"Dang, this school is huge," Mack muttered to herself as she looked around. "I wouldn't be surprised if I got lost in here."

"Then allow me to escort you," a vice behind her said, causing her to jump in fright. She whirled around and glared once she noticed that it was the kid who ran into her. She had to look up slightly to glare at his face since he was taller than her.

"I don't need your help. I can find my way by myself!" She snapped before turning around and continued walking down the hallway. Newt followed her as she passed by lockers. "Why are you following me?" She demanded once she stopped and looked over at him.

"I'm not following you, you're going the same why I am. My locker's over there," he said as he pointed. He looked at her face and saw a look of horror on it. He took a glance at the piece of paper that was in her hands and grinned. "Hey, you have the locker next to mine! That' means we're locker buddies! Awesome!"

"Why is god punishing me?" Mack asked herself as she opened her locker door and shoved her books inside it. "Did I do something wrong? I don't think I did anything to deserve this torture."

"Who're you talking to?" Newt asked as he looked at her with a quizzical look on his face.

"Someone who apparently doesn't want to see me happy," Mack growled through clenched teeth. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Newton Livingston III, but you can call me Newt."

"Why? You can't remember your full name?" Mack asked with a smirk as she grabbed her history books.

"Exactly! It's like you know me so well!" He said with a bright smile. Mack's smirk faltered as he put an arm around her shoulders and started leading her down the hall despite her struggles and protests. "I know we're going to be the best of friends."

"Hey genius, usually friends know each other's names," Mack snapped as she shoved Newt in the side, causing him to bump into a group of girls that was passing by.

"Oh look, it's Lizard," a girl dressed completely in pink said as she wrinkled her nose.

"It's Newt," he corrected her with a cheery smile.

"Whatever," she said as she raised her hand. Her eyes fell on Mack and she smirked as she walked up to the mentioned black haired girl. "And what are you doing here? The Freak Show left town two months ago."

"In your world that was probably clever," Mack said in a bored tone as she dropped her books casually stuffed her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. "It's not like I haven't heard that before: calling me a freak just because I'm different and you don't know me. Well, then I think you're a stuck up bitch that needs to know when to back off!" She took a threatening step towards them as she cracked her knuckles.

"Back away!" She said as she and her followers back up against the lockers. She whipped out a nail file and held it in front of Mack's face.

"Is that thing supposed to scare me?" Mack asked with a laugh. She took the nail file and squeezed it in her palm until it snapped in half. "Whoops," she said dully as she dropped the pieces onto the floor.

"You're going to regret doing that," the girl said as she tried to glare. Mack just grinned evilly before she rushed off, her group following and the clicking of heels fading.

"Wooooow," Newt said in amazement as Mack picked up her books and started to walk off. "Hey, thanks for helping me."

"I didn't do that to help you," Mack said as she whirled around and glared at him. "I just can't stand people like that." She noted the look on his face and added, "And that doesn't mean we're friends! Got it?"

"Got it," Newt responded with a nod. He blinked and asked, "Wait, what?"

Mack growled in frustration as she stomped off to her first class. Newt held the same confused look on his face as Cory and Meena walked up to him. He turned and smiled at them as they got their books from their locker.

"Well? What do you think of her?" Meena asked as she turned to look at Newt.

"She's awesome," he responded. "But there's only one problem."

"What's that?" Cory and Meena asked in unison.

"She hates me."

"I'm sure she'll come around," Meena said reassuringly. "Who can hate you? You're too sweet."

"Thanks Meena."

Cory made a face at the two friends who were smiling at each other. Sure, he's only known them for a couple of months, but how close they were still bothered him. They said they were just friends but he couldn't help but think they were something more from time to time. He wasn't the only one who thought that. His enemy and rival for Meena's affection, Jason Stickler, constantly thought that Newt and Meena liked each other. He backed off of stalking Meena for a while, but only started up again to figure out if there was something going on between her and Newt and to see if he should be looking out for Newt instead.

"Hey guys, are you up for band practice today at the Liberry?" Cory questioned as they started walking to their first period classroom.

"I'm up for it. I need to practice singing that new song anyway," Meena responded before she started to sing Turn It Up under her breath. Cory smiled once he heard her voice. He loved hearing her sing because, to him, it sounded like angels singing.

"Dude, you're looking at her funny again," Newt said as they slowed their walk a little so Meena was walking in front of them.

"I can't help it. I really like her Newt," he responded as he studied Newt's face for any sign of him liking her too. But it only held the same foggy look that Cory was sure was permanent.

"So, why don't you just tell her?" He questioned as they walked up the stairs. "What can go wrong?"

"Umm, let's see, she could turn me down. She could think I'm weird and not want to be my friend anymore. And, oh, it could ruin our friendship for the rest of our lives. No, I can't risk that. Not until I know that she likes me back."

"Whatever you say," Newt said with a shrug as they walked into the room. "But don't wait too long or you might miss your chance." Cory look at him in amazement. Like other random moments, he said something smart that got him thinking. And to him, that was scary. Thankfully a loud banging sound interrupted him. He turned his attention to the noise and laughed out loud. Mack had Stickler pinned to the wall just by having her hand in a tight grip around his neck, a furious look in her eyes.

"What's going on here?"

Everyone scattered and quickly sat down as the teacher came in. Mack dropped Stickler and glared up at the teacher.

"We don't accept fighting in this school, I don't expect new students to know that so I'm going to let you off with a warning," Mr. Gregory stated as he walked over to his desk. Mack just brushed the single streak in her hair behind her ear before sitting down in her seat. "Class, as you obviously tell, we have a new student. Mackenzie Montgomery came here from Miami, Florida. Mackenzie, would you like to say something to the class?"

"Do I have to?" She asked in a bored tone.

"Yes."

"All right," she said with a sigh as she stood and faced the class. "As long as you stay the hell out of my way then we won't have a problem." She sat back down without saying a word and raising the hood to her long sleeved gray shirt and slumped in her chair. 'I hate this school. I hate the people here. I hate my mom. I just want to go back to Florida where everything made sense and the people there weren't too busy trying to be cool. And in Florida I wasn't stalked by an air headed rocker.'

A piece of paper landed on her desk. She eyed it as if it were going to exploded in her face. She hesitantly stuck her hand out and opened the piece of paper to see a sentence scrawled on it: Come sit wit us at lunch, Newt. She turned her head slightly to glance in his direction. He gave her a smile and a thumbs up. 'If I go I might not get rid of him, but If I don't he'll follow me around until I do. I might as well.' She nodded slightly before turning her 'attention' to the teacher. 'Why do they want to know me so much?'

-Flashback-

"Mackenzie Montgomery," Stickler said as she set foot into the room. "Came here all the way from Miami, Florida. Has a twin brother, a little sister, and two loving parents. But wait, you hate your mother for some reason and you came here because you're running away from…a secret."

"Who the hell are you and how do you know all of that?" she demanded as she grabbed the collar to his shirt.

"Jason Stickler, my dad's the head of the CIA," he responded with a grin. "I know everything about you, Mackenzie. It's part of my job. So, you've run away from three schools for the same reason. Would you run away again if this school found out?"

"You wouldn't dare!" She growled as she grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. "Because if you do I'm going to make damn sure you won't be able to talk ever again, got it?"

-End Flashback-

'I have to watch what I say or we'll all be in danger.'