Chapter 2

After the laughter died down, and they went and said good-bye to their parents, they decided to go visit their neighbors…. Their male neighbors, in room 108B. They headed down the hall. Kate knocked on the door.

"This is kind of weird," Claire said nervously, to break the silence.

"What's taking so long," Kate grumbled. She turned around. "Should we just go?"

"No, try again," Claire and Shannon argued back. Kate turned around and stepped towards the door which was now open. She ran into the person who opened the door, and fell to the ground.

"Kate, why do we keep meeting like this?" Kate looked up. It was Jack. He extended his arm. Kate could hear Claire and Shannon laughing behind her. She scrambled up.

"We were, uh, just coming to… meet you guys…. We live next door," She stuttered. Jack nodded his approval and motioned for them to come in. They slowly entered the dorm. It looked somewhat like theirs', with a two bunks on either side of the room. A boy strumming on a guitar sat on top of one, and a guy with a pile of pillows around his bed was lying under him. On the other side was a boy reading on the bottom bunk. Jack hopped up on the bed above his.

"Don't be shy, come in," Jack said. "Sit on our beds. We don't have chairs up yet, sorry." Immediately, the boy reading his book threw his legs onto the bed so there was no way anyone could sit there. Jack, on the other hand, scooted over, the boy playing guitar put his guitar aside, and the guy with pillows around his bed kicked some over. Shannon headed over to his bed, Kate hopped up with Jack, and Claire sat with the guitar-player.

"Guys, this is Kate and whom I assume are her roommates," Jack announced. Claire and Shannon said their names. "Kate, Claire, Shannon, this is Sawyer," he slapped the bunk under him, "Sayid," he pointed to the barrier of pillows, "and Charlie," he indicated the guitar player across from him. "And I'm Jack," he added quickly.

"His name is James," Sayid said, revealing a noticeable accent.

"It is not, Muhammad," Sawyer growled angrily. His eyes widened with realization. "Oh, crap," he muttered. It was all so quick. Sawyer threw himself down as Sayid pulled out a slingshot and suddenly, Sawyer yelled "Ow!" and picked up an eraser. "Dang, Muhammad, you've got sharp-shooting skills." Sawyer muttered angrily, tossing the eraser back in frustration.

"My real name is James, but everyone calls me Sawyer," Sawyer grumbled.

"So anyway," Shannon said nervously, breaking the tension. "I hear that at this school they have, like, a ton of dances. Like, one every month, or even more."

Charlie pulled out a handful of brochures from his pocket and tossed one to everyone. "They explain most of it in there," He said with his strong English accent. "The closest one is in four days, on Friday. It's a "welcoming" dance."

"Ooh, sounds fun," Claire said excitedly. "We should go. All of us." Everyone agreed.

"Oh my gosh!" Kate shrieked. "Girls basketball tryouts are today??? IN TEN MINUTES???"

"Well, gee Kate, do you by chance want to try out for basketball?" Jack said.

Shannon shrieked too. "Oh my gosh, we have to go!" Shannon and Kate rushed out the door before anyone could say goodbye.

Shannon and Kate skidded to a halt and the end of the hallway, as they were about to crash into a group of people. "Sorry, sorry," They all said quickly. "Are you guys going to basketball tryouts?" one girl with dark skin and black hair said. They nodded. "Well there's no need to hurry, it's just outside the building."

"Oh, thank God," Shannon said. "I'm Shannon and this is Kate. Do you live in room 109A?" The group of girls nodded.

"I'm Ana-Lucia," the girl with dark skin said. "This is Libby," she nodded to a girl with dirty blonde hair, "And Sun." she pointed to an Asian girl. They began walking towards the gym. This school was alright, they all thought.

Kate sat at the lunchroom table. Their table was full with herself, Shannon, Claire, Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Charlie, Boone, Ana, Libby, and Sun.

"So, Shan, what were you saying about dances? You know, before you and Kate ran away?" Claire asked.

"Oh yeah," Shannon said. "Well, apparently for now in September they have the Back-to-School dance, in October is Halloween, November is a Thanksgiving Feast, December is Christmas, and then New Year's goes until January, February is Valentine's day, March is St. Patrick's, April is prom, May is Spring party, and June is a pool party on some kid's yacht."

"Wow," Kate said. "Oh yeah, I remember seeing that… wasn't it like Hugo's Boat Party or something."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah that was it. Who's Hugo, though?"

"Who cares?" Sawyer said. "It's a pool party, and that means girls in swimsuits. That is a guaranteed good time."

Everyone rolled their eyes. Kate realized that Sawyer is always like this. At least he's funny.