"It's going to be brilliant!" Mercedes was clearly very excited about finally getting to high school. It was a new start and after her week long shopping spree she felt like she could take on anything. Matt, however, wasn't so sure.

"Wow. I really don't get why you are so excited…" He asked her as he got in the car behind the wheel.

"What?" She exclaimed. "Matt, come on. It's a brand new start, especially for us." They were the only two from their previous school going to William McKinley High School. It was closer to their houses and was just easier in general. "It's just us against the world."

"I guess…" Matt hadn't felt like arguing with Mercedes. They'd had a good summer together, with all their old friends and Mercedes was more than ready to leave that all behind. Matt felt a little differently. As happy as he was that his best friend was still with him, he already missed his old friends.

In the end, he and Mercedes had always been different. She was full of energy, bubbly and made friends easily despite her strong headedness and tendency to respect her own opinions much higher than anyone else's. Matt was shy, he didn't like talking to people he didn't know. It made him nervous. Of course, he did make friends; it was something he just put on a brave face for.

Their only similarity was the dream that they shared. They both loved to dance and sing. Mercedes was practically born for it. She was sassy, confident and knew exactly what she wanted. And, boy was she good at singing. In fact, that was an understatement. Words could not describe the intensity of the goose bumps she gave people when she sang. Matt was a lot less confident. He knew he was good, people told him that all the time. He was a natural, he taught himself everything. Even so, some people doubted even that. They thought that he'd just been born with his insane moves imprinted in his mind. He didn't believe in himself the way Mercedes did. He didn't want to disappoint and failing was just not an option. The stage and the spotlight scared him.

"C'mon. CHEER UP MATT!" Mercedes shouted at him, laughing. "I promise, Matt, it will be GREAT!" She punched him playfully on the arm. He smiled half-heartedly, 'That's easy for you to say, but I'm not so sure…'

For the rest of the journey, they were silent, Mercedes humming along to the songs on the radio. As they turned into the parking lot, Matt's hands were getting sweaty against the wheel. All these people that he didn't know, that he would probably have to talk to sooner or later. It had crossed his mind that maybe he had an anxiety disorder of some sort. His heart beat faster and his hands got sweaty, his vision sometimes blurred whenever he was nervous. But, he didn't bother himself by thinking about it too much.

Matt turned off the ignition and they sat for a minute.

"I'm just nervous." Matt broke the silence with a whisper. "Sometimes you forget how my nerves take me over."

Mercedes sighed. "I know. I'm sorry Matt." She looked at him, but his hands were twisting on the wheel, his eyes staring into the masses of people beyond the windscreen of his car. "Look, I get that this is hard for you. But I can't even pretend to understand. I've never had trouble making friends or meeting new people." Matt let himself go. His hands dropped into his lap and his eyes followed them. It was barely the first day of school and already he was exhausted. Mercedes turned in her seat to continue. "My point is, Matt, together we will be fine. Together, we can do anything, remember?"

He did remember. He remembered the times when they put on capes and made swords and fought pirates from the tree-house in Matt's backyard. And the times they'd roller skate down their street, going so fast they believed they could fly. In kindergarten when the other kids didn't accept Mercedes because she wasn't built the same, they stuck together and Mercedes learnt that people like that don't even matter. Every time a jock taunted Matt for being so quiet, Mercedes would take his hand and suddenly Matt had the courage to do whatever it took to get them to back off. When Matt's brother died, and his whole world fell apart, Mercedes dropped everything to help him put the pieces back together again. To have just one without the other was impossible. Their friendship was unlike any other. It flowed through their blood, like a drug, each one addicted to the other.

"Yeah, I remember." He finally looked at her, wiping his hands down his jeans before taking her hand. They smiled at each other before hugging.

"So," Mercedes broke away first. "Let's get in there and show them all who's gonna rule this school." She spoke with such conviction that it was impossible to not believe her. It was impossible not to believe that they would indeed rule the school.