This was it. Today was the day that Cat Valentine would finally attend her first day at her dream high school, Hollywood Arts. Time had seemed to pass by so quickly since she had received the letter asking for her attendance at the performing arts school, which was alright by her. She ran her pink flat-iron through her red velvet coloured hair one last time, applying one last layer of candy lip gloss. This was it.

"Cat, let's go!" her mother yelled up the stairs.

"Coming!" she replied, grabbing her new HA backpack and running out the bedroom door. She skipped down the steps, not bothering to wait for her mom before going to the family SUV. Her mom soon strode to the vehicle, not bothering to greet Cat as she got in the car.

"You can't change his prescription again! The withdrawals are going to be worse than his actions with the medication just like last time!" she screamed into the phone at Frankie's doctor, angrily shoving the keys into the ignition and pulling out of the driveway. "Yes, I know you have the right to, but just because you have the right doesn't mean you can exercise it…Alright, fine…Yes, we will be there as soon as we can," she said, hanging up the phone without a goodbye. "You didn't eat breakfast this morning."

"Whattie?" Cat said innocently, looking up from her PearPhone.

"You didn't eat breakfast."

"I'm too excited to eat!"

"You need to eat, Cat," she said, reaching into her purse while still keeping her eyes on the road. She pulled out a granola bar, holding it in Cat's direction. "Eat this."

"I'm not hungry," Cat replied, not taking the food and looking back down at her phone.

"Cat, I'm not in the best mood now, so I don't think you want to get on my bad side. Just eat the granola bar."

"I don't want it."

"Dammit Cat!" her mom snapped. "You're just as bad as your brother! Just eat the damn granola bar!"

Cat looked up, tears already filling her dark brown eyes. "Okay…," she whispered, taking the breakfast out of her mom's hand, not saying another word. Her mom looked over, seeing a tear trip from her eye.

"Look, I'm sorry, Cat. I've just haven't had the best morning. Your brother's doctor is trying to change his prescription without consideration again…and it's just really hard."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"Okay." And with that, the conversation was over for the rest of the trip. After twenty minutes of absolute silence, they finally pulled into the school.

"Bye, Cat, have a nice day. I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered, quickly getting out of the car and walking into the school.

She was immediately surrounding by bright colours and sounds, movement going on everywhere around her. People were dancing and singing all over the place, blowing her mind to the raw talent that was brought to the school every year. Is this where I belong? she thought to herself, staring blankly at girls hitting notes she could never imagine could be hit and boys with long hair playing guitars, when a boy with dreadlocks and a mini keyboard walked up to her.

"You look terrified," he said with a laugh, drawing Cat out of her trance.

"It's all so much…"

"I know right? I'm Andre by the way, a freshman."

"I'm Cat!" she said, hugging him. He laughed out loud, hugging her back and smiling when she released. "I'm a freshman too!"

"Really?" he answered sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Whoa, hold up. I didn't mean anything."

"Okay!" she said, giving him another hug, and looked down at her as if to say, what have I gotten myself into? She released him and took the schedule out of her back pocket. "So what do you have first period?"

"Uh, acting with Mr. Sikowitz. You?"

"Same! That's so cool!"

Right as she said that, a boy with curly brown hair, glasses, and a puppet walked up.

"Andre?" he said with disbelief.

"Hey, Robbie!" Andre said, though looking a little uncomfortable to see him. "I didn't realize you applied for Hollywood Arts. Cat, this is Robbie, he was in my class in middle school."

"Hiya!" she said, giving him a hug. He accepted the hug with an awkward smile, when his puppet made a noise. "What was that?" she said, quickly letting him go.

"It was me, honey, and I was really enjoying that hug if you would like to share another one."

"Cat, this is Rex, Robbie's puppet."

"Don't call him that! He doesn't like that word!" There was a moment of awkward silence as the bell rang to send the students to first period. "Andre, what do you have first?"

"Mr. Sikowitz."

"Cool! I guess I can walk with you guys!" And with that, he followed Cat and Andre to acting class. They walked in to see a few students already seated, and a man with balding hair and no shoes sitting in a seat on a portion of the raised floor that was meant to be a small stage. Cat sat down next to a very handsome boy, the rest of the small group joining the row.

"Hello young lily pads!" the teacher, Mr. Sikowitz, yelled upon the tardy bell ringing. "I am Sikowitz, and I will be enhancing your acting skills. Now I like to start out with a little milk from this sweet coconut, so method acting! You are all angry elderly women who needs to use the restroom but can't move…go!" The upper classmen of the room shot up, yelling things elderly women would say. Soon enough, even the freshmen joined in, except for one girl wearing all black sitting with her arms crossed in her seat. Sikowitz sat and watched from his seat, drinking his coconut milk, when he noticed the girl. "Stop!" he yelled, and everyone sat down quietly. "Young girl with the scary scissors, why aren't you participating?"

"Because I don't want to be an actor."

"Acting skills are required in acting class, no matter what your study is." The girl rolled her eyes and slumped farther into her seat. "What is your name, young woman?"

"Jade West."

"Well, Jade West, you are now doing a scene with four of your closest friends!"

"I don't know any of these people."

"You do now! Boy with the hair, piano man, red-head, and puppet boy are now your fellow actors!"

"He doesn't like being called a puppet!" Robbie said, standing up with the rest of the students and setting Rex down in his seat, Cat actually jumping up and down.

"Wow, I already hate you," Jade said, holding her head so she couldn't jump anymore. Cat laughed and tried to tickle Jade, which received a loud, "No!"

As they got on the stage, Sikowitz began to speak. "What these students are about to do is called Alphabet Improv, where I, being the teacher, will give Jade a letter, and with this letter, Jade will make a word and then a line. It will then continue down the line in alphabetical order…We begin now with the letter W!"

"Wow, I already hate this game," Jade said with another eye roll.

"X-rays are the only thing that can prove hatred," Andre replied.

"You should probably try to be a little nicer," Robbie added.

"Zebras are so cool!" Cat said, happy to add something to the conversation.

"An interesting fact about zebras, they sometimes get eaten by lions," said the boy whose name had yet to be discovered.

"But they probably deserve to be eaten by the lions."

"Cool thought, but I don't think so."

"Dude, that was a rude thought."

" Elephant!"

"Fever! Elephant fever," said the boy, falling to the ground.

"Are you okay?!" Robbie yelled, bending down to the ground.

"Erhh!" Sikowitz yelled, pointing at Robbie to leave the stage. Robbie looked at him like a sad puppy, walking back to his chair and puppet to sulk. "Jade, your letter is G!"

"Geez, attention seeker I see."

"How about we check on him?"

"I think Andre is right."

"Just…please…help…me…"

"God, this is stupid."

"Erhh!" Sikowitz yelled again.

"Thank you!" Jade screamed back sarcastically, walking off the stage.

"Dreads, your letter is K!"

"Kangaroo blood is the only thing that can heal elephant fever!"

"Let me look around to see if there is a kangaroo to kill."

"More…blood…"

"Cat needs to move quicker!"

"Erhh!"

"What?!"

"Your letter was N."

"I used N."

"You used C in Cat."

"That's her name!"

"No names!" Andre walked defeated back to his chair, leaving Cat and the boy alone. "Cat, your letter is N!"

"No time to find a kangaroo before you die!"

"Oh my GOD I'm going to die!"

"Please don't die."

"Quickly, find a real princess to heal me!"

"Real princess right here, but I don't know how!"

"Sit on my chest and wave your hands!"

"Totally, if you say so!" Cat did what he told her to, and he quickly shot up, holding her in his arms like a bride.

"Unbelievable! You saved me!"

"Very good of me, yeah?"

"Wonderful of you."

"X says you should tell me what your name is," Cat said, a smirk on her face.

"Erhh! You can't use the letter by itself unless it is I, which it was not. Boy, you are the winner!" The class clapped for them as he put them down and they both bowed. They walked back to their seats, where he turned to her and whispered.

"My name is Beck."

"My name is Cat, you seem really cool, Beck. You wanna hang out sometime?"

"I'm free today."

"My house?"

"Sounds like a plan," Beck said with a smile, sitting back up as the bell rang for class to end.

The rest of the day flew by, with vocal and dance lessons, meeting people at lunch, and more classes after. Overall, Cat Valentine could not have asked for a better first day at Hollywood Arts. The part she was looking forward to the most, though, was meeting up with a dreamy boy she barely knew after school, and when that time finally came, she didn't know what to do. Many words were stuttered and many nervous laughs were chuckled outside the school and with her mom, who could see the spark in her little girl's eye. When they got home, they both went to Cat's candy coloured room, where they talked for hours. It all seemed like an unreal fairy tale, but the way the night ended, was more than she could have ever imagined.

"So, how old are you, Cat?"

"Thirteen."

"Only thirteen? How are you in our grade?"

"I barely made the cut off. I'll be fourteen in a few weeks though. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I never thought I would kiss a thirteen year old girl before."

"What?" Cat asked, cheeks flushing. "You want to kiss me?"

"If you're okay with it." Everything seemed to move so fast, but young love will be young love. Cat nodded her head yes, and moved in to share her first kiss with Beck Oliver.

Little did they know how much everything could change.