Great, Seth thought to himself as he got onto the bus. He knew this was going to be a bad day, but then he remembered. He had a friend. Ryan was his friend. Seth was bouncing in his seat until Ryan came on the bus. Everyone stared at him as he sat down next to Seth. "Look man. I just wanted to let you know that I'm NOT the most popular kid in school," Seth said. "I know. I heard some kid at my bus stop say that he was gonna beat the crap out of you," Ryan said. "Luke probably," Seth said. Ryan nodded. "He seemed upset. He didn't tell his friends why, but I had a feeling it was Luke," he said.

About 10 minutes later, they got to the school. "Come on. I'll show you around," Seth said. Oh fun, Ryan thought as he followed Seth into the building. Seth was pointing to classrooms and everything until they reached their classroom. "Ready?" Seth asked. No, Ryan thought. "Sure," he said.

There was only 5 other people in the classroom so far, including Marissa. There was no Luke, thank God, Ryan thought. Marissa came up to him. "Uh, I'll be going," Seth said quickly. He went to the back of the room to his cubby. "I'm sorry about the other day. I don't usually kiss people. Actually, I never kissed anyone," Marissa said. She was blushing. "It's fine. I never kissed anyone before either," Ryan said. Then, Luke walked in and Marissa walked away. She sat down in her seat next to some girl. "Hey Ryan! Come here!" Marissa said. Ryan went over to Marissa and the other girl. "This is Summer Roberts. Summer, this is Ryan Atwood," Marissa said. Summer smiled and Ryan gave her a fake half smile.

He went over to Seth, who was by his cubby. "Here is yours," he said. Ryan looked to Seth's left and saw that his cubby was right there. On the other side of Ryan's cubby, was Luke's. "Don't worry about Luke. If he says hi or anything, just say hi back," Seth said. "OK. I get that. I won't spoke to him unless he's speaking to me first," Ryan said. Seth thought for a moment. "Yeah uh huh," he said.

They went over to their desks. "Mr. Cannon put us together for everything," Seth said. "I noticed," Ryan said. Ryan looked at his desk. It said RYAN A. on it and had a multiplication chart and the alphabet taped to it. "Cool huh? Now we can't forget our ABCs," Seth said sarcastically. Ryan let out a chuckle as Mr. Cannon walked in.

"Hello class," he said. "Hello Mr. Cannon," everyone said. "We have a new student joining us today. Ryan, can you come up here?" Mr. Cannon asked. Ryan sighed and went to the front of the room. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" Mr. Cannon asked. "Uh, hi. I'm Ryan Atwood. I just moved here from Chino about five days ago. I uh, I have a brother named Trey and he's in sixth grade," Ryan said. Summer raised her hand. "Yes Summer?" Mr. Cannon asked. "Is your brother THE Trey Atwood? The one who bought a gun to his school?" Summer asked. Ryan nodded. "Well thank you Ryan. You can sit now," Mr. Cannon said. Ryan sat down. "Well, I have good news guys! It's November and do you know what that means?" Mr. Cannon asked. No one answered. "It's time to pick the instrument you want to play if you want to play one!" Mr. Cannon said. So many little, beaming eyes looked up. "I'll pass out the forms. The instruments are in alphabetical order," he said. He passed them out. Ryan was eager when he got his. He looked for his instrument and there it was. The Alto Saxophone. Ryan put down a check in the Saxophone box. "What do you want to play?" Ryan asked. "I don't know. I might try the drums, but a lot of people are going to try that," Seth said. "Why don't you play the Saxophone? That's what I'm playing," Ryan said. "OK. I'll try it. It sounds like a cool instrument to play," Seth said as he checked the box for ALTO SAXOPHONE.

At 11:30, the bell rang for recess. "So why do you want to play the Saxophone?" Seth asked. "Well, my dad listened to jazz before he got arrested and I always loved listening to the Saxophone. I would go down to the music store that was about 3 blocks away and look at the Saxophones. The guy that owned it, Jack, he would let me play one that was lying around. I even know a song," Ryan said. "Which one?" Seth said. "Tequila," Ryan said. "REALLY? I always loved that song. When we get the instruments, can you teach me how to play?" Seth asked. "Why not," Ryan said.

30 Minutes later, the bell rang for lunch. Ryan and Seth went inside to sit with the rest of their class. Marissa and Summer sat with them. "So what instrument are you playing?" Marissa asked. "We're playing Saxophone. What about you?" Ryan asked. "I'm playing Clarinet and Summer's playing the Flute," Marissa said. "Wow. The Flute looks hard. Do you know how to play anything?" Seth asked. Summer shook her head. "My aunt knows how to play. She's gonna help me," Summer said. "That's nice. I wish someone in my family knew how to play ANYTHING and I'm not just talking about instruments. I mean video games and how to work a walkman," Seth said. Marissa and Summer laughed. Luke came over. "Hey Ryan. I'm Luke. I think you are at my bus stop," Luke said. "Yeah. I was. Are you playing an instrument?" Ryan asked. "Yeah. I'm playing Drums. I already know how to play a little. What about you guys?" Luke asked. "Seth and I are playing Saxophone, Summer's playing Flute and Marissa's playing Clarinet," Ryan said. "You're playing Saxophone?" Luke asked. "Yeah. I know how to play Tequila," Ryan said. "Wow. That's a great song. Can I sit with you guys?" Luke asked. Ryan moved over and Luke sat down. Ryan knew that this was going to be a good year.