Cameron's mom Julie questioned while placing a tray of

pancakes in front of him with a small bowl of syrup on the side.

"anything mom"

"okay! Ellis sweetie do you need anything more" "

No thanks Julie, I'm fine, come on cam we better go if we want to catch your bus!" Ellis said with a wink grabbing

cam's hand and racing out the door. cameron sighed, at least he managed to grab his things before being whisked

away by Ellis. At the bus stop they were greeted by a couple of familiar faces. A dreadlocked figure in hot pink shorts,

and a huge smile and curly red hair.

"Hannah!" Ellis squealed launching herself at the larger girl.

"Ellis" Hannah exclaimed her smile getting wider pulling ellis into a bear hug.

"Sam"" Cameron spoke with a head nod.

"Don't give me that, Samuel said bro-hugging cameron

"I haven't seen you in 3 months!"They smiled and began talking about their summers. Samuel had went surfing in fiji,

Hannah went up to Washington to visit her cousins, Ellis had stayed in Lima, and Cameron had been to california. The

bus came around the corner and screeched to a halt. the four made their way to the back of the bus where they all sat

side by side till they reached Mckinley.

"Mars, Mars!" Lindsay said snapping her fingers in front of Marissa.

"Snap out of it!"

"wha huh?"

Marissa said breaking out of her daydream and running her hand through her fiery red hair. "we got to get to

homeroom!"Lindsay said rushing her friend through the hallway. buzz. Marissa pulled out her phone to see an IM from

Samuel

SamBamL: what's your sched? Marisa's heart fluttered at the message

MarsRover: hrm: Ms. Pillsbury 1st gym- coach beiste 2nd- history mr. Benjamin 3rd math with mrs. Calvin 4th science

with mr. Stephens 5th hour choir with mr. schue and 6th hour english/ with ms. Holiday.

SamBamL: 1st 3rd 5th 6th. alright!

MarsRover: See you there :)

Marissa put her phone away and wondered if Samuel would ever notice she liked him. the thought lingered until the

bell for homeroom rang.

"good Morning class Im ms. Pillsbury-Schuester and I teach leadership, and I'm also the schools counselor. Now I want

you to be in these groups as follows for learning exercises. James, Carter, Camille, and Jace

Marissa,Damian, Mckinleigh, and Matheus". Damian stopped listening after his name was called. He sat alone in the

corner of the room, missing Ireland. being the new kid was hard. Lima was so small everybody knew everybody else.

but he was a loner. his only friend was his auntie shannon and he only had her for one hour in the beginning of the day.

"Hey are you Damian Man?" A short boy with a Brazilian accent asked.

"sure am" Damian replied cursing his stupid accent under his breath.

"cool man I'm matheus Fernandez, and this is Mckinleigh Abraham he said motioning to a pretty southern girl, and

Marissa Von Bleicken a thin girl with red hair"

"Hey Ireland" Mckinleigh said. You can all call me miki.

"So... Marissa said. how is everybody?"

and from there for the next ten minutes they chatted and quickly became good friends. by 1st period they all

exchanged phone numbers. Damian felt elated. he was finally fitting in.

"Emily Vasquez" Bryce said winking glancing up and down at his old girlfriend.

"looking pretty well aren't we know" Emily rolled her eyes and continued down the hallway. "alright kiddos!" Coach

beiste smiled into her microphone.

"we're gonna start off the year with something a little slower, one lap around the gym and then time for ballroom

dancing" the kids groaned. Marissa tried to groan but deep inside she was screaming to get Samuel. once their lap was

finished coach Beiste told them to pair up. Samuel came over to Marissa and got down on one knee.

"Will you be my partner?" He smiled.

"yes i will" Marissa said back. Damian stood their not knowing what to do. Marissa already had a partner, and he didn't

know anyone else. then He saw her. the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Black hair falling in tresses around her

pale angelic face. a bright white smile that seemed like it should be for a toothpaste commercial beamed at the class.

she emitted a loving aura that attracted people to her naturally. she turned to Damian and noticed he was staring. she

came over and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Lindsay Pearce! president of the welcoming committee, and you must be coach beiste's nephew Damian."

"uh yeah I guess that's me, Damian sputtered" Lindsay laughed,

"You seem lost. will you be my partner?" Damian face turned bright red.

"yes, of course" After everyone was paired up the music started. Samuel placed one hand on Marissa's hip and the

other in hers and Marissa placed her hand on his shoulder. they swayed in circles around the gym lost in each others

eyes. Damian on the other hand was doing fairly terrible.

"sorry, oh sorry, whoops, oh no." damian said trying his best to avoid stepping on Lindsay's feet but his two left feet

put him in no position to be dancing with a beautiful girl. Lindsay just smiled at his clumsiness and giggled at his

adorable accent.

"That was wonderful guys" hit the showers and get ready for 2nd hour. Damian walked over to his Aunt. "Auntie

Shannon, I think i just met the most beautiful girl in the entire world" He said enamored.

"Hit the showers Damo". after her shower Lindsay came out, drying her hair, until she heard a soothing voice coming

form the locker room. she quickly got dressed and creeped around the corner and was in suprise to see Damian with

his head down,tears dropping into his lap. his voice started to crack until he broke down into sobs. Lindsay's heart

broke listening to this so she went to comfort him. Samuel also heard and Ran over to see what happened.

"Lindsay what's going on?" Samuel questioned hugging the guy he had barely met.

"I...I don't know he was just here.

" Damian, buddy?" what's wrong? sam asked with a soft tone.

"I miss Ireland, and me ma and me da"

"it'll be okay" and they sat there until 2nd hour began and they all scrambled to their classes.

" Hannah M."

"Here" Hannah called from her seat in the center of the class.

"Cameron M"

here" a soft voice came from behind Hannah.

"everyone my name is mr. Eastwood and thank you all for taking biology with me. I need you to get with the person

sitting in front or behind you and start the lab assignment up on the board, thank you." Hannah turned around and

smiled.

"Cam" She said. Cameron cracked a half smile and followed Hannah to the lab station. cameron never realized how

cool Hannah was till today. they talked about how they both love to sing and joke around. before either of the knew it

cameron and hannah had talked the entire hour away. riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing screeched the bell. and it was time for 3rd hour.

in independent study Ellis Met up with Matheus and they worked on the science project they were both assigned.

"How do you deal with it?" Ellis asked quietly.

"what?" matheus asked looking up from his sharpie covered poster board.

"the teasing, the pain, the slushies" Ellis said.

"I get used to it man, if you are a tiny bit different you're treated like shit. I am small, so what?" Matheus said proudly.

Emma looked over at the boy who seemed so bold and manly to her right now when in reality he was only 4 feet tall.

the rest of the hour was silent, and everyone was relieved when it was time for lunch. Marissa grabbed her woven bag

she had gotten from a victim in Haiti went she went to help last summer. She met up with Lindsay who had a blue

lunch bag and they went to find Damian and Samuel. only Lindsay knew how Marissa felt about him. They met up with

the boys who had quickly became best friends after the incident in the locker room, and they all sat down together at

the table. Cameron found Ellis and they sat at the table next to the others with Hannah, Matheus, and Miki. but Emily

and Bryce were nowhere to be found. The rest of the day flew by fairly quickly, and everyone couldn't wait to get home

after such a long day. But for Marissa the day was just starting to get interesting because she was going to meet

Lindsay, Damo, and Sam after school for some food at the diner down the street from the school.