"Are you okay?" Lucy asked placing a tedious hand on my shoulder.

"Still taking everything in but I'll be fine once everything settles down." I flashed a sincere smile.

"Yeah I'm still getting over the shock of everything too."

"Well this is my class." I stopped outside the door A24. "I'll meet you at that café after school. I'll wait for you there it'll be easier than trying to regroup in the halls m'kay?"

"True, true." Lucy started off down the hall. "Take care of yourself, sis!" she called over her shoulder.

"You too!" I sighed and ducked into the classroom before I could get trapped in the current of the hallway and/or trampled. I stood next to the teacher's podium, waiting to be given a seat. I felt a twinge of annoyance when I noticed I was only about a foot taller than four foot tall podium. I huffed my silent curses at my unfortunate height.

A clanging of metal on metal echoed throughout the building, every student out in the halls scrambled to get to their first of the day. What a pleasant bell, I thought; I can already imagine the headaches it's going to give me.

The teacher strode in, closing the door loudly behind her. "Good morning my lovelies!' she chirped. "Today we have a new student!" she turned to me and gave an indication for me to introduce myself.

"Hello, my name is Levy McGarden. I moved here from New York." I waved and dipped my head respectfully. "It's nice to meet you all. Please take care of me!" I beamed.

"Now isn't that lovely?" the teacher smiled back at me. "Well welcome to the rodeo cowgirl!" She jokingly shot imaginary bullets out of her gun hands. "You can sit at the table in the back that's next to the widow." She pointed at the table in question; I gave another quick courteous nod and shuffled over to my new seat.

I set my book bag down in the empty seat next to me and rolled m shoulders reveling in the sweet relief of its bulky overweightness being removed from my back. I let a pleased sigh escape my lips before digging through the contents of my bag for the book that currently held my interest.

The girl in front of me turned around and smiled brightly. Her long dark blue hair was pulled into two low sloppy ponytails. She had on a light yellow sweatshirt and from what I could see a pair of jeans and sneakers. "Hi! My name's Wendy!" she stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet ya'!" I took her hand unsure; she shook it firmly and smiled again. Oh my god she's adorable. I smiled back at her before she could turn around and resume paying attention to the lesson.

I flipped to the page I read in my book, smiling contently to myself. This is life, and life goes best with a good book.

Just I was slipping into my 'do not disturb or be brutally murdered' reading zone the classroom door swung open, colliding with the wall behind it. Damn…how dare they interrupt my reading? I didn't look up to see who was so all high and mighty they thought they could disrupt class in such a way. I in all honesty didn't really care.

"You're late." The teacher said flatly.

"So?" a deep gruff voice replied, the teachers annoyance rolled off her in waves. I could practically feel her roll her eyes.

"Go to your seat." She sighed. Heavy foot falls crossed the room, I didn't bother to look up and see who they belonged to – it didn't matter to me.

"Oi, shrimp you're in my seat." The deep gruff voice spoke again, closer now. Probably talking to someone a table or two away – I ignored them again. "I'm talking to you, shrimp." A shadow fell over me. Ugh! I can't read like this!

I looked up to see a monumental figure standing over me, the backlighting cancelled out any and all of their features; save for their outline of course. But I didn't particularly care to see what they looked like in the first place. "Can you move? You're blocking out the light." I kept my voice calm and my face passive. I could've sworn I heard a faint growling in the back of their throat like they were some kind of feral cat.

"Levy dear, can you move your backpack please?" the asked sweetly from the front of the room.

"Oh, right. Of, course." I replied dumbly as I hurried to move my book bag and sling it over the back of my chair. The human monument plopped down in the now empty seat, with enough force it made the table and I bounce.

I hadn't even looked up at the newcomer but, they gave off a nasty aura of such intense intimidation and hostility I found myself slowly shrinking into the wall as to escape from them. I felt a pair of eyes pinning me in place, not pleasant. When I glanced over at my tablemate I met gazes with a pair of bright scarlet eyes; their brow furrowed with annoyance.

Oh great. I've already pissed someone scary off on the first day. Way to go Levy. "Um…uh…" he narrowed his eyes when I spoke. "Hi…" he growled and turned away from me– what a lovely person.

He had put earbuds in and closed his eyes leaving me free to examine him without being trapped by his piercing stare. He was huge even sitting down – compared to me he was huge at least. His messy raven black hair was slung over the back of his chair. His large array of piercings winked up at me, they were everywhere. On his nose, his chin, his eyebrows, even his arms. "You can pierce your arms? What the hell." I mumbled under my breath, he gave a quiet grunt.

"He smells like an onion." I wrinkled my nose at the unpleasant scent. "That's nasty…" I eyed his clothes, all of which were stained with motor oil and blood. Ew…

He grunted again, slightly louder this time, and opened one eye to glare at me. I quickly looked away pretending to suddenly be interested in the wilted tree outside the window. Wait did he hear me? Awkward…

Clang! Clang! Clang! I cringed at the obnoxious bell as it rang throughout the building – ugh… so annoying. I hurried to pack up my things so I could meet up with Lucy quicker.

Out in the halls I was pushed every which way; into walls, into open doors, into other people. I made slow progress to the outside world, once outside I was promptly pushed into a metal railing by someone walking by with a giant oversized backpack. I grumbled my annoyance as I stalked off to the set meeting location.

Lucy was already there and leaning against the building of the small café clutching her notebook. I jogged up to her enthusiastically. "Hey." I panted slightly.

"hey." Lucy pushed the door open and led us inside. We were greeted by the pleasant smell of coffee beans and fresh baked bread.

"Just get me something carmelly and hot. I'll go get us a table." I turned to walk off. "Oh and a strawberry cake!" she nodded and hopped in line, I spotted a cozy table in the back corner – away from any freezing cold air vents. I threw my stuff into the corner of the booth and plopped down next to it. I sunk into the oddly colored plush seat, my feet touched the ground - kind of; an odd feeling of triumph came over me. I felt a smug smile appear on my face.

Lucy sat a tray with our goodies on it down in front of me, and slid into the booth across from me. "So what happened with you today?" I took a small careful sip of my coffee being aware of its inferno like heat.

"Some kid accidentally lit his sleeve on fire in chemistry class. He didn't even look surprised he just looked completely and utterly done with life." She took the lid off her coffee and blew away the steam rising from it.

"impressive." I commented; she nodded her agreement before continuing.

"Apparently it's a fairly common occurrence with him. I think his name was…uh…Nate or Nathan…? Something with n-a at the beginning, I remember that much. How 'bout you? How was your day?" she took a sip of her beverage.

"There's this guy I sit next to in homeroom and a couple other classes as well, who's like a living monument. He's freakin' huge!"

"Or at least compared to you." She snickered; I flashed an unimpressed look before going on.

"He was covered in motor oil and blood which is mildly concerning…he also smelled like an onion." I wrinkled my nose at the last bit making Lucy giggle. "Oh yeah, has mom picked a new place for the restaurant?"

"She did. She texted me about it earlier."

"Ugh! It's going to be like o' nine all over again." Flashbacks from several years ago when mom's restaurant caught fire and burned down due to a faulty oven. The charred food remains fed the strays in the neighborhood for a month.

"But with four times as much equipment." A look of great displeasure crossed her face as she hung her head in defeat – I followed suit.