Suzy-Michelle looked sullenly between Silas Hudson and the school principal, Mr. Anderson, as they discussed her placement in class. "It's a little awkward because we don't have her academic records," Mr. Anderson complained.

Silas drawled, "Well I'm sure we'll be able to put something together, sir. We're still looking for her records, but she's had considerable home schooling, and I'm sure she'll do fine."

Talk about me as if I'm not here, why don't you, Suzy-Michelle thought. They had been going on like that for ten minutes at least. She hated Silas Hudson at that moment.

Mr. Anderson smiled condescendingly at Suzy-Michelle, the first time he had acknowledged her presence. "I think we have an opening in Mr. Beal's class," he told her, looking through a sheaf of papers in her hands. "Come along this way."

The girl glanced at Silas, who nodded encouragingly, "We're just a short walk from the school, Suzy-Michelle. We'll see you afterwards." She sighed, and followed the principal. Silas gave her a little wave which she thought a horribly sentimental gesture.

Mr. Anderson stopped in the hall, opened the door to a classroom, and Suzy-Michelle walked through, peering around anxiously. She saw an open desk close to the wall and made her way through the isle to sit down on it. "Fantastinite," the instructor was saying. "Hypertime." Suzy-Michelle realised that the class was in the middle of a spelling test. What was she supposed to do?

Mr. Anderson walked to the front of the class and silently handed him the sheaf of papers. The man, she guessed he was Mr. Beal, nodded to the principal. He had curly reddish-brown hair and a weak chin. "Amalgamation," he said.

He continued to recite words as Suzy-Michelle sat there feeling awkward. "Please pass your papers to the front," he suddenly announced. A moment later she felt a tap on her left shoulder and turned around to see a boy handing her a pile of tests, which she handed to the student in front of her. "Class, please welcome our new student, Suzy-Michelle Starrling." Beal's eyes roamed the room. "Nedley, would you please show Miss Starrling around?"

Suzy-Michelle turned around again, to see her tour guide, and a lean girl with brown hair, wearing a baseball cap and jersey, sauntered down the isle. "Hiya," she said.

Suzy-Michelle smiled a little. "Hi."

Mr. Beal walked over to Suzy-Michelle, his voice a little irritated. "What do you do if you come in late during a test? You start taking it." She sensed he was going to regale her more, but the bell rang and the class started to get up around them. Beal sighed, "I'll see you tomorrow, Starrling."

Suzy-Michelle pictured herself kicking back in her chair, and saying casually, "I didn't study for it," in a tone that would utterly dismiss him and make the whole class laugh. But then her tour guide swung her head around. "Come on," she said, and Suzy-Michelle followed.

They ran into a crowd. The other kids from the class circled around Suzy-Michelle, quizzing her. What's your name? Where are you from? Where did you go to school before this? Suzy-Michelle stammered out her answers, trying to disappear into the wall behind her. Suddenly she felt a hand on hers, pulling her away. It was her tour guide. "No time to waste, Suzy-Michelle, come on." The kids just watched her go.

"You lucked out," the girl said. "It's lunchtime next. My name's Diane."

"Suzy-Michelle Starrling. Um, but I guess you knew that. Pleased to meet you, Diane Nedly." She extended a hand.

Diane laughed. "My last name's not Nedly. That's John. I just thought I should give you the tour. I'll introduce you to John Nedly later."

"Oh, um, ok," the other girl said, already confused. She followed Diane to the cafeteria where the pair of them grabbed a set of trays. Diane pointed out the items on the menu. "Avoid the chicken fried steak, it has hair in it. The sloppy joe's just disgusting. The stir-fry is your best bet, it's hard to mess up a stir-fry. The peanut butter pie I like for dessert."

Suzy-Michelle stocked her plate obediently, a little nauseated by the smells of the place. "Hey, there he is," Diane said. She led Suzy-Michelle to a table where a plump boy with glasses was sitting alone, reading a book. Suzy-Michelle spied the title: War & Peace. She smiled to herself. "Hey John," Diane said, "sorry to make off with your date."

John barely looked up from his book. "Whatever, Diane."

The two girls sat down opposite him. "Don't mind him, Suzy-Michelle, he's just a pervert. Watch out for any girl named Enid, though."

Suzy-Michelle blinked, "Enid? Who's she?"

Diane shook her head, "She's not a 'she'. Enid's what they call any girl around here they want to pick on. It's not worth your while to get involved, that's all."

John peered up from his book and glared at Diane, and sighed.

"Let me see your schedule," Diane said. When they finished eating "Ok, You got Ms. Brooks next for math, that's pretty good. What did you choose for sixth hour? You know you could have whatever you wanted?"

Suzy-Michelle looked embarrassed. "I didn't really know ... I just signed up for study hall."

Diane grinned, "Study hall, jeez. I bet you read almost as much as John does."

Suzy-Michelle flushed.

After her math class, she consulted her course schedule to track down her study hall. She guessed the room numbers must make sense on an overhead map, because they certainly didn't when you were walking down the hallways. Finally she found what appeared to be the right door and walked in.

It was quiet, and she felt every pair of eyes in the room turn up to look at her as she walked in. The teacher's desk was against the wall by the door. "Yes, may I help you?"

She stammered, unsure, holding the permission slip in front of her, assuming he's understand what it was.

He looked at her, "I don't think you're supposed to be here."

She nodded silently and turned around to leave, the student's voices following her as she exited the room. "Enid." "Enid." "Enid."

TO BE CONTINUED