1st period, English class. The joy of her scholastic life. Did you catch the sarcasm there? Mr Matthews just announced that their class would be reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird' during first term. Silver joined in the chorus of groans, not because that meant reading a book which was the cause of the other complaints, but that it was the same obvious choice as last year's 'Gulliver's Travels.'

*Why can't these people be original for a change and give us something decent to read… What is wrong with 'The Incredible Lightness of Being?' or 'The Dollhouse?'* Silver wondered to herself. She had read To Kill a Mockingbird when she was 8. Oh well, at least the assignment would be an easy A.

*Knock, knock!*

Mr Matthews turned towards the sound. "Come in!" A girl tentatively popped her head around the door and stepped into the classroom. "Um, are you Mr Matthews, is this English?" she asked uncertainly.

"I am, Miss Wilson, I've been expecting you. Come on in," Mr Matthews said as he pointed to an empty seat in the second row. "Class, this is Annie Wilson. Yes, the last name should ring a bell. She is Principal Wilson's daughter. Let's all make her feel welcome," Mr Matthews encouraged them, beginning to clap.

An overwhelming 2 people half-heartedly followed his example, prompting him to repeat himself. "Come on guys, you can do better than that! Yes, clapping! There we go!" he exclaimed sarcastically as about half the class was now half-heartedly clapping. Annie sat down and Mr Matthews approached her desk. "So, where are you from, Annie?"

"Wichita, Kansas," she replied.

"Kansas… Now who can tell me the capital of Kansas? No one?" Mr Matthews looked around disappointed when no one offered an answer. "Who's the guy with one name from 'Superbad?' he followed up.

"Mc'Lovin," the class replied in unison, laughing.

"Mc'Lovin. Everyone knows Mc'Lovin but no one knows that Topeka is the capital of Kansas. Sad. So why did you move here, Annie?"

"Dad got offered the Principal's position, plus we wanted to live closer to my Grandma," Annie replied, smiling. She liked this teacher, he was cool.

"*cough* NARK! *cough*" came from the back of the room. The class turned and snickered, and Annie's smile evaporated.

"Nice, George. Yet another girl at this school who'll never go out with you," Mr Matthews concluded. The class erupted in laughter. Silver shook her head appreciatively. She'd watched the awkward introduction with some amusement.

The door opened and shut behind the school's resident Malibu Barbie, Naomi. "Well hi Naomi, we're so grateful you could join us!" Mr Matthews exclaimed.

Naomi sighed dramatically. "I was at the Doctor," she replied condescendingly.

"*cough* GYNO! *cough*!" George called out again.

Naomi turned and glared at him. "Yes George, I was at the Gynaecologist, who asked me to remind you to keep your vagina clean," she replied icily.

The class snickered, laughed and dissed George for getting shut down by Naomi.

"Well Naomi, I can't wait to see your eloquence in use on paper when you turn in your book report by tomorrow, or I'll fail you!" Mr Matthews threatened.

Naomi smirked, knowing full well that her parents would get her out of writing her assignment when they came to the school later that day.

Mr Matthews could see that Naomi wasn't taking his statement seriously. "You know Naomi, you weren't here to greet our newest transfer student. This is Annie," he said, motioning to Annie who was sitting to her left. Naomi begrudgingly looked at her, raising her eyebrows in greeting. "And I can tell that you two will become fast friends while you take her under your wing and show her around today," he concluded.

Naomi rolled her eyes and flashed a fake smile. "Of course, Mr Matthews. Will there be anything else?"

As Mr Matthews opened his mouth to tell Naomi to play nice with Annie, that she was the new principal's daughter he decided to withhold that nugget of information. He was rather interested to watch Naomi put her foot in it and decided he would be on the lookout for Naomi and Annie today to see how the other shoe dropped. With that, the bell rang signalling the end of class.

As everyone gathered their books and began to leave, Silver noticed a familiar sticker on Annie's notebook and angled her head to get a better look.

*Hmm, she's into Division 8? Maybe the new Principal's daughter isn't such a loser after all?* she contemplated as she headed out to Math class.

Lunchtime rolled around and Kelly walked up behind Mr Matthews as he was rather obviously finding humour at the situation unfolding in front of him. Naomi had been treating Annie like her personal gopher for the past 15 minutes, sending her back to the lunch line with her salad because she found carrot in it, which she specifically requested it to be made without. She then sent her to her locker to retrieve a forgotten lip gloss for the mid lunch reapplication. Annie was beginning to look frazzled and frustrated. Kelly decided it was time to step in.

"Ryan," she said from directly behind Mr Matthews causing him to jump. He had been so engrossed with the goings-on with Naomi and Annie that he hadn't noticed Kelly Taylor, the school's Guidance Counsellor standing right behind him. Ryan had been trying to get up the courage to ask Kelly out for weeks now but to no avail.

"Kelly!" Ryan responded with the feeling that he had just been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. "What's going on?" he asked feigning innocence.

"Why don't you tell me, Ryan," Kelly replied as she watched him squirm. "You've been watching Naomi order poor Annie around all lunch and seem to be getting some kind of enjoyment out of it!"

"Well… You see… I thought it might teach Naomi…" Ryan faltered.

"I get it… Naomi is a stuck up brat who thinks the world revolves around her. But that's no reason to punish Annie. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to put an end to this," Kelly finished as she walked over to the table where Naomi was sitting with her friends Morgan and Adrianna and Annie.

"Hi girls!" Kelly said in an overly excited manner. She ignored the mumbled responses she got from the prima donnas and sat next to Annie. "Hey Annie, my name is Kelly Taylor. I'm the school's guidance counsellor and I wanted to come over and make sure you felt welcome! It's not easy being the Principal's kid is it?" she asked sympathetically, squeezing Annie's shoulder.

Naomi nearly choked on her food. "Principal's… daughter?" she spluttered. "Oh I am so out of here… Ladies!" she commanded as she stormed off to vent about the predicament Mr Matthews had put her in.

Annie watched them go with a feeling of relief mixed with trepidation. She didn't necessarily like Naomi, but at least she wasn't stuck by herself or getting lost all day. She turned to Kelly and sighed. "No, as you can see, it's not. It's a little repellent to everyone," motioning to the now empty table.

Kelly laughed and mumbled under her breath "trust me, you are better off. I hope your day gets better, feel free to come and find me anytime you need to chat. My door is always open," she offered as she stood up to leave.

"Thank you, Miss Taylor," Annie replied with a smile. She had a feeling Miss Taylor was right, Naomi didn't seem like someone she really wanted to spend any length of time with.

Kelly walked back over to where Ryan still stood. "Well, what did you think?" she asked him.

"Nicely done," he commended her with a grin.

"Yeah well, you're not the only one who thinks Naomi is a complete pain in the ass," she conceded with a smile.

"I'm only sorry my plan had to come to an end. It was fun while it lasted," said Ryan.

"I'm glad I could be a part of it! See ya later," Kelly said, raising her eyebrow and looking at him as she began to walk away. When Kelly was very young, she realised she had a great deal of power over men. She was always able to tell when a man was interested in her and rather enjoyed playing up to it and seeing which of them would act on it. Not that she was a tease, she was just a very skilled flirt and learnt a lot about the men she dated by watching their moves during the flirtatious banter she instigated. Kelly smiled to herself as she returned to her office, hoping Ryan would rise to the bait she's dangled in front of him.