"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson."-Tom Bodett


Reluctantly, Sara opened her eyes and sat up in bed. It was six o'clock on Monday morning and she had to get ready to go to school. She was really going to a Muggle school. She couldn't believe it. She wondered what her teachers would be like and what kind of things they would learn.

Fred and George were probably more than excited and even Katie wouldn't be as nervous as Sara was. Sara would end up being nervous enough for all of them.

She spent a little longer than normal picking out what to wear. She had pretty average Muggle clothes that would be acceptable to wear to a Muggle school. It wasn't the most exciting wardrobe, but it would do.

Katie was already in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal when Sara walked downstairs. "Nervous?" she asked as Sara poured her own cereal.

"A little," Sara nodded. That was an understatement.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Katie said, stirring her cereal around in her bowl.

"Are Fred and George awake yet? We're going to be late if they don't hurry up."

"They're getting ready. I went into their room right after I got up to wake them, but they're probably taking their sweet time. They don't like having to get up before eight in the morning."

"I noticed," Sara answered, sitting down at the table and glancing at her watch. Apparently, they were supposed to take a school bus from a bus stop just down the street and the last thing she wanted to be was late. She actually wanted to be about ten minutes early to the bus stop just in case.

"Don't stress about this too much, okay?" Katie said gently, patting Sara's hand. "It's just school. Of course, it's a little different from our school, but it is still school."

"What do Muggle people even learn about?" Sara asked.

"How would I know?" Katie asked with a smile. "I'm guessing it isn't Charms and Potions, though, which reminds me, how did your study date go with Fred yesterday? I never got to ask you."

"It wasn't a date," Sara said instantly.

"Interesting, Fred said the same thing yesterday," Katie said, leaning back in her chair.

"You talked to him about it?" Sara asked. "And he said that because it's true."

"Yes, I talked to him about it. Why, I can't ask a friend a question?"

Sara opened her mouth to answer, but she didn't know what to say. She just knew that helping Fred with his homework wasn't a date.

Fred and George chose that moment to enter the kitchen, rubbing their eyes and looking tired. "Muggles have it tough," Fred mumbled. "At Hogwarts, we wouldn't have had to get up for another hour at least."

"Oh yes, it's so tough to have to wake up an hour earlier. The death rate is incredibly high for those people who wake up at six in the morning," Sara said sarcastically.

"Not funny," Fred said, shooting her a look. "We can't all be morning people like you."

"No, I suppose not," she shrugged.

Fred and George finished their cereal surprisingly fast, leaving just enough time for Sara to start ushering them all out the front door.

"Sara, this bus isn't supposed to come for another fifteen minutes," Fred grumbled, picking up his schoolbag.

Sara was already standing at the door with her bag. She was holding the door open, waiting. "I know, but there's the travel time and I want to be a little early just in case."

"We only have to walk to the end of the street," George pointed out, walking out the door past her, Katie at his heels.

"Yes, I'm aware, and I know that if it were up to you and Fred, we would be leaving the house with only seconds to spare and end up chasing after the bus as it drove away."

"Yeah, that sounds accurate," Fred nodded, passing Sara. She rolled her eyes and left the house after him, locking the door behind her.

They were the only ones at the bus stop when they got there. "Maybe we're the only kids from school in this area," Sara said, looking around.

"No, look, another form of life," George pointed.

A girl who looked to be about their age was walking towards them, her arms cradling a few books. Her pin straight brown hair hung on each side of her face, parted neatly in the middle. Her light blue eyes looked friendly, but confused when she saw the small group standing on the sidewalk. "Who are you?" she asked, searching their faces.

"We're new here," Sara answered. "Exchange students, to be exact. We're only going to be here for a little while and today is our first day."

"Oh, yeah, our principal talked about you last week," the girl said, smiling warmly.

"Is he like a headmaster?" George asked.

"Uh, sure," the girl answered slowly. "Whatever floats your boat."

"What'd he say about us?" Sara squeaked. The principal had told the whole entire school about them. How weird was that? It made this whole thing seem even more scary and final. The school knew they were coming, they couldn't back out now. Not that Sara would. She was not one for skipping school. That was apparent enough.

The girl shrugged one shoulder. "Not much. He just told us that we'd be having four exchange students from England and he wanted us to be friendly and on our best behavior. I always am, though, so it wasn't a warning I needed. I'm Sofia by the way. What are your names?"

"I'm Katie, this is my boyfriend George, his twin brother Fred, and this is Sara."

"Why are you staring at me and George like that?" Fred asked, giving Sofia a strange look. Sara could see why. Sofia was squinting at the twins and tilting her head.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm trying to look for ways to tell you apart."

"Oh, well you'll get it eventually after you get to know us better," George said, waving his hand dismissively. "It's no big deal. We get called the others name all the time."

"No, no, I want to get it right," Sofia held up her hand to prevent George from talking further. She continued to look at them for a few seconds longer before clapping her hands together. "I've got it."

"Do you really?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"You said you were Fred, right?"

"Yes," he answered slowly.

"Well, you have a freckle darker than all the others right under your left eye. You don't have that," she pointed at George.

Fred's hand instantly went to the spot under his left eye. "Do I?" he asked Sara.

She looked and sure enough, it was true. She hadn't even noticed that and she'd known them for years. "Yeah, you do," she answered.

"And so then you must be George," Sofia said, turning to George, who nodded. "Your nose turns slightly downward at the tip, unlike Fred's whose is straighter."

"You are bloody scary," George said, his voice coming out in an awed whisper.

Sofia shrugged. "What can I say? I can be a perfectionist sometimes and I'm observant and good at memorizing things."

"Well you and Sara will get along fine, then," Fred said, nudging Sara in the back.

She grimaced faintly at the sudden contact, but then smiled at Sofia. "Yeah, I'm the same way. A perfectionist, slightly bossy, the one everyone comes to with questions."

"It's true. We would know," Fred and George said at once.

Sophie smiled. "I like you guys. I can tell we're going to be good friends. Look, here comes the bus." She pointed towards a bright yellow bus coming towards them.

"It doesn't look very big," Fred whispered. "I've heard the Knight Bus is bigger."

"The Knight Bus?" Sofia looked confused. Apparently, she had impeccable hearing as well.

"Oh, just a name for one of the buses back home," Fred grinned innocently.

"Oh, cool," Sofia nodded.

The bus screeched to a halt in front of them and Sofia led the way up the steps as the doors opened.

Sara was the next one to climb onto the bus. The driver looked at her and smiled. "Ah, you must be the new kids!" he said loudly, with a huge grin.

Sara grimaced. Did he have to shout? "Yes," she said, "we are."

"Welcome," the bus driver said. "I'm Eddie, but you can call me Ed."

"I'm Frederick, but you can call me Fred," Fred said from over Sara's shoulder. "Actually, I insist that you do, because I hate being called Frederick."

"Fred is easy enough. It rhymes with Ed," the bus driver said.

Fred began to speak again, attempting to make introductions. "That's George, that's Katie and-,"

"That's quite enough," Sara said, embarrassed.

"And who are you?" the bus driver asked.

"Sara," she said quickly, pulling Fred down the aisle of the bus as Ed chuckled. She didn't want to stand up at the front of the bus for longer than they had to. Already, the other students on the bus were staring. Hopefully it all had to do with them being new and it would die down after a while.

"Eddie's really cool," Sofia said as Sara slid into a seat in front of her towards the middle of the bus. Katie and George sat across the aisle and Fred sat next to Sara. "He's not like some bus drivers who look half dead every morning."

"We definitely don't want a dead bus driver. I'd like to make it to school in one piece," George said as the bus driver pulled away from the curb.

"Agreed," Sofia nodded, laughing. "So what school did you go to in England?"

Sara glanced at Fred. Why did everyone keep asking them that? She supposed it was a normal question and people had a right to ask, but it was a difficult one to answer.

"A remote school," Fred answered, repeating what Sara had told the taxi driver at the airport. "It's not popular, you probably wouldn't know it."

"Try me," Sofia crossed her arms and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Sara almost laughed. Sofia did kind of remind her of herself in some ways. For example, the way she was challenging Fred right now.

Fred glanced at Sara and she looked back with a small smirk. He was going to handle this one and see how he liked being in charge for once.

"No, seriously, you wouldn't know it," Fred said, shaking his head.

Sofia shrugged. "Actually, I only know one school in England, so you're right, I probably wouldn't know it. I was just trying to mess with you."

"Ah, see," Fred smiled at Sara, "she has a sense of humor. I'm trying to get Sara to have more fun. She can be rather uptight."

"Fred," Sara rolled her eyes.

"It's true," Fred said.

"How's that working out?" Sofia asked, smiling.

"Really great, actually," Fred said, looking at Sara with a grin.

"You make it sound like I'm a test subject," Sara said in a frustrated tone.

"You are," Fred winked.

"Stop winking," she said, crossing her arms.

"No," Fred winked again.

"The old married couple is at it again," Katie rolled her eyes.

"Are they always like this?" Sofia asked.

"Yeah, they actually were improving since we got here two days ago, but now…" Katie trailed off and shrugged.

Sofia giggled. "So, you're going to need someone to show you around school. I can help."

"Oh, that would be great," Sara said, smiling over the top of her seat at Sofia. "The last thing I need is to be late to my classes."

"Oh, I know," Sofia said, nodding. "I hate to be late."

"So do I!" Sara exclaimed. She noticed Fred raise his eyebrows at George and she had to fight the urge to smack him upside the head.

When they got to school, Sofia waited outside the principal's office while Sara led the way inside so that they could be given their schedules.

The principal's name was Mr. Perry and he was very nice, but it was obvious that he meant business. He made it clear that they were going to be treated just the same as every other student at school and they would have to follow the rules just the same as everybody else.

"Of course," Sara nodded as Fred and George stared expressionless at the principal. Sara wouldn't be surprised if they had another Muggle plank working itself out in their heads right now. Katie only looked mildly interested in what Mr. Perry was saying and she kept glancing out the window.

"I'm glad to hear that, Miss Sheridan," the principal grinned, standing up from behind his desk. "Now, here are your schedules."

Fred, George, and Katie brightened at the mention of schedules. It was the most exciting part of the morning.

"Class begins in ten minutes. In five minutes, the warning bell will ring and you will have five minutes to get to your homeroom. It is especially important to be in home room for attendance or else it will be assumed you are absent for the day or that you are skipping school, unless you can give us a note or a phone call from one of your parents. Understand?"

"Yes," Sara said as the other three simply nodded.

They left the principal's office and found Sofia waiting outside, leaning against the wall. The lobby was crowded with kids coming into school. Although it was a lot smaller than Hogwarts, the crowd was making Sara uneasy.

"What do your schedules look like?" Sofia asked eagerly, pushing off from the wall.

Sara looked at her schedule for the first time. The first thing on it was the homeroom thing that Mr. Perry had mentioned. "Homeroom," she mumbled, trying to figure out what it could be.

"Did you have homeroom at your other school?" Sofia asked.

"No," Sara said.

"Oh, well it's only a ten minute time period in the beginning of the day for attendance, announcements, notices and other things like that. Hey, look, Sara, you're in my homeroom. Room 109."

Sara nodded. "Cool." She looked at the paper in her hands again. After homeroom, she had an English class, followed by History, Math, PE, lunch, a Chemistry class, a creative writing class and a psychology class. All of it sounded pretty interesting to her. Except for the PE class, of course. She was not the athletic type.

She compared schedules with Fred, George and Katie, with Sofia chiming in here and there with her own schedule.

Sara had English, Math, PE, and Chemistry with Fred. George and Katie were also in their English and Math classes. Sara had History with Katie, and creative writing and Psychology with Sofia. George was in her creative writing class as well and they all had the same lunch period.

Sara breathed a sigh of relief. At least she would have a familiar face in every class, especially lunch and gym. She figured those would be the two worst places to not have any friends.

Unfortunately, they all had different homerooms except for Sofia and Sara. They had time for Sophie to show them where each of their homerooms were. They had just watched Katie nervously walk into her homeroom, looking slightly pale, when the warning bell rang.

"We have to go," Sofia said, speed walking down the hallway.

"How far away is our homeroom?" Sara asked, trying to keep up her.

"Not far, but I have issues with time. I always think I'm going to be late," Sofia laughed. "Like I said, I'm a perfectionist."

"I understand." Sara was nervously hoping they wouldn't be late for homeroom. The principal's words about being late were still ringing in her head. Plus, she didn't like to be late in general, a trait that wasn't helping her now.

She thought of how Fred and George had so easily walked into their classrooms, looking as calm as ever. They were going to fit in just fine, although it didn't seem as if Sara was doing too bad herself. She and Sophie seemed to be getting along.

"Okay, here we are," Sofia stopped in front of a door and pulled it open, letting Sara go inside first.

"Thanks," Sara said quietly, stepping inside the room.

The homeroom teacher, Mrs. Green, was young and very perky. Too perky for this early in the morning, but Sara didn't really mind. To Sara's discomfort, Mrs. Green introduced her to the whole class, making her stand up at the front of the room.

"You're from England?" asked a girl in the front row.

"Yeah, I am," Sara answered.

"Cool," the girl said. "I've neve met anyone from England before."

Sara smiled slightly, unsure of what to say, but luckily Mrs. Green came to the rescue.

"Sara, you can take a seat anywhere you'd like."

Sofia was gesturing to the empty seat next to her, so Sara made her way over and sat down.

"You got lucky," a boy on Sara's other side said with a sarcastic smirk. "That's the health issue desk."

"Excuse me?" Sara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We've been in school for two weeks," the boy said. "During the first week, the boy who sat there threw up all over the place. Last week, the girl who was sitting there got a bloody nose. I'd watch out if I were you."

"Oh, gross," Sara looked at the desktop, repulsed.

"Ricky's just being a goof," Sofia said, rolling her eyes. "It was just a coincidence that those things happened. Right after school starts, everyone gets sick since they aren't really immune to all the germs yet."

"Sofia's our walking encyclopedia," the boy who was apparently named Ricky said.

"I noticed," Sara answered, still looking down at her desk. Maybe she would be another vomit person. She was still feeling nervous, despite the fact that today was going rather well so far. On the bright side, if she did vomit, at least she'd have made her contribution to the sick desk. Ricky could tell the next victim all about her some day in the future.

Mrs. Green was checking off names on her attendance sheet and the room was noisy as she worked, glancing up every few seconds to check to see if a certain person was there.

"Mrs. Green's incredible with remembering names and faces," Sofia said. "We started school two weeks ago and she already knows everyone in here. That's why she doesn't need to call out names anymore."

"Wow, I wish I were that good at memorization," Sara answered.

"That makes two of us," Sofia said, shaking her head.

A few people sitting around Sara introduced themselves and smiled at her. They also asked a few questions about where she lived beforehand. 'What's England like?' 'Why are you here?' 'Do you like it here so far?' and 'Is it a lot different here?' were the most popular questions it seemed. Sara tried to answer them as well as she could. She wondered how the others were doing and if they were dealing with being bombarded with questions too.

Once the bell rang to signal the end of homeroom, Sara grabbed her bag and took a deep breath. She felt as if she could breathe again after being suffocated by her classmates.

"Overwhelming, isn't it?" Sofia asked sympathetically.

"Yeah, but I'm sure I'll get used to it," Sara answered. "Um, would you mind directing me to Room 322 for my English class?"

"Sure," Sofia smiled and pointed her the right way before heading off in the opposite direction.

Sara took a deep breath and turned towards towards the drection she needed to go. She was off to her very first class at a Muggle high school.