A/N Hi guys! I'm baaaaack! Did ya miss me? Did ya, did ya, did ya? :D I have come bearing another chapter of my story to share with you guys. I actually super surprised that so many of you followed and favored my story. It made me super happy! Which is one reason why I decided to upload another chapter so fast. Anyway, ENJOY!

Goode High loomed ahead of Dakota as she pulled her car into the parking lot. The student parking was quickly filling up with other cars, buses from residential areas pulling up to the curb and opening their doors. Dakota took a deep breath, telling herself it was going to be great before opening her door and climbing out. She swung her backpack across her shoulders and grabbed her violin case, keeping it close to her chest as if it could protect her from the people around her.

It's just school Dakota, it's not like anyone's going to hurt you. Relax.

She forced herself to take another deep breath, letting the case fall to her side. She rolled her shoulders and tried her best to look confident and cool. A few kids walking next to her threw her weird looks, but she didn't see them. Dakota was entirely focused on the school in front of her.

Goode High was a huge four story U shaped building made out of brownstone and brick. There was a flight of stairs leading up to the three double glass doors that marked the entrance. A fancy stone arch that had the words, "Goode High School" engraved in it stood before the stairs, staring down at the teens that passed underneath and into the school.

When she'd come for the origination, Dakota had gotten a tour of the school and knew that it boasted of a football stadium, a gym with an indoor pool, and a huge cafeteria. The school was defiantly for upper class kids but Dakota couldn't tell the difference between the Goode students and students from some of the public schools she'd gone to in the past. They were just your average collection of high school kids trying to survive another school year.

Dakota melted into the crowd, passing underneath the arch and up the stairs. Before she knew what was happening, she was through the doors and inside the school. The excited voices of teens greeting their friends, doors opening and slamming shut, and the squeak of shoes on the floor filled the air. Dakota ducked out of the crowd and to the side, setting her backpack on the floor so she could dig through it to find the information with her locker number and its combo.

Locker 2325. 65-43-13.

She wondered down the hall, taking a left and entering another one. The first floor had offices, the cafeteria, and the teacher's lounge, but no lockers or classrooms. She followed the sea of kids up a flight of stairs and into the second floor's hallway. She passed teens, lockers, and classroom doors in what seemed like a never ending walk. Finally Dakota caught sight of a silver locker with "2325" painted on it in straight white lines. She quickly opened her locker and stuffed her violin and backpack inside, remembering to pull out her schedule and stuff in it her back pocket. She grabbed a pencil and the notebook she had picked out for her first class before slamming the door shut.

The air was suddenly filled with a high pitched ringing that bounced off the walls and made Dakota want to plug her ears. The warning bell had wrung, she had five minutes to get to her first class. The kids around her were closing their lockers and heading off in different directions towards their own classes. Dakota pulled the paper out of her pocket and doubled checked where she was supposed to go.

Mr. Darren, Literature: A Study of Genres, third floor, room 24.

Dakota set off towards the stairs at the back of the hallway with a couple dozen other kids. She climbed the steps without thinking, her body moving automatically. The chatting voices of the kids with her bounced around in the small space of the stairwell, one of them grabbed the third floor door and pulled it open, heading through it. Dakota grabbed hold of the door as it was about to close and slipped inside another hallway. Glancing down the length of the hall she was relieved to see it almost filled with kids rushing back and forth, opening doors and slipping inside.

Catching sight of a glass door with "24" on it, Dakota moved forward, avoiding teens who were in her way. She finally reached the door and reached out to open it. Before she could, a hand from behind her pushed it open instead. Dakota glanced back in surprise and saw a teen dressed all in back holding it open for her.

"Thanks," she smiled briefly at him before heading into the classroom.

About eight kids were already in the classroom which could hold around twenty. Dakota headed directly towards a seat in the front row. It was the only row out of the four in the class that didn't have someone in it. She liked literature and was excited about the class, the closer she was to the front the better she could hear everything that the teacher said. She guessed she was a bit of a nerd for that, but she didn't care.

The boy in black that had come in with her sat in the back, slouching across his desk like he didn't care. Dakota guessed he wasn't a fan of literature, or any kind of schoolwork for that matter. He looked like the typical high school "bad boy" who didn't give a hoot about the rest of the world. Dakota glanced around at the other students that were quickly filling the room, noticing that it was a good mix of all ages.

Literature at Goode was one of the classes that combined all four years. Social Studies was the other one. There were four different classes that students had to take during their four years, for Literature it was: English Composition 1, English Composition 2, A Study of Genres, and Literature from Around the World. For Social Studies the classes were: American History, World History, American Geography, and World Geography. It didn't matter in which order they were taken, which is why students from all four years were assigned to each class. Dakota assumed that this was the case to encourage mixing between years. She wondered if it worked.

There were eighteen students in the class when the final bell rang and a man whom Dakota took as the teacher walked inside. He was tall and thin with graying blond hair and glasses. He glanced at the class before turning and writing "Mr. Darren" on the board with the words "A Study of Genres" underneath. Turning back to the face the class, he sat at his desk and picked up the roll call. After each name he called he would either make them switch seats or let them stay at their chosen desks. Dakota figured it was so he could keep track of trouble makers and separate friends. She had to admit, it was a pretty smart move.

He called out a name that sounded like "Angelo" and asked the person to move to the desk two to the right from Dakota. Dakota glanced over and realized that it was the boy in black. She bet a million to one that Mr. Darren took one look at him and decided he was worth watching. Dakota couldn't blame him; the boy looked like trouble with a capital T.

"Nichols, Allison," Mr. Darren called out.

Dakota glanced up.

"Here," she replied.

Mr. Darren studied her and her choice of sitting on the front row before moving on to another name. Dakota relaxed back into her seat, glad that she didn't have to move. After the roll call was complete, Mr. Darren stood up and walked in front of his desk.

"Welcome to 'A Study of Genres', class."

There were some moans and snide comments but for the most part it was quiet.

"This year we will be taking specific genres and studying them closely. Each month will be a new genre. We will read an example of that genre as a class then take a test on it. After that you will partner off and take another example of that genre and study it. You and your partner will write an essay on that literary example and explain how it fits the genre. December and May will both be review and exam months, so we will only be studying seven genres."

He grabbed a stack of papers on his desk and handed them to the person at the end of the first row.

"Please take one and pass the stack down," he told the girl who did what he said, "This is a list of the genres we will be studying this year. I urge you to study it closely and be prepared for the genres ahead of time. You can never be too familiar with the course information."

The stack of papers had reached Dakota and she took on before handing it to the boy who sat at the desk to her left. Laying the paper down on top of the textbook that had already been on her desk, she took a second to glance at the genres they would be covering, rather excited at this unique approach to literature.

September: Classics

October: Myths

November: Historical Fiction

January: Science Fiction

February: Poetry

March: Biographies

April: Fantasy

"You may have noticed that I've picked two odd genres to begin with: classics and myths. These two normally don't appear in genre studies; however, I believe they are important genres that should be studied carefully. Classics are probably something all of you are aware of, but how many of you are familiar with myths?"

Mr. Darren looked at the class as he said that, raising an eyebrow.

No one spoke.

"Exactly," he continued, "None of you seem to be fluent in that particular genre. That is exactly why we will be studying it this year. Now, to begin, open your textbooks to the first chapter. We're going to discuss what exactly a 'genre' is."

Dakota flipped open her textbook and for the next hour was completely wrapped up in Mr. Darren's lecture on genres. She liked how he was able to take a subject that was well traversed and shine a whole new light on it. He was genuinely interesting and seemed to enjoy what he was talking about. Dakota decided that she was glad she got to start the day off with literature every morning, something good to carry her into the rest of the school day.

Before she knew it, the bell was ringing and class was over. She gathered her textbook, notebook, and pencil into her arms and headed out into the hallway. She made a stop at her locker to put away her stuff before heading to her next class: Geometry. This class was on the third floor as well and Dakota was breathing harder by the time she'd reached the room.

The morning quickly sped by and lunch time was quickly upon Dakota. Making another stop at her locker to drop off her books from her last class, she headed down to the first floor and followed the other teens into the huge cafeteria. The huge room could have easily sat five hundred kids, but because there were over a thousand attending Goode, there were two different lunch times. Glancing around, Dakota decided that lunch must be another mixed time for she caught sight both freshman and seniors waiting in line with the sophomores and juniors.

Her stomach grumbled loudly and Dakota slipped into the lunch line, grateful she had gotten the first lunch time.

"Dakota!" A voice called out.

Dakota started and glanced around, wondering who was calling her name.

Two girls were making their way through the crowd to stand next to her. The first was the one who had called Dakota's name. She was a tall junior with curly black hair that was held away from her face in a high ponytail. Her golden brown eyes were lined with eyeliner which appeared to be the only bit of makeup on her face. She was wearing a dark green tank top and dark blue jean shorts.

The second girl was Dakota's age and was about four inches shorter. Her cropped blond hair had streaks of bright blue that matched her eyes. Her heart shaped face was expertly done in makeup and she managed to make glasses look chic. She was wearing a white lace shirt with a bright blue tank underneath and kaki capris. Dakota noticed her electric blue high-top converse and mentally congratulated her.

"Hey, Dakota!" The first girl smiled, standing next to Dakota in line, "We thought we'd never find you."

"Yeah, lunch is always extremely crazy!" The second girl agreed, "Especially on the first day. Or whenever they're having enchiladas. For a New York school, they make great Mexican food."

Dakota smiled, relaxing at their friendly chatter. Both of the girls were in Dakota's music class and she'd met them at orientation. The girls usually had three other friends, two boys and girl, but since they were absent Dakota assumed they had gotten the other lunch time

"It's Alexia and Stephanie, right?" She asked, trying to put the right name with the right girl.

"Yep!" The second girl, Stephanie, beamed, "Good job! To be honest, I didn't remember your name. Lexis had to remind me."

Dakota shrugged, "It's ok. I'm not very good with names either."

"I remembered your name because my grandparents live in North Dakota," Alexia laughed, "So I can't really claim to having a great memory either."

"So how's your experience at Goode so far?" Stephanie asked, pushing her glasses farther up her nose.

"It's actually been fine," Dakota said, "I was really nervous to begin with, but everything's gone well."

"Goode is 'Good'," Alexia laughed, "I've been going here since my freshman year and I've loved every bit of it."

"This is only my second year," Stephanie told Dakota, "But both of my older sisters went here. And I mean, a school with a drama program? What's not to love?"

Alexia rolled her eyes but Dakota was curious.

"Is drama your other activity besides music?"

"Yep!" Stephanie nodded, her glasses slipping down again, "It's actually kind of sad, because with music, you guys get to play during the plays and stuff. I actually have to sing and act. Not that I don't love that, but I wish I got to play like the rest of you too."

"The music class does the music for the school plays?" Dakota asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah," Alexia replied, "We get to try out with different instruments and the best students get solos. Everyone gets to be part of the band though, so everyone plays."

"Except for me," Stephanie sighed dramatically.

Alexia shoved Stephanie playfully and Dakota smiled. She liked Alexia and Stephanie; they seemed genuinely nice and interesting. It also helped that they had music in common, something to tie their different personalities together. If the rest of their friends were like this, Dakota was excited to meet them.

She wondered who else she'd meet at Goode. She hoped that she would make friends that would last, friends that she could rely on even if she moved. It would be nice, she decided, to have people to hang out with.

Well, what did you guys think this time? Still good? Boring? Does it make you want to stab yourself with a spoon? Review and let me know! I'd LOVE to get some feedback, or questions, or whatever! So seriously, hit me with your best shot!

~Forever13