Hi everyone! Here's the sequel to Mario and Friends - Middle School! Like the last one, this is a humanised fic and anything that the characters say doesn't necessarily represent my opinion (like if they say something politically incorrect, anything along those lines). Also as you probably already know, Birdo is being introduced to the series, and while I'll refer to her as "she" in the narrative, some characters may see her as a boy (just a warning so nobody thinks I'm being disrespectful, I have nothing against transgender people). And unlike the last one, this one only takes place throughout a semester/term, not a full school year. And referring to the summary of this story, does "instalment" sound weird? Let me know if it does. So, without further ado, let's get started!

Disclaimer: Every character and game mentioned in this fanfic belongs to Nintendo. Without them, this story wouldn't have been possible. (I won't bother putting this disclaimer on every chapter anymore - but if you think I should just to be safe, tell me in the reviews)

Mario woke up bleary-eyed to the sound of his alarm clock. He rubbed his eyes, looking at the time in confusion. Why had he set it for seven o'clock again, it was so early... Oh yeah, it was his first day back. Yay.

Okay, it wasn't the worst school in the world, even if the work was hard and Mr Toadsworth wasn't a very competent principal, and kept calling himself and his peers Master (insert name here) and Miss (insert name here). Oh, and of course there was Miss Kersti, his maths teacher. Mario fervently hoped she wouldn't be teaching him that year. In fact, he hoped she wouldn't be teaching at Toadstool Middle School at all.

He reluctantly left his warm bed, and pulled on a wrinkled red jumper he'd worn the day before and a pair of jeans. He grabbed a pair of white runners, and combed his hair. After brushing his teeth he headed downstairs, and of course, his twin brother Luigi was there before him, munching on his slice of toast at the table.

"Hey bro!" Luigi smiled. "Excited for school?"

"Yeah right. Good morning, Mamma and Papa."

"Good morning, Mario!"

Mario grabbed a bowl from the cupboard, and poured in some cereal and milk. He joined his family at the table, and ate his breakfast silently. After playing some video games, and making sure he had everything for the day, the time came for the twins to leave their house.

"So, Weegee," smirked Mario once they were out the door. "You still like Peach? You haven't said anything about her in ages."

To his surprise, Luigi didn't blush or stammer.

"Eh... I don't think I like her that much anymore."

"Hmm? How come?"

"I dunno. I guess I just... don't like her that way anymore. Anyway, I've more important stuff to be worrying about this year."

"Like what?"

"School work. Exams. Beating Waluigi at every possible moment."

"You're kidding me right?"

"What?"

"You're actually going to kill yourself studying just to do better than Waluigi? Come on Luigi, he's not worth your time."

"Heh... That last part was a joke. But I'm serious about the studying. Girls are just a distraction. Now that the work's gonna get tougher I'll have to up my game and start studying more than I did last year."

"Whatever you say, Weegee. Oh look, we're early for once," Mario noted as they approached the empty bus stop, save for a couple of high schoolers.

"And I guess we know whose fault that is."

"Hey, it's not my fault I don't hear my alarm, okay?"

Luigi rolled his eyes as they waited for a few minutes. He was pretty excited for eighth grade. He'd finally gotten over his crush on Peach, so this year he'd embarrass himself a lot less than before! When the bus arrived, they went straight to the two seats in front of where Yoshi was sitting, their best friend since elementary school.

"Hey guys!"

"Yoshi! Haven't seen you in a month now!" Mario playfully prodded Yoshi's stomach. "So, did you stick to your diet? Doesn't look like it!"

"Speak for yourself!" Yoshi grinned. "Anyway, how was Venice? You didn't send me any pics at all, or even text me," he added reproachfully.

"It was awesome! And yeah, here are the pictures we took," said Mario, flicking through the photos.

"Hmm, nice! Wish I was there!"

"Yeah. We had a great time, didn't we Luigi?" He nudged his twin, who hadn't spoken a word on the journey.

"Yep."

"What is it Luigi? Cat got your tongue?" Yoshi joked in an old lady's voice as the twins snorted with laughter. They continued to tell jokes and laugh some more as the bus drove past all of the houses and streets, and after a while, they saw their school from the window. Everyone hopped off the bus, and walked towards the school entrance.

"Do we keep our lockers from last year?" asked Mario.

"Yep. We keep them til we go into high school, then they're changed around. Don't you listen to anything Mr Toadsworth says?"

"Okay Mama Luigi, I promise I'll listen next time..."

"And don't call me Mama Luigi."

They opened the doors of their lockers, and once they'd put their things inside, they decided to walk around the building before classes began. Just as they'd gotten out the door, they bumped into Peach and Daisy, who'd clearly had the same idea. Luigi was quite pleased with himself. He didn't feel awkward, or at least not too awkward around the blonde, so now he knew for sure that he was definitely over her. His eyes then started to focus on Daisy, and... wow... she had changed so much... Gone was the chubby, scruffy redhead who had let herself be a victim of bullying. In her place stood a suntanned, slightly curvy girl, with hair cut to her shoulders and a smile that radiated confidence.

"Hey guys! Hey Luigi!" Daisy greeted cheerfully.

"Uh, hey!"

"Wow, Luigi!" she exclaimed. "You look so different without your glasses!"

"Heh heh, yeah. Glad I finally got rid of them, heh heh!"

Luigi had, at last, gotten over his fear of wearing contacts, and the fact that he'd also had his braces removed over the summer was the icing on the cake.

"So," said Peach. "How did your summer go?"

"Great!" said Yoshi. "Not that I did anything special, but... I guess it was just time off school."

"Yeah. Well, I have to go to my locker now, so we'd better get going. Bye guys!"

"Bye..."

Once the girls were gone, they started to walk. It was then that Luigi realised that Daisy was quite pretty. Not that he had a crush on her, oh no, not at all! But there was no denying that she had become good-looking in the past few months...

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Yoshi sniggering.

"Yoohoo? Earth to Mario?" he was saying, waving his hand over Mario's face.

"Wow..." he said, with a slight smile and a dreamy expression in his eyes. "Since when did Daisy get so hot..."

Both Yoshi and Luigi laughed.

"Never thought you'd end up liking Daisy of all people," Yoshi remarked, smirking when Mario's face flushed a little.

"Yeah... So..." Luigi said, changing the subject. "Where's Toad?"

"Yeah, where is Toad?"

"I dunno. I guess we'll find him later. I don't think we've much time left anyway."

"Yeah," Luigi agreed, checking his watch. "There's only a minute left to the bell."

Sure enough, the words were barely out of his mouth before the dreaded bell resounded in their ears. At least this year, now that they were eighth graders, they knew all of the rules and regulations of this place, and were aware that their homeroom was in the same place as the previous year. Wow, it'd be weird not to be the "babies" anymore...

They got inside the classroom to find their friend Toad practically on his own, save for one or two others, clearly among the first to arrive. Good old Toad, organised as always!

"Hey Toad," Mario smiled, taking a seat next to him, followed by Luigi and Yoshi. "Tired, huh?"

"Yeah..." he groaned.

"Same with me. I guess we'll get used to it after a while, right Mario?" Yoshi joked.

"Yeah right."

"Umm, guys? Guess what?"

"What?"

"Well I've two things to tell you... First off... wait for it... Miss Kersti's not teaching us this year!"

Mario grinned. "You're kidding! How do you know?"

"Our cousin Toadbert found out. Who knows how he got the news, but... there it is."

"Awesome... And... what else did you want to tell us?"

"Umm, okay... Well there's a new person in our class, not sure but I heard people saying her name's Birdo. Look behind you. No, not all at the same time!" he said as all three turned their heads. "Too late..."

A girl with longish brown hair and purple eye-shadow sat on her own at the back of the classroom.

"Cool," said Mario. "She looks okay, I guess."

"Yeah, but..." Toad fiddled with his hands uncomfortably. "You see... She's not really a "she"... um..."

"Huh?"

"She... she's actually a boy."

"Really?" said Luigi, his eyes wide. "But..." He looked at her again. At closer inspection, she did have a rather wide neck and rather manly features, but... "How do you know that, Toad?"

"Aww, you know, rumours go around, and... yeah. I don't mean that in a bad way, obviously, but... it's not something you see everyday, you know?"

"She's not a circus freak," said Yoshi abruptly. All eyes turned to look at him, causing him to blush slightly, but he didn't flinch. "I mean, I know she's different. But... I mean, you're all talking about her as if she's weird. I dunno... I don't think we should be talking like that about her. She's a person. That's all that matters."

Toad and the twins were speechless. This was pretty deep, coming from the chilled out, carefree Yoshi.

"You're right, Yoshi. I... I'm sorry. That came out kinda wrong, I... sorry."

Yoshi nodded, as Mr Piranha walked into the room.

"Everyone, sit down, sit down! Welcome back..."

But, one student was barely listening to his voice, as he turned around to glance at Birdo once more. She smiled slightly, and gave him a wink. Yoshi hastily faced forward, his face flushed red and his heart beating faster.

Was... was he falling for... Birdo?

Ugh... Why oh why hadn't he stuck to his diet?

I didn't bother writing how the full day at school went, since I don't think people want to reread the rules and regulations being explained by the teachers, which I've already written in the first fic. By the way I won't be re-explaining what happened in the first fic in this series, so if anyone has questions regarding the plot or if anyone's confused, ask me whatever you want to know in the reviews. And tell me what you think of this chapter too! Bye!